VL
When my daughter, Virginia, was born, in 1946.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 19 December 2009 source ↗
The question
What period or moment in your life brought you the most joy?Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
Asked in 52 of the 131 consecutive instalments of The Guardian's The Q&A harvested on 2026-08-29.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
Others on this question
View all 577 →
Michael Palin
English actor
Flying in over London on a cool, clean morning after a long time away.
James Patterson
American author
One of the big moments was the birth of our son, Jack – he's 13 now.
Meghan Trainor
American singer-songwriter
Whenever I’m with my kids.
David Baddiel
Comedian and writer
I’ve never been entirely happy, although for about 45 seconds after David Platt scored the winning goal against Belgium in the World Cup in 1990, I kind of blacked out with joy.
More on time & hindsight
- What lesson has mattered most in your life? 138 answers
- What counsel would you give your twenty-year-old self — and what should they ignore? 78 answers
- What worries you about getting older? 61 answers
- What counsel has proved most valuable to you? 28 answers
- If you could put a message on a giant billboard, what would it say and why? 25 answers
- What line from a parent, teacher, or mentor do you still repeat to yourself? 23 answers
Also answered this
Audra McDonald, Shaun Ryder, Boy George, Maureen O'Hara, Sheridan Smith, Bonnie Raitt
Search the directory for somebody in particular.
Explore further
- All time & hindsight questions
- The The Q&A questionnaire — 25 questions from the same format
- Explore the archive — by field, age, era, and subject