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.
In my mid- to late-20s, in London, beginning to publish, living hand to mouth, having fun. Also now, when love and life and work have finally cohered.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 18 August 2018 source ↗
Probably last night, when I went into my sons’ bedroom and kissed them on their smelly heads.
Snorkelling for an hour with a comically disciplined and curiously attentive squadron of six, fat Caribbean reef squid off Mexico.
I am always happiest tucked up at home with my family.
Aside from family life, which is the ultimate happiness, when I see or hear a great artist.
Exhilarating. I’ve been extremely lucky in that the person I love, Annalena, happens to be my wife.
Having a gun held to my head at a May Day rally during the revolution in Grenada. I was mistaken for a CIA agent.
Angela Merkel. Under attack from all sides, she tries to keep alive the dreams of a tolerant, inclusive, open society.
The BBC World Service followed by the dawn chorus.
To have grown up with my siblings. They were at least 10 years older than me.
Fay Ripley, Sandi Toksvig, Alan Cumming, Nicholson Baker, Fran Lebowitz, Sue Perkins
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