I am relieved to say that I find it hard to answer such a question, because if I could it would suggest that my life has become dreary and empty.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 9 February 2008 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 →
Paul Smith
English fashion designer
I am a happy person. I am happy every day. But if I had to pick a time it would be the first time I fell in love.
I can't remember a time when I was happier than now, to be honest – though that's always been the case.
Any recent gathering with friends and family; yesterday, running by the ocean; anytime, solving a problem or creating something. Right now, in bed with news and popcorn.
At the altar all seven times.
More from Boy George
View profile →Getting arrested in New York and discovering how lacking in morality US law enforcers are. Being handcuffed to a metal trolley in Bellevue Hospital because I cut my foot while being dragged from a police car, and listening to nurses chatting about hair products as I screamed for something to stop me hallucinating.
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
Adrian Edmondson, Phil Daniels, Cerys Matthews, Marilyn Manson, Sinéad O'Connor, Richard Coles
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