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.
When each of my three children was born.
The Q&A, The Guardian, 2 November 2024 source ↗
When everyone else is happy.
When I was a kid, I ran everywhere, pretending I was in the Olympics, and would always sprint the last 20 yards home to win gold.
When I am doing things that I feel I am not obliged to do.
The early family skiing holidays – before I’d broken an ankle and Gerald had torn a ligament – were just wonderful.
A singer. I wanted to live off music ever since I was a child – a wish that came true when I was over 35 years old.
My father, with whom I had a complex relationship: often, when I was young, his desire to protect me clashed with the stubbornness of my choices.
Lack of humility, the absence of goodness.
As a man who tried to respect everyone, treating them with a smile and with due regard, despite the limitations of being human.
I fear the arrogance we are all at risk of, the pride that pushes us to put “I” in place of “God”. More prosaically, I fear physical pain because it risks stripping us of our dignity.
As a young man I had a car accident on a foggy night that left the vehicle looking like a squashed box, even though, by some miracle, I walked away unscathed.
Siri Hustvedt, David Shrigley, Richard Hawley, Rose Tremain, Ben Kingsley, Floella Benjamin
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