Maybe I should have agreed to take the job of controller of BBC One when Bill Cotton offered it to me. I do feel a wimp; I would have been the first woman in the job.What do you consider your greatest achievement? I don’t really claim credit, I hope, for helping to launch Childline and the Silver Line and Silver Stories. It is an achievement that they all exist, but that is down to their amazing teams.
If you could edit your past, what would you change?
Question
Which trait do you most dislike in yourself?
Identity & self
Question
What has been your biggest disappointment?
Failure & regret
Question
Aside from a property, what is the most expensive thing you have bought?
Money & investment
Question
What is the most important lesson life has taught you?
Time & hindsight
Question
What is the worst job you have done?
Craft & work
Question
What single thing would improve the quality of your life?
Daily life
Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
Repeated verbatim in The Guardian's long-running Saturday Q&A; two publisher-hosted examples establish recurrence.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
The bits that consumed me with guilt.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 1 March 2008 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 205 →
Billy Ocean
British singer
I would do a lot more investments.
Yusuf Islam
British musician
The respelling of my name to Joseph.
Judith Kerr
British writer and illustrator
Nothing, really, because it was all interesting.
More from Erin O'Connor
View profile →I'm too diplomatic. I tend to edit my mind before I speak - it can be incredibly draining.
Not becoming a ballerina.
An electric-yellow mohair rug.
To be humble is to be sane.
Shooting hosiery on top of an iceberg and getting my backside stuck to it.
A chef would be nice.
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- What is the hardest thing that has happened to you, and what did you carry out of it? 39 answers
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