Joan Collins
English actress and writer
Worrying about my children.
Daily life
What keeps you awake at night?
204 answers answered between 1991 and 2026 one of 25 in The Q&A
Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
A long-running fixed question in The Guardian's weekly Q&A questionnaire.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
On the record
Public figures who have answered a question like this elsewhere. Quoted from the source shown, not written for FLAPSS.
Read by field
Everyone
Science and medicine 2
Arts and letters 170
Politics and public life 9
Business and finance 9
Sport 13
Read by age
Any age
Before thirty 8
In their thirties 31
In their forties 40
In their fifties 45
In their sixties 38
Seventy and beyond 28
Yayoi Kusama
Japanese artist
I am an insomniac, so I often draw and write at night.
Edward Fox
British actor
If you have a nice drink before going to bed, you don’t stay awake at night. I like almost anything in a bottle.
Ronnie Wood
English rock musician
My metabolism. Ever since I was a little kid, I was always up halfway through the night.
Ian McEwan
British novelist and screenwriter
The BBC World Service followed by the dawn chorus.
Bianca Jagger
Nicaraguan human rights advocate
The climate catastrophe.
Björn Ulvaeus
Swedish musician
Nothing, really. But without little sleeping pills, I’d go crazy.
Madhur Jaffrey
Actress, cook, and TV host
Unfinished work and caffeine.
David Jason
English actor
Dreaming that I am about to go on stage or set but haven’t got the right script.
Fran Lebowitz
American author and public speaker
I’ve been awake almost my entire life. I have had insomnia since I was a child.
Nothing – I’ve got some great tablets!
An exciting idea. I usually write for an hour or so, and then I go to sleep.
Chaka Khan
American singer
The fact that I’m a vampire.
Charles Dance
British actor
My rational brain doing battle with my emotional brain.
My husband snoring.
The morality of stealing that red liquorice.
Nothing. If I’m worried or upset or tormented, I go to sleep quickly and easily, to find welcome oblivion.
One after the other, thoughts come banging in – and it’s no sleep for you tonight, dearie.
Facebook and the need to pee.
An inability to get myself to bed at a reasonable hour.
1 answer from members
@aliabbasi
builder
Working on new ideas and driving
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