Time & hindsight

When were you happiest?

585 answers answered between 1930 and 2026 one of 25 in The Q&A

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.

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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 4 Arts and letters 494 Politics and public life 38 Business and finance 19 Sport 30
Read by age Any age Before thirty 25 In their thirties 83 In their forties 113 In their fifties 109 In their sixties 100 Seventy and beyond 77
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Doris Day American actress and singer
My childhood summers in Trenton, Ohio, and starting work at Warner Bros.
Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, April 1995 source ↗
Jimmy Savile English media personality and sex offender
During the war - to a teenager, wartime is very exciting. And when there was no traffic, I could ride my bike about the lovely Yorkshire lanes with not a car in sight. And I'm very happy today because I'm not skint.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 26 May 2007 source ↗
Julie Andrews English actress, singer and author
In London. When Blake [Edwards, her husband since 1969] made me laugh so much I wept. Blake says I slept with a smile.
Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, April 2008 source ↗
Philip Glass American composer
There are many moments of happiness for me. I swim in a sea of them. They are related to my family and work.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 29 November 2008 source ↗
Vera Lynn English singer and entertainer
When my daughter, Virginia, was born, in 1946.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 19 December 2009 source ↗
Joyce Carol Oates Novelist, short story writer and essayist
On two dates: 23 January 1961 and 13 March 2009 (my two weddings).
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 9 January 2010 source ↗
Trevor McDonald British newsreader and journalist
As a young child in the West Indies and having fun with my friends, playing sport and hanging about.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 1 January 2011 source ↗
Jerry Lewis American comedian, actor and filmmaker
In 1926 and in the maternity room.
Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, August 2011 source ↗
Shirley Hughes English illustrator and author
Wandering around with my sketchbook in some lovely Italian town.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 13 January 2012 source ↗
Jesse Jackson American minister, activist and politician
In college, meeting my wife and then having our first child, and marching together to bring down the walls of Jim Crow.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 13 April 2012 source ↗
Prue Leith South African-British chef, broadcaster, and writer
In my 40s: I had two children young enough to think their parents wonderful, my business was booming, I was happily married and living in the Cotswolds with a veg garden and ponies in the paddock. Who could not be happy?
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 4 May 2012 source ↗
Sue Johnston English actress
At the birth of my son, Joel, and then equally, last June, when my first grandchild, Rory, was born.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 19 January 2013 source ↗
Joan Bakewell English journalist, television presenter and politician
My student days at Cambridge.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 19 October 2013 source ↗

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