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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Yoko Ono Japanese artist and activist
When the war was over—whichever war that was.
Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, December 1995 source ↗
Sue Townsend English writer and humorist
Flying over the Australian outback in a jet, looking down at the incredible orange scenery, the uninhabited hills and gullies, listening to Tchaikovsky on my headphones and drinking champagne with a cigarette in my hand. It was 1984, I'd been to the Adelaide Book Festival and was going back to my husband and my children.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 20 January 2007 source ↗
Camille Paglia American feminist academic and critic
Snorkelling for an hour with a comically disciplined and curiously attentive squadron of six, fat Caribbean reef squid off Mexico.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 5 April 2008 source ↗
Ranulph Fiennes English explorer
In 1982, having travelled for three years to do the first journey around the earth on its polar axis. Charles Burton and I were trying to get from the north pole down to our ship on the edge of the Arctic Sea. We had to float for three months on a diminishing ice floe. Eventually we had to leave the floe and try to get to the ship in canoes with skis under them. In the maze of broken ice we saw its masts on the horizon. That second was probably my happiest moment.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 31 May 2008 source ↗
John Waters American filmmaker
Chasing after fire engines as a child with my dad and watching neighbours' houses burn to the ground.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 13 September 2008 source ↗
Pete Postlethwaite English actor
Last Sunday night in front of the fire, watching Mamma Mia! with Jax and our children, Will and Lily.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 31 January 2009 source ↗
Alan Dale New Zealand actor
I have never been happier than I am now. As for when I was happiest in my work, playing King Arthur in Spamalot in the West End.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 7 March 2009 source ↗
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.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 9 May 2009 source ↗
Jerry Springer American TV personality and politician
When my daughter, Katie, was born and when she got married.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 30 May 2009 source ↗
Nora Ephron Journalist, essayist, screenwriter and film director
Yesterday – I had a delicious tomato sandwich, on toasted sourdough bread, with mayonnaise.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 5 September 2009 source ↗
Michael Palin English actor
Flying in over London on a cool, clean morning after a long time away.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 19 September 2009 source ↗

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