When I was appointed director of public prosecutions, I had a government car and visited the security services. When I came out, I got into the back of what I thought was my car, but it was somebody’s private car and they told me in no uncertain terms to get out. I had to reverse out with as much dignity as I could, with the head of security services watching.
Failure & regret
When were you most embarrassed?
122 answers answered between 2007 and 2026 one of 25 in The Q&A
Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
A verbatim recurring question in The Guardian's Q&A series.
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
Arts and letters 112
Politics and public life 8
Business and finance 1
Sport 1
Read by age
Any age
In their thirties 20
In their forties 22
In their fifties 36
In their sixties 26
Seventy and beyond 16
Clive Myrie
British journalist, newsreader, and presenter
Being called upon by President Bush to ask him a question at a press conference when I wasn’t there. He called my name … and there was no response!
An earthquake in Peru forced me and a young man into the street, where he had to introduce me to his family at three in the morning.
0 answers from members
Nobody has answered this one yet.
More on failure & regret
- What disappointment has stayed with you longest? 367 answers
- Who deserves an apology from you, and for what? 209 answers
- If you could revise one chapter of your past, what would you change? 203 answers
- What is the harshest thing anyone has said to you? 122 answers
- How has a setback or failure set you up for later success? 69 answers
- What is the hardest thing that has happened to you, and what did you carry out of it? 35 answers