Viv Albertine: What did you want to be when you were growing up?

What did you want to be when you were growing up?

Originally asked

The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A

This is a standing question in The Guardian's decades-long The Q&A and also recurs independently in career and life interviews.

You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.

Recorded Viv Albertine said elsewhere, not written here

I had no female role models growing up. I lived an incredibly sheltered life: there was no TV at home and we had no visitors. It wasn’t until rock and pop came into my life that I concocted myself as a role model.

The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 10 October 2020 source ↗

Others on this question

View all 226 →

Nish Kumar British stand-up comedian and presenter

Something in comedy. It was either this or Jimi Hendrix.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 2 February 2019 source ↗

Hiroshi Mikitani Founder, chairman and chief executive of Rakuten

My job hunting days were at the height of the bubble economy. At the time, I was focused on joining big corporations and had no intention of myself becoming an entrepreneur. I started working at a major bank with a vague idea that I wanted "a job that would take me around the world."

Recorded Rakuten Group, Inc. source ↗

Martin Freeman English actor

I wanted to be a footballer and then a squash player – I was in with a chance because I was very good. But I fell out of love with that by 14 or 15 and joined a youth theatre.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 19 January 2019 source ↗

Andrew O'Hagan Scottish author

Most days, I wanted to be Albrecht in the classical ballet Giselle, dancing until I dropped dead.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 25 July 2026 source ↗