Paul Whitehouse: 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 Paul Whitehouse said elsewhere, not written here

A professional footballer.

The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 16 June 2018 source ↗

Others on this question

Daphne Guinness British socialite

I wanted to be in the army or a spy in the intelligence service.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 27 July 2024 source ↗

Ann Dowd American actress

A surgeon. I studied pre-med in Holy Cross College for four years and then I went to acting school.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 15 January 2022 source ↗

Orlando Bloom English actor

An actor or stuntman: I loved Lee Majors in The Fall Guy.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 20 March 2021 source ↗

Liev Schreiber American actor

An elevator operator.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 14 September 2024 source ↗

I was what I call a “nut lifter” in a factory in Enfield. I had to get nuts and bolts from the production line into big tins.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 16 June 2018 source ↗

When my dad died this year.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 16 June 2018 source ↗

When I came round after being seriously ill. I’d had a dose of morphine, the sun was shining and I thought, “Ah yes, I live!”

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 16 June 2018 source ↗

The eradication of poverty would be nice, but at the moment, a double macchiato.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 16 June 2018 source ↗

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