Adrian Edmondson: What is the worst job you have ever had? — FLAPSS

The question

What is the worst job you have ever had?

Originally asked

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

The Guardian's long-running Q&A repeatedly asks this standing question, with minor tense variation.

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Adrian Edmondson

English actor, comedian, musician and writer

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here

I worked in the largest pork pie factory in Europe. I had a plastic mushroom-shaped thing and had to tamp down the meat into the pie base. It was a conveyor belt of pies from nine to five. The worst thing was the crackly AM radio, which was played loudly through the tinny tannoy system. I still can’t listen to I’m Not In Love by 10cc without thinking of raw minced pork.

The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 7 July 2018 source ↗

Others on this question

View all 230 →

Angela Hartnett English chef

Washing up in the Ford factory canteen in Dagenham.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 13 August 2022 source ↗

Kathy Lette Australian-British author

Bedpan emptier in a hospital.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 22 June 2024 source ↗

Sheena Easton Scottish singer

A cafeteria in Glasgow where the manager was horrible. I walked out and got a great job in a betting shop.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 1 April 2017 source ↗

Jane Asher English actress and author

Doing an episode of Doctors was a bit of a nadir.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 6 May 2023 source ↗

More from Adrian Edmondson

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Question What disappointment has stayed with you longest? Failure & regret

Not doing Top Of The Pops when The Young Ones’ single went to number one.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 7 July 2018 source ↗

Question What song would you want played at your funeral? Death & what remains

Jazz, Delicious Hot, Disgusting Cold by the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band. Whenever Rik and I got stuck writing a script, we would put this on and the world would immediately seem to be a more stupidly brilliant place again.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 7 July 2018 source ↗

Question If you could revise one chapter of your past, what would you change? Failure & regret

I practise stoicism. Not the stiff-upper-lip, modern stuff, but the ancient Greek philosophy. You have to accept what you can’t change. I try to face forwards all the time. When that doesn’t work, I think about buying a machine gun.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 7 July 2018 source ↗

Question As a child, what career or life did you imagine for yourself? Identity & self

I only ever wanted to be an actor or a rock star. I was suspended from school in the sixth form and allowed back only when I promised to join the army. But I lied.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 7 July 2018 source ↗

Question What period or moment in your life brought you the most joy? Time & hindsight

My granddaughter is only one, but she gives the best hugs. That’s when I’m happiest at the moment.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 7 July 2018 source ↗

Question How close have you come to dying? Death & what remains

I hit a bit of lumpy tarmac driving my motorbike over the Pyrenees in the early 1980s. There was no safety barrier and I found myself riding along the edge of a precipice on half the width of the tyres for 100 yards.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 7 July 2018 source ↗

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