HW
An actor. When I was really young, I wanted to be a fishmonger’s wife.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 23 December 2017 source ↗
The question
As a child, what career or life did you imagine for yourself?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.
Others on this question
View all 197 →
Serena Williams
United States professional tennis player, 1995–2022
A veterinarian.
Winston Churchill
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, 1940–1945 and 1951–1955; Member of Parliament 1900–1964
At the end he asked me if I would like to go into the Army. I thought it would be splendid to command an Army, so I said 'Yes' at once: and immediately I was taken at my word. ... I was told later that he had only come to the conclusion that I was not clever enough to go to the Bar. However that may be, the toy soldiers turned the current of my life.
Recorded
Chapter of his autobiography, written at Chartwell in 1930, Winston S. Churchill, My Early Life (Thornton Butterworth, 1930), Project Gutenberg Canada, October 1930
source ↗
Jessica Raine
British actress
I was fidgety and clueless for a long time.
Oti Mabuse
South African dancer
A paediatrician, then I was like, I can’t dissect frogs! Then I fell in love with making things and understanding how things work.
More from Harriet Walter
View profile →I spent £600 on Rudolf Nureyev’s ballet shoes after he died. He was the biggest idol in my life and influenced me hugely.
I went to a funeral where they played Cheek To Cheek: Fred Astaire singing “Heaven. I’m in heaven… ” Everyone smiled. I’d like that.
In some way your life is doubled. You’re you and the other person.
When I got to 40 and realised I hadn’t read all the books I needed to read to understand the world.
I would never have gone on a diet. I would go back with the knowledge that not being perfect is fine.
Judith Clark, on whom I based my character in the prison trilogy. She has served over 35 years and turned herself around. She is an inspiration.
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