Angela Hartnett: 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 Angela Hartnett said elsewhere, not written here

Anything and everything. I watched the Olympics and wanted to be an 800m runner. If I watched Inspector Morse, I wanted to be a pathologist.

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

Others on this question

A missionary in Africa – I think that was Sunday school-based.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 20 December 2025 source ↗

A fighter pilot.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 21 March 2026 source ↗

I wanted to be in the WWF – the wrestling one, not the wildlife one.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 6 December 2025 source ↗

Bozoma Saint John Marketing executive; former chief marketing officer of Netflix

An obstetrician.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 7 October 2017 source ↗

When I first started at The Connaught, I bought a pair of antique diamond earrings at Fred Leighton in New York.

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

Procrastination.

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

Washing up in the Ford factory canteen in Dagenham.

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

Thinking about work because I’m responsible for people’s jobs.

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

Search the directory for somebody in particular.