John Simpson
English journalist
Reading the news. It’s a dull job.
What is the worst job you have done?
Question
What did you want to be when you were growing up?
Identity & self
Question
Which living person do you most admire, and why?
Values & belief
Question
What would you like to be remembered for?
Death & what remains
Question
Which book are you ashamed not to have read?
Taste & recommendation
Question
What most recently made you cry?
Identity & self
Question
What is your greatest fear?
Identity & self
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.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
I’ve enjoyed every single job, including working at my dad’s chicken shop selling potato gems (fried potato circles) to the surfer dudes.
The Q&A, The Guardian, 18 July 2026 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 229 →I worked in a cafe, which I loved, but when it was quiet we had to scrape the fat out from between the tiles on the floor with a butter knife.
Sheryl Crow
American singer-songwriter
I’ve been lucky. When I was a kid, I babysat and was a lifeguard, which I didn’t hate; and then I was a teacher, which I liked.
Kwame Kwei-Armah
Actor and playwright
Doing the bins while working for McDonald’s in west Ealing.
More from Natalie Imbruglia
View profile →A hairdresser through the week and a star on the weekends.
Alanis Morissette because, in my earlier career, she was a big influence on me and had a feistiness that you didn’t see much of in women in the industry. Also, she has been very vocal about mental health issues.
Finally nailing being on time.
None. I’m not ashamed. I’m dyslexic so I don’t read a lot of books.
On the way here, because I was late.
As an Italian, tinned spaghetti. As a child, I was once served it at someone’s house. It was quite frightening.
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