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An astronaut, a writer, a dancer.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 9 September 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.
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Others on this question
View all 197 →
Jim Kerr
Scottish singer and songwriter
In the Beatles.
Patricia Hodge
English actress
A ballet dancer, but it changed to being an actress when I got put in a school play.
Roger Allam
English actor
When I was a child, it was a bus driver or engine driver; then, when I was a teenager, I went to the theatre and wanted to be an actor.
Armistead Maupin
American writer
Not a lawyer, which was what I told everyone, because my father wanted me to be one.
More from Suzanne Vega
View profile →I would have tried to meet Lou Reed backstage. I went to see him for years, and never tried to meet him. Eventually we met at award shows and did become friends.
A death threat at Glastonbury festival in 1989. The police told me not to go on, but I said I had to because I was headlining. So I wore a bullet-proof vest. It seemed unlikely that I would be assassinated, but it was shocking and very stressful.
The most extravagant thing was a bottle of 1904 armagnac for $1,000. I spent $10,000 on a Martin guitar in the 90s. I also spent $100,000 on a Fairlight keyboard and I ended up giving it away. Oh well.
Hormones – other than that, I sleep like a rock.
Something by Leonard Cohen, I haven’t figured out which song yet.
Ten more closets: I am a hoarder.
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