Albie Sachs: What did you want to be when you were growing up?

The question

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.

Albie Sachs

Anti-apartheid lawyer; Justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here

I’d say, “I’m going to be a doctor.” I don’t know why I changed. I know my dad had something to do with it.

Interview, Cape Town, South Africa, American Academy of Achievement, 3 July 2009 source ↗

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Ivan Lendl Czech and American tennis player

I always wanted to play tennis. Otherwise, I always thought it would be fun to do something in mathematics or physics.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 15 July 2017 source ↗

Jacqueline Novogratz Founder and chief executive of Acumen

I think I did always want to change the world from the time I was six. And I guess that was part of both the positive and the pressure.

Recorded Tim Ferriss, The Tim Ferriss Show, 6 May 2021 source ↗

Gareth Bale Welsh footballer

I just wanted to fulfil my potential.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 21 August 2021 source ↗

Chris Bonington

I was a huge daydreamer and imagined myself as a successful general leading his troops into battle.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 22 March 2025 source ↗

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Question What is the hardest thing that has happened to you, and what did you carry out of it? Failure & regret

And into the darkness I said, “What happened?” and a woman’s voice said, “It was a car bomb,” and I collapsed into darkness again, but with a sense of euphoria. I’d survived.

Recorded Academy of Achievement interview, 3 July 2009 source ↗

Question What single thing would improve the quality of your life? Daily life

I would love to see more joy and fun and laughter and dance and expressiveness. People are very timid.

Recorded Interview, Cape Town, South Africa, American Academy of Achievement, 3 July 2009 source ↗

Question Which teacher, parent, coach or friend most made you who you are, and what did you learn from them? Relationships

I was part of a very big ANC team, and I worked very, very closely with Oliver Tambo, who was the president of the ANC in exile, who had an enormous influence in my life.

Recorded Interview, Cape Town, South Africa, American Academy of Achievement, 3 July 2009 source ↗

Question Do you rely on inspiration or discipline to make work? Craft & work

Monday to Friday, very, very industriously from ten in the morning ’til about six in the evening, I just sat and wrote, and revised and revised, and wrote.

Recorded Interview, Cape Town, South Africa, American Academy of Achievement, 3 July 2009 source ↗

Question Which writers or artists most influenced your work? Taste & recommendation

It’s art that influenced me while I was in exile – Dumile Feni’s work.

Recorded Lee Tankle, SA Jewish Report, 26 February 2026 source ↗

Question Which living person do you most admire, and why? Values & belief

I think of two great personalities who were locked up in the prison where we’ve now built the Constitutional Court: Gandhi and Mandela.

Recorded Interview, Cape Town, South Africa, American Academy of Achievement, 3 July 2009 source ↗

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