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.
An air traffic controller.
The Q&A, The Guardian, 22 February 2025 source ↗
A missionary in Africa – I think that was Sunday school-based.
I already had a career when I was growing up.
I only ever wanted to be an actor or a rock star. I was suspended from school in the sixth form and allowed back only when I promised to join the army. But I lied.
A paediatrician, then I was like, I can’t dissect frogs! Then I fell in love with making things and understanding how things work.
Analytical, extreme and playful.
Happy Day by Sarkodie. I’m half Ghanaian, and in Ghana funerals really are a celebration of life. You dance and sing; it’s just a completely different vibe to over here in the UK. I would hope at my funeral that everyone’s on their feet, having a good time.
A sense of what really matters.
Working on myself. I’m a work in progress to the end.
“Oh, she giggled, didn’t she?”
That I didn’t appreciate the smaller joys in life.
Sara Pascoe, Nick Grimshaw, Louis Walsh, Shirley Manson, Bertie Carvel, Kate Mosse
Search the directory for somebody in particular.