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.
A soldier and adventure guy.
The Q&A, The Guardian, 24 January 2026 source ↗
I wanted to perform in some way, but I didn’t think it was viable. Teachers told me I should be a barrister, because I was always arguing with them.
A comedian, and I may have achieved that.
The male Whitney Houston.
A travel agent.
We finally get to be with Jesus, face to face.
Holding the hand of some random lady at an airport who I mistook for my wife, Shara.
It’s all a gift. So be grateful for every day.
Watching the movie Everest.
An apocalypse escape vessel – a steel hull ice-capable sailing boat for all the family that has almost zero electronics and is manual operation throughout – armed with an array of weaponry.
For my dad not to have known our boys.
Gareth Bale, Paul Whitehouse, Andrew O'Hagan, Martin Sheen, Ralph Ineson, Carol Vorderman
Search the directory for somebody in particular.