Andrea Bocelli: As a child, what career or life did you imagine for yourself?

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.

Andrea Bocelli

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here

A singer. I wanted to live off music ever since I was a child – a wish that came true when I was over 35 years old.

The Q&A, The Guardian, 2 November 2024 source ↗

Others on this question

View all 197 →

Chris Hoy British track cyclist, 1994–2013

Scotland’s rugby captain. My hero Gavin Hastings was captain when he came to our school for a training session when I was 10 or 11. I met him and was blown away.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 10 February 2018 source ↗

Mario Molina Atmospheric chemist; Nobel laureate in Chemistry, 1995

For me, it was just a thrill. I just remember thinking at that time, this is the sort of thing I would like to do, if I could. I did not come from a family of scientists. My father was a lawyer, my older brother was a lawyer.

Recorded Academy of Achievement interview, Sun Valley, Idaho, 29 June 1996 source ↗

Gino D'Acampo Italian-British celebrity chef and media personality

I wanted to be a footballer at first, like any other Neapolitan kid.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 3 December 2022 source ↗

Frank Bowling

A detective. Or a writer. Or a poet.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 20 June 2026 source ↗