Richard Coles: 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.

Richard Coles

British musician, writer, presenter and priest

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here

A great composer. I wrote to Benjamin Britten to tell him this and that he was my third favourite composer. For some reason he didn’t feel moved to reply.

The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 10 June 2023 source ↗

Others on this question

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Zack Polanski

I wanted to be in the WWF – the wrestling one, not the wildlife one.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 6 December 2025 source ↗

Liev Schreiber American actor

An elevator operator.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 14 September 2024 source ↗

Lucy Lawless

A criminal pathologist. Then I saw a show called Quincy ME and realised I just wanted to play one on TV.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 30 August 2025 source ↗

Lauren Laverne English radio DJ, and television presenter

I wanted to be like my dad, who was an academic, because he had an office packed full of books, always had loud music on, and seemed to get to do what he wanted.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 5 February 2022 source ↗