AO
Most days, I wanted to be Albrecht in the classical ballet Giselle, dancing until I dropped dead.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 25 July 2026 source ↗
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.
Others on this question
View all 197 →
Anne Enright
Novelist and short-story writer
When I was seven I wanted to be a nun. When I was eight, I wanted to be a boy so that I could be anything I wanted. Also, of course, I wanted to be Samantha in Bewitched.
Vick Hope
British television and radio presenter
J-Lo, a foreign correspondent and, at uni, I assumed that someone would tap me on the shoulder and ask me to be in MI6, but it never happened.
Nish Kumar
British stand-up comedian and presenter
Something in comedy. It was either this or Jimi Hendrix.
Professional footballer for Tottenham, or train driver.
More from Andrew O'Hagan
View profile →Like getting out of the right side of the bed every morning, even when you don’t.
As a good friend.
The internet. Such potential for good and for levelling up the world, but such a quagmire in reality.
For world capitalism to grind to a halt.
More on identity & self
- What do you fear most? 256 answers
- Which trait in yourself do you like least? 239 answers
- What most recently moved you to tears? 192 answers
- What does happiness look like for you when life is going well? 158 answers
- How would you sum yourself up in three words? 114 answers
- What fills you with the most pride? 103 answers
Also answered this
Dawn O'Porter, Hayley Squires, Anne Enright, Shirley MacLaine, Richard Coles, Adrian Edmondson
Search the directory for somebody in particular.
Explore further
- All identity & self questions
- The The Q&A questionnaire — 25 questions from the same format
- Explore the archive — by field, age, era, and subject