Mark Radcliffe: What is the worst job you have ever had?

The question

What is the worst job you have ever had?

Originally asked

The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A

The Guardian's long-running Q&A repeatedly asks this standing question, with minor tense variation.

You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.

Mark Radcliffe

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here

Working in a bottle factory, which lasted one day, and the Radio 1 breakfast show.

The Q&A, The Guardian, 23 August 2025 source ↗

Others on this question

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Joanna Scanlan British actress and writer

At the BBC, in the old days, a piece of paper was sent to various households for them to report on what they’d watched that week. In my early 20s, I collated the data. It was deeply boring.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 31 March 2018 source ↗

Irvine Welsh Scottish novelist

Laying down slabs for the council.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 24 December 2016 source ↗

Carol Vorderman

Living in a campervan for a week with Timmy Mallett for a children’s TV show about 40 years ago.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 21 March 2026 source ↗

Charles Dance British actor

Treating a flock of sheep for foot rot when I was a farm labourer.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 30 November 2024 source ↗