Dawn O'Porter: As a child, what career or life did you imagine for yourself? — FLAPSS

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.

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Dawn O'Porter

British writer, director, and television presenter

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here

A drunk woman who threw epic dinner parties.

The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 15 August 2026 source ↗

Others on this question

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Jack Whitehall English comedian, actor, presenter and writer

I was hellbent on being a Thunderbird. I was devastated when my parents finally told me it was a fictional organisation. Ruined my 18th.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 29 April 2023 source ↗

Hayley Atwell British American actress

An adult, as quickly as possible. I wasn’t built for the psychological warfare of the playground.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 15 December 2018 source ↗

Hayley Squires English actress and playwright

I wanted my own ice-cream van and to be a lollipop lady.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 25 April 2020 source ↗

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

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

More from Dawn O'Porter

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Question What disappointment has stayed with you longest? Failure & regret

Not winning Celebrity MasterChef. I am still gutted, despite many months of pretending to be fine with it.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 15 August 2026 source ↗

Question Who alive today do you admire most, and what draws you to them? Values & belief

My Auntie Jane. She took me in, aged 10, and, after my mother died, healed my broken heart by filling our dining room with food and people. Still cooking at the grand old age of 89. My icon.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 15 August 2026 source ↗

Question What thought won't let you sleep? Daily life

Perimenopausal anxiety, the terrible feeling of impending doom, something awful happening to my children, writing deadlines. Apart from that, I’m quite chilled.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 15 August 2026 source ↗

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