MS
Archaeologist, pop star, store cashier.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 11 January 2020 source ↗
The question
What did you want to be when you were growing up?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 235 →I was a huge daydreamer and imagined myself as a successful general leading his troops into battle.
Ardal O'Hanlon
Irish comedian and actor
I always feel stand-up is a great outlet for people who don’t have any discernible talent in music or sport or sculpture or whatever. It’s a great medium for chancers.
Shaun Ryder
English singer
In 1975, I watched the film Stardust, and Adam Faith said, “I supply the birds, the pills and the pot.” And I thought, “I want that.”
Sounds cliched, but I always wanted to be an actor.
More from Michael Stipe
View profile →Deciding what I wanted to do at 15 and, against all odds, doing it.
Can I say: maybe tomorrow?
A page from Jim Morrison’s final notebook – I bought it as a birthday gift for a friend.
Heady, dizzying, magical. Time stops.
A sustainable future for all. I could finally stop worrying.
As kind, unafraid and boldly vulnerable – and immensely talented, like, mega supernova level. And super hot. And tall. With great skin.
More on identity & self
Also answered this
Julie Andrews, Father John Misty, Marc Almond, Joan Jett, Julian Lennon, Engelbert Humperdinck
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