An actor. I watched a lot of TV because we lived in the countryside and the weather was so bad.
What did you want to be when you were growing up?
Question
Which moment embarrassed you most?
Failure & regret
Question
What single thing would improve the quality of your life?
Daily life
Question
What is the worst job you have done?
Craft & work
Question
What is the most important lesson life has taught you?
Time & hindsight
Question
What is the worst thing anyone has said to you?
Failure & regret
Question
Which trait do you most dislike in yourself?
Identity & self
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.
In African families, you can be one of three things: a doctor, a lawyer or a failure. I wanted to be an Egyptologist, but things worked out in the end.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 24 December 2022 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 195 →
Gregg Wallace
English broadcaster and writer
A sailor. I wanted to be in the Royal Navy like my grandad.
I wanted to be a doctor, like my father.
Anna Paquin
New Zealand actress
I already had a career when I was growing up.
More from Edward Enninful
View profile →When my trousers nearly fell down at Buckingham Palace. I was there to collect my OBE, and the suspenders for the beautiful Alexander McQueen suit I’d had made for the occasion went missing. Naomi Campbell was with me and we had a good laugh about it.
The ability to teleport. I’d be unstoppable.Would you rather have more sex, money or fame? More than those, I’d like more time.
A shoot with a showbusiness icon who I’d loved all my life and shall remain nameless. She walked into the room and immediately said she hated everything. Things went downhill from there. Rough day.
That there is no ideal life. Disappointments sit around every corner, so enjoy the here and now.
Any time I’ve been racially profiled. The words might be different, but the feeling is the same.
Impatience. Though sometimes it helps!
More on identity & self
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Anna Paquin, Adrian Edmondson, Niamh Cusack, Richard Coles, Rosanna Arquette, Olivia Williams
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