A radio journalist or on the till at Marks & Spencer.
What did you want to be when you were growing up?
Question
What happens when we die?
Death & what remains
Question
What is the worst job you have done?
Craft & work
Question
What scares you about getting older?
Time & hindsight
Question
Who most deserves an apology from you, and why?
Failure & regret
Question
How would you describe yourself in three words?
Identity & self
Question
What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Values & belief
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.
I wanted to be in the circus.
The Q&A, The Guardian, 23 December 2023 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 195 →
Harriet Walter
English actress
An actor. When I was really young, I wanted to be a fishmonger’s wife.
Kim Wilde
English pop singer
A pop star: I loved music from a very young age.
A foreign correspondent.
More from Kate Humble
View profile →The worms get to feast.
I lived in Cape Town, and I was spotted on the street and signed up by a modelling agency. I did about three shoots before I realised I hate having my photograph taken and I like food.
Not feeling old but everyone treating you that way.
My husband, Ludo, for not really getting why war movies are fun to watch.
Scruffy, infuriating and kind.
People having really loud conversations on their phones in public places.
More on identity & self
Also answered this
Roger McGough, Jess Phillips, Marie Kondo, Fearne Cotton, Eleanor Tomlinson, Angela Hartnett
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