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.

Alain de Botton

Writer and philosopher; founder of The School of Life

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here
At 12, I wanted to be an architect, at 18, a writer, and now, at forty, an architect again. I’m powerfully drawn to everything related to building, but I also love ideas. These are my two passions.

John Purcell, Ten Terrifying Questions, The Booktopian, 6 February 2012 source ↗

Others on this question

View all 233 →
Fearne Cotton
An air steward, because I loved airports. I wrote a letter to British Airways when I was seven and I’ve got the reply in the loft, which says, “You’re a bit young at seven but do stay in touch.” I was that kind of kid who was eager to start the ball rolling.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 7 March 2026 source ↗
Kate Mosse English writer
First I wanted to be in the circus, then a tap dancer, then prime minister. I have failed at all three.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 19 March 2022 source ↗
Pete Rozelle Commissioner of the National Football League, 1960–1989
No, I wanted to be sports editor of the Los Angeles Times. That was my goal.
Recorded Rancho Santa Fe, California, Academy of Achievement, 15 May 1991 source ↗

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David Hare, Margaret Atwood, J.K. Rowling, Kate Mosse, Jack Whitehall, Shirley MacLaine

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