DG
I wanted to be in the army or a spy in the intelligence service.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 27 July 2024 source ↗
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.
Others on this question
View all 197 →
Julian Lloyd Webber
British cellist and conductor
A detective, a train driver on the underground and Leyton Orient’s centre forward.
I remember really wanting to go into space. I liked the idea of flying.
Johanna Konta
British tennis player
When I was five, I wanted to be a cleaning lady; when I was nine, I wanted to be the world’s number one tennis player.
Madhur Jaffrey
Actress, cook, and TV host
A doctor, a painter, an actress.
More from Daphne Guinness
View profile →My trust in other people. I am rigorously honest.
Aggression without provocation or consequences.
Discipline. Also to have a goal, however small and whatever it may be.
As a force for good and a champion of the underdog.
Poetry. I start getting into a float state, and write stanzas and couplets in the middle of the night.
Great. It feels wonderful – like a firework going off in your stomach.
More on identity & self
- What do you fear most? 256 answers
- Which trait in yourself do you like least? 239 answers
- What most recently moved you to tears? 192 answers
- What does happiness look like for you when life is going well? 158 answers
- How would you sum yourself up in three words? 114 answers
- What fills you with the most pride? 103 answers
Also answered this
Samuel West, Dawn O’Porter, Frank Bowling, Engelbert Humperdinck, Philippa Dunne, Stockard Channing
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