196 answers answered between 1930 and 2026 one of 25 in The Q&A
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.
Public figures who have answered a question like this elsewhere. Quoted from the source shown, not written for FLAPSS.
And all the while I was growing up, of course, there were just constant conversations about money and money being tight and how are we going to make ends meet and sometimes not having enough money. And it really just made me committed to living a life with much more financial security.
I always wanted to be a singer, but I also wanted to be a doctor. I almost got there: I did four years and got my neuroscience BSc.
Genuinely, the host of Radio 1’s Breakfast Show.
A vet, but I wasn’t smart enough.
A librarian. Or a racing driver for Ferrari F1.
Jobs that I saw on television, until I realised they were all played by actors – then I wanted to be an actor.
I always wanted to be a singer.
The prime minister.
To be looked at.
An adult, as quickly as possible. I wasn’t built for the psychological warfare of the playground.
Something in comedy. It was either this or Jimi Hendrix.
I told my mum I wanted to be a swan.
An actor – that’s all I’ve ever wanted to do. I went to stage school when I was 13.
I was fidgety and clueless for a long time.
A mechanic when I was a little kid, and then, when I came to the UK, I wanted to play professional football.
A pilot or a ranger in the bush.
I already had a career when I was growing up.
Many things. I remember wanting to be a vet, a ballet dancer and a hairdresser.
I wanted my own ice-cream van and to be a lollipop lady.
A fishmonger, then a surgeon.