Five to 10, when I was just playing out and I didn’t realise I was a girl. Before my boobs came in, basically.
When were you happiest?
Question
What did you want to be when you were growing up?
Identity & self
Question
If you could edit your past, what would you change?
Failure & regret
Question
What is the worst job you have done?
Craft & work
Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
Asked in 52 of the 131 consecutive instalments of The Guardian's The Q&A harvested on 2026-08-29.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
When my son was about three years old and I was working at the National Theatre. I remember cycling from Twickenham, and thinking, “This is the golden age: I’ll never be happier or more content than this.”
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 29 February 2020 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 576 →
Kirsty Young
Scottish television radio presenter
Running down a hill in midsummer sunshine aged eight, singing ELO's Mr Blue Sky.
Matt Goss
English singer-songwriter
At 37 Crawford Road in Camberwell, London. My mother had separated from my father and we had nothing, but I remember roast potatoes, twopence in the gas meter and music. It was the only time in my life when I felt at home.
Sinéad O'Connor
Irish singer and songwriter
When I am performing, and when my kids make musical mayhem.
More from Paterson Joseph
View profile →A private detective.
I wouldn’t live so long in France. After eight years, I came back to London.
Pressing uniforms in a laundry. I was 14. I lied about my age and said I was 16, even though I probably looked about 12.
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