Louis Walsh: What did you want to be when you were growing up?

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.

Recorded Louis Walsh said elsewhere, not written here

I just wanted to work in music. I didn’t want a real job.

The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 2 September 2017 source ↗

Others on this question

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Viv Albertine Australian-born British musician and writer

I had no female role models growing up. I lived an incredibly sheltered life: there was no TV at home and we had no visitors. It wasn’t until rock and pop came into my life that I concocted myself as a role model.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 10 October 2020 source ↗

Ivan Lendl Czech and American tennis player

I always wanted to play tennis. Otherwise, I always thought it would be fun to do something in mathematics or physics.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 15 July 2017 source ↗

Mark Radcliffe

A drummer in a famous band or an astronaut.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 23 August 2025 source ↗

Marie Kondo Japanese organizing consultant, author, and television show host

Housewife and mother of three, which I am now.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 8 January 2022 source ↗