Roger Allam
English actor
When I was a child, it was a bus driver or engine driver; then, when I was a teenager, I went to the theatre and wanted to be an actor.
What did you want to be when you were growing up?
Question
What made you decide to stop something you were known for, and how did you know it was time?
Time & hindsight
Question
What has been your biggest disappointment?
Failure & regret
Question
What is something everyone in your world agrees about that you think is wrong?
Values & belief
Question
Which living person do you most admire, and why?
Values & belief
Question
What does love feel like?
Relationships
Question
What single thing would improve the quality of your life?
Daily life
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.
A veterinarian.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 30 January 2021 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 191 →
Kim Wilde
English pop singer
A pop star: I loved music from a very young age.
Brendan Gleeson
Irish actor and director
Huckleberry Finn.
Billy Porter
American actor and singer
The male Whitney Houston.
More from Serena Williams
View profile →I have never liked the word retirement. It doesn't feel like a modern word to me. I've been thinking of this as a transition, but I want to be sensitive about how I use that word, which means something very specific and important to a community of people. Maybe the best word to describe what I'm up to is evolution. I'm here to tell you that I'm evolving away from tennis, toward other things that are important to me.
Any lost match is, of course, disappointing, but every loss is a lesson to be learned.
I never wanted to have to choose between tennis and a family. I don't think it's fair. If I were a guy, I wouldn't be writing this because I'd be out there playing and winning while my wife was doing the physical labor of expanding our family.
My mom and dad. They always encouraged me to keep spiritual things first.
Like you can do anything.
Taking time every day to read the Bible.
More on identity & self
Also answered this · A–Z
Adam Clayton, Adrian Edmondson, Adwoa Aboah, Aidan Gillen, Alex Hassell, Alison Moyet
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