Shirley Manson: 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 Shirley Manson said elsewhere, not written here

A ballerina. I remain rather disappointed that I became a rock star instead.

The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 14 May 2022 source ↗

Others on this question

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Desmond Tutu Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town; chair of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission; Nobel Peace Prize, 1984

I know that for a very long time my consuming passion, which was confirmed when I contracted TB — I had TB when I was about 12 or so — was I wanted to be a physician and when I got TB I was even more determined. I want to be physician so that I can find a cure for the scourge. And, in fact, I was admitted to medical school. If we had had the funds maybe today I would have been a physician.

Recorded Academy of Achievement interview source ↗

Jack Whitehall English comedian, actor, presenter and writer

I was hellbent on being a Thunderbird. I was devastated when my parents finally told me it was a fictional organisation. Ruined my 18th.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 29 April 2023 source ↗

Ronnie Wood English rock musician

An artist travelling and playing with the Stones.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 16 September 2017 source ↗

Samuel West British actor, theatre director, and narrator

A DJ. I still do.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 24 October 2020 source ↗