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.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 1 July 2023 source ↗
When I was growing up I wanted to be a minister. I wanted to preach.
I wanted to race cars.
At the end he asked me if I would like to go into the Army. I thought it would be splendid to command an Army, so I said 'Yes' at once: and immediately I was taken at my word. ... I was told later that he had only come to the conclusion that I was not clever enough to go to the Bar. However that may be, the toy soldiers turned the current of my life.
A private detective.
Never be rigid in your thinking, be open.
I hope the happiest moment is still ahead of me.
Actors live in a constant state of disappointment. I’ll never be happy with what I’ve done.
Not being able to breathe – I get very panicky at the thought.
I talk over people all the time.
Eight or nine years ago, I disgraced myself in the Japanese ambassador’s home in Dublin, at a celebration for my late mother-in-law’s book about living in Japan. Afterwards, when I had to apologise, she told me it was the worst night of her life and, because I was drunk enough not to remember the details, it will never not be the most embarrassing night of my life. People are filling in details even now – “Remember when you fell under the table during the first course?”
Paul O'Grady, Shirley Ballas, Joss Stone, Julia Ormond, Rose McGowan, Melissa McCarthy
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