Andrew O’Hagan: As a child, what career or life did you imagine for yourself?

The question

As a child, what career or life did you imagine for yourself?

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.

Andrew O’Hagan

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here

Most days, I wanted to be Albrecht in the classical ballet Giselle, dancing until I dropped dead.

The Q&A, The Guardian, 25 July 2026 source ↗

Others on this question

View all 197 →

Shirley MacLaine American actress and author

At three, I knew I was too tall to be a ballerina, so that wasn’t going to happen.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 8 July 2017 source ↗

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 ↗

Adam Clayton

A comedian, and I may have achieved that.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 7 December 2024 source ↗

Martin Kemp English musician and actor

I wanted to play for Arsenal. When I have a kick-around with my boy, I still feel as if someone’s going to spot me.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 14 July 2018 source ↗

More from Andrew O’Hagan

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Question What is the harshest thing anyone has said to you? Failure & regret

Somebody once told me I was the spitting image of David Cameron.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 25 July 2026 source ↗

Question When did you last change your mind about something important? Change of mind

The other day, when I decided that maybe I had been too harsh on mid-period Sting.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 25 July 2026 source ↗

Question When were you most embarrassed? Failure & regret

My first holy communion, where my trousers were too big for me and fell down, a circumstance which earned me both the instant contempt of the girls and the heightened interest of the priests. That’s just how it was in 1975.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 25 July 2026 source ↗