Richard Coles: 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.

Richard Coles

British musician, writer, presenter and priest

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here

A great composer. I wrote to Benjamin Britten to tell him this and that he was my third favourite composer. For some reason he didn’t feel moved to reply.

The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 10 June 2023 source ↗

Others on this question

View all 197 →

Julian Lennon English musician, photographer, and philanthropist

A steam train driver.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 3 September 2022 source ↗

Rosanna Arquette American actress

A ballet dancer, and for a while I wanted to teach children with Down’s syndrome.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 7 August 2021 source ↗

Michael Stipe American singer

Archaeologist, pop star, store cashier.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 11 January 2020 source ↗

Bear Grylls

A soldier and adventure guy.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 24 January 2026 source ↗