Mo Farah: 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 Mo Farah said elsewhere, not written here

A mechanic when I was a little kid, and then, when I came to the UK, I wanted to play professional football.

The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 27 April 2019 source ↗

Others on this question

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Toyah Willcox English singer-songwriter, actress and television presenter

A man. I have always fought against being gender specific. I just don’t like being identified as female: I’m a person.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 13 April 2019 source ↗

Lauren Laverne English radio DJ, and television presenter

I wanted to be like my dad, who was an academic, because he had an office packed full of books, always had loud music on, and seemed to get to do what he wanted.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 5 February 2022 source ↗

Shinya Yamanaka Stem cell biologist; Nobel laureate in Physiology or Medicine, 2012

I was born in Osaka, Japan. It was 45 years ago. My father has a small factory in Osaka, and we lived next to his factory

Recorded Academy of Achievement interviewer, Academy of Achievement interview, 2008 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 ↗