Toyah Willcox: As a child, what career or life did you imagine for yourself? — FLAPSS

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.

TW

Toyah Willcox

English singer-songwriter, actress and television presenter

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here

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

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

Others on this question

View all 197 →

Sara Pascoe English comedian, presenter, writer

To be looked at.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 28 July 2018 source ↗

A drummer in a famous band or an astronaut.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 23 August 2025 source ↗

Felicity Jones British actress

A magazine editor.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 27 May 2023 source ↗

Kate Mosse English writer

First I wanted to be in the circus, then a tap dancer, then prime minister. I have failed at all three.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 19 March 2022 source ↗

More from Toyah Willcox

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Question What accomplishment matters most to you? Craft & work

Staying sane in a career path that tries endlessly to unnerve you.

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

Question What one change would most improve the quality of your daily life? Daily life

Everyone comes to me for advice, and I wish they didn’t. I negotiate fees for other artists, give advice on property, on food, on clothes, on pensions. I can be standing on a corner in another country and someone will approach me for help.

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

Question How would you want people to remember you? Death & what remains

For winning that elusive Oscar.

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

Question What period or moment in your life brought you the most joy? Time & hindsight

Between 2007 and 2016, I had a large white rabbit called WillyFred. I was happiest pressing my ear to his fur and hearing his heart beat.

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

Question What disappointment has stayed with you longest? Failure & regret

The world doesn’t reward talent, it mostly rewards those who are connected.

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

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Dominic West, Anna Paquin, Oti Mabuse, Ralph Ineson, Katherine Parkinson, Felicity Jones

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