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 Q&A, The Guardian, 7 March 2026 source ↗
J-Lo, a foreign correspondent and, at uni, I assumed that someone would tap me on the shoulder and ask me to be in MI6, but it never happened.
I only ever wanted to be Barbra Streisand. I probably still do.
A ballet dancer, and for a while I wanted to teach children with Down’s syndrome.
For me, it was just a thrill. I just remember thinking at that time, this is the sort of thing I would like to do, if I could. I did not come from a family of scientists. My father was a lawyer, my older brother was a lawyer.
The more you face shame and stare it in the eyes and talk about it, the less potent it is.
Eager to learn.
People have said, “I wish you would die.” That’s the stark truth of being in the public eye – people dehumanise you and say ghastly things.
Picking myself back up after very tricky times and trying again.
On radio, I once said “anal” instead of “angel”.
Impatience. I’m not very good at waiting around or dealing with things that aren’t moving at a pace that I want them to.
Martin Sheen, Ralph Ineson, Carol Vorderman, Shaun Ryder, David Gandy, John Malkovich
Search the directory for somebody in particular.