Floella Benjamin
British actress, presenter, and peer
A teacher. Teachers can change lives.
What did you want to be when you were growing up?
Question
What is your greatest fear?
Identity & self
Question
What is the worst job you have done?
Craft & work
Question
Which moment embarrassed you most?
Failure & regret
Question
Which trait do you most dislike in yourself?
Identity & self
Question
What single thing would improve the quality of your life?
Daily life
Question
What is the most important lesson life has taught you?
Time & hindsight
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.
In African families, you can be one of three things: a doctor, a lawyer or a failure. I wanted to be an Egyptologist, but things worked out in the end.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 24 December 2022 source ↗
Others on this question
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Michael Stipe
American singer
Archaeologist, pop star, store cashier.
Ronnie Wood
English rock musician
An artist travelling and playing with the Stones.
James Blunt
Singer, songwriter and musician
A lawyer. I did work experience and was sent to the public gallery at the high court. The man in the dock was a 50-year-old accused of buggering a cat on the Metropolitan line. I decided to become a musician instead.
More from Edward Enninful
View profile →When I get to the restaurant and don’t see any hot sauce on the table.
A shoot with a showbusiness icon who I’d loved all my life and shall remain nameless. She walked into the room and immediately said she hated everything. Things went downhill from there. Rough day.
When my trousers nearly fell down at Buckingham Palace. I was there to collect my OBE, and the suspenders for the beautiful Alexander McQueen suit I’d had made for the occasion went missing. Naomi Campbell was with me and we had a good laugh about it.
Impatience. Though sometimes it helps!
The ability to teleport. I’d be unstoppable.Would you rather have more sex, money or fame? More than those, I’d like more time.
That there is no ideal life. Disappointments sit around every corner, so enjoy the here and now.
More on identity & self
Also answered this
Anna Paquin, Adrian Edmondson, Niamh Cusack, Richard Coles, Rosanna Arquette, Olivia Williams
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- All identity & self questions
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