A hairdresser through the week and a star on the weekends.
What did you want to be when you were growing up?
Question
Aside from a property, what is the most expensive thing you have bought?
Money & investment
Question
Which trait do you most dislike in yourself?
Identity & self
Question
What happens when we die?
Death & what remains
Question
What is the worst thing anyone has said to you?
Failure & regret
Question
How would you describe yourself in three words?
Identity & self
Question
What scares you about getting older?
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.
Composer, pirate, scientist, philosopher.
The Q&A, The Guardian, 11 July 2026 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 195 →
Paul O'Grady
British comedian, actor and television presenter
To work in a dry cleaner’s.
A ballet dancer.
Olivia Williams
British actress
My mother says I had a plan to be a farmer’s wife and a violinist, going to concerts at the Royal Albert Hall in my tractor.
More from Ben Okri
View profile →A Dalí painting.
Worrying at things.
We don’t die. We change realms. Life is eternal. Living is not. Live while you are alive.
“You don’t stand a chance of succeeding as a writer in this country. The demographics are against you.” They were wrong. The only demographic that counts is the human heart.
Alchemy. Love. Resilience.
Not being there for my daughter.
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