How close have you come to death?

Originally asked

The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A

A recurring Guardian Q&A prompt asked directly across respondents and years.

You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.

Recorded Juliet Stevenson said elsewhere, not written here
Many times on British roads, because I drive very fast. In another life, I would have liked doing Formula One.

The Q&A, The Guardian, 2 May 2026 source ↗

Others on this question

View all 209 →
Clara Amfo Broadcaster
I choked on a hard-boiled lemon sweet when I was 13. My brother Sam saved me.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 29 August 2020 source ↗
Rory Kinnear English actor
I inadvertently rubbed the milky residue of a toxic cactus plant into my eye while filming Women In Love in the desert in Namibia, and my body went into anaphylactic shock as the producer sped me to a clinic 50 miles away.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 12 August 2017 source ↗
As a young man I had a car accident on a foggy night that left the vehicle looking like a squashed box, even though, by some miracle, I walked away unscathed.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 2 November 2024 source ↗
Sara Cox English broadcaster
Modelling in South Korea, aged 19. After a party, I flopped into bed, lit a big candle and balanced it on top of a massive box of matches. I created my own firework display when the candle burnt down and set fire to it. It made the biggest noise ever which, luckily, woke me from my slightly boozy slumber.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 31 August 2019 source ↗

More from Juliet Stevenson

View profile →

More on death & what remains

Also answered this

Julia Ormond, Rose McGowan, Irvine Welsh, Suzanne Vega, Edith Bowman, Seann Walsh

Search the directory for somebody in particular.

Explore further

Report this answer