Edwina Currie: How close have you come to dying?

The question

How close have you come to dying?

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.

Edwina Currie

Former British politician, broadcaster and writer

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here

Brighton, 1984. I was in another hotel just a few yards away.

The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 17 June 2017 source ↗

Others on this question

View all 209 →

Michael Flatley American step dancer

My recent battle with cancer.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 10 August 2024 source ↗

Kim Wilde English pop singer

When I was three and had meningitis.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 3 August 2019 source ↗

Noel Clarke English actor and filmmaker

A car crash in the Utah mountains in 2005. We were driving from Arizona to Salt Lake City to go to a basketball game and the car slipped on black ice and we skidded off the motorway, flipped over and rolled down a ravine. The police officer said it was the worst accident he’d seen in 18 years when nobody died.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 3 April 2021 source ↗

John Malkovich Actor

When I was an idiot high school student, as opposed to being an idiot adult, I used to drive very fast.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 10 March 2018 source ↗

More from Edwina Currie

View profile →

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

Not becoming chancellor.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 17 June 2017 source ↗

Question What accomplishment matters most to you? Craft & work

As health minister, I brought in breast and cervical cancer screening. And in 1994 I called the first debate on gay rights for a quarter-century and we got the age of consent down to 18. There are pubs in Brighton where I still can’t pay for a drink.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 17 June 2017 source ↗