ET
A horse-riding accident when I was about 15.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 25 May 2024 source ↗
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.
Others on this question
View all 209 →
Andy Serkis
English actor
I made a solo attempt at the Matterhorn in 1996 and came very close to falling. I waited until the dawn light came, so I could retrace my route, but I was hanging off my ice axes for 45 minutes.
Shaun Ryder
English singer
I had a gun shoved in my eyeball in New York by a crack dealer in the 1980s. I have also watched somebody next to me get shot in the head in a gun battle – that was in Jamaica in the early 1990s.
Jo Nesbø
Norwegian writer and musician
Rock climbing in Oslo. During abseiling, I hadn’t tied a knot at the end of the rope and almost slid out. I saw the end of the rope at the last second, so I stopped abseiling.
John Malkovich
Actor
When I was an idiot high school student, as opposed to being an idiot adult, I used to drive very fast.
More from Eleanor Tomlinson
View profile →Narcissism. And people coughing on me in public.
A few of my exes.
Talk to people. Learn from them. And put your phone away.
I’ve never seen Star Wars (I know!) and on my first day of a recent job, I’m sitting next to this very friendly actor. I ask if he has much experience with motion capture. He says, “Yes.” I say “Oh great! What have you worked on?” He says, “I’m Mark Hamill.”
Relief and an achy feeling in your cheeks from smiling.
I’m terrified of time. The people I love are getting older and time seems to be going faster and faster. It’s scary. I’d like it to slow down, please.
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