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.
Twice I should have died in car accidents when both my cars were written off. I was completely unhurt; the cello was completely unhurt, too. A complete miracle.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 15 July 2023 source ↗
When my first husband died, because it felt like my life was over, and it was challenging to keep in life at the time.
In the early 90s, in the Andes, caught in an atrocious storm above 20,000ft with three others. We were all in a very bad way. Some guys close to us perished; we were lucky.
I’m convinced heartache almost killed me a few years ago.
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.
Seeing Leyton Orient in the premiership.
A detective, a train driver on the underground and Leyton Orient’s centre forward.
Frightening, exhilarating and all-consuming.
Our beautiful cat was so ill that we were hours away from having her put down. Somehow, we’ve managed to nurse her back to full health again.
When the surgeon told me I wouldn’t be able to play the cello again, in 2013. I have a herniated disc and it’s pressing on a nerve in my neck. I announced I was stopping playing in 2014. I absolutely did not want to stop.
My cello. At the time, in 1983, it was £192,500.
Noah Harari, Tom Lubbock, Scott Mills, Elaine Paige, Adeel Akhtar, Paul O'Grady
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