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.
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.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 4 April 2026 source ↗
In 2012 I stared into the eyes of someone who had just stabbed a man in the neck on the street. I was trying to help the victim; for a very long three or four seconds, I thought he was going to come for me next.
On a camping holiday in Scotland when I was nine: I was in an inflatable dinghy that drifted out to sea. A lifeboat had to come.
Many times on British roads, because I drive very fast. In another life, I would have liked doing Formula One.
I’m getting closer all the time.
Exultation, fear, quiet comfort and even hate.
I worked on a trawler and I was seasick the whole time.
As a nice guy, but I’m not sure that is going to happen.
Tottenham this season.
When Molde won the Norwegian premier league in 2011, the year the club was 100 years old.
I wanted to play for Tottenham.
Sara Pascoe, Christopher Hitchens, Ian McEwan, Adrian Edmondson, Maggie O'Farrell, Meera Syal
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