Jack Davenport: 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.

Jack Davenport

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here

About five years ago, a half-tonne tree branch fell and missed me by three feet.

The Q&A, The Guardian, 2 March 2024 source ↗

Others on this question

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Mark Steel

When I had cancer. I was having a shave and thought: “Are you meant to have a big hard lump on one side of your neck?”

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 1 February 2025 source ↗

Robert Peston British journalist

Being driven across the Atlas Mountains in a snowstorm 25 years ago, by a local taxi driver who plainly put a lower premium on the advantages of living than me.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 23 June 2018 source ↗

Bruce Dickinson English heavy metal singer

I’ve been asleep at the wheel on the M11, had an engine fire over the Atlantic in a light aircraft, driven unprotected through an enemy firing zone to do a gig in wartime Sarajevo – the list goes on and on. But I did have stage 3 throat cancer and was cured by some fantastic UK medics.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 20 July 2024 source ↗

Kevin Pietersen English cricketer

Being charged by a white rhino on a walking safari. It came running towards us and I froze, which is the right thing to do. If it had hit us, it would have been goodnight.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 8 June 2019 source ↗