How close have you come to death?

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.

Recorded Gemma Chan said elsewhere, not written here
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.

The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 11 August 2018 source ↗

Others on this question

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I had some gynaecological issues that were very sudden, about 18 months ago, and felt that I might be dying. I wasn’t but it was quite serious.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 29 November 2025 source ↗
Being about nine metres away from a polar bear. In northern Canada, a young polar bear was very intrigued by our food. I was flying the drone at the time and the polar bear looked up and started paying attention, so then we flew the drone further away and he followed it while we got into our vehicles.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 30 September 2023 source ↗
Paul Heaton British musician
Again, too many times to mention, but probably being swung from the balcony at the top of the Columbia hotel in London by the bodyguard of a Saudi Arabian princess was fairly close.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 2 May 2020 source ↗
Edwina Currie Former British politician, broadcaster and writer
Brighton, 1984. I was in another hotel just a few yards away.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 17 June 2017 source ↗

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