Jon Snow: 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.

Jon Snow

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here

When interviewing Idi Amin of Uganda in 1975, he shouted: “We have ways of dealing with people like you.”

The Q&A, The Guardian, 9 March 2024 source ↗

Others on this question

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Terry O'Neill British photographer

I was invited to Sharon Tate’s house the night she was murdered. I declined the invite due to jetlag.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 28 January 2017 source ↗

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.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 4 April 2026 source ↗

Vanessa Redgrave British actress and activist

In April 2015 I nearly died, as my heart was finding it too difficult to keep my smoke-destroyed lungs going.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 15 September 2018 source ↗

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.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 1 July 2017 source ↗