Hamza Yassin: How close have you come to dying?

The question

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 said elsewhere, not written here

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.

The Q&A, The Guardian, 30 September 2023 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 ↗

Laurence Fox English actor and activist

A motorbike crash. I broke my shoulder and ribs and was so scared I didn’t ride for two years.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 14 December 2019 source ↗

Kathy Lette Australian-British author

Hitchhiking across Australia as a teenager, relying on the kindness of passing serial killers.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 22 June 2024 source ↗

Justin Hawkins

A flight from Paraguay to South Africa that went badly wrong. The plane nearly fell out of the sky and the oxygen masks dropped. People were screaming but the pilot saved the day, and then apparently never flew again.

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