Mathew Horne: 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 Mathew Horne said elsewhere, not written here

Last Christmas I was clipped by a train. Mum was dying so my head was elsewhere. I was walking home and had to cross one of those crossings that say, “Stop, look and listen.” I didn’t do any of those things, and I had my headphones in so I couldn’t even hear the train. It clipped my left elbow.

The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 21 December 2019 source ↗

Others on this question

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Sadiq Khan Mayor of London since 2016

When I was a kid in Tooting, our house caught fire. We didn’t realise until the fire brigade turned up.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 24 September 2016 source ↗

Rick Astley Singer, songwriter and radio presenter

In the 1990s in New Jersey, being driven to a radio station early one morning. Our driver fell asleep and we were on the other side of a dual carriageway with cars coming at us. We all screamed and banged on the seat, and he woke up and pulled the car back across.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 20 October 2018 source ↗

Tess Daly English television presenter

On a motorway three years ago. An HGV hadn’t seen me and pulled out. My father-in-law’s a truck driver and he said black cars are not very visible. I don’t drive them any more.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 17 December 2016 source ↗

Ronnie Wood English rock musician