Joseph Fiennes
English actor
Climbing in Tibet, surfing in Australia and a moment ago by a courgette cutter as I dithered over one of these questions.
How close have you come to death?
Question
What did you want to be when you were growing up?
Identity & self
Question
When were you happiest?
Time & hindsight
Question
What single thing would improve the quality of your life?
Daily life
Question
What is the worst job you have done?
Craft & work
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.
Anna dared me to jump off a cliff in Menorca on holiday a couple of years ago. I did. I fell 30m through the air, hit the water at an odd angle and shattered my coccyx.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 27 October 2018 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 209 →After a significant traumatic experience when I was looking for reasons to stay alive.
John Malkovich
Actor
When I was an idiot high school student, as opposed to being an idiot adult, I used to drive very fast.
Elaine Paige
English singer and actress
One night in Cats, I missed my footing and nearly plunged more than 30ft. As if by magic, the stage manager’s hand appeared and winched me from certain death.
More from Sue Perkins
View profile →An eye surgeon. I had an operation on my cornea when I was little, and remember being deeply enamoured with the team who looked after me. Subsequently, I was very disappointed to learn that a degree of scientific aptitude was required for the job, which ruled me out.
In my 20s, touring small arts centres with my best mate, performing sketch comedy to a handful of people.
Not accepting every dare.
Cleaning toilets in a hotel in Croydon when I was 16. A guest once gave me a half-eaten bag of pistachios as a tip, so there were perks.
More on death & what remains
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- What song would you like played at your funeral? 178 answers
- If you had only one day left to live, how would you spend it — and what would you deliberately avoid doing? 54 answers
- What happens when we die? 51 answers
- What would you like to leave your children? 45 answers
- How would you like to die? 44 answers
Also answered this
Michael Flatley, Christopher Eccleston, Andy Serkis, Martin Sheen, Vanessa Redgrave, Ed Harris
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- All death & what remains questions
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