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When I rode on the back of a motorbike from London to Rome with my eyes closed the entire way.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 7 September 2019 source ↗
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.
Others on this question
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Edwina Currie
Former British politician, broadcaster and writer
Brighton, 1984. I was in another hotel just a few yards away.
Bryn Terfel
Welsh bass-baritone singer
In 2006, I went fishing for red snapper in the Gulf of Mexico. On the way back, one of the engines caught fire and then we had one engine for 70 miles. Slowly but surely, we got to Baton Rouge in the darkness but then got very close to a very large passing ship – they didn’t see us and we didn’t see them.
Kim Gordon
American musician and artist
When I was little, I took a bunch of pills out of the cabinet because I was bored, when I was supposed to be taking a nap. I had to have my stomach pumped.
Warren Zevon
Songwriter and musician
This is a lot harder for you than it is for me. If you had gone to bed as many nights as I did in the old days knowing that you had taken so much stuff that could kill you and not knowing if you would wake up, this is not as shocking as you think.
More from Sandy Powell
View profile →To be getting paid for doing something I love.
A daily massage.
Not meeting David Bowie, but then they say it’s best not to meet your heroes.
My friend [art director] Simon Costin who, in 35 years, I’ve never once seen in a bad mood.
Coffee, which is why I’ve given it up.
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