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.
Where do I begin? There have been a lot.
The Q&A, The Guardian, 24 January 2026 source ↗
A piece of scenery fell on my head during Richard II at the Globe theatre in 2019. I was very badly hurt.
Doing a compulsory standup routine in my first week of drama school.
I was nearly hit by an enormous gold-fibreglass cherub in a shopping centre. It fell five storeys and smashed into a thousand pieces about 4ft away from me.
I had a bad heart attack 20 years ago: I think I slid off the mortal coil for about 30 seconds.
It’s all a gift. So be grateful for every day.
Faith-filled, never-give-up man.
A soldier and adventure guy.
I love and admire Julia Roberts, one of our Running Wild guests, for the way she has a few close friends, is loyal to her family, doesn’t believe in all the fame stuff and can laugh at herself.
An apocalypse escape vessel – a steel hull ice-capable sailing boat for all the family that has almost zero electronics and is manual operation throughout – armed with an array of weaponry.
Becoming a father.
Andrea Bocelli, Paapa Essiedu, Adrian Edmondson, Warren Zevon, Louis Theroux, Olivia Williams
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