Courtney Pine: 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 Courtney Pine said elsewhere, not written here

We were doing a tour in Japan and as our plane landed, it rose again, out of the blue. About 10 years later there was this programme about 10 of the nearest misses, and it was my flight. There was another plane on the runway and we nearly landed on top of it. I didn’t know until 10 years later.

The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 24 September 2022 source ↗

Others on this question

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Madhur Jaffrey Actress, cook, and TV host

It’s nearly happened twice, each time after an operation.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 27 February 2021 source ↗

Mike Skinner English rapper

We used to have one of those gat guns that shot pellets. My friend pretty much had the thing at point-blank range to my temple. It popped out and completed its trajectory about a millimetre from my head.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 24 January 2009 source ↗

Kate Nash British musician

I had heart surgery when I was 17. The other time was when I fell off my piano. My head was an inch away from a metal step.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 25 May 2019 source ↗

Roger Ebert Film critic

One of these days I will encounter what Henry James called on his deathbed “the distinguished thing.” I will not be conscious of the moment of passing. In this life I have already been declared dead. It wasn’t so bad. After the first ruptured artery, the doctors thought I was finished. My wife, Chaz, said she sensed that I was still alive and was communicating to her that I wasn’t finished yet. She said our hearts were beating in unison, although my heartbeat couldn’t be discovered. She told the doctors I was alive, they did what doctors do, and here I am, alive.

Recorded Salon, excerpted from Life Itself: A Memoir, 15 September 2011 source ↗