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.
I had a car crash not long after passing my test, driving mates to a club on a Saturday night. Thankfully, everyone was OK – as was my dad about his car, which was a write-off.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 6 February 2021 source ↗
Probably on a Los Angeles freeway.
I lived in New York during 9/11 and worked a couple of blocks away from the twin towers. I was looking when the first tower exploded and then when the second plane flew in and, before we had to evacuate, I did see people jump to their death.
Being driven across the Atlas Mountains in a snowstorm 25 years ago, by a local taxi driver who plainly put a lower premium on the advantages of living than me.
Diving in the Virgin Islands. I lost sight of the boat and had to swim to a tiny, deserted island. After a great deal of time, the rescue boat saw me waving for my life on the rocks.
Not having my own chatshow. Yet!
Martin Scorsese. I was, let’s say, slightly tactile with him during a Q&A; I was more nervous than I’ve been about anything. I kept tapping his knee, it might even have been bruised by the end.
When I was a kid I was a chambermaid in my family’s hotel, and I once found a strap-on that someone had left behind.
Something that you can’t describe or put in a box. It changes daily and surprises you when you least expect.
A pair of Balenciaga boots. They were extortionate, but that has to be at least 10 years ago and I still wear them.
As a nice person who always put others before myself. I’d also like my own posthumous tartan.
Harry Redknapp, George Takei, Marina Abramović, Munroe Bergdorf, Juliet Stevenson, Emma Bunton
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