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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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Clive Myrie British journalist, newsreader, and presenter
Coming under attack while reporting in Iraq.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 8 June 2024 source ↗
Laurence Fox English actor and activist
A motorbike crash. I broke my shoulder and ribs and was so scared I didn’t ride for two years.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 14 December 2019 source ↗
Rosanna Arquette American actress
About 40 years ago I drove off an embankment and tumbled down a huge hill. I was standing in the field with my car smashed like a can, saying, “Am I dead?” because I had seen myself dead in the car. Then someone said, “Are you OK?” and I didn’t have a scratch. I believe it was an angel experience.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 7 August 2021 source ↗
Aidan Gillen Irish actor
Last year, driving in California, I found myself on the wrong side of the road. I was 30 seconds away from hitting two cars coming the other way.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 6 May 2017 source ↗

More from Beverley Knight

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Question What song would you want played at your funeral? Death & what remains
It’s another bloody Prince song, I’m so sorry – Mountains. I love how the chord structure ascends and the vocals – “It’s only mountains and the sea / There’s nothing greater than you and me” – feel like an ascension. I’d like to think, when I shuffle off this mortal coil, I’m going to be ascending as opposed to descending. I think I’ve been a good girl.
Recorded The Guardian, Honest playlist, The Guardian, 21 December 2025 source ↗

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Michael Flatley, Lance Black, Joanne Froggatt, Brendan Gleeson, Liev Schreiber, Lesley Sharp

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