The question
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.
A car accident in British Columbia 35-40 years ago. I was driving too quickly on a dirt road and lost control of the car, and it went off a cliff and got stuck in some treetops. We were not at all hurt; we actually just climbed out.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 14 September 2024 source ↗
Maybe in the 1990s, but I was so selfish at the time, I wouldn’t really have noticed what was going on.
There are so many instances when I’ve come very close to death that it’s difficult to pick one.
I broke both my legs in a hit-and run accident when I was 26.
A piece of scenery fell on my head during Richard II at the Globe theatre in 2019. I was very badly hurt.
Acting – it’s also the best, though.
An elevator operator.
My father – I think he doubted our closeness.
“Not interested.” Who? Many people.
Watching the Olympics.
When I was 19 I worked at a gay bar while I was at drama school in London. One of the guys I worked with was Glaswegian and I learned the dialect from him. The acting teacher at the school said, “Liev, you’ve got the region but you’ve missed the character entirely” because I played Jimmy Boyle in a very camp Glaswegian accent.
Lesley Sharp, Julian Sands, Meera Syal, Stephen Graham, Beverley Knight, Helen George
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