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.
In a different sense, I’ve helped to try to resuscitate a dead man.
The Q&A, The Guardian, 27 September 2025 source ↗
How long have you got? I have written a memoir and the subtitle is Seventeen Brushes with Death.
Coming under attack while reporting in Iraq.
In a helicopter crash in Wyoming in 2005. My cameraman broke his back and both legs; the pilot broke his back. The helicopter didn’t catch fire, so I’m still here today.
Scuba diving in Costa Rica. My stunt double and I were trying out some equipment that let us talk to each other and I ran out of air at 80ft - probably because I talked too much. I had to use his air. Then we were surrounded by sharks. It was scary.
Trusting someone and being let down.
I’m a bit of a hoarder.
The children. As a mother you are constantly worrying whether you’ve done the right thing.
Less time on my phone.
It was reading out loud, but no longer. (I am dyslexic.) I was encouraged by my husband to do a speech for the Royal National Institute of Blind People, which helped me gain my confidence, and the fear disappeared.
I would be less naive.
Harry Redknapp, Jared Harris, Peter Capaldi, Tom Ellis, Jeremy Deller, Judy Murray
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