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.
Doing a compulsory standup routine in my first week of drama school.
The Q&A, The Guardian, 9 May 2026 source ↗
I’ve had a surprising number of near-death experiences: I was nearly blown up by a landmine in Sudan; I was stranded on the Zambezi river at night; I was bucked off a rodeo horse in Arizona and had to be airlifted to hospital; and, worst of all, I once ate a Pot Noodle.
I’ve dodged a couple of bullets in dodgy war zones, but I suspect the closest I’ve come to death was a reckless, drunken brush with a waltzer at a student funfair. It nearly chopped me in half.
Right after 9/11, Kenny and I went to perform for the troops in Pakistan and Uzbekistan. As we were flying in, an electronic voice went off: “Warning: missile launch! Warning: missile launch!” The Taliban had fired a rocket at us. I was waiting to see the back of the plane blow up, but it didn’t and we landed.
I broke both my legs in a hit-and run accident when I was 26.
Getting to 39 without having a filling in my teeth.
Try not to take yourself too seriously.
I bought a house with someone and realised at the housewarming party that it was a mistake.
Tenacious, romantic, organised.
A perfect cup of coffee – warm, bittersweet, anxiety-inducing and delicious.
Endless vomiting. That comes from my emetophobia, which is a huge part of my OCD.
Anna Friel, Martin Clunes, Charles Dance, Krishnan Guru-Murthy, Adam Peaty, Jenny Diski
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