Critic, essayist, poet and broadcaster
Yeah. These books are all around me and they'll be here when I go and I'm that sick. I just don't know when it ends.
Recorded · ABC News · 2015
Losing someone
For a hospital corridor, or a house that has to be cleared, or a morning after being told something about your own body that you cannot un-know. A good part of what is here was written by people under a diagnosis of their own, who knew the answer applied to them within months — which is not a vantage anybody can be asked to take up on request.
120 people · 650 answers
Has knowing that you will die changed how you live?
Novelist
Let us consider me as a test case.
Recorded · The Guardian · 2010
Neurosurgeon and writer
I began to realize that coming face to face with my own mortality, in a sense, had changed both nothing and everything.
Recorded · The New York Times · 2014
Political strategist and pollster; architect of New Labour
I live by the day. Just sitting in the park, looking at the flowers thinking how beautiful they are. It's almost … not hallucinogenic but it's a much stronger feeling than previously.
Recorded · The Guardian · 2011
Historian and essayist
I see the future as something that could come crashing down very fast. Let me put it slightly by way of a comparison.
Recorded · NPR · 2010
Songwriter and musician
I just thought right away that I wanted to work. ... This is a good job. It's been a good job. Work is the most effective drug there can possibly be. ...
Recorded · The New York Times Magazine · 2003
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.
English singer
I had a gun shoved in my eyeball in New York by a crack dealer in the 1980s.
Recorded · The Guardian · 2017
Catching Covid. I don’t think any of us know what we’re messing with still to this day.
Recorded · The Guardian · 2025
English actor
At 20, I fell from a fourth-floor window and broke my back. For four days they said I’d never walk again, but I had a miraculous recovery.
Recorded · The Guardian · 2021
British track and field athlete
When I was a kid, travelling from Ethiopia to the UK, the plane door opened, the oxygen masks came down and the plane did an emergency landing in Egypt.
Recorded · The Guardian · 2019
Singer, songwriter and radio presenter
In the 1990s in New Jersey, being driven to a radio station early one morning. Our driver fell asleep and we were on the other side of a dual carriageway with cars coming at us.
Recorded · The Guardian · 2018
American singer
Scarlet fever, 1962. Hypothermia, 1974. Lightning strike, 1986.
Recorded · The Guardian · 2020
Are you afraid of death?
Originally asked
The Talks, to its interviewees, its interview series
The Talks asks this directly or through an equivalent risk-and-mortality formulation across interviews.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
Essayist, critic and journalist
The chief side effect of this pain is numbness in the extremities, filling me with the not irrational fear that I shall lose the ability to write.
Recorded · Vanity Fair · 2012
Novelist
Did the Victorians fear death?
Recorded · The Guardian · 2010
39th President of the United States, 1977–1981; Governor of Georgia 1971–1975
At first I - I felt that it was confined to my liver and that they had - the operation had completely removed it. And so I felt quite relieved.
Recorded · CNN · 2015
Rock climber; first person to free solo El Capitan
I’ve had a couple of ex-girlfriends sort of accuse me of having a personality disorder! … No, I don’t know. I’ve always been afraid of death. I’ve never wanted to die.
Recorded · The Talks · 2019
Aid worker; executive director of Jersey Overseas Aid
I'm sort of - not looking forward to my final day - of course that's the wrong way to see it. But I'm kind of curious about it, and I'm happy and I'm ready.
Recorded · BBC News · 2024
Editor and memoirist
These matters have become discussable with one’s friends, not, of course, as a frequent part of gossip over lunch in the dining room (our only communal occasion) but from time to time,…
Recorded · The Guardian · 2014
How would you like to die?
Originally asked
Vanity Fair, to its interview subject, The Proust Questionnaire
A fixed final question in Vanity Fair's Proust Questionnaire, repeated verbatim across respondent pages.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
Aid worker; executive director of Jersey Overseas Aid
My pain is under control and I'm terribly happy - it sounds weird to say, but I'm as happy as I've ever been in my life.
Recorded · BBC News · 2024
Broadcaster
I’d like to die anytime after the age of 90—in my sleep!
Recorded · Vanity Fair · 2016
Singer and guitarist
In my sleep in my 90s, after a great gig.
Recorded · Vanity Fair · 2022
Novelist
Peacefully, in good physical health, sound of mind, still active, at a great age, with my children around me.
Recorded · Vanity Fair · 2012
Actor
Quickly and by surprise. I don’t want the specter of death to linger.
Recorded · Vanity Fair · 2015
Actor, writer and broadcaster
Over two weeks, in a pleasant fug of palliative morphine if necessary. Just time to say a cheerful good-bye to everyone.
Recorded · Vanity Fair · 2015
What happens when we die?
Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
A recurring late-stage question in The Guardian Q&A, with materially different answers on publisher-hosted pages.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
I have lots of beliefs about that, but that will have to wait for another interview.
Recorded · The Guardian · 2023
I am so curious. We had my son christened because there may be a god but, equally, my partner is a science teacher, so I am also completely open to the possibility that nothing happens.
Recorded · The Guardian · 2023
I think we’re definitely gone, but I do think people leave traces everywhere from what they did in life, and live on and continue to make an impact through the ripple effect of that.
Recorded · The Guardian · 2026
Editor and memoirist
The contributor to the programme I remember with the most pleasure is the man who said that not existing for thousands and thousands of years before his birth had never worried him for a…
Recorded · The Guardian · 2014
Historian and essayist
I don't believe in an afterlife. I don't believe in a single or multiple godhead. I respect people who do, but I don't believe it myself. But there's a big but which enters in here.
Recorded · NPR · 2010
I don’t know and I don’t really care, because I’ll be dead, so it won’t really matter.
Recorded · The Guardian · 2024
If you had only one day left to live, how would you spend it — and what would you deliberately avoid doing?
English singer
Drinking green tea with my wife and listening to Eno’s ‘Music For Airports’.
Recorded · Clash · 2011
Singer and songwriter; lead singer of Maxïmo Park
I enjoy writing songs at home, so I would like to record an album on my last day. It would probably be a fairly melancholy, stripped-down record with just me and my guitar.
Recorded · Clash · 2014
Musician; one half of Air
I would make love all night.
Recorded · Clash · 2010
Musician; co-founder of the Orb
I’d look for the mad amusement park on the base of Mount Fuji and take a few rides in there, and then whisk myself off very, very, very quickly on a jet cos it’s gonna be a long day.
Recorded · Clash · 2009
Electronic musician, record label owner and curator
I’d like to be dancing the night away, making love and listening to music. All done with the most amazing bag of weed you can possibly imagine so my last joint is perfect.
Recorded · Clash · 2010
Novelist and screenwriter
I move from my bed in my bedroom, to my sofa here in the living room, and basically I stay here and I'm fed delectables all day and that's about it.
Recorded · ABC Radio National · 2016
What would you like to leave your children?
Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
Verbatim recurring item in The Guardian Q&A; two publisher-hosted respondent pages establish institutional recurrence.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
I’ve got no kids, but I’d like us to leave a planet for everyone’s children.
Recorded · The Guardian · 2025
Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, 1997-2009; Nobel Peace Prize 2005
For them, home is the world. For them, every human being is just one member of that large human family you have. ... if we have more children like mine, in my view, we will not have war.
Recorded · Academy of Achievement · 2006
A book of passwords for all the electrical stuff in the house.
Recorded · The Guardian · 2025
The wisdom to become who they are in the truth of their spirit.
Recorded · The Guardian · 2026
I don’t have children. I will leave my nieces money because girls need money of their own. Anything to make women independent.
Recorded · The Guardian · 2025
Film critic
What I expect to happen is that my body will fail, my mind will cease to function and that will be that. My genes will not live on, because I have had no children.
Recorded · Salon · 2011
What would you like to be remembered for?
Originally asked
Vogue, to one guest at a time, on camera, 73 Questions
A recurring legacy prompt in Vogue's 73 Questions, appearing with only minor wording changes.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
Writer and feminist organiser
As someone who left the world around me a little kinder and less hierarchical.
Recorded · The Guardian · 2017
British journalist
As devastatingly talented, gorgeous and wise, but I’m not betting on it.
Recorded · The Guardian · 2021
English actor
Preferably not as the guy who played Gollum.
Recorded · The Guardian · 2017
She was surprisingly good at the harpsichord.
Recorded · The Guardian · 2026
Co-founder and chief executive of Nubank
Me gustaría que la gente se viera empoderada a construir, a resolver problemas. Que salgamos muchas veces de esa visión de víctimas en la que dependemos de muchas fuerzas.
Recorded · Semana · 2022
American actress and politician
As a citizen, a person involved in my community.
Recorded · The Guardian · 2017
Some of the people here · A–Z
Adam Clayton, Alex Hassell, Alex Lawther, Alison Moyet, Alison Steadman, Ally McCoist, Andrew O’Hagan, Andrew Ridgeley, Anita Rani, Arlene Phillips, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Barack Obama, Bear Grylls, Ben Okri, Billy Crudup, Bobbi Brown, Brandi Carlile, Bruno Tonioli, Bryn Terfel, Caroline Lucas, Charles Collingwood, Charles Dance, Chris Bonington, Chris Hoy, Christopher Hitchens, Ciarán Hinds, Clive Myrie, Cybill Shepherd, Daphne Guinness, David Guetta, David Hasselhoff, David Vélez, Dawn O’Porter, Derek Sivers, Dervla Kirwan, Desmond Tutu, Douglas Booth, Ed Harris, Edmund Hillary, Eleanor Tomlinson, Erin Doherty, Erin O'Connor, Esther Freud, Felicity Jones, Frank Bowling, George H. W. Bush, George Takei, Giovanna Fletcher, Gloria Steinem, Graydon Carter, Gregory Porter, Hamza Yassin, Helen Skelton, Hugh Skinner, Indira Varma, Isabel Allende, Jack Davenport, James Norton, Jane Asher, Jared Harris, Jason Donovan, Jenna Coleman, Johannes Radebe, John Lewis, John Waters, Jon Snow, Jon Sopel, Joseph Fiennes, Julian Lloyd Webber, Juliet Stevenson, Justin Hawkins, Kate Humble, Kathy Lette, Katie Melua, Keir Starmer, Kelly Hoppen, Keren Woodward, Kerry Godliman, Kiell Smith-Bynoe, Layton Williams, Lee Child, Lemn Sissay, Maggie O'Farrell, Marcus Brigstocke, Marcus Mumford, Mariella Frostrup, Marina Abramović, Marina Diamandis, Mark Bonnar, Mark Radcliffe, Maya Jama, Meghann Fahy, Michael Flatley, Michelle Collins, Michelle Visage, Midge Ure, Mike Skinner, Milton Jones, Miriam Margolyes, Mohamed ElBaradei, Monica Dolan, Naga Munchetty, Natalie Imbruglia, Neil Gaiman, Nick Frost, Nigel Havers, Nish Kumar, Nuala McGovern, Oliver Sacks, Omid Djalili, Patricia Hodge, Paul McKenna, Pauline Black, Penny Lancaster, Philippa Gregory, Rebecca Ferguson, Rebecca Lucy Taylor, Richard Schiff, Robert Carlyle, Romola Garai
And more. Search the directory for somebody in particular.