Sadiq Khan
Mayor of London since 2016
When I was a kid in Tooting, our house caught fire. We didn’t realise until the fire brigade turned up.
Death & what remains
How close have you come to dying?
209 answers answered between 1930 and 2026 one of 25 in The Q&A
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.
On the record
Public figures who have answered a question like this elsewhere. Quoted from the source shown, not written for FLAPSS.
Read by field
Everyone
Science and medicine 2
Arts and letters 177
Politics and public life 16
Business and finance 3
Technology 1
Sport 10
Read by age
Any age
Before thirty 3
In their thirties 33
In their forties 49
In their fifties 46
In their sixties 48
Seventy and beyond 25
Louis Theroux
British and American journalist and author
I don’t think I’ve ever been close to death but I am a nervous flyer, especially during turbulence, so there have been many times where I’ve felt that I was.
Anita Rani
British broadcaster and journalist
Climbing Scafell Pike in the Lake District when I was about 15. The winds were about 85mph, my legs lifted and I nearly flew off. Thankfully somebody grabbed me.
Catching Covid. I don’t think any of us know what we’re messing with still to this day.
0 answers from members
Nobody has answered this one yet.
More on death & what remains
- How would you want people to remember you? 213 answers
- What song would you want played at your funeral? 178 answers
- If you had only one day left, how would you spend it — and what would you deliberately avoid? 54 answers
- What do you believe happens when we die? 50 answers
- What would you most want to leave your children? 44 answers
- What kind of death would you consider a good one? 43 answers