How close have you come to death?

209 answers answered between 1930 and 2026 one of 25 in The Q&A

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The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A

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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

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Simone Biles United States artistic gymnast

In dreams, but that’s about it.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 25 February 2017 source ↗

Jonnie Peacock British athlete

When I was five and the doctors walked in and said to my mum: “I am not sure if you will be taking him home.”

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 27 January 2018 source ↗

Adam Peaty British swimmer; Olympic champion 2016 and 2021

I was on a cliff in Dartmoor, doing a Royal Marine abseil. I fell upside down and thought, “I’m going to die here.”

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 1 January 2022 source ↗

Nobody has answered this one yet.