Death & what remains

How close have you come to death?

214 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

A recurring Guardian Q&A prompt asked directly across respondents and years.

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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 3 Arts and letters 180 Politics and public life 16 Business and finance 3 Technology 1 Sport 11
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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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 ↗
Chris Hoy British track cyclist, 1994–2013
The London terror attack on 7/7 in 2005. I was in London the day before for the Olympic bid. When we won I thought, “I should stay over – it will be a great party tonight.” But I decided to go back to Manchester for training. Bombs went off on what would have been my route to the station.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 10 February 2018 source ↗
Alex Honnold Rock climber; first person to free solo El Capitan
It was probably before my career, I had an accident when I was younger, I fell down a mountain, it was a little bit ridiculous but, I slipped unprepared on the ice. It was probably one of the few times where was sure that I was about to die.
Recorded 52 Insights, 14 January 2019 source ↗
Mo Farah 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, The Q&A, The Guardian, 27 April 2019 source ↗
Harry Redknapp English football player and manager
A car accident in Italy in 1990. Four people got killed. I was lucky, I got thrown out.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 4 May 2019 source ↗
Kevin Pietersen English cricketer
Being charged by a white rhino on a walking safari. It came running towards us and I froze, which is the right thing to do. If it had hit us, it would have been goodnight.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 8 June 2019 source ↗
Bradley Wiggins British former professional road and track racing cyclist
I had quite a chequered childhood. I had a knife put to my throat once when I was a kid, which was very scary.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 21 September 2019 source ↗
Judy Murray Scottish tennis coach
On a flight, last February, from Atlanta to Rio. We went through a storm and I was convinced that the plane was going down. The overhead cabins were opening, everything was falling out, people were screaming and I was hanging on to my seat.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 12 December 2020 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 ↗

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