A blood clot in my artery when I was 23.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 25 April 2026 source ↗
How close have you come to death?
Question
Aside from a property, what is the most expensive thing you have bought?
Money & investment
Question
When were you happiest?
Time & hindsight
Question
What did you want to be when you were growing up?
Identity & self
Question
What most recently made you cry?
Identity & self
Question
What keeps you awake at night?
Daily life
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.
Undiagnosed VIPoma in 2018.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 30 April 2022 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 209 →
Anna Friel
English actress
I nearly died by burst ovarian cyst in 2001. I was doing the front cover of a magazine and someone said, “Can you not pull your tummy in?” It turned out that I had been carrying two litres of blood in my stomach. I was rushed to hospital the next morning and nearly died of septicaemia. They had to give me two blood transfusions. Had it been an hour later it would have been bye bye.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 10 August 2019 source ↗
Emilia Fox
English actress and presenter
I’ve been to two postmortems in real life, and spent the last 14 years talking about death at work – so, pretty close.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 6 October 2018 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 ↗
More from Olivia Williams
View profile →An electric car.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 30 April 2022 source ↗
People are often traumatised by the sleeplessness in the first years of their children’s lives, but I was insanely happy to be married and have two children. The only dark cloud was how much we were loathed for having babies who slept through the night.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 30 April 2022 source ↗
My mother says I had a plan to be a farmer’s wife and a violinist, going to concerts at the Royal Albert Hall in my tractor.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 30 April 2022 source ↗
In rehearsals. The play is very funny about mothers and daughters, but one of the gags hit a raw nerve.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 30 April 2022 source ↗
All the things I ought to have done.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 30 April 2022 source ↗
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