Krishnan Guru-Murthy: 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.

Recorded Krishnan Guru-Murthy said elsewhere, not written here

I’ve dodged a couple of bullets in dodgy war zones, but I suspect the closest I’ve come to death was a reckless, drunken brush with a waltzer at a student funfair. It nearly chopped me in half.

The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 2 January 2021 source ↗

Others on this question

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Cory Taylor Novelist and screenwriter

How many times I could have died before now, and in how many different ways. And yet I came close only once: a speeding sedan ran a red light, hit three other vehicles, and jack-knifed into my rear wheel split second after I’d stepped out of my parked car. A bystander described the scene to me later. “You were a millimetre away from losing your legs,” he said.

Recorded Edited extract from Dying: A Memoir, Text Publishing, The Guardian, 17 May 2016 source ↗

Charles Dance British actor

I’m getting closer all the time.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 30 November 2024 source ↗

Monty Don English horticulturist, broadcaster, and writer

Despite a stroke, cancer as a child and various dramas with chainsaws and tractors, the closest was probably when I choked on a lamb chop 25 years ago. Sarah performed the Heimlich manoeuvre and the lamb shot out.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 5 May 2018 source ↗

David Jason English actor

Diving in the Virgin Islands. I lost sight of the boat and had to swim to a tiny, deserted island. After a great deal of time, the rescue boat saw me waving for my life on the rocks.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 29 May 2021 source ↗