Mike Skinner: 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 Mike Skinner said elsewhere, not written here

We used to have one of those gat guns that shot pellets. My friend pretty much had the thing at point-blank range to my temple. It popped out and completed its trajectory about a millimetre from my head.

The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 24 January 2009 source ↗

Others on this question

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Paul Heaton British musician

Again, too many times to mention, but probably being swung from the balcony at the top of the Columbia hotel in London by the bodyguard of a Saudi Arabian princess was fairly close.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 2 May 2020 source ↗

Clara Amfo Broadcaster

I choked on a hard-boiled lemon sweet when I was 13. My brother Sam saved me.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 29 August 2020 source ↗

John Malkovich Actor

When I was an idiot high school student, as opposed to being an idiot adult, I used to drive very fast.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 10 March 2018 source ↗

Zandra Rhodes British fashion designer

A plane to San Francisco, 25 years ago. There was a bang and I looked out of the window and saw flames coming out of one of the engines. We zoomed down to the airport below.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 24 July 2021 source ↗

More from Mike Skinner

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Question Which moment embarrassed you most? Failure & regret

My brother was singing Yellow Submarine on stage with his class. I was singing along with them, showing off cos I knew all the words. The song ended suddenly and I was the only one in the whole hall who sang, 'We ...'

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 24 January 2009 source ↗

Question Who most deserves an apology from you, and why? Failure & regret

To my dad for not making it back to Birmingham to see him while I was in London doing The Streets.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 24 January 2009 source ↗

Question If you had only one day left to live, how would you spend it — and what would you deliberately avoid doing? Death & what remains

I would obviously be in a good place chemically, the synapses would be content. I would play with my kids. I don’t think I would have time to watch anything by Ingmar Bergman. Bergman would suddenly feel like not that good a director if I only had a few hours.

Recorded Clash, Swan Song, 23 November 2012 source ↗