In 2016, I fell off stage in Switzerland and broke my back in four places.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 8 May 2021 source ↗
The question
How close have you come to dying?Originally asked
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Others on this question
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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.
Beverley Knight
Singer and stage actor
On a flight to Newcastle, when we had terrible storms. The plane dropped quickly and the oxygen masks fell down. We had to land in Manchester.
Watching Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal.
Bryn Terfel
Welsh bass-baritone singer
In 2006, I went fishing for red snapper in the Gulf of Mexico. On the way back, one of the engines caught fire and then we had one engine for 70 miles. Slowly but surely, we got to Baton Rouge in the darkness but then got very close to a very large passing ship – they didn’t see us and we didn’t see them.
More from Bobby Gillespie
View profile →Standing on stage in between Robert Young and Andrew Innes, blasting away.
Feel Like Going Home by Charlie Rich.
I have a nice life but if everybody else had a better quality of life, too, Britain would be a nicer place.
When Maradona died, I cried for three days.
Corbyn losing the 2019 election.
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