Terry O'Neill: How close have you come to death?

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 Terry O'Neill said elsewhere, not written here

I was invited to Sharon Tate’s house the night she was murdered. I declined the invite due to jetlag.

The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 28 January 2017 source ↗

Others on this question

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George Takei

After the war, when I was about nine, we were held up in our home. The robbers grabbed my father and had a gun at his throat. It was terrifying. My mother got a wad of money and gave it to the people, and they ran away.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 16 November 2019 source ↗

Nuala McGovern

I lived in New York during 9/11 and worked a couple of blocks away from the twin towers. I was looking when the first tower exploded and then when the second plane flew in and, before we had to evacuate, I did see people jump to their death.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 8 November 2025 source ↗

Bernadine Evaristo English author and academic

Travelling Europe with a friend, when I was 29. She was driving and the brakes went, on one of those vertiginous Italian mountains. It was terrifying for the 20 minutes it took to coast down the mountain.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 25 July 2020 source ↗

Sofia Helin Swedish actress

When I had a bicycle accident when I was 24. I was on a bridge going down; the bicycle broke and I smashed to the ground, face first. I broke my jaw and my teeth, and had to have plastic surgery. It all took half a year and then, funnily enough, I got my first big job – a TV series – with what I thought of then as this big, ugly scar.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 26 September 2020 source ↗