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 Dan Stevens said elsewhere, not written here
Probably on a Los Angeles freeway.

The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 25 November 2017 source ↗

Others on this question

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I think I had a close shave with the taxi driver John Worboys. I was in Soho and going back to Chiswick where I lived, and I got a black cab. This guy wouldn’t stop talking and he offered me champagne, and I said: “I don’t like champagne.” It went a bit quiet and I thought I’d offended him. Then I remember going: “Hang on a minute, you shouldn’t be drinking champagne if you’re driving.” And he said: “I’ve just won the lottery and I’m finished after this.” I had a lucky escape.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 1 August 2026 source ↗
A flight from Paraguay to South Africa that went badly wrong. The plane nearly fell out of the sky and the oxygen masks dropped. People were screaming but the pilot saved the day, and then apparently never flew again.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 1 March 2025 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 ↗
Carlos Acosta Cuban ballet dancer
In 1989, in Cuba, about to board a plane for Milan, where I was going to school for a year. The visa didn’t arrive in time, so I couldn’t board. The plane crashed and people died.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 29 September 2018 source ↗

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