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Original poster

If you could go back in time and witness any big event in history, which one would it be

235 replies

MyPithyCat · 19/11/2025 22:32

For me it'd be the first commercial radio broadcast on 2nd November 1920. That's the best type of radio (even though it'd adverts every 15-20 minutes) but I'd love to see how it all began

OP posts:
Genevieva · 20/11/2025 20:07

Londonmummy66 · 20/11/2025 19:51

THe princes in the Tower for me - and also to be a fly on the wall as HVII tried to find out what happened to them. AN ancestor of mine was their tutor (a rather negligent one I feel) who was later appointed Bishop of Ely which makes me wonder what he knew.

THe house of the Papyri in Pompeii a long time before Vesuvius blew to know what was in the library.

I'd also love to meet Livia - I suspect she was a real power behind the throne.

Also the Library of Alexandria and maybe attend a lesson taught by Hypatia ( with the magical ability to understand her).

TowerRavenSeven · 20/11/2025 19:58

The first Easter.

Londonmummy66 · 20/11/2025 19:51

THe princes in the Tower for me - and also to be a fly on the wall as HVII tried to find out what happened to them. AN ancestor of mine was their tutor (a rather negligent one I feel) who was later appointed Bishop of Ely which makes me wonder what he knew.

THe house of the Papyri in Pompeii a long time before Vesuvius blew to know what was in the library.

I'd also love to meet Livia - I suspect she was a real power behind the throne.

Arlanymor · 20/11/2025 19:14

bondsy · 20/11/2025 18:22

Roswell

Oh good call, yes me too.

Stillpoor · 20/11/2025 19:10

2 september 1945.

EscapeTheCastle · 20/11/2025 18:50

I am enjoying this thread but I'm worried about the repercussions.
Shakespeare writes an extra play about the mysterious lady watching him when he debuts his plays at the Globe.
An extra person at the last supper or Henry VIII has an extra wife...
Be careful out there Mumsnetters!

Tollington · 20/11/2025 18:46

Roswell crash 1947

Sadcafe · 20/11/2025 18:36

So many , the reign of Tutankhamen, how did he die, the time of Christ, did he exist, likewise the reign of King John, was there really someone like Robin Hood and after the Romans left, King Arthur, would be so interesting to find the reality around many of our myths and legends

bondsy · 20/11/2025 18:22

Roswell

Arlanymor · 20/11/2025 18:18

This is a brilliant thread @MyPithyCat and I've been thinking a bit more about it and I have ruled out meeting people because I think it would probably be very disappointing. I'm sure having a pint with Dylan Thomas in Browns would be fun for about ten seconds...

But additional things I would like to witness:

  • The Minoan civilisation before the tsunami
  • The Hanging Gardens of Babylon (and I wouldn't say no to the other wonders either)
Lostuser · 20/11/2025 18:17

Victorian London - Jack the Ripper era

dms1 · 20/11/2025 18:11

Wish I could’ve seen The Clash’s 1977 performance at the Rainbow Theatre. Also that I was in the audience at Billy Connolly’s Last Supper routine as it’s what put him on the map. Would love to know how the pyramids and Stonehenge were made… Would love to meet my ancestors, especially my grandparents and great grandparents when they were young. I’d like to witness a night in a speakeasy in Prohibition Era USA, and attend a dance hall during the Big Band era just to watch everyone dance.

Arlanymor · 20/11/2025 18:08

ObelixtheGaul · 20/11/2025 07:34

For some reason, I recall watching Timmy Mallet on whatever kid's show he was hosting at the time, going on about the BLERlin wall. I think the word 'bler' was some kind of in joke on the show. It was the one where he used to do Mallet's Mallet, if anyone remembers.

Show quote history

Mallet’s Mallet is a word association game you mustn’t pause, hesitate, repeat a word or say a word I don’t like, else you'll get a bash on the head like this or like this! It’s the one with the most bruises who loses; now look at each other and go blah; look at everyone at home and go blah; your first word is... HEDGEHOG!

mustytrusty · 20/11/2025 18:07

I would like to go back to when they were placing stones around Avebury to find out why.

Valeyard15 · 20/11/2025 18:04

Scotland 4 Denmark 2, 18 Nov 2025.

MsWilmottsGhost · 20/11/2025 18:00

Pompeii

CatChant · 20/11/2025 17:54

I’d love to be able to see all Hans Holbein’s paintings, not just the ones that have survived. His subjects are so real they almost step off the canvas. I’m sure part of the perennial fascination with the Tudor court is because of his incredible portraits.

I’d also really like to be able to read Jane Austen’s letters too, the ones her sister Cassandra destroyed. She felt they didn’t show her in a good light, but I think they must have been sharp, clever and witty, and have delighted in puncturing pomposity.

DarkEyedSailor · 20/11/2025 17:54

SeaAndStars · 20/11/2025 17:32

Fabulous thread. I've learned so much from all your posts.

I might be weird but I would love to smell what past times were like. You can sort of picture what things were like but it's harder to imagine the smell.

What did Westminster Abbey smell like at the moment of Elizabeth the first's coronation or in the room where Guy Fawkes and his gang planned the Gunpowder Plot?

One of my things I love to do is cook recipes from very old cook books and I always think, This is how someone's kitchen smelt in 1780 (or whenever).
It makes me very happy.

EdTeach · 20/11/2025 17:49

Definitely the time of Jesus. Fascinating.

Tudor court life, during Henry VIII’s first marriage to Catherine of Aragon, just as Anne Boleyn comes on the scene.

An average Tuesday in Skara Brae. I just want to know what they did!

Thegreatbigzebraintheroom · 20/11/2025 17:47

I’d like to go back and meet Princess Diana for real - I had the chance back in 1985 and turned it down to do something else- I would have liked to have actually met her. My friend said she was literally luminous. I’ve met Andrew (x), Harry, Anne and Camilla but never met Diana and then if I could go to Stonehenge being built that would finish the day off rather nicely

Howyoualldoworkme · 20/11/2025 17:42

NormasArse · 19/11/2025 23:22

Not as highbrow, but I would’ve loved to have seen David Bowie live in the 70s. I did see him in the 80s though.

I saw him in Salisbury in 1973.
I'll never forget it 🙂

RedToothBrush · 20/11/2025 17:37

raspberryberet2020 · 20/11/2025 03:41

I'd like to meet Jesus, figure out for good and all if he was the Son of God, a prophet, or just a bit of a guru and an agitator.

Before anybody starts, there is just as much historical evidence and often more for Jesus as Socrates, Herod Agrippa, Spartacus or Bodicca. I don't want a debate, thanks. Just saying I'd like to meet him to see for myself whether he was divine.

Edited

You know the adage - never meet your heroes.

I suspect he'll be disappointing.

RedToothBrush · 20/11/2025 17:36

Dappy777 · 19/11/2025 23:07

  • Some point between 450 and 480 AD when the Romans left and the English,i.e the various Germans tribes, Angles, Daxons, Jutes, Frisians, etc, moved in.
  • The death of Socrates
  • The first performance of Hamlet or King Lear at the Globe theatre.
  • The execution of Charles I.
  • Dickens giving a public reading of Nicholas Nickelby in my home town on a snowy day in 1862 (the pub is still there).
  • The moment Darwin first set foot on the Galapagos islands.
  • The execution of the French king during the Revolution, and also of Marie Antoinette.
  • The moment the Vikings attacked Lindisfarne in the 8th-century, which really began the Viking Age.
  • The first contact between Europeans and Native Indians.

I think I'd just like to go and meet my ancestors from whom Im directly related and just find out more about them.

None of these 'big events' so to speak. What DID happen to them. Fill in the list stories from history rather than the stories we know at least through myths.

DiscoBeat · 20/11/2025 17:35

Great thread by the way, so much more interesting than how many washing loads a day!

DiscoBeat · 20/11/2025 17:34

If you mean from a safe viewing area, the meteor that took out the dinosaurs.