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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:
Dontlletmedownbruce · 20/11/2025 07:19

Sinkingfeeling952 · 19/11/2025 22:40

To be in Berlin for the fall of the Berlin Wall

My only memory of this on TV was David Hasselhoff performing there, it's just about the cheesiest thing and I'm sure it's on YouTube. I may have been focusing on the wrong thing but to be fair I was a kid and didn't really get the enormity of it. I have a friend now who grew up in East Berlin during that time and actually experienced the incomprehensible life change when the wall fell.

StandFirm · 20/11/2025 07:11

raspberryberet2020 · 20/11/2025 07:01

I don't think I'd want to see the crucifixion, but I'd love to meet and talk with him, maybe the Sermon on the Mount if I could get near him :)

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Yes, same. I would not expect to see anything supernatural in the magical sense because my reading of the New Testament is that it's about faith and not showy displays. The real seismic change takes place in the soul.

clinellwipe · 20/11/2025 07:08

The Beatles final concert on the rooftop in London

ObelixtheGaul · 20/11/2025 07:06

Sinkingfeeling952 · 19/11/2025 22:40

To be in Berlin for the fall of the Berlin Wall

I remember the scenes on the TV, would have been incredible to have been there.

Pricelessadvice · 20/11/2025 07:05

I’d like to have watched the Titanic go down (from the safety of another boat!).
Possibly a bit morbid, but I have a fascination with large structures ‘failing’.

randomchap · 20/11/2025 07:04

The historical events that must interest me are battles. And I'm certain witnessing them would be awful so they are ruled out

So I'd like to go to 54 Berners Street, London. On the 27th November 1810

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berners_Street_hoax

Berners Street hoax - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berners_Street_hoax

DarkEyedSailor · 20/11/2025 07:02

NamelessNancy · 19/11/2025 22:37

The Great Exhibition 1851

Yes!!
This is mine. I think about it far too much.

The Great Exhibition in Hyde Park. Beautiful.

raspberryberet2020 · 20/11/2025 07:01

Openmouthinsertfood · 20/11/2025 06:58

Oh snap! (Sorry HRTFT.)

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I don't think I'd want to see the crucifixion, but I'd love to meet and talk with him, maybe the Sermon on the Mount if I could get near him :)

Citrusbergamia · 20/11/2025 07:01

NewJobProblem · 20/11/2025 00:26

The comet that killed the dinosaurs.

Yes! I read an article about this only yesterday and thought 'wow'!!

To go back and watch the comings and goings of posh people in Bath in the 17 and 1800's. To live a day in the life of an Earl's daughter but then also a ladies maid and scullery maid...the disparity!!)

To experience the opulence of 1st class travel on the titanic (from Southampton to cherboug only thanks very much! 😬)

And yes, defo agree with stonehenge, VE day in london, pyramids and the great exhibition!

Jigglyhuffpuff · 20/11/2025 07:00

When Jane Austen wrote pride and prejudice. I'd get her to just pop my name throughout instead of Lizzy.

Openmouthinsertfood · 20/11/2025 06:58

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

Oh snap! (Sorry HRTFT.)

Openmouthinsertfood · 20/11/2025 06:57

To when Jesus was put on the cross, for proof really.

Inthebleakmidwinter1 · 20/11/2025 06:48

Mine wouldn’t be a famous event but I would love to go back to before the war and walk around the countryside and see what it was like before modern agricultural improvements. Just to see what it was
like when the fields were full of flowers and bees and corncrakes and skylarks and the skies were full of swallows butterflies and and insects.

squashyhat · 20/11/2025 06:46

The 1951 Festival of Britain on the South Bank. The 50s were such an optimistic, progressive decade in many ways.

NewAgeNewMe · 20/11/2025 06:30

Pangea. If I could be a fly to see the early humans. And princes in the tower.

Edwinstarrihavefaithinyou · 20/11/2025 06:23

How the Easter Island heads came to be.
Not sure if that's the correct name for them.

RichPetuniaAgain · 20/11/2025 06:07

To be around to see what every wife of Henry Viii looked like in real life. To visit Elizabeth 1 court when she was grown up. To pop in and see all the Plantagenets. In fact, just take me back and show me everyone from the start of the Plantagenet line to the end of the Tudors😀. To go to an Elvis concert when he was in his heyday. I’d also like to witness Jesus in action. And see if Marilyn Monroe was really as attractive in real life as everyone said. I’d also tell her not to trust the Kennedys 😁.

Theonlyfatmiddleagedwomannotonmonjaro · 20/11/2025 06:00

Not very cultural but Band Aid. I was 9 at tge time. It was a hot day and my parents had a band aid party and moved the tv into the garden. I vaguely recall Queen playing and that there was a sense the whole concert was a huge deal but would love to go back and be there....as an adult not a 9yo.

Yamamm · 20/11/2025 05:59

Princes in the tower.

BlueEyedBogWitch · 20/11/2025 05:47

Jugendstiel · 19/11/2025 23:58

I was just going to say - sitting in on the rehearsals for Shakespeare's Macbeth. Or Lear.

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Sitting in on the rehearsals is a great call. I think I’ll change mine to spending a whole day at the Globe on the day of the premiere.

HarryBlackberry1 · 20/11/2025 05:47

The construction of Hadrian's Wall.

Staringintothevoid616 · 20/11/2025 05:46

I’d either be hanging round Jesus’s tomb for the entire weekend after burial or be walking into the cave with Mohammed /reckon you could save the world a whole lot of pain if you could get the body snatchers or tripping out on camera

BlueEyedBogWitch · 20/11/2025 05:41

Arlanymor · 19/11/2025 23:03

I'd go the first one at Hampton Court... although that said, I'm not one for monarchy, so actually the Globe probably would be a better bet with the groundlings!

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Exsctly! I want the vibes!

Somnambule · 20/11/2025 04:14

The Beatles at the Cavern Club.

Some of these answers are blowing my mind - why would you choose to witness executions or people dying of the plague?!

Glindaa · 20/11/2025 04:08

Bethlehem , Jerusalem , Jesus times

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