Major events - where were you?

[Raffles1981]

After watching The Crown and seeing Aberfan and now The Irishman and the shooting of Kennedy. Just curious as to which major event you remember that stopped you in your tracks. Made you take stock. For me, it was Diana. I was 16 and it was quite a shock and I remember the day being still and her funeral - no one seemed to be getting on with life. What was a major day for you?

I can remember many that have been mentioned but the sinking of the Townsend Torresen Zebrugge is the first event I can recall being utterly gripped by. I was about 7. And it terrified me.

The clearest three - real photograph moments are:
Thatcher resigning- I could take you to the exact spot I was walking in Oxford.
Diana - switching on the TV to try to get Teletubbies.
911 - but my DC's Dad was actually in NYC at the time.

I recall many of the events that have already been mentioned, but the big event which affected me most personally was the IRA bombing in Manchester in 1996.
I was a Senior Registrar at one of the big Manchester hospitals at the time and was at work. We heard the bomb go off even though it was some miles away, but didn't know what it was for a while, then the Major Incident protocol was activated and we realised.
As it was a Saturday morning, Consultants were either off duty or on call from home and I was the most senior doctor in my department who was physically present. In fact I was probably one of the most senior doctors of any specialty actuallyin the hospital. Obviously all the Consultants were called in, but the police had shut roads all over the city by then and it took ages for people to start to arrive. Well, maybe it wasn't that long, but it certainly seemed it.
I will never forget how I felt hearing the ambulance sirens getting closer and closer and wondering what on earth I might be called on to deal with. It was the first time I had been involved in a Major Incident but given all my seniors were still on the wrong side of road blocks, I had to take on a leadership role that I didn't really feel ready for. It was quite scary to be honest.

John Smith's death- DD1 was doing her visit to primary and one of the parents said John Smith had died. I knew several John Smiths so whenshe clarified the Labour leader I was so upset I went for a drive and cried for a while. With hindsight, we might have a very different political landscape had he lived.

Diana - our cat had been run over day before and the vet called at 7am to stay he hadn't survived. DCs were devastated but we still made it to church. DCs couldn't understand why everybody was do sad when they didn't know The cat

9/11 - due to fly to Toronto on 13th for DB's big birthday . My uncle called to tell me to turn on TV saying unlikely our trip would go ahead. Saw second tower being hit.

Dunblane- know one of the families. Our daughters were same age. Devastating. You send your 5 year old child to school and they don't come back. You are stuck in a classroom with no information (mobile phones were not widely used then). You identify your dead child's shot body. Unimaginable horror.

Lockerbie - I was a child, it was just before my friend's birthday party so sticks in my mind. Ditto Hillsburgh.

Dunblane - I was in college and someone came into the room and asked if any of us had kids at that school. None of us did. Then it came out what happened, absolutely shocking.

Princess Diana - I was lying in bed and heard dad shouting up to mum (in the next room) "Princess Diana has been in a car crash!" mum shouted "What!" followed by dad responding a few seconds later with, "She's died!"

9/11 - I was buying petrol on my way home from college and a random bloke told me about it. Couldn't believe it. Got home and my family was crowded round the tv watching it all in stunned silence.

7/7 I was in NZ and heard about it online, checked all of my London friends were ok which they thankfully were.

Lord Mountbatten death - I’d forgotten about that one. My gran was staying with us and she came rushing in upset. It was a real shock.

Diana, it was a weekend? I was 16, woke up late, saw it on the tv and they had all these commemoration books to sign popping up all over London. So we drove to Harrods so that my mum could sign it and me and my brother were on the news crying and looking at the flowers (we’d only just lost our dad).

And 9/11, I was in my first office job and a guy got a phone call from his mum saying a building had been hit by a plane. We were like, whatevs, and then someone turned on the Internet and we just watched open mouthed. Got sent home early because we were a London office.

For those that remember the Challenger explosion, it is possible I saw it 'live' on the BBC?

In my memory I was watching in the afternoon on a ' news round' programme and was horrified by it. As time has gone on I wonder if I was watching a report of the tragedy or watching it in real time.

Can any of you remember?

Challenger - was watching a kids prog on itv just before tea and there was a newsflash.

Diana - I was painting the living room in my flat so had moved the tv into my bedroom. Woke up, put the telly on, BBC2, footage of Diana as a nursery nurse was on. Thought it was weird and turned over to BBC1 - more Diana footage. Put ceefax on to see the headlines and there it was.

Dunblane, I was at work, phoned someone in our local education dept and he sounded really down so I asked why and he told me about it. I was in Edinburgh and as I recall, there was a special evening edition of the Sun or Daily Record available at the station on the way home.

9/11 was in work and we were getting updates from the Press Office in London as they were the only place with a tv and the internet, such as it was, had gone down due to volume of traffic. It came back up later on and I have a vivid memory of walking though a huge open plan office heading out for the night and every computer screen I could see was on bbc news.

7/7 still in Edinburgh but with a team in London, trying to find out if they were ok.

@Kelvingrove from the day. ( I got all nostalgic listening to the theme tune.)

Hillsborough - it was a saturday, i was about to meet dh before i went away for the summer
9/11 just about to do afternoon school run, frightening
Diana - it was a sunday morning, dd was about 8 weeks old and ds was two and a half, trying to put on children's tv.
Dunblane - at work it was on the lunch time news,

I remember 911 and Diana but I wasn't probably old enough to really understand it and our parents kind of shielded us from that

Ones that stick with me are
Boxing day tsunami
Grenfell
Manchester concert
Bastille Day killings

7/7 and the Egyptian bombings. We were on holiday in Egypt not far from the resort that was destroyed and felt the impact. Our reception was filled with people wanting to know what was happening. Our resort had armed guards around the walls. We drove back to the airport past the resort that was destroyed, it was terrible

*Today 09:13 Kelvingrove

For those that remember the Challenger explosion, it is possible I saw it 'live' on the BBC?

In my memory I was watching in the afternoon on a ' news round' programme and was horrified by it. As time has gone on I wonder if I was watching a report of the tragedy or watching it in real time.

Can any of you remember?*

I too thought we watched it live. My older Bro was obsessed with science and space. It would appear that the clip ohdeariedear posted was the first showing of it on UK TV and it was only moments after it happened. It makes sense that we would have been watching as we always watched Newsround and Blue Peter before dinner. I remember not really grasping what I was seeing and my DB being really upset by it. It took minutes to sink in I’d just seen the astronauts die “live” on tv. It was surreal. I was 10.

Hillsborough - that one has always struck me because I was on a trip to the Yorkshire Dales. I had walked up a hill, and sat for a few moments by a wall actually reflecting on the silence. Just the wind and the odd sheep.

I went back into Hawes to pick up the bus, and heard the news. At the exact moment those poor people were being crushed to death, I was completely alone in vast amounts of space.

Diana - I was in the bath. Was not a fan of the woman, so was more staggered than anything by the almost hysteria that followed.

911 - I was in Ripon market place when the news came out. Headed back to where I was staying and spent the rest of the day watching the news, rather shell shocked.

Aberfan - I was too young, but watched the commemorations a couple of years ago. Was really struck by the accounts of the policeman who stayed with the dead children in the temporary mortuary overnight, and was tucking them up and comforting them even though they were dead.

Dunblane only really became aware of the impact because of following Andy Murray. Made a comment on a fan forum, and somebody quite angrily said please stop discussing this. It’s still very raw for the locals. I apologised, and haven’t ever mentioned it again. It really made me aware that these things impact real people, and us real if that makes any sense?

Lockerbie - dad had picked me up from my student job and it was all over the radio. The phone was going mad at home because my sister had just flown over from the states on holiday and everyone from there was calling.

There was so much at the time around Challenger too. I was young and in my head it was an onslaught of disasters. Fires especially stick in my mind. Piper Alpha, Kings Cross & Bradford City Stadium - around a similar time my neighbours house was burnt down and two further house fires in my town with significant loss of life (whole families). I also remember Lockerbie as it was just before Christmas and my uncle was delivering our presents. I’d just come home from swimming lessons when the newsflash came on. I also remember Dunblane and Hillsborough.

My earliest memory was Margaret Thatcher announcing we were at war with Argentina over Falkland. I was frightened because there is a smal town called Falkland in Scotland and I knew it was nearish. My mum reassured me there was another Falkland and it was on the other side of the world. It was an odd concept to grasp at the time.

Dunblane only really became aware of the impact because of following Andy Murray. Made a comment on a fan forum, and somebody quite angrily said please stop discussing this. It’s still very raw for the locals. I apologised, and haven’t ever mentioned it again. It really made me aware that these things impact real people, and us real if that makes any sense?

Likewise, through meeting people involved though. One work colleague had PTSD from his involvement, he had to go in the classroom. My DH was sent too, but stood down when it became apparent nothing could be done. He said he drove straight to his own DC primary school right after because he had to see them before he could continue his duties.

I remember we were so very shocked about Diana we went to the pub at lunch time, met a couple who couldnt care less

I think I can remember the Challenger footage people are talking about. Was there a slightly posh British reporter who said something along the lines of "Was that supposed to happen?" as it all went wrong.
9/11 - I was at home with my mum and my dad rang up to say a plane had hit the world trade centre. We put the news on and just watched in utter shock. My dad said they did the same in his office.
7/7 I was at work, but was sent home early as what I thought was a cold turned out to be way worse. The news was reporting on lots of people walking through the tube lines to escape and no-one was quite sure how many bombs there had actually been.
I think I can just about remember news of the Zeebrugge disaster and the Berlin wall coming down, but I can't remember anything about Chernobyl from the actual time. Just lots of documentaries afterwards.

Thanks Ohdeariedear.
I am sure that clip of Newsround was the coverage I watched so It was obviously not live but just a few minutes after the explosion.

There was a lot of coverage for children because for the first time a school teacher was part of the crew.

911 i was stood in a shop waiting to be served and i thought at first it was a film they had on only when the titles came up they had sound turned off i realised what it was. i felt so sick and shocked my heart went out to those poor people

Kennedy, hearing my older sister scream hysterically.

Churchill's death and funeral, tv schedules completely changed.

Aberrant, walking home from school in the pouring rain with my mother refusing to let go of my hand.

Munich Olympics hijacking

Kings Cross fire, I should have been going through there at that time but went out for drinks with friends

Lockerbie

Death of Diana, my friend was married on h the day of her funeral and others were guests at the Abbey.

9/11

7/7

And I forgot the moon landings.

Challenger - I was standing in the hall about to go out when I heard the newsflash on the television and dashed in the lounge to see what had happened.

9/11 I was on my way to work in the morning and heard about a plane crash and thought it was a shame but thought nothing more of it until a few minutes later when they said on the radio that there had been another one. I was out of contact with anybody until nearly lunch time (I was working in a rural area on my own and wasn't in my car) when I heard what had actually happened, until then I was thinking it had been an accident between two light aircraft in NY state.