How many "Where were you When" events in your life so far?

[LoveFall]

Somewhat inspired by the 9/11 thread. You can probably estimate my age from this.

I remember:

The Cuban missile crisis
JFK assassination
Apollo 13
Princess Diana's wedding and her death
9/11
Robin William's death
The first time I read about Covid. My heart sank.

I can tell you where I was for each one.

What about you?

Diana's death

9/11 actually watched the 2nd plane hit live as it happened. I can vividly remember being so shocked and phoning my mum.

Dunno if I could count them but I will always remember where I was when the London riots started because I was in North London and it felt like the whole area was on fire that night.

I was rushed out of a coffee shop with my toddler, they were pulling down the shutters and telling people to leave immediately as rioters were piling in to our borough on the trains.

I lived like, one road away so not much safer there! We could hear them smashing up the town so we drove to my mums for safety and she lives in a much rougher area which was ironic!

I remember fairly clearly:
John Lennon's death
Pope John Paul II being shot
Diana's death
9/11 - remember this very clearly and was impacted to some degree by aftermath

But I think Covid is the most significant and worst event in my lifetime so far (and hope it will continue to be!)

Princess Diana's death, and her funeral.
The eclipse in 1999.
1999/2000 Nye.
When I first heard about 9/11.
The last Tottenham riot.

Hillsborough - v. personal to family/friends/area. Remember everyone listening on radio and so many people just having to wait and see if family/friends came home.
James Bulger again with area but also I was the same age as killers
Diana death/funeral
Millennium Eve
Aftermath of 9/11 (oddly not the actual day so much as it didn't really register)
Iraq war as I had a newborn and remember watching it all on 24hr coverage doing night feeds. I also remember asking for the channel to be changed while in labour at hospital!
Everything since then.

Munich Olympics killings
Patty Hearst
Watergate
Jonestown massacre
Elvis' death
Charles and Diana's wedding
AIDS
John Lennon's death (this one is clear as day)
MTV
Challenger Shuttle
Iran Contra affair (that seemed to be huge at the time)
Lockerbie
Fall of the Berlin Wall/Soviet Union collapse/glasnost/etc.
Tiananmen Square massacre
Nelson Madela freed
Los Angeles riots (I'm from Los Angeles, so this was huge)
The execution of The Ceaușescus
Freddie Mercury's death
Rwanda
Balkan/Yugoslavian wars
Kurt Cobain's death
OJ Simpson
The word 'taliban' came into my use of language
Mad Cow
Princess Di's death... I was living in Paris at the time. Surreal. Watched her funeral from my British friend's flat in the 2eme over a fry-up. Weird.

I could go on... so many to mention

9/11 of course
I was actually near the WTC when the '93 bombing occurred.
Whitney Houston's death
Waco siege back in the early 90s. That was a big deal.
I mentioned OJ Simpson... we were all glued to our TVs across America. People bunked off work to watch that trial. Those were crazy days. I was living in New York and we were totally sucked in.

The London Bombings in 2005. I was in a playground at the crack of dawn in Wimbledon with my then 3-year-old DS1. I'd just reunited with my ex-husband and was severely regretting doing so. My mum rang through on my brick to see if I was ok.

danadas

I find it insane that I never knew about Hillsborough until I moved to this country. I mean, I was SUCH an Anglophile back in the 80s. I lapped up anything to do with British culture and never even knew about this tragedy (which I still can't handle reading about... this and the Aberfan disaster... I can't even cope with that one).

Oh yes, the Popes and Ronald Reagan's attempted assassinations were a couple of months apart, I think.

Many of those mentioned above but for me John Smith’s death was one that really reshaped where we are now. I know it may be dreamland but it still feels this country and the world would be a better place if he had lived (and been elected).

Concorde inaugural flight.
Opening of Severn Bridge.
Jfk death
Aberfan.
World Cup 1966.
Vietnam War.
Biafra famine.
Troubles
Miners' Strike.
Punk Rock.
Winter of Discontent.
Death of John Lennon.
Yorkshire Ripper.
Charles and Di.
Lech Walesa
Fall of Berlin Wall.
Gorbachev
Gulf War.
New Labour.
Death of Diana.
9/11.
Saddam Hussein and the death of David Kelly.
Hunting of Bin Laden.
Coronavirus Pandemic.

Berlin Wall
Nelson Mandela release
Scott and Charlene's wedding
Lockerbie
OJ Simpson trial
Dunblane
Princess Diana death
9/11
Boxing day tsunami
7/7
Covid lockdown announcement

Other big events, like Rwanda and Ethiopian famine didn't have a single moment of impact, just built up in my awareness.

And I learnt about Robin Williams death by reading this thread

The first one I remember clearly is the attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan on (I had to look it up) 30 March 1981. I was 8 years old, my (British) family were living in the USA for my dad’s job.

I had just come home from school with my best friend Lauren, and we popped in to tell my mother we were home and saw her watching TV. We had a family rule not to watch TV during the day.

Before anyone had a chance to say anything, we saw what it was: the president had been shot and taken to hospital and not much more was known. I remember my mother reaching out her arms to us, holding us both while we watched. I remember her being so worried about Lauren and her reaction - at the time I thought it was just because Lauren was American and it was her president, but later I realised that Lauren’s dad was a politician and my mother must have known that she was scared about what had happened and what it meant, and if he could be a target too.

That was the first time I realised or understood that something could happen, far away, that would impact a whole country/the whole world like that. And that as you watch the events unfolding you just don’t know what to expect, what to be afraid of, what it means for you, what (if anything) has changed.

Elvis death
Charles and Di wedding
Princess Diana death
9/11
7/7
Michael Jackson death
Amy Winehouse death

Surprised no one's mentioned the Brexit vote. I remember waking up in the middle of the night to check the news and being in disbelief. I woke my DH and it was a bit like a sudden bereavement. I felt like I didn't know my country anymore and nothing would ever be the same. Then driving to work in a daze and listening to local radio, even the usually super cheerful presenters seemed a bit muted and shocked.

hot summer of '76
SAS London embassy hostage rescue
Charles and Diana marriage
Regan and the Pope in assassination attempts
The Falklands war
The miners strike
Live Aid
Hillsborough
Hungerford shootings
Lockerbie
Dunblaine
9 11
Tony Blair's first election win
Freddie Mercury's death
Princess Diana's death and funeral
covid

Lockerbie
Hillsborough
The first Gulf War
Diana’s Death
The Millenium
9/11
7/7
Manchester Arena Bombing
Covid-19

I remember so many of these, but the only two that are stamped on my memory when I heard the news were the death of Princess Diana and 9/11.

I’ve been around for plenty of what others mention but the ones that have struck me as truly historic don’t include things like Michael Jackson’s death. These are mine:

Dunblane massacre
Diana’s death (because of the impact on the monarchy)
Millennium Eve
9/11
7/7 bombings
Global financial crash
2012 Olympics
EU Referendum
Covid

@3ormorecharacters

Surprised no one's mentioned the Brexit vote. I remember waking up in the middle of the night to check the news and being in disbelief. I woke my DH and it was a bit like a sudden bereavement. I felt like I didn't know my country anymore and nothing would ever be the same. Then driving to work in a daze and listening to local radio, even the usually super cheerful presenters seemed a bit muted and shocked.

Agreed - I remember waking up, immediately checking for the verdict and just being overwhelmed with the historic implications of what we’d done.

Also felt the same about the Trump vote, though thankfully that turned out to have less permanence!

Diana's death (I was in USA)
9/11 (I was in an airport on honeymoon)
Millennium (I was having a shit time at home wondering if my parents were going to get divorced as they had a big fight!)

Also, I think we tend to remember the shocking news more easily, but I do remember being on a boat party on the river Thames during the 2012 London Olympics, it was just a birthday party but that Saturday turned out to be Super Saturday - the atmosphere in london was amazing and I remember feeling so lucky to experience it. Walking home along the river the Houses of Parliament were all lit up with the Olympic Rings, there were fireworks everywhere and everyone was so jovial and friendly to each other. It felt great to be British that night!

I mentioned the Brexit vote. I kept waking up in the night and checking the results. When I got up about 6am and realised Leave had won, I felt physically sick and started shaking. It’s weird, because far worse things have happened in my life, but I just felt total despair for this country.

Later that morning, my Leave-supporting boss came into the office, grinning with his tongue sticking out like Muriel when she walks down the aisle (in Muriel’s Wedding). He thought this would be the start of businesses being able to do whatever they liked, without state interference. Ironically, over the next year, his company went down the tubes.

@memberofthewedding
Happy Birthday!

I remember where I was for;

Princess Di’s death
9/11
Covid stay at home order and vaccine news
Challenger
Millennium

I remember many of the other things mentioned here but not where I was at the time

Princess Diana's wedding and her death
Chernobyl
The space shuttle exploding
9/11
7/7