What was the first major news story you remember as a kid?

[igotbills]

Mine was the disappearance of Madeline Mccann in 2007 - I was 10

The moon landing. I was got up in the middle of the night to watch it.

The birth of William I think

The 1984 famine in Ethiopia. I was 6.

Myra Hindley and Ian Brady. I was in primary school in the 1980s. I googled trying to find the year but it seems it was in the 60s before I was born so
i don’t know why I was aware of it in the 1980s.

Sputnik 1 - it was the first ever satellite launched, in 1957. I was 5.

I also remember there was news about the Zuiderzee in the 1950s, don't know what the event was but I think it stuck because of the unusual (to English ears) place name.

I remember the story of baby Abbie who was abducted by someone posing as a nurse. This happened when I was 10.

Other big news stories like James Bulger and Fred and Rose West I remember, but can't remember if I learned of them whilst they were actually happening or later on. The baby Abbie story though I definitely remember it as it was being reported....And then her being reunited with her parents.

She was found on my sister’s wedding day, when I was having my hair done the good news came on the radio.

Oops, no, scratch that, it must have been another one, having just checked.

Grace Kelly dying is the thing I re,ember the most, even though we'd had all the hype and shit for Charles and Diana a few years earlier.

LunaNorth - I remember being happy when they found her. Of course at 10 you can't grasp the Hell her parents were going through, But at least they did get her back. Happy outcome.

I was thinking of Alex Griffiths!

Wow, that case is si similar, LunaNorth. It's good they were both reunited with their families.

It is, although baby Abbie became very ill as a young woman.

Princess Diana dying. I was 9, had no idea who she was and was thoroughly annoyed because there were no cartoons on, just coverage of this on all channels. We went upstairs to complain to our parents and they were very surprised!

Being annoyed by interruptions to children's TV seems to be a common theme! I suppose in these Netflix days kids are less likely to experience this.

My eldest is 8 and she mostly only hears about the news stories that we specifically tell her about. She did hear about the invasion of Ukraine at school - I wonder if she'll remember about that as an adult.

Genette Tate going missing. I was about 10, and hadn't long learned to ride a bicycle.

I wonder if she'll ever be found.

Maybe one of Myra Hindley’s multiple parole attempts or one of Ian Brady’s attempts to establish he was competent to starve himself to death?

Berlin Wall coming down was the first big one. I was nearly 5 and remember watching the news with my entire family. My grandad was German. It was the first and only time I saw him cry. It's stayed with me my entire life.

Next was the Columbine shooting in 1999. I was 15. Was a young budding goth who was very into Marylin Mason and all things metal at the time.

Straight after would have been 9/11. I was 16. It rocked and shocked our world.

I was living in Toronto at the time and there was huge disruption as the borders closed, flights grounded and the city basically came to a stand still. We were sent home from school and watched the second tower being hit live on CNN in my 10th grade social media class. The principal had to personally come into the class ask us to leave the building.

The world wasn't ever quite the same after that. That was the year I think I finally started to mature and leave childhood behind.

Vietnamese boat people. I remember fundraising efforts at school to help them.

Aberfan disaster and also Myra Hindley's face on front of my Dad's Daily Express. I sort of read the paper (after my Dad had finished with it of course!), obviously did not understand all of it. I am sure Mum and Dad explained it. Particularly Aberfan. I remember thinking Myra Hindley looked very mannish and had a cold stare.

Oh and the Biafran famine. I suppose being in the 60s-70s it was the first one I had heard about. Now it is practically every week, because of all the wars and skirmishes.

The moon landing.

The Birmingham pub bombings. I was 4 .

how did you process that as a 4 year old?

Iranian embassy seige in 1980.