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

Elvis dying for me too. And my mum crying.

Bombs. Shootings. NI in the troubles!

People starving to death in Biafra (1967-70). I was 8 when it started

The Aberfan disaster here too. It was 1966 and I was 10. It really hit home for me as I was the same age as a number of the victims and I remember watching the rescuer efforts on the news on our tiny box like black and white TV. Truly harrowing.

9/11. I remember sitting on the sofa with my grandad and him saying “Nothing will ever be the same again now.”

I also remember the Queen Mother dying, but strangely enough not Princess Margaret, even though she passed away after 9/11 and before the Queen Mother.

Princess Diana dying, I couldn't believe it.

The Bradford fire at the football ground. I was 9 I think.

I was supposed to be sleeping in a tent in our garden that night, but having glimpsed this on the news as I was getting ready, I remember feeling sick to my stomach and scared so I decided to sleep in my own bed after all.

1963 when JF Kennedy was assassinated - I was 8.

I can't actually remember what it was but there was a young girl being reunited with her parents, I think she may have been kidnapped??

And I vividly remember her crying and I was confused.

I asked my mum why she was crying if she's back with her parents and she told me that the girl had been through a very sad experience.

And I felt very embarrassed that I didn't understand.

Any ideas what it was? I was born mid 80s so would have been mid 90s I think?

Jimmy Carter becoming president, I remember feeling very sad for Gerald Ford. I was about 6.

The disappearance of Holly and Jessica (Soham murders), they were around my age. I think I was 6/7 at the time. Sad fact: they are part of the reason why we now have DBS checks.

The moon landings

John Lennon being shot.

Apollo 13 for me , I was 4/5 . My memory is really sketchy from that period .

The ship Estonia sinking in September 1994, it was travelling between Estonia and Sweden and has been spoken about ever since.
Prior to that it was my cousin’s plane crash in a small private plane in 1990 - he luckily survived but his closest friends did not. It really hit home for obvious reasons.

I remember that so clearly

Oh yes!

The Challenger Disaster, 1986. I was six.

The Falklands war, I was about 6 or 7 and didn't know where the Falklands was so was terrified that our house would be blown up

Scratch that, getting my dates mixed up! That's one of the earliest still but the biggest major news story I remember was 9/11. Was all over the car radio on the way home from school and when we got home, it was on every channel of the TV. Surreal and haunting.

Major news: Piper Alpha in 1988 when I was 10. My aunt and uncle lost a friend on it.

Local news: the murder of a local woman across the road from me. Julie Perigo. Her killer has never been found

dunblane

I also remember death of pope john 23rd...june 1963...i was 4

Lockerbie.
I have been terrified of flying ever since.

Lockerbie I would have been 4.