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Original poster

What is the biggest media event you can remember from your childhood??

504 replies

K1092902 · 28/07/2017 18:31

Mine is the death of the Princess of Wales. I was 12 at the time- Mum came and woke me and my sister up (much to her annoyance as she had been on a night out the night before) and told us it was important we watched as it was a huge deal. I can still remember sitting there that morning watching the news coverage. The next day mum took us to London for the day and we went to put flowers outside Kensington palace.

I didn't get it at the time but I was the same age as harry and honestly can't imagine having to live through my teens, getting married and having DD without my mum by my side never mind dealing with the pressure of royal life..

OP posts:
BlondeB83 · 28/07/2017 23:48

Hillsborough also.

jenesuisplus · 28/07/2017 23:50

Definitely Dunblane for me. I was off sick from school, and I remember my DF and a lot of the parents of the infant class clinging to their children and crying at school pick up time. My clearest memory of it is my DB3 being put out at the cuddles because he was a big grown up Year 1 child, not a baby...

My DF said it was the moment he understood his DM's tears at the same school gate after the Aberfan tragedy 30 years previously.

PickAChew · 28/07/2017 23:52

Silver jubilee
And, yes, Charles and Diana - got invited to a classmate's party to celebrate the day. We played postman's knock [confusion]

goose1964 · 28/07/2017 23:52

I I think I remember Aberfan but I was really young when it happened so it might have been the 5th anniversary

nomad5 · 28/07/2017 23:53

Gulf War but I was too young to really get it. I remember watching Nelson Mandela leave prison and I thought all people leaving prison had a party and TV coverage.... I was 5!!

First media event I was fully aware of the impact was Diana's death

LadyLaSnack · 28/07/2017 23:59

Herald of Free Enterprise sinking (on my 6th birthday).

PickAChew · 28/07/2017 23:59

I do remember Elvis's death. Mostly because it was a day when we were visiting relatives I'd never visited before. They were fairly newly returned from a country they'd emigrated to before I was born. If I hadn't been in a strange place, it might not have stuck.

Another event that stuck was the Hull Derby challenge cup final. It was the first I;d ever heard of rugby league but got me hooked. The final day is particularly imprinted on my mine because most of Hul had headed down to London for he day, but we didn't (hence my previous ignorance - parents not interested) and a racing pigeon got tired and lost on top of our shed, so we spent the afternoon feeding it back up and trying to find out where it was from, obvs no google back then! I don;t know if we even had a working landline!

PrincessFiorimonde · 29/07/2017 00:01

Haven't yet RTFT (will do that tomorrow), but I'm obviously a lot older than the first few posters because the first media event I dimly remember is footage of Churchill's funeral (January 1965; I wasn't yet 5). Though I must either have seen this when visiting family or friends, or - more likely - seen it in a documentary or something a couple of years later, as I'm pretty sure we didn't have a TV at home till 1967 or 1968.

First big media thing I clearly remember was the Apollo moon landings (1969). Mum woke my brother and me up to watch it and she said we'd remember it all of our lives (we were 9 and 11). She was right, of course!

OnceUponATimeInWonderland · 29/07/2017 00:04

The first one I remember as a child, probably because I was the same age so my parents were uncharacteristically protective, was holly wells and Jessica Chapman. I remember watching all the news stories and being very bewildered as to why everyone was so concerned.. chilling to.think about now ......

differenteverytime · 29/07/2017 00:04

Elvis dying, although I had never heard of him. I remember my mother crying, and all the other mums talking about it.

PurpleTraitor · 29/07/2017 00:05

I love the disconnect.

A consistent majority says Diana's death is something they remember from childhood, this is accepted. A few people say the same about 9/11 and cue comments about how old that makes us all feel....

Just checking everyone knows those two events were four years apart, right?

PickAChew · 29/07/2017 00:11

The question was first even, Purple

Diana's death was first.

AnneGrommit · 29/07/2017 00:12

Maybe because the repercussions of September 2001 are still being felt it seems recent?

Zhx3 · 29/07/2017 00:12

I remember assemblies about Zeebrugge and Piper Alpha. Also doing a space topic in school when the Challenger exploded.

The one that stayed with me was Tiananmen Square. My parents were glued to the TV and the Chinese newspapers. I remember the images and Kate Adie's reporting. We marched against the Chinese government (in a UK city) and I was terrified we would be shot.

PickAChew · 29/07/2017 00:13

footage of Churchill's funeral (January 1965; I wasn't yet 5)

I was born late 69, so definitely not a memory of mine!

TartanDMs · 29/07/2017 00:13

Miners strike and Andrew and Fergie's wedding. I was 18 when Diana died so no longer a child.

firawla · 29/07/2017 00:13

Princess Diana's death and then as a teen 911

AnneGrommit · 29/07/2017 00:20

Memory is weird anyway. A poster up thread says she watched the 2nd tower being hit at 4pm. I'm sure it was before then because I was on a demo that day and we were in the pub for lunch after when it all kicked off and they cut to the news. I don't think we were eating lunch at 4pm. We can't both be right but I'm sure neither of us are lying.

Birdshitbridgegotme · 29/07/2017 00:20

Leah bets (Not sure of spelling) she died taking ecstasy.

BlackStars · 29/07/2017 00:21

Remember being we were told we were at war over the Falklands - I was 11(ish) and having done WW1/2 history at school was quite concerned. (I can actually remember the exact moment standing on the back steps in our garden )

I also remember the death of Elvis (age 7ish) but only because we were on a family outing that day (rare) and it was all over the papers.

Sparrowlegs248 · 29/07/2017 00:25

Miners strike.

SomebodysNotInBedYet · 29/07/2017 00:27

Foot and Mouth. I grew up on a farm and realising that the huge burning piles on the news were actually piles of animals has stayed with me. It came within 10 miles of our farm and we could smell the fires sometimes. And every night on the news were those images of the burning mounds of cows. I was 7.
Fire service strikes in 2002 because I remember asking my mum what would happen if someone's house went on fire, surely they would have to go and save them and her saying they wouldn't.
Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman.
The disappearance of Sarah Payne.

Salmotrutta · 29/07/2017 00:28

I'm old enough to remember:-

Aberfan - clearly remember watching rescue efforts on BBC news Sad
Moon landings
Robert Kennedy shooting (was too young to absorb JFK shooting)
Moors murders stories
Churchills funeral

Salmotrutta · 29/07/2017 00:31

I also remember my granny talking very disparagingly about Wallis Simpson...

And her views on Wallis were that she was "a hussy"...

BlackStars · 29/07/2017 00:33

I was never aware that so many people actually endured all the 70s cuts - didn't even know that was ever happening. I was born V late 60s and don't remember it being that bad (apart from they wouldn't let me buy a pony) I remember standpipes in the street in the fantastic summer of 1976 - and have always lived south of the M4.