First big one for me was John Lennon dying. Came home to both parents in bits - was first time I'd ever seen my dad cry.
Challenger explosion - was also watching at school, teachers weren't very sure how to deal with a classroom of kids in shock!
Hungerford massacre - not one all uk people seem to remember but we were living not too far away at the time and I remember it making me feel really unsafe.
The disappearances of Susan maxwell and Caroline Hogg, again was living in roughly same area at the time and they were around same age as me, it's always bewildered and angered me that the police didn't link them for such a long time as locals certainly did!
Chernobyl - I think something that may be hard for those too young to remember this is that this was very much pre-Internet days and the soviet govt were VERY secretive about what happened initially so that the rest of the world not only weren't sure what had happened but weren't trusting what they were telling us about exact location, likely seriousness, size and effects, further risks - including whether it would affect our countries! So there were a lot of very scared people! A lot of conspiracy theories that didn't seem so far fetched too.
Hillsborough - was meant to be watching the match with then bf, it was live on telly. Even at the time it seemed obvious to us something had gone badly wrong and it wasn't just fans invading pitch - first few we thought that but as more were getting on and we were seeing adults lifting kids over the fence to save them (it's 30 years later I'm not directly affected and even writing this is making me emotional) bf and I were both army brats and given the current affairs at the time we were thinking an IRA bomb had gone off or been reported (IRA sometimes gave warnings) or maybe a fire. Again, even at the time I found the news reports didn't match what we saw. I've always thought it bloody ridiculous that people believed the bull when there was so much tv footage that could and did disprove it.
Irish troubles bombings - too many to list sadly, being an army brat was at forefront of our families minds, parents are of Irish Catholic descent though, so while they never defended the bombings, whoever was responsible, they did make sure we knew it wasn't just the IRA or even the republican side that were doing this, that there were terrorists on both sides of the dispute. There was and continues to be huge bias in how these events are reported in the uk. loyaultemelie glad I'm not the only one to reference the fact there was/is fault on both sides!
Freddy Mercury dying - was at a boyfriends place after a night out, turned radio on and "those were the days of our lives" was playing - which was not the usual fare of this station, so we were a bit puzzled then dj said it was being played in honour of Freddy who they'd just learned had died, we looked at each other really shocked! To those who weren't around at that time it must be difficult to understand just how HUGE the stigma around HIV/AIDS was at that time, and this was the first celebrity I was aware of that I felt familiar with and liked that had died of the disease. So it felt quite shocking and scary. I
Dunblane - just so very shocking!
Lockerbie - again just so shocking
Oklahoma bombing - was at work when I heard.
James bulger - utterly sickening, just so very shocking & as someone who loves children and have cared for many I STILL struggle to wrap my head round children doing something so evil.
John smith dying, now ex told me, it had made him late leaving work so he was late getting home, he wasn't prepared for my shocked and upset reaction though. I found it so hard to explain why, I still truly believe this event was disastrous for the whole uk.
Diana - another weird radio moment - turned radio 1 on to listen to in car on way to supermarket and there was classical music on, checked radio no defo radio 1, ex & I looked at each other puzzled but this time not the dj that "told us" instead went into supermarket, newspapers at entrance (was really quiet in supermarket too) and saw the headlines. I'm no royalist but I had liked her as much as one can someone they don't really know and I was really shocked, I ended up watching coverage of the funeral on day off work, wasn't finding it too upsetting until they showed that clip of her greeting her boys on (I think) the royal yacht, the one where she's arms wide open clearly overjoyed to see them and gathered them in her arms, this clip cut to footage of them walking behind the coffin - that was it I was gone.
9/11 - was home with dd as a babe in arms, she started crawling that day. I had "this morning" on in background (before it got shit) and the "air raid" siren on the base sounded, next thing programme interrupted by news and first plane hitting tower shown, phone goes then dh (army) "stay at home (I'd been planning to go into town that afternoon but it was an army provided bus to get there) I'm not sure when I'll be home probably not till tomorrow but you'll not get through on the phones anyway so I wanted to let you know" while I was on phone 2nd plane hit - dropped phone! Noticed neighbours (phone was near front door which had a glass panel), who were serving soldiers but presumably on days off for various reasons, seemingly all at same time coming out houses and heading into work. Ask dh "whats going on?" "Can't say anything I'll be home soon as I can and if I can phone I will" I was honestly genuinely scared this was start of ww3 - and I'm not totally convinced now it wasn't!
7/7 - best friend was living and working in London at the time and it was a job that took her all over the city I was frantically trying to get through! Awful! She was fine, another London based friend slept in that morning - he would normally have been on one of the tubes at that time, weird how things happen sometimes.
George Michael - been a HUGE fan since I was 14, bought all his music devoured every interview, appearance etc so very unexpected and utterly heartbreaking! Dd was a bit puzzled by my reaction as she's not really experienced anything like this, she was big into a particular actor at the time and the only way I could think to explain to her was to say "how would you feel if he suddenly died" and I think she "got it" then.
"at last he would be reunited with his Mum and Anselmo." True
Manchester arena bombing & Grenfell tower fire - I'd just moved into current address (in a block of flats) and had an unreliable radio on while painting as we didn't have wifi yet, heard bits of reports on both and then googled to find out what had happened.
"I'm trying to think of "good" ones
Queens silver jubilee - huge street party
Diana & Charles wedding - was a huge & seemingly happy event at the time we had another street party.
The Berlin Wall coming down - 2nd time I'd seen dad cry, happy tears this time. Parents were telling us how they'd remembered it going up and the heartbreaking footage of people being shot as they tried to escape east Berlin, we couldn't really relate as before our time but as I've got older and experienced similar I understand why it was so emotional for them.
Mandela's release - that was emotional.
Thatcher leaving Downing Street (turned out not to be as good as we hoped)
Good Friday agreement - cried that day.
Barack winning his first presidential election - I found that incredibly emotional. I stayed up to watch result come in (and then bloody trump!)
"I was in Glasgow in debenhams when I heard about the (failed) attack on Glasgow airport"
omg! Can't believe I nearly forgot that!
Dd and I were meant to be flying to England that day to see friends, we got caught in traffic caused by the event on a road not far from airport and missed the flight, I was in a state worried about missing the flight, stupidly it didn't occur to me or mum immediately (who was driving us that day) to turn on the radio (we'd a cd playing) or phone anyone (may only be 11/12 years ago but I still had an old style phone no internet on it) to try and find out what happened. So it was a case of we eventually got close enough to see SOMETHING had happened from all the chaos and emergency vehicles, we were stuck in such a way we basically had to go into the airport area, but couldn't get near the actual airport, to be able to turn around, I tried my sister initially as she was in an office job and should have been easier to reach but couldn't get through (turns out was cos she was fielding calls as her bosses were on a flight due in and their families & friends were frantically trying to find out if they were OK), so ended up calling bro who was fortunately on day off who told us what he knew (he's police officer but not In glasgow so had limited info from news/internet). We ended up completely cancelling the trip as dd was too freaked out to go on flight. She's flown since & from Glasgow but she was very nervous.
"Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman going missing, I remember following it on the news and saying to my dad I thought Ian Huntley had done it when he gave that tv interview." I was at now ex in laws day that interview was on, I remember vividly exfil saying "them poor kiddies are dead and I'll lay odds he killed em!"
"can't imagine anyone weeping about the death of a politician now" I can. I just hope it doesn't happen for a long time and I won't say who don't wanna jinx them.
"The death of Robin Williams, I was so sad about that one, just stood in co-op staring at the paper." Omg yes, loved him since mork & Mindy and found the news so incredibly sad.