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Original poster

What were the main events where you know exactly where you were when you heard?

355 replies

BrizzleMint · 17/02/2019 08:36

Mine were the space shuttle explosion, Princess Diana dying and 9/11 plus the explosion at Mill Hill barracks and the Harrods bombing.

I was curious what they were for older/younger people so what events do you really remember.

OP posts:
lottielady · 17/02/2019 14:33

Dunblane
Diana
John Peel’s death
Caron Keating’s death
Terry Wogan’s Death
9/11
Boxing Day Tsunami

Funny - it’s never anything nice

lottielady · 17/02/2019 14:33

Oh god, and David Bowie and Prince.

NaturalBornWoman · 17/02/2019 14:37

I can remember many of these but have very strong memories of hearing that Lord Mountbatten had been murdered, I was driving and I heard it on the radio. I was on a flight home from Lanzarote when news of Dunblane broke. My MIL rang me screaming about Diana first thing in the morning and I watched 9/11 unfold on TV as I was ironing. I have early childhood memories of the assassination of JFK, particularly the funeral on TV, and I remember the unfolding drama of Apollo 13, it was absolutely fascinating and I was gripped by it.

Mirime · 17/02/2019 14:45

Kurt Cobain dying.
Princess Diana.
9/11 - I was in work for this, in a department store. It suddenly went dead, not a customer in sight, then staff started coming back off breaks and the news spread and we started taking it in turns to go up to the staff room to watch the news for a few minutes. It seemed so unbelievable, even after seeing it.

7/7 was different, I was in an office based job and suddenly the internet ground to a halt, couldn't get on the main news websites, so we knew something had happened but took a little while to find out what.

I remember lots of disasters, but not where I was when I heard - Kings Cross, Piper Alpha, Hillsborough, Zebrugge etc. Hillsborough and Piper Alpha, my DM hid the newspaper from me.

thesockgap · 17/02/2019 14:52

There are many events that I remember hearing about, seeing on the news etc, over the years - but only a few where I can literally picture myself in the exact spot, at the exact moment I heard.
Hillsborough - my brothers were there at the match, I was in the kitchen with my mum helping to prepare food for my cousin's christening the following day, and my nan was in the front room with the TV on. She came into the kitchen and said "there's trouble at the match, come and see"
Diana - we'd not long moved into our house. DH's brother rang him around 9am on the Sunday morning (unheard of!) to tell him the news. I can still picture our wallpaper in the bedroom, and our bed at the time!
9/11 - we were on holiday in Menorca. This odd Welsh guy who'd been trying to befriend us for a few days, came up and said "they've blown up the World Trade Centre, they've blown up the Pentagon, f**king nuts innit!!" We didn't have a clue what he meant and kind of humoured him, until we went out for a meal later that evening and saw the news in the restaurant.
An odd one - John Peel's death! I vividly remember being standing at the till at Kwik Save and my husband ringing to tell me!
There are various other events that I associate with a certain time in my life but I don't actually remember hearing about them for the first time.

Ribbonsonabox · 17/02/2019 14:53

Princess Diana's death, 9/11, Obama getting elected.... I think because I was quite young at these points so they are more pronounced memories... I've got so much going on in my life now days that I cant remember exactly where I was and what I was doing often! I still watch the news every day and am engaged by politics but I cant remember exactly what I was doing during things as recent as the referendum, last general election etc even though I know I stayed up and watched the results... I cant remember exactly where I was

Ribbonsonabox · 17/02/2019 14:57

Oh actually I do remember where I was when I heard David Bowie had died because for some reason that really upset me! I mean I'm usually a little sad when I hear any artist I've admired has died... but I just lost it when David Bowie died.. ive never even met him but I was sobbing.... I think because his music is tied up with so many emotive childhood memories and family stuff for me... its seemed like the end of an era and brought up all this emotion for me... that I was an adult now and had children of my own who would be growing up in a totally different world with different references... really got to me! I was listening on the radio 6 music in my bedroom and they were dedicating the whole show to him and I bawled my eyes out!

winsinbin · 17/02/2019 15:00

Lots of these but a happy one was walking through a shopping centre on a beautiful summers evening and seeing a massive banner over the Body Shop announcing that John McCarthy had been released. It made me cry then and the memory still makes me cry now.

Ribbonsonabox · 17/02/2019 15:04

Oh and the Bognor Regis IRA bomb in 1994 I remember really vividly although I was a small child... I was there with my mum on the pier and I remember the panic and people running about really vividly. We were moved from place to place because they found one bomb and evacuated everyone to one area and then there was another one in that area! One went off in a shop we had been in earlier in the day! It was more exciting than frightening at the time..... but I think I'd be shit scared as an adult...
I was in London for the 7/7 bombings.. no where near them but I had to get on public transport later that day and I was shitting myself! My dad had actually almost gotten on one of the trains which exploded as it was his usual to commute to work but had luckily been late! Again he just got on different public transport later on that day to get to work... London really kept moving... I admire that but I was terrified.

SlinkyDinkyDoo · 17/02/2019 15:10

Berlin Wall, Maggie no longer PM, Princess Diana, 9/11, London Bus/Tube Terror Attacks, Brexit

SlinkyDinkyDoo · 17/02/2019 15:11

Oh and Michael Jackson death

Idratherhaveacupoftea · 17/02/2019 15:16

I'm old, so I remember King George VI the Queens father dying.

The Coronation.
The first man in space.
Assassination of President Kennedy.
Death of Buddy Holly in a plane crash.
Aberfan, that was horrendous.

easyandy101 · 17/02/2019 15:16

Diana - I had just finished working in a bar in Croydon and some tearful pissed up matey punched me in the head, went to my mates flat and put the TV on and it was on the news

9/11 - at work in Pimlico, our boss shut the office and sent us all home

easyandy101 · 17/02/2019 15:19

Yeah and 7/7 - hasn't long arrived at work, traveled on one of the lines that was targeted. I was working for goldman Sachs at the time and the whole of their various buildings went into total lock down and they reassigned all non essential phone lines top the trading floors

Original poster
BrizzleMint · 17/02/2019 15:19

The Bobby Sands hunger strike - we were on holiday at the time.

OP posts:
Klopptimist · 17/02/2019 15:30

Hillsborough - my DB had gone to Sheffield with a mate in the hope of getting a match ticket outside. Of course, there were no mobile phones then and as we watched it all happening on telly, we had no idea whether he was in there or not. Thankfully, he thought to call us from a payphone round about teatime and he hadn't managed to get in so just went to a pub.

9/11 - I was a care assistant and one of our residents told me that the Statue of Liberty had collapsed.

Diana - I was in student digs and my Geordie housemate woke me up to tell me. We were meant to be going to the pub to watch Liverpool vs. Newcastle that day and we were gutted.

A happy one to balance things out - Nelson Mandela's release. Lots of Afro-Carribeans in the area and they held an impromtu street party. It was lovely and I can remember dancing with an elderly gent who gave me a swig of rum from his hip flask.

WarpedGalaxy · 17/02/2019 15:31

Yorkshire Ripper getting arrested! That was also while I was studying in Spain. My mum called from home to tell me, it was huge news. I was born and grew up in Leeds and had been a very ‘protected’ teen by my parents, especially after 16 yr old Jayne MacDonald was murdered.

Leela96 · 17/02/2019 15:35

Death of Freddy Mercury
Enniskillen bombing
Omagh bombing
9/11
Death of Princess Diana

OVienna · 17/02/2019 15:40

John Lennon
Wedding of Charles and Diana
Reagan shooting
Space Shuttle challenger
Berlin Wall/Overthrow of Gorby (I sort of associate them together...)
Diana death
9/11

Brexit was a horror.

I was expecting Trump but it was still so depressing.

OVienna · 17/02/2019 15:43

Yes the Tsunami of 2004. Of course. DD1 was a month, my midwife had gone back to visit family in the region. Terrible.

OVienna · 17/02/2019 15:43

Bobby Sands was also seminal in the NJ community I grew up in.

Pk37 · 17/02/2019 15:48

The same as many others.
Diana dying, 9/11 and Freddie Mercury dying

Firstworddinosaur · 17/02/2019 15:48

2005 Pakistan earthquake. A friend rang me in a panic as she couldn't get hold of family out there (they were fine in the end but caught up in the aftermath). Awful.

The death of Robin Williams, I was so sad about that one, just stood in co-op staring at the paper.

OublietteBravo · 17/02/2019 15:49

The Valley Parade fire. My father worked at Bradford Royal Infirmary at the time and headed straight into work once he saw the TV footage.

mynameisMrG · 17/02/2019 15:51

Dunblane,
Diana dying
9/11
Michael Jackson dying
Victoria wood dying