Where were you for...

[Gus Mears]

What historical events do you vividly remember and why? 

Ridiculously, it's 18 years since the September 11th attacks. I heard about it when I was on a school trip to the Isle of White and the teachers gathered us all around to explain what was happening in justifiably somber tones, somewhat marred afterwards when they gave a bollocking to Sam Myatt for attempting to teach the year 4's a lewd and probably racist song about a gigolo called 'Jonny Banana'. 

I also remember where I was when I heard Princess Diana died. I was staying with my Dad that weekend and he was setting up a game of Monopoly when he put teletext on and went: 'Oh, Diana's dead. Do you want to be the top hat?" before immediately switching over to Live and Kicking. Apathy for the royal family evidently fell close to the tree, as my only other memory of her death was throwing a wobbler because the BBC cancelled Peter Rabbit in order to show her funeral.

So yeah, things like 9/11, the Berlin Wall, Archduke Franz Ferdinand being killed @Thunderplex

Edited September 11, 2019 by Gus Mears

[Mr_Danger]

Bizarrely I was in my first disasters and emergencies lecture in college when the lecturer told us that someone had flown a plane in to the side of one of the Twin Towers.

My vivid memory of Diana's death is of the morning cartoons being cancelled and the news being on all day, put me right out.

I was in Euro Disney when the invasion of Iraq was kicking right off, meant fuck all to me but my mate spent the entire three days there watching news bulletins.

Edited September 11, 2019 by Mr_Danger

[tiger_rick]

Probably at work for most of them. Certainly was for 9/11. A colleagues daughter rang in to say she'd seen it on TV and we were desperately trying to follow on the internet which was having a meltdown. Most news sites replaced their sites with single pages of mostly text but getting anything to load was impossible. Spent all night watching the news footage unable to look away.

I've nearly started topics on that many a time. What is it about this sort of tragedy that leaves you (well, me) unable to stop watching. I say this sensitively but it's like you're almost willing for their to be more tragedy to continue your own horror. It's a weird feeling. Like with 7/7 or the Moat and Bird shootings. Glued to the TV watching nothing actually happen but continuous tales of woe and tragedy.

I found about about Diana on the Sunday morning. I had a really bad earache and had to get something for it (My Mum's red hot fucking oil on a cotton wool ball and pain killers) and went back to sleep on the sofa. When I woke up, my Mum and Auntie were in tears talking about their tragic loss and I honestly thought my Nan was dead. Pretty sure I got clouted when I found out and said "Bloody hell, is that it?"

Think I've said this before but I took a shit babysitting job that afternoon only because they had Sky and I'm pretty sure it was supposed to be Newcastle v Liverpool. Fucker got cancelled and I had to look after them dreadful kids.

Edited September 11, 2019 by tiger_rick

[Thunderplex]

9/11 I was in work, with for the phone to ring as  was waiting for my daughter to be born (she was 2 weeks late, and for most things, still is.).

Princess Diana was in the early hours just after it happenedv as we were getting ready to go up to Edinburgh for a holiday.

Berlin wall I was at my mates house. Watched the Hoff for a bit then put a video on, Bad Taste by Peter Jackson a I remember.

Archduke Franz Ferdinand, I was there and watched him be assassinated in person, what with me being so fucking old you cheeky bastard @Gus Mears

[gmoney]

09/11 - Waiting for the school bus home, in the assembly hall where we had to wait for the buses. I saw my moustached goon of a form tutor wide-eyed and pantomiming something being hit to another teacher at the front of the hall. I remember thinking "what the fuck is he doing?" and then the news filtered back to my part of the line. When I got home I flipped from channel to channel taking it in from different shows. 

Diana - I was at caravan site. My mum read it in the paper and cried. I went outside and played football. 

 

 

 

[tiger_rick]

24 minutes ago, Gus Mears said:

So yeah, 9/11, the Berlin Wall, Archduke Franz Ferdinand being killed @Thunderplex

Needless dig. No way to treat a man who lived through two world wars.

[WyattSheepMask]

9/11 - we were in an editing suite working on Media Studies projects. After a few seconds of stunned silence as we watch some of the news footage, Boycie asked “do you reckon someone will make a Half-Life Map of the wreckage?” 

Diana - i was staying at my Grandma’s when my Auntie (they lived together) came and woke me up shaking me saying “Princess Diana’s died!”, and I just said “oh....can I go to sleep now?”, which I know is cold of me, but at the time I didn’t think it was something that I needed to be woken up and told about straight away, I’d have just found out when I woke up. I can remember Sky One cancelling their usual schedule and just showing The Simpsons all afternoon and being suprised when they showed the episode ‘Much Apu About Nothing’, which has a car crash in the opening scene. Becky Carlisle from my form claimed she was the first person to throw a rose on the hearse at the funeral the following week

Edited September 11, 2019 by WyattSheepMask

[Hannibal Scorch]

Never forget

I was on my way home from college. First day back was a half day. Dad called me and told me a plane had gone into the WTC. I didn’t even know what it was. I arrived at my girlfriends house just in time for the second plane. I spent the next 5 hours just watching the news, trying to figure out what the hell was happening. 

Diana I was listening to TalkRADIO when the first reports came in around midnight. I didn’t know any celebs who had died in a car crash, so I didn’t think too much about it until I came down and told my parents. They said she’s gonna die. We watched Sky News for the next few hours as the whole situation got worse and she died. We went to Kensington Palace the next week. Never seen so many bunches of flowers. It was numbing.

 

[Bus Surfer]

I was actually sat in my parents house browsing the UKFF when the towers were hit. 

 

[TheToeSucker]

I was in school when 9/11 happened. My mother said it was like a movie, which I think was a very common opinion at the time, Watching it unfold.

[bigfoote]

9/11, was on a break from college and overheard the news on a radio in the chippy in town. Got back to college to find all classes been cancelled and went home to rolling news.

Chips were fantastic.

[Hannibal Scorch]

2 minutes ago, bigfoote said:

9/11, was on a break from college and overheard the news on a radio in the chippy in town. Got back to college to find all classes been cancelled and went home to rolling news.

Chips were fantastic.

Wrong thread. You want Chippy Tea

[Lion_of_the_Midlands]

9/11 I was on holiday in Cornwall. Found out what had happened by walking down the street in St Austell and seeing the image of the smoking tower on a TV in a shop window. Went pretty much straight away back to where we were staying and put the news on and watched it for most of the next couple of days.  We were in a chalet on a reasonably large holiday park and there was a noticeable change of atmosphere on it. 

With Diana it happened overnight and I was supposed to be at work the next day. Went in as normal but we closed up after a couple of hours as it became very obvious very quickly that this was going to be the only thing anyone was going to be focused on, certainly not buying sandwiches and drinks we were selling. Personally I'm not interested in the royal family and this for me was just some extra paid time off work. 

The first thing I really remember making an impact on me was the Iranian Embassy Siege in 1980. They showed the end of the siege live on TV, which was unusual for the time. The SAS guys storming that embassy was something that really captured my attention. I was only 7 at the time and for whatever reason it really stuck with me. 

[PunkStep]

9/11 and Diana are the two stand out moments.

For 9/11 I was at home getting ready for an evening shift working at Sainsbury's. Saw it on the telly and then at work we were all sat in the staff room watching further events unfold. Remember that evening vividly. For 7/7 I was in Alton Towers. Mad to think that if it happened today, I'd be directly impacted given where I work.

As for Diana, I was on my paper-round when somebody told me. I instantly didn't believe it because in the days/weeks/months leading up to her death, she was in the press like you wouldn't believe. I've never seen so much media attention on one person over a similar timeframe in my life (Beckham comes closest, but he is still distant). As I saw the front page of every newspaper every morning, you could guarantee she was on the cover of at least one of them. The media were absolutely fucking relentless- pics of her and Dodi on boats, doing this, doing that- you couldn't move for Diana stories and features. What a load of absolute privacy-destroying wankers.

I was in the clubhouse at Seashore Haven holiday camp in Great Yarmouth when Arsenal beat Everton 4-0 in '98 to win the league.

I'm devastated Gus got in there before me with the @Thunderplexjokes. That's ruined my afternoon now. Was gonna go with VE Day, but Archduke Franz Ferdinand tops it.

 

Edit: Oh, and I was in my living room, intently watching things unfold on BBC News 24 when Raul Moat was on the run. The Gazza run-in is still the greatest live news plot twist I've ever witnessed.

Edited September 11, 2019 by PunkStep

[Callum1993]

For 9/11 I can remember being in school(I could have only been about 7) but I can vividly remember a boy in my class being massively upset because he had an uncle who worked in New York City. I can’t remember Diana’s death at all because I was too young sorry you old bastards.