Where were you?

[jorghes]

It's interesting to know the kinds of events that we remember where we were when we found out.

I'm not of the correct vintage to have been around when JFK died, but I do remember where I was when I heard that Diana, Princess of Wales died (my parents had invited friends over for lunch when the news came over the radio).

The other events that I remember where I was when I found out of course includes 9/11 and as an Australian, the Port Arthur Massacre.

What are some of the other global events that we all remember where we were when we found out? (how's that for over the top alliteration??)

 

[Gillian]

When JFK was assassinated I was with my 7 month old baby (yesterday was his 58th birthday!) waiting for my husband to come home from a business trip. I turned on the radio, and it was playing funeral music. I was sure it was because the plane that my husband was on had crashed and remember only too well my relief when the announcer told us it was because President Kennedy had died.
When Princess Diana died I had just driven up to our summer place in 'the wilds'. As I arrived, my niece from along the way came rushing over calling out that Diana was dead. My first thought was how on earth does she know anything about Diana. I hasten to explain: my boss's name was also Diana!

 

[Susan48]

The opposite can also be true - that we remember when certain public events occurred because of what was happening in our own lives at the time. For instance, I remember the UK postal strike and introduction of decimal currency occurred in 1971, because my husband and I had just got married and were living in the United States that year. My parents arranged for a friend who was going on a cruise to take a letter from them to me, and post it en route. And my father managed to get a call put through on my birthday - it was long before the days of email and mobile phones.

 

[Katie Bee]

I do not remember where I was when JFK died, but I do remember where I was when I heard that John Lennon died and when Princess Diana died.
I also remember where I was when 9/11 unfolded on our TV screens.
I also remember that we were away from home as a family on the day of Diana's funeral and we almost had Longleat House and Safari Park all to ourselves.

 

[Gillian]

Now I remember where I was when 9/11 unfolded as well. We were driving home from 'the wilds' and a friend phoned me to tell me that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Centre. My first thought was how on earth a plane managed to fly so low. Again I have to explain: there is an office block in the middle of Helsinki called (for some reason) the World Trade Centre!! Anyhow, the friend soon put me right.

 

[canadianbeth]

I was in elementary school when the teacher announced that the King had died and we would not be singing God Save the King. Instead, until the Queen was crowned, we sang The Maple Leaf Forever every morning. Of course, at that age, (10) in Canada, I barely knew there was a King.

I remember when Marilyn Bell swam across Lake Ontario in 1954. Coming home from school at lunch and later, everyone saying "how far is she now?"
https://news.wbfo.org/post/heritage...ho-conquered-eels-exhaustion-and-lake-ontario

I was newly married (4+ months) when I turned on the radio and heard that JFK had been shot. We only had a small b/w TV at the time but watched all the happenings that occurred during the following week.

I heard on the late news about Diana, Princess of Wales.

In 1901; I had just risen when my husband came into the bathroom and said a plane had just hit the WTC. I came out into the living room and saw the second plane hit. We had just moved and I spent the day unpacking boxes in front of the TV. It was my granddaughter's 10th birthday; she was in Calgary and we were still in Edmonton. Our phones were not yet hooked up so we could not call her. I later learned that she was upset that on her double-digit birthday everyone around her was crying and she did not understand.

I saw the information about Prince Philip on my phone when I got up.

 

[Gillian]

Now you remind me about the wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip. I (age 9) was at boarding school and we were told that, after the wedding, the Princess and Prince would be coming to visit us. We (at least we little ones) actually believed it and I can still remember my disappointment when two of the senior girls, dressed up as Philip and Elizabeth, came into the hall!! How simple can one get! I also remember how I cried after the death of King George VI whenever I passed his photograph hanging in the corridor.

 

[At home in NZ]

I remember two events that occurred within days of each other. Hillary conquered Everest 29 May 1953 and Queen Elizabeth 2 was crowned on 2 Jun 1953.
I was at primary school in England.
At school we were shown a film about Hillary’s conquest but I can’t say whether the famous words ‘we knocked the b off’ were included, I don’t remember.

I watched the Coronation at a neighbour’s house because a) we didn’t have TV and b) my mum was ill.
My memory of the TV, the screen was one of those really small ones set into a large wooden structure.
It felt like the whole house was full of women gushing over the beauty of the new Queen.
When my dad came to collect me I learned that my mum was in hospital, she had appendicitis.

A few weeks later at the Coronation celebratory street party I won a prize for singing.
I still have the prize, a Coronation mug and I still have a book we were given at school which was a gift from the borough council to all schoolchildren in the borough.

Looking back, Churchill’s funeral also stands out, because until then we didn’t have TV and dad said he would get one so we could watch the funeral.
However, he never carried out the threat to send it back if we argued about which programme we wanted to watch.

 

[JimP]

I do not remember where I was when JFK died, but I do remember where I was when I heard that John Lennon died and when Princess Diana died.

I too remember where I was when I heard that John Lennon died, not because I was a big Beatles fan, but because it was a rather funny incident. I was in high school then, and it was just before English Literature class. A classmate came in, took her seat, and said rather loudly to a friend next to her "John Lennon has been shot!" Sister Mary Enda overheard it and ran toward the intercom, while asking where this had taken place and whether someone had called an ambulance. The reason for her reaction was that there was a student in the year ahead of me named John Lennon, and Sister thought the girls were talking about him. The girls were able to explain to her who the other John Lennon was before the police and ambulance were called.

As for Diana (and Mother Teresa, who died the same day), I found out during the prayers at church, as I had risen that morning and left home without having turned on the radio.

 

[Bob Spiers]

Its funny to come across 'where were you when ..." setting, because in two instances - death of Diana and the latest death of Prince Philip - I seemed to have heard about both on the fly. Let me explain.

In the case of Diana it was early morning and I was preparing to shave and had switched on a portable radio connected to (I think) Radio 2 expecting music. I applied shaving cream and before I could start caught an announcement (clearly part way through) saying that "they could now confirm that Princess Diana had been killed in the Paris car accident". Stunned I went into the adjacent bedroom where my wife was reading in bed and was greeted with the wifely "you have shaving cream on your face".. and broke the news to her. I then wiped off the cream and took the radio into the bedroom and we listened as the news unfolded.

In the very recent case of Prince Philip I was sitting in the car and checking my phone for messages whilst my wife went into a Tesco Express store suitably masked (Sorry Peter but some people still shop) to buy a few oddments. I saw her returning and for no particular reason activated the car radio only to hear almost the instant she opened the car door..."Buckingham Palace have confirmed the death of Prince Philip". I asked if she had heard that and again (very wifely) was told "no - give me a chance to get in the car" so I repeated what I had heard and we both sat for quite a while and listened as the story unfolded.

I suppose there is nothing greatly unusual in hearing things on the fly but just for once I would like to catch 'Breaking News' in a more conventional setting, while listening to an actual News programme.

 

[canadianbeth]

I heard about the death of Elvis while driving my children to day camp. Later in the evening, the newscaster said "suddenly a whole generation feels old".

 

[Margery]

The death of King George VI is engraved on my mind. It was my best friend's 15th birthday (I was a year older) and her mother had very reluctantly allowed her to attend our church Fellowship dance. Such freedom - even though it promised to be a very sedate affair - there would be boys there! We wondered why the church hall wasn't open and waited with several others when the Rector came over to announce the death of the King. Of course there would be no dance but a church service instead which wasn't quite the way my friend had hoped to celebrate her birthday.

 

[Bob Spiers]

The death of King George VI is engraved on my mind

Thinking back about the death of King George (and it was long time ago) I recall walking home from School with a mate who wanted to show me a model aeroplane he had made. His house was a lot nearer to the School than mine and as we entered his back gate, his mother came out of the door and appeared to have been crying. She composed herself somewhat seeing he had brought a friend home, and recounted the fact she had just heard on the wireless the dreadful news that King George had died.

It was not the time to look at model aeroplanes, so I ran home to break the news to my mother, only to find she and neighbours had already heard and I recall being disappointed I had not been the one to break the news.

 

[peter]

I don't remember the death of George VI any more than I remember the death of Queen Mary or the Coronation the following year, but I do remember when I first heard about the Suez Crisis - it was during lunch at school. On that particular day we (the infants) ate at the same time as the juniors - I can't remember why, we normally ate on our own - and the juniors at my table started talking about Suez. I can't claim to have understood what the crisis was about at the time - indeed it was only about 50 years later that I discovered the whole story.

 

[canadianbeth]

I vaguely remember the Suez Canal crisis, mainly because our Prime Minister at the time, Lester B. Pearson, won the Nobel Peace Prize. I still remember his middle name - Bowles - because it was part of a test we had in school at the time. My granddaughter briefly attended a high school near us named after him

 

[Katie Bee]

our Prime Minister at the time, Lester B. Pearson

I recognised the name - that is who Toronto airport is named after.
You learn something new everyday.
I have flown into that airport a few times over the years as I used to have family living in Toronto.

 

[Bob Spiers]

but I do remember when I first heard about the Suez Crisis

Ahh another trip down memory lane. The year 1956 aged 17, a few months into my first job (a Clerk) and saved enough to go on holiday with my mate Pete a year older than me and a trainee die caster. Ever the resourceful one I had booked the holiday to the Isle of Wight from a newspaper advert. It was timed for the first week of the Birmngham holiday fortnight (when factories all over closed) and hot in the news was President Nassers take-over of the Suez Canal, which greatly displeased Britain and France and the country virtually declared war (at the time of the holiday at least).

Unknowingly I had booked a 'swish' hotel, a large country house up a long wooded drive out in the sticks. It quite frightened the life out of both of us, but we need not have worried because the holiday turned out to be outstanding. The week in question was windy and gales pounded the coastline and returning one afternoon found trees in the drive blown down, firemen assisting with heavy duty chain saws, and being young and energetic (those were the days) we mucked in clearing up branches and debris. We became heroes along with hotel staff and some of the other residents. We were praised at evening dinner and given a round of applause and our bill was heavily discounted. Never mind about the Suez crisis, we had helped resolve the hotel's crisis and it made the holiday one to remember. (Just sad Suez wasn't so successful)

 

[Bob Spiers]

I also remember that we were away from home as a family on the day of Diana's funeral and we almost had Longleat House and Safari Park all to ourselves.

Yes that reminds I had arranged to drive up to Birmingham the day before Diana's funeral, stay overnight with my Mate (who even at that time I had known for some 50 years) and his wife and return with them both as next day, as they were staying with us in Kent for a week. The M40 motorway was eerily quite, no speeding, everyone in the slow lane and we just knew other motorists (like us) were listening to the radio commentary of the funeral. The same on the M25 around Heathrow (normally nose to tail) and for the rest of the journey on the M2. When we reached home my wife (who had not been with us) was watching the funeral on the TV so - after greetings and a cup of tea - we ended up doing the same.

 

[Sue_3]

The earliest such event engraved on my memory is the Cuban missile crisis. I was seven years old and remember being with my Mum, who was listening to the news on the radio. Mum was very alarmed and explained to me that there might be another war and that they might use 'atomic bombs'. Like many children around my age I grew up with a terror of getting the four minute warning prior to annihilation or horrific injuries. Even as a young adult I remember wondering where in my new home I might seek shelter in such an event, as there was no cellar or stone staircase ...

I remember Churchill's funeral very well because Mum took me to the Thames embankment to watch the funeral procession pass by and people near us in the crowd moved me to the front so I could see.

Current discussion in the news has reminded me of hearing the news of Diana's death on my bedside clock radio alarm when it woke me up that morning. I had heard the news about John Lennon in exactly the same way some years earlier.

 

[canadianbeth]

Oh my yes, the Cuban missile crisis. I was in the Air Force at the time, stationed on Vancouver Island in BC., and the base was shut down. Everything was on high alert.