Where were you when...

[Richard Ruck]

By the way RR - do you remember that every now and then you used to do your own berlin wall impression with those DMs you used to wear???

Aaah, yes, guilty as charged. I still have them, by the way.

[englishangel]

My daughter had some for her 17th birthday (sweet thing) and uses them for kicking her brothers.

I wonder if she will still have them in 37 years time.

[Great Plum]

Dad was only 8 when JFK died...

I was at a friend's house in Horsham when Diana died - his 5 year old brother came in and we didn't beleive him at first!

9/11 I was in Paris with Mrs Plum - a nasty day...

[J.R.]

moon landing .....didn't make a big impression

maybe also because the moon has very little gravity??

Our youngest daughter, who IS in her thirties still flatly refuses to believe the Americans ever walked on the moon. She's convinced it was a US publicity stunt to p1ss the Ruski's off. SERIOUSLY !

Shades of 'Capricorn 1' ?

[kerrensimmonds]

Kennedy - yes, at CH. ?Lower Fifth or Upper Fifth? We were in the School Block doing Prep (ground floor classroom) and somebody - I think Miss Richards (Needlework Mistress) came and jumped up and down outside the window, shouting in. Remember watching it on the TV but whether it was that evening or later, I don't recall.

Diana - was getting up to go to Church, heard it on the radio. Was stunned and rivetted for at least half an hour. When I got to Church (was singing in the Choir) was amazed to see the place overflowing - including people I knew had never been before. It was a very sombre service. Was subsequently amazed by the number of people I knew who bought flowers at the local Tescos and got on a train to London to deposit them at Kensington Palace or Buckingham Palace.

9/11 - had an e mail from a colleague a Portsmouth University, to look at BBC News online. Kept trying but the site was overwhelmed - in the end managed to watch on another News channel on the internet. Whole office stunned. Remember driving home that night, past Arundel and thinking there's generations of English history here that might well be wiped out by a major WW within the next 10 years as a result of what happened today.

7/7 - driving from one University campus to another, heard it on the radio news. Rushed into the building and alerted everyone, then went to my office and logged into BBC News online. Everybody stopped work - phones were ringing as outsiders from London called in to assure their loved ones that they were OK. The Vice-Chancellor's daughter (who'd worked for me as a Temp. six months earlier) was working in a language school in Tavistock Square but by mobile phone about two hours later we managed to establish that she was already in the school by the time the bus exploded. Many of the pupils had not arrived, which was a big worry for all the staff, and along with all those who were in the building at the time she was incarcerated and not allowed to leave, for several hours. When she did, I think she had a long walk home.

21/7 - was recuperating at home after an operation. Found myself rivetted to BBC News 24 - ALL DAY.

I also remember the death of King George VI (I was only a kid of about four at the time). My mother was doing some housework in our house in Horsham and she was so shocked she fainted, hit her head on the table, and went out cold. Little miss cleverclogs (obviously having been prepared for such an emergency) telephoned Daddy in his office in Arundel and before long the cavalry arrived from next door or somewhere else, and sorted us out!

I remember seeing 'One Small Step for Man, one Giant Leap for Mankind' on the TV but whether it was live or not, I can't recall.

[Zob]

Kennedy: I wasnt born until 2002 so dont remember much about that.

Di: On a visit to the UK all very surreal, solemn music on the radio, good reminder of why I dont fit in in England any more.

911: I got up early to drive to San Francisco and fire the 30 people working for my dot bomb company, surfing for news I spotted a small item on yahoo about a plane reportedly hitting the world trade center. Ignored it and wondered why there was no one else on the freeway. Also very surreal day.

[icomefromalanddownunder]

Kennedy: at primary school, picked up on how the adults were feeling, but didn't really understand what was going on.

Princess Diana: walked into the Royal Adelaide Show (annual agricultural bash) to hear an announcer from a local radio station saying that Lady Di had been injured in a car accident, but that there were no details available on the extent of her injuries: probably a broken finger nail. Several red faces later in the morning.

9/11: awoke late (as usual), switched on radio to hear announcers from the same radio station sounding remarkably subdued, but not actually saying anything about what had happened. Yelled at Jess (daughter) to get up and put TV on as something terrible must have happened, but I had to get into the shower. We drove down the freeway listening to the car radio in disbelief. I got to work and watched and rewatched the TV footage of the first plane. By the time we got home that evening we agreed that the TV and radio had to stay off as nothing new was being said, and we were emotionally exhausted. We gave our horses extra big hugs that night.

Moon landing? Stayed up to watch Neil Armstrong make that first giant step, but remember that it was delayed at least once, and that when it finally took place I was completely over the whole affair. However, if, like my daughter, I had just spent a month in Houston I would have been compelled to visit the space centre. She preferred to visit Graceland and Dollywood - reminds me of that rather sad scene in Apollo 13 where no-one is interested in watching the broadcasts from the astronauts any more.

[englishangel]

Kennedy: I wasnt born until 2002 so dont remember much about that.

Di: On a visit to the UK all very surreal, solemn music on the radio, good reminder of why I dont fit in in England any more.

911: I got up early to drive to San Francisco and fire the 30 people working for my dot bomb company, surfing for news I spotted a small item on yahoo about a plane reportedly hitting the world trade center. Ignored it and wondered why there was no one else on the freeway. Also very surreal day.

You don't remember JFK but you do remember Di and 9/11, not bad for a 4 year old.

[J.R.]

Kennedy: I wasnt born until 2002 so dont remember much about that.

Di: On a visit to the UK all very surreal, solemn music on the radio, good reminder of why I dont fit in in England any more.

911: I got up early to drive to San Francisco and fire the 30 people working for my dot bomb company, surfing for news I spotted a small item on yahoo about a plane reportedly hitting the world trade center. Ignored it and wondered why there was no one else on the freeway. Also very surreal day.

You don't remember JFK but you do remember Di and 9/11, not bad for a 4 year old.

Typical of a west coast American !

[Katharine]

Kennedy - yes, at CH. ?Lower Fifth or Upper Fifth? We were in the School Block doing Prep (ground floor classroom) and somebody - I think Miss Richards (Needlework Mistress) came and jumped up and down outside the window, shouting in. Remember watching it on the TV but whether it was that evening or later, I don't recall.

You were UV, Kerren, as I was LVI, also UV were on ground floor and LV were on second floor! I have no memory of telling anyone else about JFK, all I remember is how I heard it.

I too remember George VI death, but not so dramatic as yours. I was just put out as I had learnt the National Anthem and it would now be wrong!

7/7, I learnt that in a taxi en route to Leicester Railway Station, my colleague got a text from her son to say he was fine. We couldn't understand why he would send it. The taxi driver overheard our conversation and told us. We then had an interesting time trying to get home by train, as all trains from London had been cancelled.

[gnuvag]

Princess Di: Got into a taxi with three friends at about 6am after a large club night, slightly the worse for wear. Taxi driver told us, we didn't believe him, so he turned on the radio. Surreal. Someone suggested a minute's silence, then someone else said "**** that, why should we have a minute's silence for someone we don't know?" - which always stuck with me over the interminable months of public outpourings of grief.

9/11: Was walking down the road when my mum, by chance, drove past me, beeped her horn and cheerily announced "someone has flown planes into the WTC - see you later!".