Where were you when...

[aguinaga]

Princess Diana?
9/11?
Kennedy assassination?

Many others that I've forgotten?!

Not just bad moments (as above), but where were you when certain moments which caused national or international unity, both positive and negative, occurred?

And was anyone at CH when something like this happened? Any interesting stories?

[marty]

I like these questions even though they're a bit morbid!

JFK. Not guilty, m'lud. I wasn't born in 1963 but I know that it was Gary Oldman wot did it...

Princess Di - she died early on a Sunday morning so I was asleep in bed in my room in my gran's flat in Wimbledon. I remember turning on the radio and all the music was depressing and dreary. When I found out I told my gran and she thought I was joking. I went to see all the flowers at Buck House which was quite amazing although I did feel the whole thing turned into a media circus. Whilst the only real tragedy was that 2 young boys lost their mum I feel her death was emotionally hijacked by lots of people. Before she died the papers hounded her like crazy - maybe some felt a bit bad for fuelling the frenzy. The whole ensuing week was sad and mad.

9/11. Was working in King's Cross. My colleague came in after lunch and said 2 planes had crashed in New York. We turned on the telly and didn't do any work for the rest of the day then we were sent home early. Horrid day - will never forget it.

[Mrs C.]

9/11 - practically the whole school glued to tv sets in house after first news came through - several rather worried pupils with parents/relatives over there at the time.

Princess Di - husband woke me up to tell me - I thought I`d misheard him, being half asleep - only when I went downstairs to find tv on (most unusual in the morning) did I begin to believe what he`d told me!

[Katharine]

I was at CH when JFK died. I had been out into town that evening for Girl Guides, I was getting some kind of award for my patrol. I was a Queen's Guide and they loved showing me off in my uniform covered in badges (Queenie Blench likened me to a Christmas Tree in her unmistakeable style!) We learned the news on the way back to school. It was the last day I ever wore the uniform so different memories.

My father woke me in the early hours of the morning to see the first small steps on the moon - he told me I would never forget it and should see it - he was right!

Princess Di, I woke first that Sunday morning and told John - his reaction was 'Good God!' I remember that more than anything else.

9/11 I was at work and went into one office that had the radio on, I thought it was a drama documentary about the earlier bombing of the World Trade Centre, only to be told the truth.

[Vonny]

Princess Di - I was up early for a Sunday as we were going to visit my aunt & uncle in Worthing for the day. My husband shouted downstairs to tell me but I thought I'd misheard him. Remember travelling from Fareham to Worthing in the car wishing the radio wasn't broken as I was desperate to find out all about it.

9/11 - I was on my frst week of maternity leave (daughter born 24th Sept) and was watching Crossroads on tv ( ) - remember the commercial break that then went into a newflash. Remember thinking that Crossroads would be back on soon ( ). I then turned over to Sky & watched the 2nd plane pretty much live on tv along with all the other developments.

[Mid A 15]

The day Kennedy was shot I got run over by a car outside my primary school.

I was checked out at hospital and sent home to rest my injured foot. A policeman turned up to take details of the accident but as he walked into the room news that Kennedy had been shot was announced on a TV newsflash.

The policeman stayed at our house long enough to ascertain that Kennedy was dead and then left the house without taking a statement!

[englishangel]

Kennedy.

I was 9 and we were going to see a friend of the family who had just been widowed, I walked in and said "Kennedy's dead". That went down like a lead balloon.

Diana.

Husband turned on TV, funereal music, "she died" etc etc, took a few minutes to realise it wasn't the Queen Mother.

John Lennon

Doing nights on a post-natal ward. Ward full of weeping, wailing post-natal women. I was glad I was going off-duty.

9/11

I was at work (no radio or TV) and my colleague had popped home to let the gasman in and made herself a cup of coffee and a sandwich, sat down in front of the TV and saw the first plane. Rushed back to tell me and the phone went, husband has TV in his office and he rang to ask if I had heard the news, both WTC towers had collapsed.

We had a part-timer whose husband worked for a merchant bank with offices in the WTC and she knew several of those who died.

[J.R.]

JFK - Just returned to Oxted Division after weekend leave. (Certainly not a one man assassin !)

911 - At work, and we all switched the computers over to BBC news to see the towers burning.

Princess Di - Heard the news when turning the radio on whilst having a lie-in. (Certainly a very suspicious death, though I doubt we'll ever find out the real truth.)

[shoz]

I remember JFK but was too young to be really bothered about it. I was at home waiting for the new series of Dr Who to start on the BBC. It was delayed because of the assassination.

911 I was in Universal Studios in Orlando with my wife, daughter and her boyfriend. The park was immediately closed and we all had to leave. The roads were solid for hours with everyone making their way out of all the parks.

[jhopgood]

For JFK I was at CH and seem to remember just having returned from an evening Band or Orchestra practice when someone mentioned that JFK had been shot. How he got this information I don't know as they were all in evening prep and silence reigned.

For Lady Di I was on holiday in our village house near Denia when the news came on the tele. Sunday morning I think. Since I am not a great follower of celebrities, it registered little, but I was amazed at the outpouring of grief in the local brit community and the fact that they got together a collection to send flowers to the UK. Never could get a handle on that one.

911, again I was watching the tele in the village near Denia and I thought it was some disaster film as I wasn't really paying attention. It all seemed pretty remote.

For the moon landing I was alone at my parents and rather stupidly went out into the back garden to look at the moon. Couldn't see anything though.

What does stick in my mind was the US invasion of Panama, since I was there and had to spend Christmas holed up in a hotel, because it was too dangerous to go out. I eventually got out on a german military flight to Costa Rica, with a video which was taken half an hour after the invasion started. Unfortunately, since it stareted at 1.00 am, and it was dark outside, there is not a lot to see, but you can hear the helicopters and see the tracer fire.
I suppose that at the end of the day, none of the "major" events really made much impact on me as they were so remote.
However, being involved is another matter.

[graham]

On the day Princess Di died, I was working an early shift at Burger King, Gatwick (that was my 'fun' gap year job). I arrived at 5.30 am and was informed by the manager that the chauffeur had been drunk and that's why they crashed. "Really?" , I asked. "Yes", he responded "he'd had a wallbanger and seven chasers". I was amazed that the jokes had started so quickly. More came through the morning. Innappropriate maybe, but it made my day more fun!

[englishangel]

I remember the moon landing but as I was at Hertford it didn't make a big impression, except I wanted to go.

I do remember the raising of the Mary Rose in 1983/4, watching it in a TV shop window, I thought it was an amazing feat.

I have since seen the Mary Rose at Portsmouth and it seems even more amazing.

Another thing that made a big impression was watching Nelson Mandela walk off Robben Island. James was 4 and I made him watch it telling him he was watching history being made, shortly followed by the demolition of the Berlin Wall, amazing times to have lived through, unfortunately he doesn't remember though he is a history buff and has seen both on history programmes.

[Katharine]

Another thing that made a big impression was watching Nelson Mandela walk off Robben Island.

We were in Brunei then. John (and British Council) had brought some puppeteers out to give shows in schools. That day the Sultan's three youngest children attended a show. The news on Brunei TV that night started with the fact that these three had seen the puppets, it was followed by the international news - namely Mandela's release. We managed to get a video of the evening's news for the puppeteers, not many could upstage Mandela like that!

[Richard Ruck]

JFK - I was far too young to know what was going on.

Princess Di - I was at home and heard the news on the radio (very early morning).

9/11 - at work in an office just off Oxford Street in London. My wife phoned to tell me something was going on, so we switched the TV on and stopped working.

The only major event I've really been involved in was the fall of the Berlin Wall - I was in East Berlin for a conference the night it happened. It was our last night there, and everyone was busy getting merry in our hotel when rumours started circulating that something interesting was going on at the Wall, so we all wandered down to have a look.

It was amazing watching such an event from the 'wrong' side. Left my bl*ody camera in the hotel, though!

[Rory]

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

maybe also because the moon has very little gravity??

Princess Di -Sunday morning in Kent. I didn't do the whole national weeping thing - but it was odd..

9/11 - working in SANPAOLO London Branch - like everyone else in the city it was horrible - no work got done, just watched the TV in disbelief some people called friends in the US and conspiracy theorists discussed a global takeover by extremists and the end of the world. Not a day one would want to live through again......

JFK - I'm not that old.

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???