10 most compelling news stories during your life?

[Knottikay]

Death of Elvis - 1st real time I had seen my old man with a tear in his eye watching a news item.

9/11 - Watched the day unfold with colleagues at work. At one stage, all 20 ish of us had all stopped work and watched it in horror around the one television we had at work.

Hillsborough - Had family and friends in attendance on the day (all thankfully were safe), and was physically shook up watching it.

Bradford Fire - At the height of the time I was an avid football supporter (home and away). I remember Stoke playing Bradford shortly after at their temp home of Elland Road and the unity between fans, plus the large contributions given by all, was inspiring.

Miners Strike & the aftermath - Affected more families than reported IMO. The divide nationally & locally was intense.

Death of Dianna - remember falling out with the then girlfriend at the time when she was talking over the news flash in the morning. She was adamant it was the Queen Mother who had died and didn't see the big deal with it.

Falklands War - Amazing stories/pictures coming on the news daily. Again, the whole country was watching it with some having loved ones/family involved.

Boxing Day Tsunami - Was on holiday at the time in the Canary Islands. Flying home just after, there was a somber mood everywhere, from cabin crew to passengers. It didn't feel like the 'festive' season at all

Death of Michael Jackson - Not a particular fan, but was on a night out when news filtered through. He was a true pop icon to some, and to see the upset this news caused was eye opening.

The Royal Wedding - A bit of backward thinking here. The old man thought this would be saturated on the news all day, so decided we should all swerve it and go to what should have been a quiet day at Alton Towers. FAIL. The place was packed with folks with the same idea. Nearly ever vendor/ride assistant also had a portable television on view too.



Good thread.When people are rushing around or are busy all day, this makes you think & remember
  

[Nakor]

OMG. News stories are like a drug for me, I am endlessly fascinated by them. I only fear dying because I'll miss what happens next,

I don't think I can even attempt to whittle it down to 10, but I will have a try.

Number one. WWll. What a tale that is. I've been stories about it since I was a boy and I'm still astounded by them.


The Blitz.
The Battle of Britain.
The war in the Pacific.
The convoys and the Hunter killer submarines.
The war in the desert.
Monty and Rommel.
The resistance.
The spies.
The code breakers.
The dam Busters.
The Japs and the jungle.
The POWs.
The Holocaust.
The Dunkirk evacuation.
The D Day Landings.
Hiroshima....

Funny I thought you were younger.

[RED-DOG]

OMG. News stories are like a drug for me, I am endlessly fascinated by them. I only fear dying because I'll miss what happens next,

I don't think I can even attempt to whittle it down to 10, but I will have a try.

Number one. WWll. What a tale that is. I've been stories about it since I was a boy and I'm still astounded by them.


The Blitz.
The Battle of Britain.
The war in the Pacific.
The convoys and the Hunter killer submarines.
The war in the desert.
Monty and Rommel.
The resistance.
The spies.
The code breakers.
The dam Busters.
The Japs and the jungle.
The POWs.
The Holocaust.
The Dunkirk evacuation.
The D Day Landings.
Hiroshima....

Funny I thought you were younger.

Diddn't read OP properly.

[GreekStein]

I remember there being an issue with Iraq and the family was watching the news. My uncle told me there would be a war for sure and that my dad would have to go and fight even though he wasn't in the Army and I burst into tears at which point my mum started telling off her younger brother. I eagerly watched the news hoping tensions would die down.

Princess Diana (first time I ever really remember watching the news for hours).

9/11

7/7  - Was on holiday in Malta with friends and was trying to contact my mum for hours who works in the city. Remember the sense of relief when my dad called to say she was fine.

Lee Huntley

Jamie Bulger story.

When I had a Chelsea season ticket and would go every week pre Abrahamovich I was about 10 - 11 years old and the news broke that Mathew Harding died in a plane crash. I was absolutely gutted as I dreamed of being someone like him when I was older if I didn't get to become a footballer then the second best thing would be being mega rich and giving money to Chelsea to buy good players

London Riots.

[AndrewT]

Lee Huntley

Lee Rigby/Ian Huntley?

[GreekStein]

Lee Huntley

Lee Rigby/Ian Huntley?

Ian Huntley and the Soham murders!

Who is Lee Rigby?

[buzzharvey22]

9/11

Princess Di

7/7

Madelaine Mccann

The Paedo Brigade

Iraq/War on Terror

Smoking Ban in 2007

Michael Jackson (and his death)

Nelson Mandela in general.

2012 Olympics?

[AndrewT]

Lee Huntley

Lee Rigby/Ian Huntley?

Ian Huntley and the Soham murders!

Who is Lee Rigby?

Soldier who got his head chopped off in Woolwich a couple of years ago.

[The Wycher]

In no particular order

Gorbachev taking over in Russia - appeared to signal start of the end of the USSR and potentially a safer future

Cantona leaving old traffold - just in complete shock thought he would be there for years.

Diana - waking up hungover at a house party in cambridge and unable to find Rawhide on tv due to all these presenters dressed in black, took quite a while to work out what was going on.

Thatcher coming to power - first female PM etc

Obama coming to power - first African American President

9/11 - sat in a clients offices supposed to be working while everyone was listening to the radio and wondering what in the world was going on

Rolf Harris etc - just all those childhood memories being ripped apart and thinking that' s CD not going to be playing again.

July 7the Bombings - just felt like it could tear apart the country if it had carried on.

Iraq/Afghanistan - Why do we never seem to learn

Falklands war - seemed to come from nowhere, honestly who had heard of the Falklands before the invasion.

[I KNOW IT]

9/11

Diana's death

Belin Wall

Michael Jackson death

Opening of the Channel tunnel

7/7

Capture of Saddam Hussein

Poll tax riots

Murder of Carl Bridgewater

Arrest of the Yorkshire Ripper

There are many others but some of which, i.e London Riots , happened while I was living abroad so didnt see as much media coverage as I would have being in the UK

Good thread though.
Thanks Dewi

[MintTrav]

Growing up in Dublin, the items that dominated the news were often different to here, as a lot happened in Ireland during those years. I have put links, as some of these incidents won't have been such big news here, or else will be forgotten:

The Monasterevin siege 1975. The whole country followed it every day. It was five weeks from the kidnapping until the end of the siege.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/21/newsid_2489000/2489455.stm

Burning of the British Embassy 1972
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/2/newsid_2758000/2758163.stm

Moscow Coup 1991 - Gorbachev kidnapped, Yeltsin on top of a tank.

Tienanmen Square 1989

Bobby Sands' hunger strike 1981 - he was the first and best-known of the hunger-strikers and people followed the progress every day. Then we got used to it and the others dying made little impact.

Watergate and Nixon resigning 1974

The Dublin Bombs 1972/73  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1972_and_1973_Dublin_bombings

9/11

The Ballsbridge Riot 1981. Sorry - this was also an attack on the British Embassy, in which the police held off a crowd of 15,000, intent on destroying the Embassy for a second time.
http://www.rte.ie/tv/scannal/ballsbridgeriots.html

The gradual collapse of Communism across Europe 1989-91.

[AndrewT]

Growing up in Dublin, the items that dominated the news were often different to here, as a lot happened in Ireland during those years. I have put links, as some of these incidents won't have been such big news here, or else will be forgotten:

The Monasterevin siege 1975. The whole country followed it every day. It was five weeks from the kidnapping until the end of the siege.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/21/newsid_2489000/2489455.stm

Burning of the British Embassy 1972
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/2/newsid_2758000/2758163.stm

Moscow Coup 1991 - Gorbachev kidnapped, Yeltsin on top of a tank.

Tienanmen Square 1989

Bobby Sands' hunger strike 1981 - he was the first and best-known of the hunger-strikers and people followed the progress every day. Then we got used to it and the others dying made little impact.

Watergate and Nixon resigning 1974

The Dublin Bombs 1972/73  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1972_and_1973_Dublin_bombings

9/11

The Ballsbridge Riot 1981. Sorry - this was also an attack on the British Embassy, in which the police held off a crowd of 15,000, intent on destroying the Embassy for a second time.
http://www.rte.ie/tv/scannal/ballsbridgeriots.html

The gradual collapse of Communism across Europe 1989-91.

How could you forget the moving statues?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moving_statues

[bobAlike]

9/11

Diana's death

Belin Wall

Michael Jackson death

Opening of the Channel tunnel

7/7

Capture of Saddam Hussein

Poll tax riots

Murder of Carl Bridgewater

Arrest of the Yorkshire Ripper

There are many others but some of which, i.e London Riots , happened while I was living abroad so didnt see as much media coverage as I would have being in the UK

Good thread though.
Thanks Dewi

Bloody hell, forgot all about that Craig. It happened in Kingswinford where I was born and bred. I personally didn't know him but had friends who went to scouts with him.

[DaveShoelace]

7/7 - I was in Portugal at the time which made it seem all the more unreal

Jackson dying

2012 Olympics - I think will always be my generations 1966

For some reason losing to Germany in Italia 90 is one of those things I'll always remember

Hillsborough

Black Friday - obv only a small news story globally but obviously had the biggest direct impact on my life

Diana

Newtown shootings - I have a friend from newtown who knew a few of the people who died, so I had an inside perspective on it

Maybe Charlie Hebdo. Free speech is one of the most important liberties for me and I was also stuck in a hotel at the time so I watched lots of it


All of them combined still are nothing compared to 9/11. The most disturbing, game changing, remarkable and action movie like thing I've ever seen reported.

[tikay]

7/7 - I was in Portugal at the time which made it seem all the more unreal

Jackson dying

2012 Olympics - I think will always be my generations 1966

For some reason losing to Germany in Italia 90 is one of those things I'll always remember

Hillsborough

Black Friday - obv only a small news story globally but obviously had the biggest direct impact on my life

Diana

Newtown shootings - I have a friend from newtown who knew a few of the people who died, so I had an inside perspective on it

Maybe Charlie Hebdo. Free speech is one of the most important liberties for me and I was also stuck in a hotel at the time so I watched lots of it


All of them combined still are nothing compared to 9/11. The most disturbing, game changing, remarkable and action movie like thing I've ever seen reported.

The stock market crash, or the big shopping day?

"Black Monday" (1987) had far more impact on me, in fact I should have included it in my list. It was on the Monday following the weekend during greatest weather storm in my lifetime arose, the so-called "Great Storm of 1987". I had a lot of money in shares, & I used to dial a number, which had my portfolio pre-sorted, to see how it was getting on. Must have dialled that number 500 times that day even though the service was disabled as the Market closed. ,


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Monday_(1987)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Storm_of_1987


The subprime crisis was a corker of a story, too, & so many great books arose from that.