10 most compelling news stories during your life?

[Kev B]

Like Tom pretty much most of which have been posted. A few are poignant to me.

Elvis... Was brought up on him. Came home from the pub as an18 year old and found my Mum and sister in tears. Luxembourg radio 208 played his music all night.

Lesley Whittle.... Remember a bobby friend of mine was glad of the overtime this incident required. A football team mate was questioned about this, as was everyone who worked on the shafts at Bathpool park.

Iraq..... This happened just as my ex wife took our kids to live in Cyprus. Very worrying time.

70's troubles in Ireland.... I had 2 uncles in the army serving in Ireland at the time. In the British army but both born in Ireland. I lived next door but one to my Nan and the news was never turned off.

Moon landing.... As a kid this was fascinating.

Handsworth riots..... I was working in Brum at the time. Rang to say I was on my way home mid evening (from a phone box) and was told about the riots. I was just a few mile away.

Hillsborough.... At the time this was unfolding I was visiting my uncle (ex army one) who was recovering from a motor bike accident. As I was watching the news waiting to see him alarms went off and the ressus team had to go in and re start my uncles heart. He survived this but passed away shortly after.

[The_nun]

Elvis & Lesley Whittle stay strong in my mind too. As does the Falklands.
Hillsborough. James Bulger. Tsunami. 9/11.

[redsimon]

Very Hard to narrow to 10, In no order

9/11

Nelson Mandela release from prison

Challenger exploding

7/7

Thatcher Resigning

Hillsborough

Enniskillen

John Lennon's murder

1981 Riots

Death of Diana


Im sure there lots more though

[tikay]

Facebook being founded.

Fwiw Tikay I was only 11 (and in UK!) at time of Diana death and remember it being on TV all the time and it all seemed a bit much.

Like, I'm not saying it wasn't tragic or even important, but I don't see any lasting effect even today, whereas not case with 9/11, Berlin Wall, etc etc.

I'm not trying to be contrarian, but I think that Diana's death is the most over romanticised thing ever.

Ahh, well that explains it, you were but a child.

[tikay]

9/11. Was impactful I remember clearly as when it came  on the telly I was examining someone's accounts of a business i was thinking of buying and we just stopped and watched the small portable tv in their office... The video of seeing that plane hit the tower will always be vivid in my mind... I still have the telegraph from the next day with very vivid pictures including the falling man.. Still sends shivers..

Soham murders ... Remember sitting there on the Sunday afternoon glued to sky news ..seemed to strike a chord with me for some reason

Not sure when it was but I remember because of a very vivid image.... Two undercover British soldiers killed by mob in N Ireland..just remember seeing one of them dragged through the window of his car... Chilling

Diana... Remember the wife waking me on the Sunday morning and telling me..thought she was winding me up for half an hour

Maddie... Apart from the obvious I have some strong views regarding this and the parents

Gulf war... Watching the Baghdad City line light up with the bombs falling

Nick leeson... As a former city boy was fascinated by this and the demise of an institution

Fred and rose west

Death of Freddie mercury... Not just the death of an icon but bringing a real awareness of the AIDS virus which at the time was being scaremongered along the lines of the bubonic plague

Falklands particularly the sinking of the Sheffield and belgrano particularly was it simon west? and his his horrific injuries

I can't decide on my "Top Ten New stories", or what order they should be in, but if I had to choose one single item of news, with accompanied filmed footage, that would be the one. It gave me nightmares, & still does. That may have been the moment I realised the level of cruelty & hate that existed, especially when crowds are involved. Crowds act differently to individuals.   

[david3103]

Facebook being founded.

Fwiw Tikay I was only 11 (and in UK!) at time of Diana death and remember it being on TV all the time and it all seemed a bit much.

Like, I'm not saying it wasn't tragic or even important, but I don't see any lasting effect even today, whereas not case with 9/11, Berlin Wall, etc etc.

I'm not trying to be contrarian, but I think that Diana's death is the most over romanticised thing ever.

Ahh, well that explains it, you were but a child.

I was considerably older and I still don't get it.
The tours to Althorp were even more of a mystery.

[Mohican]

9/11. Was impactful I remember clearly as when it came  on the telly I was examining someone's accounts of a business i was thinking of buying and we just stopped and watched the small portable tv in their office... The video of seeing that plane hit the tower will always be vivid in my mind... I still have the telegraph from the next day with very vivid pictures including the falling man.. Still sends shivers..

Soham murders ... Remember sitting there on the Sunday afternoon glued to sky news ..seemed to strike a chord with me for some reason

Not sure when it was but I remember because of a very vivid image.... Two undercover British soldiers killed by mob in N Ireland..just remember seeing one of them dragged through the window of his car... Chilling

Diana... Remember the wife waking me on the Sunday morning and telling me..thought she was winding me up for half an hour

Maddie... Apart from the obvious I have some strong views regarding this and the parents

Gulf war... Watching the Baghdad City line light up with the bombs falling

Nick leeson... As a former city boy was fascinated by this and the demise of an institution

Fred and rose west

Death of Freddie mercury... Not just the death of an icon but bringing a real awareness of the AIDS virus which at the time was being scaremongered along the lines of the bubonic plague

Falklands particularly the sinking of the Sheffield and belgrano particularly was it simon west? and his his horrific injuries

I can't decide on my "Top Ten New stories", or what order they should be in, but if I had to choose one single item of news, with accompanied filmed footage, that would be the one. It gave me nightmares, & still does. That may have been the moment I realised the level of cruelty & hate that existed, especially when crowds are involved. Crowds act differently to individuals.   

Corporal David Howes and Corporal Derek Wood. Let's not forget their names. If you're not sure what happened, this is how these men were murdered in cold blood and in broad daylight.

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

[Jon MW]

My top 10 would probably be

9/11 - just because of the size of the story. I was working in insurance and the marketing department had coverage of it on their computers; we all just moved over to there to keep up with it.

The collapse of Communism in Europe - actually felt important while it was happening rather than something that seems momentous in hindsight. I was only a teenager and pre-world wide web and without being able to afford a TV (prior to 24 hour news on the BBC anyway) the only way to keep up with what was going on was to listen to the radio (which seems a lot like something that should be more relevant to a generation above mine).

Nick Leeson - had an impact on me, because I quite liked the idea of working in the City. But I was scared I would do something so bad it made my employers collapse - Leeson was proof I hadn't just been paranoid and it actually could have happened if I'd followed that career path

Thatcher resigning - I was 3 when she became Prime Minister, so her leaving seemed quite 'important' at the time. Not so much now, but I'd include it on the basis of how it felt then.

Concorde crashing - as well it's speed and style it always seemed to represent reliability up until that point.

Soham Murders - like with Sicilian, just seemed to get to me more than others.

IRA Docklands bombing - in 1996; was just such a shock. It really seemed like the Troubles were at an end and this was a proper ceasefire. All my flatmates at uni were genuinely shocked when this came on the news.

Band Aid - I have less of a memory of this - because I have a very bad memory; but it was definitely one of the more impactful events of my life.

Elvis dying - my first memory; it's very vague - but then I was about one and a half years old. I just have a recollection of hearing it on the radio and I had that recollection for ages before I realised how young I was when it happened. Both my parents were massive fans, so it might have embedded in my memory because of their emotional reaction to it.

Menningitis outbreak - it was news that made the national papers such as the Times and the Express (see picture), but definitely a personal one. I didn't know the people who died but there was a period of time where those in my Hall of Residence didn't know if they'd contracted the virus before we'd had the antibiotic (? medicine of some sort) to kill it. I don't think many people were worried about actually dying but everyone got very close looking out for each other. It  made for quite a close 'blitz' like atmosphere. Particularly when there were journalists stalking the gates of the hall of residence, bus drivers throwing students off of bus's if they suspected they lived there and just about everybody you passed talking about what was going on there.

Click to see full-size image.

For what it's worth I think Diana's death was interesting, but no more or less so than any other celebrity to any great degree, certainly not something to have any historical impact on either a personal or worldwide scale.

[rfgqqabc]

Diana and 9/11 would be the biggest ones but I was too young to really get the significance of those events at the time (8 and 12)

The beginning of the 'War on Terror' which sounds so comical now. ITV news interrupted Stars In Their Eyes to show video of nighttime bombing raids.

7/7 was probably the most profound for me, I was commuting from Kent for work experience in London. Police everywhere blocking off roads, panic all over the radio and the phone networks were swamped so you couldn't call anyone. All in all a pretty nervy day.

Alexander Litvinenko

Execution of Saddam

Michael Jackson

Paris Concorde crash

Launch of the Euro

Deepwater Horizon

Fukushima Earthquake

Really good list Dan, perfect for our generation I think. I might take Deepwater Horizon off for something, possibly mh370, launch of Facebook or YouTube. Not that they were news at the time I guess.

Some stories in here I hadn't heard about, the Corporal killings were something I had and they are truly horrifying.

One amazing story no one seems to know about despite the scientific and technical implications
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/news/3Dratchet_wrench

[The Camel]

9/11. Was impactful I remember clearly as when it came  on the telly I was examining someone's accounts of a business i was thinking of buying and we just stopped and watched the small portable tv in their office... The video of seeing that plane hit the tower will always be vivid in my mind... I still have the telegraph from the next day with very vivid pictures including the falling man.. Still sends shivers..

Soham murders ... Remember sitting there on the Sunday afternoon glued to sky news ..seemed to strike a chord with me for some reason

Not sure when it was but I remember because of a very vivid image.... Two undercover British soldiers killed by mob in N Ireland..just remember seeing one of them dragged through the window of his car... Chilling

Diana... Remember the wife waking me on the Sunday morning and telling me..thought she was winding me up for half an hour

Maddie... Apart from the obvious I have some strong views regarding this and the parents

Gulf war... Watching the Baghdad City line light up with the bombs falling

Nick leeson... As a former city boy was fascinated by this and the demise of an institution

Fred and rose west

Death of Freddie mercury... Not just the death of an icon but bringing a real awareness of the AIDS virus which at the time was being scaremongered along the lines of the bubonic plague

Falklands particularly the sinking of the Sheffield and belgrano particularly was it simon west? and his his horrific injuries

I can't decide on my "Top Ten New stories", or what order they should be in, but if I had to choose one single item of news, with accompanied filmed footage, that would be the one. It gave me nightmares, & still does. That may have been the moment I realised the level of cruelty & hate that existed, especially when crowds are involved. Crowds act differently to individuals.   

The geezer who beheaded Lee Rigby and then explained to a camera why he did it, with the blood literally still on his hands, was pretty chilling too.

[stato_1]

Not sure if this is the right way of doing this but I'm just going to write down the first 10 that come to my head.

9/11, the one true "Where were you when x happened?" that I think everyone knows the answer to.

July 7th Bombings, my dad was in London commuting as usual I was petrified

Diana's Death - maybe another where everyone knows where they were

Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman murders

Dunblane Massacre

Phill Hughes death - almost certainly not one for most people but for someone 2 months younger than me to die playing the sport I love was quite a shock to me

Reeva Steenkamp shot by Oscar Pistorius - maybe just sticks in my head cause its recent

The Hunt for Osama Bin Laden

Execution of Saddam Hussein

Black Friday - not really a news story but fairly compelling if you're a poker player!

[tikay]

My top 10 would probably be

9/11 - just because of the size of the story. I was working in insurance and the marketing department had coverage of it on their computers; we all just moved over to there to keep up with it.

The collapse of Communism in Europe - actually felt important while it was happening rather than something that seems momentous in hindsight. I was only a teenager and pre-world wide web and without being able to afford a TV (prior to 24 hour news on the BBC anyway) the only way to keep up with what was going on was to listen to the radio (which seems a lot like something that should be more relevant to a generation above mine).

Nick Leeson - had an impact on me, because I quite liked the idea of working in the City. But I was scared I would do something so bad it made my employers collapse - Leeson was proof I hadn't just been paranoid and it actually could have happened if I'd followed that career path

Thatcher resigning - I was 3 when she became Prime Minister, so her leaving seemed quite 'important' at the time. Not so much now, but I'd include it on the basis of how it felt then.

Concorde crashing - as well it's speed and style it always seemed to represent reliability up until that point.

Soham Murders - like with Sicilian, just seemed to get to me more than others.

IRA Docklands bombing - in 1996; was just such a shock. It really seemed like the Troubles were at an end and this was a proper ceasefire. All my flatmates at uni were genuinely shocked when this came on the news.

Band Aid - I have less of a memory of this - because I have a very bad memory; but it was definitely one of the more impactful events of my life.

Elvis dying - my first memory; it's very vague - but then I was about one and a half years old. I just have a recollection of hearing it on the radio and I had that recollection for ages before I realised how young I was when it happened. Both my parents were massive fans, so it might have embedded in my memory because of their emotional reaction to it.

Menningitis outbreak - it was news that made the national papers such as the Times and the Express (see picture), but definitely a personal one. I didn't know the people who died but there was a period of time where those in my Hall of Residence didn't know if they'd contracted the virus before we'd had the antibiotic (? medicine of some sort) to kill it. I don't think many people were worried about actually dying but everyone got very close looking out for each other. It  made for quite a close 'blitz' like atmosphere. Particularly when there were journalists stalking the gates of the hall of residence, bus drivers throwing students off of bus's if they suspected they lived there and just about everybody you passed talking about what was going on there.

Click to see full-size image.

For what it's worth I think Diana's death was interesting, but no more or less so than any other celebrity to any great degree, certainly not something to have any historical impact on either a personal or worldwide scale.

It had no historical impact really, but that was not the question - it was "compelling news stories". And most people included it for that reason, it was such an extraordinary story, with a horrific twist at the ending. If you wrote her story as a fictional novel, nobody would believe it possible. Royals rarely get killed in car chases or car crashes, especially in the middle of the night. Princess Grace (Grace Kelly) died in a car crash in 1982, & people still remember it with sadness. "Beautiful Princesses" resonate with the public, generally.   

Worldwide? It had a huge effect on the American public, generally they adored her from afar. Put the same question on a USA based Forum, & most will include the Lady Di story. Much the same in Australia, to a lesser degree, too.

[tikay]

9/11. Was impactful I remember clearly as when it came  on the telly I was examining someone's accounts of a business i was thinking of buying and we just stopped and watched the small portable tv in their office... The video of seeing that plane hit the tower will always be vivid in my mind... I still have the telegraph from the next day with very vivid pictures including the falling man.. Still sends shivers..

Soham murders ... Remember sitting there on the Sunday afternoon glued to sky news ..seemed to strike a chord with me for some reason

Not sure when it was but I remember because of a very vivid image.... Two undercover British soldiers killed by mob in N Ireland..just remember seeing one of them dragged through the window of his car... Chilling

Diana... Remember the wife waking me on the Sunday morning and telling me..thought she was winding me up for half an hour

Maddie... Apart from the obvious I have some strong views regarding this and the parents

Gulf war... Watching the Baghdad City line light up with the bombs falling

Nick leeson... As a former city boy was fascinated by this and the demise of an institution

Fred and rose west

Death of Freddie mercury... Not just the death of an icon but bringing a real awareness of the AIDS virus which at the time was being scaremongered along the lines of the bubonic plague

Falklands particularly the sinking of the Sheffield and belgrano particularly was it simon west? and his his horrific injuries

I can't decide on my "Top Ten New stories", or what order they should be in, but if I had to choose one single item of news, with accompanied filmed footage, that would be the one. It gave me nightmares, & still does. That may have been the moment I realised the level of cruelty & hate that existed, especially when crowds are involved. Crowds act differently to individuals.   

The geezer who beheaded Lee Rigby and then explained to a camera why he did it, with the blood literally still on his hands, was pretty chilling too.

Yes, ghastly, in every way. It's barely possible to imagine people could do such things, but the chap was totally calm & matter of fact about it. 

[Jon MW]

...
For what it's worth I think Diana's death was interesting, but no more or less so than any other celebrity to any great degree, certainly not something to have any historical impact on either a personal or worldwide scale.

It had no historical impact really, but that was not the question - it was "compelling news stories". And most people included it for that reason, it was such an extraordinary story, with a horrific twist at the ending. If you wrote her story as a fictional novel, nobody would believe it possible. Royals rarely get killed in car chases or car crashes, especially in the middle of the night. Princess Grace (Grace Kelly) died in a car crash in 1982, & people still remember it with sadness. "Beautiful Princesses" resonate with the public, generally.    

Worldwide? It had a huge effect on the American public, generally they adored her from afar. Put the same question on a USA based Forum, & most will include the Lady Di story. Much the same in Australia, to a lesser degree, too.

"compelling" makes me think of something that I'd like to know more about.

A celebrity dying is interesting news, and can sometimes involve an elaborate funeral which is worth watching for the spectacle but the only two deaths I can think of that make me interested in finding out more about the subject are Eva Peron's and Winston Churchill's - both before my time so not applicable to thread though.

[booder]

Far too many events for me to even contemplate listing them.

Tony , were the murder of Mountbatten and his grandson ,followed the next day by the massacre of soldiers at Warren Point close to making your list ?