Topic: Your Earliest News Memory

[Crosby Nick]

I think as a young child (10 and under) I was very insulated against the news by my parents.  Looking back at all the things that went on in the late 80s and early 90s I only learnt about most of it as an adult.

The first Iraq war filtered through as my elder brother, somewhat morbidly, charted it in great detail.  Scud missiles felt like the scariest things in the world right then.

I think the most harrowing moment of that time for me was being allowed to stay up late to watch Koeman stop England qualifying for USA '94.  I remember being in tears and my dad saying "that's why you should have gone to bed" like my staying up late was somehow the cause of England's failure

He’s going to flip one…

[thaddeus]

He’s going to flip one…

It's all coming flooding back.  That night puts everything going on now into perspective.  The old 'uns are right, we've never had it so good.

[Sammy5IsAlive]

The James Bulger murder ☹️

That is one of the early ones for me also, although my memory of him being missing is much more vivid than the trial or the CCTV picture of him being taken. It feels completely insane that his murderers were only a year older than me at the time.

Waco is probably the other big one. I think it was one of those situations where even though I was a bit young to properly understand it was clear from the footage that something awful had happened.

I can remember being really shaken by footage of somebody who had gone into a forest and hung themselves during the war in Yugoslavia.

The bombings in Shankhill Road/Warrington also.

I think I remember Yeltsin standing on the tank in 1991 but that is one of those much more hazy memories where maybe I remember the image but have retrospectively attached the context to it?

Not so much news but I remember Linford Christie winning the 100m in the Olympics and our FA Cup win in 1992.

[Crosby Nick]

It's all coming flooding back.  That night puts everything going on now into perspective.  The old 'uns are right, we've never had it so good.

Koeman was such a villain after that! Remember our local club had some sort of prize giving that evening so we were all watching it and everyone cheered after he fouled Platt because we thought it was a penalty and a red card and we were going to win and qualify for the World Cup. Then turned out it was neither. And to rub salt into the wounds he scored not long after. Couldn’t script a movie bad guy to be that much of a bastard!

[Dr. Beaker]

What about Pickles the dog, finding the lost World Cup (Jules Rimet) in '66.

[Mumm-Ra]

My earliest memory was West Beirut being on the news all the time, people firing rocket launchers in the street and running behind buildings. 1982 or 83 I would guess

[thaddeus]

Koeman was such a villain after that! Remember our local club had some sort of prize giving that evening so we were all watching it and everyone cheered after he fouled Platt because we thought it was a penalty and a red card and we were going to win and qualify for the World Cup. Then turned out it was neither. And to rub salt into the wounds he scored not long after. Couldn’t script a movie bad guy to be that much of a bastard!

Who'd have thought public enemy #1 would one day manage The People's Club?

I remember being properly outraged that the free-kick was allowed to be retaken because of encroachment when his first effort was blocked.  When Graham Taylor died a few years ago one of the random Sky channels had the match on again and Paul Ince was about two yards from it once Koeman struck the ball so that at least put one injustice to bed.  How Koeman wasn't red carded for the foul on David Platt is still a mystery but, in the spit of fairness, the same linesman disallowed Rijkaard's goal when he was being played onside by three defenders.

[Nobby Reserve]

I remember the Winter of Discontent. I'd have been 6/7.

Also remember the 79 General Election when that evil bitch won.

By the 1984 Miners' Strike, I was very aware of politics (and donating some of my pocket money most weeks to their welfare fund after hearing my dad was doing so, and helping on a few fundraisers)

[Mister Flip Flop]

The Munich massacre in 72.

[bigbonedrawky]

I used to know the cameraman that filmed that - he died a few years ago.

Well between him and my Mother I think they traumatised me 
It is an iconic and powerful image though and it's probably shaped my views on war. I didn't think I actually needed to add any context to my words but I put the wiki link in for our younger posters, just in case.
Having said that, I do like a good war movie, even though they tend to glamourise war itself... 
I see that c*nt Nixon thought it was 'fake news' aswell. 

[Dr. Beaker]

Well between him and my Mother I think they traumatised me 
It is an iconic and powerful image though and it's probably shaped my views on war. I didn't think I actually needed to add any context to my words but I put the wiki link in for our younger posters, just in case.
Having said that, I do like a good war movie, even though they tend to glamourise war itself... 
I see that c*nt Nixon thought it was 'fake news' aswell. 

They actually did a documentary where they brought the two of them together (my mate the cameraman, and the girl) about forty years later. She was and probably still is a US citizen now of course. Tom actually chucked a load of water over her (after the napalm attack, not at the reunion) thinking it would help - it didn't.

[Red Ol]

She’s a Canadian now and only this year finished her treatment

‘Napalm girl’ Phan Thi Kim Phuc receives final burn treatment after 50 years

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jul/01/napalm-girl-vietnam-war-phan-thi-kim-phuc-final-burn-treatment?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

[bradders1011]

They actually did a documentary where they brought the two of them together (my mate the cameraman, and the girl) about forty years later. She was and probably still is a US citizen now of course. Tom actually chucked a load of water over her (after the napalm attack, not at the reunion) thinking it would help - it didn't.

I'm sorry, I cackled at this.

[HomesickRed]

The death of King George VI; honestly.

I remember being given a Coronation mug with QE2’s face on it too. And every day at school, thanks to Attlee’s Labour postwar government, we had a teaspoonful of concentrated orange juice, a teaspoonful of malt extract and a teaspoonful of cod liver oil - all washed down with a third of a pint of full fat milk.

You are the winner, Sir!

My earliest are one of the moon splashdowns and some beardy pop group splitting up after singing on a roof.

[Armand9]

She’s a Canadian now and only this year finished her treatment

‘Napalm girl’ Phan Thi Kim Phuc receives final burn treatment after 50 years

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jul/01/napalm-girl-vietnam-war-phan-thi-kim-phuc-final-burn-treatment?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

wow i haven't seen that in a very long time and still it fills me up, i vividly remember seeing it as a news item, probably my first news item that i found incredibly shocking, i know it stayed with me for some time

however my first news memory that i can date is the moon landing, all the kid's in school were called to the assembly hall and we watched it on a tv - a good call from the headmaster i must say

[Dr. Beaker]

however my first news memory that i can date is the moon landing, all the kid's in school were called to the assembly hall and we watched it on a tv - a good call from the headmaster i must say

We all turned up late for our science lesson because we'd been watching it. Old Pop Taylor says,"Ay where have you lot been" (as though he didn't know).

"Watching the men land on the Moon", we all yelled back at him.

"Men landing on the Moon? What are you all talking about", he says incredulously.

We tell him we've all just seen it on the TV. "Oh! You mean that TV programme where some men landed on the Moon" he says, obviously enjoying his little wind-up - or then again maybe he was the first conspiracy theorist out of the traps. He was trying to instil the idea of what constitutes scientific proof. Great old bloke he was though, must have been to be held in such respect by everyone at our school.

[Fortneef]

I remember thinking, they aren't gorillas, they are just men with guns.

[baltic out here]

Actually very close to the OP here, a year later to that maritime disaster struck another one, sinking of the "Estonia" in '94. Could be one of my earliest memories, was just before my 5th birthday, grandma wakes me up in the morning all shocked, am like 'think my birthday was supposed to be tomorrow?' and she goes shakily 'the "Estonia" has sunk!' and wee me is like 'what's that, don't we live here?' and she slows down and explains it is also the name of our biggest passenger ship. For a five year old it was kind of hard to comprehend a ship sinking and taking hundreds of people down, most of the passengers. Horrific thinking back when you actually understood the magnitude.
Anyhow.. people still haven't agreed upon what caused it, some conspiracies went about right after it happened, still do..

[Crosby Nick]

I do remember that, I’d have been about 15 so probably oblivious but I don’t recall seeing loads of coverage if it on the news here. Pretty horrific event.

[Flaccido Dongingo]

The IRA escape from the Maze prison, and I only remember it so vividly as we were living about 3 miles away at the time, and all the helicopters in the sky made it look like a scene from Apocalypse Now.

[Nitramdorf]

Born in 1968 here and I think its the end of the Vietnam War. Remember seeing all the people on the roof of the embassy.

Also remember Red Rum being a big news item the same sort of time, my old dad put 10p each way on for me.

[Bioluminescence]

It's weird - I remember things that happened to me in my early childhood but I'm struggling with news items. I remember the Challenger explosion, definitely. I was 12.

[TepidT2O]

It's weird - I remember things that happened to me in my early childhood but I'm struggling with news items. I remember the Challenger explosion, definitely. I was 12.

They cancelled the adventure game on bbc2 to have rolling news….

[Jiminy Cricket]

They cancelled the adventure game on bbc2 to have rolling news….

For those who, like me, had never heard of the show:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HLX2weZfkA

Did you have a schoolboy crush on Madeline Smith, Tepid?

[TepidT2O]

For those who, like me, had never heard of the show:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HLX2weZfkA

Did you have a schoolboy crush on Madeline Smith, Tepid?

Not that I remember

[Bioluminescence]

They cancelled the adventure game on bbc2 to have rolling news….

Funny what we remember. I watched the Netflix Challenger documentary and it brought back some of the emotions I felt at the time.

[kellan]

Diana is probably the one I remember happening as an actual current event. I was in born in 88, so was eight or so. But I do also recall earlier memories of my mum saying she wasn't going to go to Warrington any more. Wasn't until years later that I understood her reasoning was over a bomb.

I have stronger memories of events that happened in my teens. Like being pretty anxious over the millennium bug ending the world as we knew it. 9/11 goes without saying. Another memory is playing a game on our family computer while the sound of the first bombs dropped in the Iraq war were filling the room. And though I have no memories at all of the wider situation happening in the Chechen war, I can still picture the scenes of the Beslan school siege that were playing on the news while I was getting dressed into my own school uniform.

Honourable silly mentions that I'm almost too embarrassed to admit to: crying on the living room rug because Take That had split up and then doing the exact same thing when Geri left the Spice Girls.

[thejbs]

I grew up in what the media christened ‘the most bombed small town in northern Ireland.’ So I remember less the news stories and more actual incidents - bombs, shootings etc. The first news story that I vividly remember on the tv was the Enniskillen bombing of 1987, though. I’ve vague memories of others before it, but nothing specific. In world news, Challenger had a massive effect on me.

The news is less interesting as a kid when you can literally go outside and see an army helicopter land in the field next to your house and armed soldiers jump out of it. It’s actually crazy, on reflection, the shot that was normalised in my generation’s childhood.