What is the first big news story you remember?

Marilla, thank you very much, I used to sing "she wears red feathers etc.," at Saturday morning cinema, 3d admission, and 1p for a gobstopper, happy days!!!!

EllenVannin - Yes, I remember the news reports of hangings. They made my blood run cold with horror in disbelief that a so-called civilised country should do such a thing. I must have been about 14 when I said something to the effect of “One day, we will say that people used to be hanged in this country with the same sort of horror we feel now about beheadings in history.”

I can’t remember what my parents said. They certainly wouldn’t have been in favour, but they were more accepting, I think.. With me around they probably couldn’t get a word in edgeways, anyway!

Oldandverygrey
She wears red feathers and a hula hula skirt (repeat)
She lives on fresh coconuts and fish from the sea.
With a rose in her and a gleam in her eye
And love in her heart for me!

We used to sing it in the playground and do the actions!
Now I’m going to get into trouble for not sticking to the thread!

The assassination of John Kennedy when I was 6

Anyone remember the news when someone was hanged ? This would be up to the mid-60's before it was abolished. I can remember one news bulletin and I think it was the Ruth Ellis one. Mum and dad never uttered a word.

The Aberfan disaster, more so because my mother was in the Civil Defence Corps and went to Aberfan to assist in the relief work.

Aberfan.
Never forgotten my wonderful parents sobbing about those poor children/teachers and their families.

It has to be the death of King George VI. I was 13 at the time and I can hear my mother now repeating " poor thing, he wasn't very strong ". I can't just remember if we had a day off school or not.

Then there was Aberfan when, I think, the nation cried for all those little children who were buried beneath the school.

After that was the death of Princess Diana.

With tragedies in between of course but the ones which featured in my mind are the ones mentioned.

Great train robbery and Kennedy assignation - although I don’t remember where I was or what I was doing when I learned about the latter. However I remember exactly where I was when I heard about John Lennon’s murder some years later

Sorry 3 years later- don’t know what I was thinking!

I vaguely remember Kennedy’s assassination I was 10 but the big one for me was Aberfan a year later. I remember I was playing outside and we all rushed in to see the news on the tele. I remember the men digging and crying ( you never saw a man cry) it was terrible. I went in later years to see the memorial it breaks your heart. The worst disaster Wales has ever seen

Now others have mentioned them, I remember Yuri Gagarin and the Cuban Missile crisis, too.

Later on, I also recall being terrified about the Moors Murders. My mum hid the newspapers so we children didn't see it but one got left out accidentally and it scared the wits out of me.

The Watergate trial. I was nine, l think.

My first reaction was the assassination of President Kennedy but then I remembered the great snow at the beginning of 1963, I was 7 and remember my grandma sending newspaper cuttings which I took to school to show my teacher.

My grandad and I used to go through the local paper together most nights after our evening meal, and I definitely remember us reading about Yuri Gagarin going into space when I was 6. But I also remember finding out about the dogs and other animals that were sent up but couldn't be brought back down again and that was prior to Gagarin. I remember crying my wee heart out when I realised they would all die up there.
This is a wonderful thread, thanks for thinking of it.

The IRA bombs in the 80’s. I was born 80. I was on a plain with a bomb on board.

Kennedy's assassination, I was just 7

Winston Churchill's funeral.We had just moved house and my dad set up the tv and I have a vivid memory of mum sat on a packing box with years streaming down her face.Also Aberfan.

The death of King George VI. My mother was very upset. Then the Coronation which was such a happy occasion, us school children were given mugs, medals and had parties galore. We watched the coronation on a neighbours tiny TV set in a huge ornate cabinet.

When King George VI died. I was confined to my bedroom with scarlet fever.

However, I realise how much older I am than so many GNs.

The Suez crisis in 1956 when Russia threatened to start a nuclear war
against Britain, France & Israel.
I was 8 at the time, living in Rhodesia, but I remember being very frightened hearing that news.

On TV, it would have to be Aberfan, but when I was 9, I remember a story from the front of my Dad's newspaper about a nine year old who had just had a baby, and panicking because I thought it might happen to me.
I thought it just happened , like measles !!
I remember , Mum had to give me 'The Talk' Lol.

I remember with horror and sadness many events that made headlines but one that stands out was announcement of the sudden death of Princess Diana.

Aberfan and Kennedy.

Aberfan for me too, I still remember standing with my mother looking out of our front window seeing the cloud of dust over the top of the mountain, and hearing the alarm bells ringing from the fire station. I was 5.