What is the first big news story you remember?

The assassination of Kennedy or the moon landing - whichever came first - I can't remember!

A Granny once told me that she remembered the death of Queen Victoria when she was maybe 6. The church bells were tolling, and her father said, 'The Queen is dead!' in such a deep and mournful voice, she thought the world must be coming to an end if the Queen was dead!

The death of King George VI and that poignant photo of the young Queen on the steps of the plane when she arrived back. My mother had told me when I came home from school for lunch.

The infants school headmistress told the assembled school in the afternoon. I can still picture her, white hair in a bun, “Now children, as those who have been home for lunch will know, the King has died and we now have a new young Queen”.

For me it was Everest, the (sub) four minute mile and the Coronation.

A little later, I remember headlines saying 'Fuchs off again' - I think in the Mail or the Express. Sir Vivian Fuchs the explorer was apparently off to whichever Polar region he had then set his sights on. Of course, I didn't understand the innuendo in the headline, about which there was a bit of a stir.

Then there was a Sunday People type of running story about a Guinness heiress who eloped with her amour, Dominic Elwes.

I remember the love lives of 'playboys' such as Aly Khan and Porfirio Rubirosa playing large in the Sunday papers. That was as well as film star Lana Turner, a gangster called Johnny Stompanato and a gangland stabbing in which she was implicated.

Never a dull moment in the 50s!

Yuri Gagarin for me too
Tis is a great thread and I will keep this question up my sleeve for our next big family gathering

And the Lady Chatterley case?!

The first satellite, Sputnik, launched in October 1957. After that the first man in space Yuri Gagarin.

The Profumo scandal with Mandy Rice Davis

Yuri Gagarin going into space. Then the Great Train Robbery, which was of huge interest in our house because my dad knew one of the gang.

The one that stands out for me was the Smallpox epidemic. I used to have nightmares about it for weeks. I clearly remember being immunised and seeing it on the news almost every teatime.

aberfan .what a tragedy which could have been prevented..remember the newspapers the front page.we didnt have tv then..

Margaret Thatcher becoming Prime Minister. I remember asking my dad how they chose and he said that people just say if they want to be Prime Minister and then everyone gets to chose which one of those people they want. For years I had an image in my head of a group of people standing in a yard somewhere and it being like "Right, who wants to be Prime Minister?" and people putting their hand up if they did and then the rest of the people just picking one like "Ok, you can be Prime Minister." You know like at school when the teacher asks a question and then picks one of the children with their hand up. I think perhaps I could have handled a more complicated accurate explanation really.

VE Day. I was four and a half and my aunt took my sister and me to the war memorial to watch the local parade with my dad at the head of the Home Guard - Mum was 8 months pregnant so stayed at home.

I remember the Coronation too. We watched it on nextdoor's tiny television. I also remember going to Caerphilly, to see the Queen and Prince Philip, pass through, by car, on their trip around the UK. My sister and I had bright red coats, and my Mum was so pleased as she thought the Queen noticed and smiled at us.

I do remember Charles and Anne when they were tiny, *Grandma70s but don't remember the actual news items when Charles was born.

The death of King George VI and Princess Elizabeth arriving back as Queen Elizabeth.
I remember news of the the Lynton and Lynmouth floods as well.

The next year was better with the conquering of Everest and the Coronation.

The Cuban missile crisis - I had no idea what it was all about, but the fear of a nuclear war was so real that I have never forgotten how scared I was.

The death of George VI. I was five and remember my grandmother calling me in from the garden. We all stood around the radio and she reminded us that from then on we'd have to say, 'God save the Queen.'

Princess Margaret’s wedding sticks in my mind, also remember my parents discussing the Profumo Affair. The Cuban Missiles crisis, at school they were saying the world was going to end! ?

The Queen’s coronation for me too. My parents had bought their first telly and invited their friends round. Mum put on a good simple buffet as always. I got a metal coronation coach from mum and dad and we were given a mug I think from school and some Cadbury’s chocolate as we didn’t live too far from Bourneville. Happy memories.

I remember VE celebrations in Sheffield in 1945 with impromptu theatre shows and bonfires in the streets. I was 4 years old.

Assassination of John.F.Kennedy 22nd November 1963. for me too. I was eight years old.

Aberfan, so so awful, remember watching the 6.00 news, I think Cliff Mitchemore was there for the BBC, it was devastating.

VE day 1945. We had a party in the street with jelly and tinned fruit and races for the children. I won a purse with a camel on the front (?brought back from North Africa). My Dad put me on the front of his bike and we toured round the neighbourhood - there were lots of bonfires in the streets.

The death of King George VI. I was six and living in Uganda and can remember a lot of Africans making the wailing sound they make for mourning. At that moment I didn't know why they were doing it and found it frightening. As dusk came the drums were particularly in evidence as the news was passed around.

Petra, re the Guy Mitchell song "She wears red feathers etc.," was the next line "she lives on just coconuts and fish from the sea, with a rose in her hair etc" you have got me wondering now!