Earliest Memory of Seminal News

February 1952; asking my Mother why the radio had slow, sad music. She replied 'Because the King has died'.

JFK for me too. I was ten. My older sister was living in America at the time and I remember the shock and worry of my parents

I remember the death of JFK, we had been taken to church by our school, it was an RC school and the priest saying something about his death.
Also Aberfan, a school friends dad went to help with the digging out, we lived about 30 miles away, for ages after I thought every mountain in the area was going to fall down on us.

I vaguely remember JFK’s death and Churchill’s funeral, although I was very young. The event that sticks in my mind though is Martin Luther King being shot. I was on a school trip to Coventry cathedral, we were learning about WW2 in school and we were stood in the ruins when I heard - I think it had happened the day before but I hadn’t heard it until then. I was really upset for quite a while after, frightened of another war.

I think it was Apollo 11 landing for me, I would have been 7.
The thing is it happened during the daytime for us, and I seem to remember being with my family in the living room. Maybe we watched the news in the evening together. I will have to check with my older sister since she remembers everything!

The death of George V1,
We were sent home from school at lunchtime and there was no Listen with Mother, only sombre music.

1956 the USSR invading Hungary.

Watching Winston Churchill's funeral on tv. I was impressed that his coffin went by boat up the river.
On the radio (before we had tv) I remember sputnik being launched and listening to the beeps once it was in orbit. So exciting to a 6 year old.

Oh yes, the Sputnik in 57 and the beeps.

The first news that really affected me was definitely the Cuban missile crisis.

The end of WW2. I heard the announcement on the radio , and the celebrations afterwards. We had a big party in a nearby park. I was 7 and a half.

We were told at school of the death of the King and taught to sing “God be in my head”. I don't remember being sent home.
I remember much more about the Queen’s Coronation, which was the cause of lots of celebratory events at school and in the village.

We had just finished school lunch when our headmistress announced that JFK had been assassinated. I was 13. I remember the dining hall suddenly being very quiet, so many of us were shocked and upset.

JFK funeral and Churchills funeral vaguely remember watching on tv. The Vietnam war was constantly being reported on tv. The Aberfan disaster I was last year in junior school. Famine in Biafra a year later I was only young but everything seemed so miserable.

nadateturbe

Yuri Gagarin going into space 1961 I think.

Same for me, but made more momentous by watching him drive past my school in Manchester on his way to the University I think. We all lined up in the grounds of the school waving Russian flags as he drove past in an open top car.

Strangely I have no memory of the death of the King when I was 5 years old but have many memories of the Coronation of The Queen in 1953. Maybe it was because of the celebrations.

Elvis’s death. I was 5.
Playing in a paddling pool at a friend’s house. The grown ups were talking about it.

I also remember seeing something about the Yorkshire Ripper in a newspaper at a friends house.
We had papers (The DM, natch) but my mom must have kept it away from me as I’d read anything and everything when I was young.
I remember asking what rape meant and getting a very vague and evasive response.

Being told at school that the King had died

The king is death bypassed me, but I clearly remember the coronation in 1953 and Hillary’s ascent of Everest. I was just 5.

Watching the coronation of Queen Elizabeth on TV in 1953. I was 6. We had one of the first TV's on our street, a Ferguson 12" screen as I recall, so we had a house full of neighbours, with about a dozen of us children all sitting on the floor. So exciting!

The coronation street party though no memory of actually watching it as we didn’t have a tv. I was almost 5. I don’t remember the Kings death a few months before.

Probably not the first things, but events that stick in my mind are the death of Marilyn Monroe, Yuri Gagarin in space, Princess Margaret’s wedding, the Cuban missile crisis and thinking that the world would end….

Definitely the world coming to an end throughout my childhood. Cuban missile crisis, War with Russia, Cold War , very fearful of WW3. A frightening time.

The Cuban crisis and Dad talking about 4 minute warnings.
JFK’s assassination. Mum in tears.
The Denning report.

Winston Churchill's funeral on TV. I was 6 and impressed by the solemnity.

I remember all the obvious ones, the death of King George, the Suez crisis , the Coronation etc., however there was one news item that has stayed with me over the years. I remember, aged 9 in 1952 listening on the radio to the sinking of the Flying Enterprise in the worst storm the Atlantic had seen in 40 years. Her Captain, Kurt Carlsen stayed on his ship until the very last minute and there was some doubt as to whether he would be saved. It obviously made a big impression on me, because I remember the names and the tension around the incident.