Can you remember where you were when you heard Princess Diana had been killed?...etc

[PADDY]

Well, I just heard a piece on a BBC Radio station, talking about 'Flashbulb Memories.' It's a memory snapshot (like a photo) that your mind takes and associates exactly where you were and what you were doing when something momentous in the news happened.

So, often you'll hear people saying: "I can remember the exact moment I heard President JFK was murdered."

* I was standing in the kitchen of my cousins when asked had I heard about the car accident and who had died? I thought it was someone in my family at first!! Then she told me it was the Princess of Wales...I can see myself standing there right now, and not being able to take it in at all, like a dream..

* When Elvis Presley died, I was on the Isle of Man with my parents, lying on a big rug in a park, listening to a band playing in an old fashioned bandstand. I can still feel the sun beating down on us, my dad encouraging me to go up to the bandstand and request a piece of music...and then seeing the headlines on the newspaper. Happy and sad memories there...

*When the first plane flew into the Twin Towers, I had just got back that morning from a night shift, grabbed a coffee and flicked on the TV. It was pure chance my timing of doing this. I just couldn't believe what I was seeing...

* SAS (22 Special Air Service Regiment) storm the London Embassey at Princess Gate. Images of black clad, masked men abseiling down the white exterior building. I was watching TV when they interrupted this to go to the Siege!!

*1982,,,Falklands Islands and South Georgia invaded by Argentina. UK declares War. I just couldn't believe this!! I was skiing with School in Switzerland, when one of the boys came running into the chalet to say that we were at war!! it was like something out of a movie.

 

[JazzBaby]

Princess Diana: I was still in bed, and my mum came in and woke me. She wasn't sure herself what had happened so we had a frantic morning watching the news to find out the full story.

Twin Towers: It was my 17th birthday, and when I came home there were a load of people in my house (I thought, to celebrate). But as soon as I came through the door I was sat in front of the TV and had the whole thing explained to me - they didn't tell us anything in school, so none of us knew untill about 5 that evening.

July 7th: I was devestated when this happened because London is my second home, and I had the day off so I saw the whole thing unfold on the BBC. I was watching an antiques show and it was interrupted to say that there had been a 'power surge' on the London Underground - but obviously that turned out not to be the case.

This could be an interesting thread - I love asking people where they were when such-a-thing happened.

 

[Emmababy]

Princess Diana - I was 10 years old and at my best friends house, waiting to go on a weekend long trip to Alton Towers to celebrate her birthday. Hannah (my friends) mum woke us up and told us, we thought she was joking and we sat down at the kitchen table in utter disbelief. There was thunder and lightning that day aswell.

Twin Towers - I came home from school and my dad phoned me and told me to turn on the news. It was my older sisters 15th birthday. we were watching the news for hours, watching people jump out of the buildings, then my mum came in with a birthday cake and lit candles...not very appropriate

i'm not old enough to remember anything else

London Bombings, i guess is one. I was on a geology trip in Italy. while we were waiting to be served dinner, the news was on and we were frantically trying to translate it all to find out what happened. I have friends in London and was texting them to find out if they were ok. It was also stormy then aswell.

 

[Folly]

Diana - it was a Sunday morning and I had the radio on. They were talking about someone having died, but it wasn't clear who. I stood there listening and then they announced just who had died. I went to the bathroom door, where my husband was taking a bath and told him tht Diana had died. Basically, he didn't believe me, so we turned the TV on and saw that it was indeed true.

September 11th - I was pootling about doing housework when a newsflash came on about the first plane hitting the world trade centre. I must confess, I didn't know what the world trade center was, I had no real reason to. When I caught the first news flash, they were still saying it was a freak accident, but the further I watched, well, then words like terrorist started seeping in. I sat transfixed for hours. My husband rang and I asked if he had seen the news, he hadn't seen or heard anything, so I told him. "What do you mean, it's gone? How can the world trade center have gone?" So I explained it all to him again.

July 7th - I was at home, looking around on line and kept hearing snatches on the radio about, as it happens, exactly what JazzBaby said - power surges on the London underground. I then watched the whole story unfold.

I don't recall when Elvis died, but I do recall exactly what I was doing when George Harrison's passing was announced. I flicked on the telly for some background noise and saw Paul McCartney talking to someone. I thought first and foremost, "Why? Why is he on the telly?" as I'm not really a fan of him, to be honest he irritates me (sorry Paul fans). I then thought, him being on the telly was a bit random for a weekday, so kept watching and heard that Goerge Harrison had died. I was stunned.

I also recall exactly where I was when I heard Syd Barrett died. I was in the garden, watering the flowers and my husband came in through the garden gate. "Syd Barrett died," he said, to which I think I went into a momentary state of shock, my hands literally flew up to my face, my jaw dropped and I stood there for about five minutes, in absolute silence, trying to get my head around the news.

I also recall where I was when I heard the Queen Mum and Princess Margaret had died, when Concorde caught fire, when James Brown's death was announced and also when Alec Guiness died.

 

[Mr. 'H']

I was living in Paris at the time (only two Metro stops away). I went down to see all the fuss and was in the background of a French TV news report. Later that day a fellow in the gym said he spotted me on TV.

 

[Spitfire]

Princess Diana: Can't remember.

Twin Towers: I was in Stockholm at a meeting, when suddenly there was a lot of talk outside. We went out, just in time to see the second plane chrash into the buiding. Not knowing what it was, my first reaction was: What a lousy B-movie!
Later on my colleague and I discussed if we should take the plane back to Copenhagen. She was a bit afraid of doing that - but I told her, that chances for a highjacking in Sweden was about 0,00001%. So we went.

Bombing in London: Yes. I was home writing. With my radio on. Turned on BBC News right away.

 

[LizzieMaine]

JFK -- I was in my playpen, whining and fussing, while my mother was watching "As The World Turns."

Princess Diana -- I had just gotten my first computer, and it was quite a novelty to get up and go online first thing in the morning to check out the web. When I signed on that morning, the CNN page was covered with the story, and I was horrified: earlier that week I had had dinner with a British friend of mine who had actually been the music instructor for the young princes, and we'd talked a lot about Diana and the whole media frenzy surrounding her. To see that she'd died in the way that she did was just horrible.

9/11 -- I was in my office, checking email, with the Today Show on in the background. Matt Lauer was interviewing author Richard Hack about his biography of Howard Hughes, and I was halfway listening to it -- when suddenly they broke in with the bulletin about the first plane. I immediately thought of the bomber flying into the Empire State Building in '45, and figured this had to be something like that -- but when I saw the second plane hit, all that changed. I spent the rest of the day gimlet-eyed in front of the television, trying to convince myself this was all just a bad dream.

The London Bombing -- My boss was in London at the time, visiting her mom (the aforementioned music teacher), and when I heard the story on the radio, I immediately tried to reach her by phone. When I couldn't get thru, I started to panic, and started calling everyone I could think of who might have had some contact with her. Finally, I reached her, and she told me she'd been at Victoria Station when it happened -- and when the evacuation order came she ran all the way to a friend's place in Chelsea...

 

[imoldfashioned]

Aside from the Challenger explosion in 1986 (I was home sick from school and watching live) Princess Diana’s death is the only other major “flashbulb moment” I can remember. Possibly because I was 14 when she married and felt in some strange way like I grew up with her. I’ve never had that connection with another celebrity.

I was staying up late and the show I was watching was interrupted with a report that she had been in a car crash. I didn’t think much of it at first until I remembered that’s how the coverage of Princess Grace’s death had begun. The channel I was watching cut into the BBC coverage and I stayed up for several hours until the confirmation of her death was made. The next day I heard from friends and family I hadn’t spoken to in years—it was as if a member of my family had died.

I may have shared this already, but when I went to London in October 1991 the Princess was going on a tour of Canada so I didn’t think there was any chance I’d see her. However, when I got off the plane I read that she’d be at a movie premiere that evening so I revised my plans so I could be there. I had a great time talking to other “fans”, being amazed by the number of photographers and having a kind British soul walk all us foreigners through who the lesser known British celebrities (including my first glimpse of a page three girl)were as they arrived. The Princess was completely charming and very kind to all of us, and so much more gorgeous in person—I’ve never seen anyone else with eyes as blue as hers were. It is one of my favorite travel memories.

Ironically, I found out about Princess Grace’s death after coming out of a viewing of To Catch a Thief at a movie theater. That was eerie. That was the first televised funeral I watched too—I can’t hear Adagio for Strings without thinking of Rainier’s heartbroken face.

Also, the first time I ever saw my mother cry was when she heard that John Lennon had been murdered.

Amended to add: The World Trade Center. How could I forget? I had been laid off so I was home talking to a friend when someone burst into her office saying a plane had crashed into the WTC. I turned on the television thinking it was some idiot private pilot and ended up watching the coverage all day; all week really. I can’t remember ever crying as much as I did in the immediate aftermath of that, and I’m sure the coverage was a big part of why but I just couldn’t turn it off for the first few days. Particularly, there was a report on a makeshift wall near the site where families had posted flyers seeking information about their loved ones who you knew were never coming back that I wept over terribly.

I’ve mentioned this before but I also had an acquaintance on the second plane that went into the WTC. The memorial service for Fred that week that was among the hardest things I’ve ever sat through.

Not to get political, because I know it is banned, but worrying about what the US government would do in retaliation was also awful.

Just a horrible period.

 

[photobyalan]

JFK - I was with LizzieMaine. Not literally, of course, but probably in exactly the same circumstances.

Reagan Shot - It was my first year away at college and I had just gotten back to my apartment and turned on the tv when the first bulletin came across. The major networks were of course on the air all afternoon, but it was the first real "big" story for the fledgling CNN, and they made a name for themselves that day. No one knew until days later how close Reagan had come to dying.

Challenger Explodes - I was in Columbus, Ohio, getting ready to direct the noon news on channel 6 when ABC broke in with a special report. At that point, shuttle launches had become "routine" and the major networks had stopped televising them live.

Elvis - I had just come in from school and was in the kitchen at my parents' house and my mother told me that Elvis had died. I had never been a big Elvis fan, so I was not traumatized, but I can still remember her telling me.

September 11 - I was at CNBC in the middle of my workday, which at that time started at 3AM. WNBC, the local NBC station, broke in to the Today Show with the story of a "fire" at the World Trade Center. Within a few minutes there was speculation that a small plane had crashed into one of the towers. When they got close up shots a couple minutes later, it became clear that it was not a small plane. We could look out our windows and see the smoke. By that time, CNBC had interrupted programming to cover the story. Almost everyone was in complete denial about the true nature of the situation, right up until the time that the second plane hit.

Diana - I was in my kitchen, sitting down to breakfast, when I heard the news. I don't remember any other details.

John Lennon - I was in my apartment at college, watching Monday Night Football, when Howard Cosell made the announcement that Lennon had been murdered. I can easily remember the shock and sadness in his voice.

 

[LaMedicine]

JFK: Living in suburban Washington DC at that time, in 9th grade science class. Our very prompt teacher (who always came into the classroom with the chime and would check us tardy if we were not in our seats and quiet) was 20 minutes late, and came in with red eyes.

Princess Di: I don't remember, though at home through TV news, most probably. I was shccked when I heard the news, though.

Elvis: woke up to the news because my radio was set as the morning alarm.

9/11: Came home from a meeting with a junior colleague and stepped into our living room to see the news on TV. It was only a few minutes after the news broke here. The surgeon I met that evening had said the he was leaving for a surgeon's meeting in the US the next morning...which he had to scrap because his plane didn't fly. A good friend of mine on vacation in the US at that time also came home a week late because of the airline embargo.

Anybody been around long enough to remember the Cuban Missle crisis? I was at home glued in front of the TV listening to JFK's speech. I was really really terrified there might be another atomic war....

 

[czack]

Princess Diana: Don't remember.
9/11: I was stationed overseas, being in the military when the word came down all Hell broke loose.

 

[lindylady]

Princess Diana: I was at my computer at home and saw the news posted online. I turned the television onto CNN. I was about 14 or 15 at the time.

9/11: My mother and I were in a clothing store when we heard people talking about a plane hitting the World Trade Center. We rushed home, listening to the radio in the car. When we arrived home, we turned on the t.v. and there it was. My grandmother said that it had been all over the news for about an hour or so.

London bombing: My radio alarm went off and I heard the news upon waking. I rushed out of my room and knocked on my roommate's door. Her mother was in London at the time so I was screaming to her, "London's under attack! They're bombing the subways! Wake up!" She thought I had been dreaming! I told her to turn on the television. She called her mother, and thankfully, her mother heard the news before she left home that morning.

 

[Daisy Buchanan]

9/11 -- I was in my office, checking email, with the Today Show on in the background. Matt Lauer was interviewing author Richard Hack about his biography of Howard Hughes, and I was halfway listening to it -- when suddenly they broke in with the bulletin about the first plane. I immediately thought of the bomber flying into the Empire State Building in '45, and figured this had to be something like that -- but when I saw the second plane hit, all that changed. I spent the rest of the day gimlet-eyed in front of the television, trying to convince myself this was all just a bad dream.

I too was watching The Today Show, that was the first and last time I watched that show. Soon after the first report Hemingway Jones called me to see if I had heard. I told him he should come home right away. We weren't roommates at the time, so I went to his place. We sat on his sofa and watched the news all day, late into the night. I sat with my phone in my hands, waiting nervously to hear from my older sister Laurie, who lives in Manhattan and often went to meetings at World Trade. I did finally hear from her in the early evening. She was OK, but obviously shaken up. She was not at the towers that day. I think Hem and I sat on his sofa for that entire week. One thing I will never forget is how silent the city of Boston became. We lived on a flight path to logan, so were used to the constant droan of planes over head. For a week the skies were silent, except for the fighter jets that scrambled over head every few hours. That was unnerving.

Oklahoma City- I was a sophomore in college. It was supposed to be a day called "Spree Day", but instead of waking up to rowdy seniors banging on our doors informing us of this surprise all day party, we woke up to the news of the bombing and to even more bad news that one of our friends had been killed the night before. To make matters worse, one of my quad mates became very sick, so I spent that day watching the news from a waiting room in the emergency room. Definitely a day that I won't soon forget.

Diana- I was alone in my apartment. Later that day I had a few girlfriends over and we sat and watched the news for hours.

 

[Samsa]

John Paul II: I heard about this IN the confessional. The priest said something like, "John Paul II, who just passed away this morning, said....." I had known it he was likely to pass away sometime that weekend, but was still caught off guard.

9/11: I was lying in bed, and kept hearing tidbits about a plane crashing from my roomate's TV in the other room. After several minutes I gathered that something really bad had happened, so got up and glued myself to the TV as things progressed.

 

[MissHuff]

Twin Towers: It was my 17th birthday, and when I came home there were a load of people in my house (I thought, to celebrate). But as soon as I came through the door I was sat in front of the TV and had the whole thing explained to me - they didn't tell us anything in school, so none of us knew untill about 5 that evening.

I had somewhat of a similar situation happen to me on Sept. 11. I was in school , walking into gym class, and my friend told me she heard a plane crashed into the WTC. I kind of pictured a small private plane or something though. Next class came along and the teacher was watching it all on the news and shut it off the second she saw us all walking in. They wouldn't tell us anything that was going on and wouldn't let us watch it on the tv even though there was a tv in every single classroom. I remember thinking about how outrageous it was that they weren't letting us watch history in the making and thinking about people who talk about where were they when JFK.... I'm still a little sour about how the events of that day were treated at my school.

I can't remember what I was doing when I found out about Princess Diana but I was devastated. I absolutely adored and idolized her. No big surprise there, I was 11 and she was a pretty princess.

 

[Elaina]

I remember things I shouldn't.

Lennon: My brother pulled me from outside and made me watch MTV with the words "This is history."

Challenger: At school, the teachers turned it off, and I went home. I had just got accepted to space camp the following summer.

Columbia: in the debris path. I sat outside with my telescope, and after, marked the debris that fell into my yard so NASA could easily find the larger chunks.

Elvis: My mom burst into tears. I was 2, and his death has always alarmed me.

9/11: home with a sick baby in a miserable marriage. I had 2 good friends in NYC at the time.

OKC: I have family there, so I went home from work to see if I could find them.

Diana: on the phone with the gov't trying to explain my posting on a message board about dreams of her death.

Pope John Paul II: He died on my birthday. Not that that's not enough to remember, about to go to Mass and then dinner. He came running into my bedroom and asked me if I knew the "pointy hat man with nice eyes". It took me a few minutes to get to the Pope, and he said "yes! He touched my head when I was a baby. He's dead." Now, he was never told about meeting the Pope, nor did we have a television on (as is the custom of no TV before church). I finally turned on CNN and stood in my living room with my hair in hot rollers and standing in my undergarments and a slip watching the news. Strangely enough, I felt (and still feel) alot of sorrow over his passing.

 

[Novella]

A bit foggy, but I think I was watching TV with my parents when I found about Princess Diana's death. I can remember the TV footage clearly.

For 9/11 - when I got dropped off at school I ran into one of my friends on the way into class. The first thing she said to me was, "Did you hear about the World Trade Center?" I told her no. At the time I didn't even know what the World Trade Center was, and when my friend told me it was attacked I didn't immediately realize the scale of it. That quickly changed though, as the entire first period of class was spent sitting around a radio, the class entirely silent and my teacher intently listening to the news.

 

[Dixon Cannon]

Oh yes!

I was busy earning a living in the American Capitalist marketplace so that I could pay my own way and not rely on government to support me. I totally missed the activities of Diana Spencer's life and her death.

-dixon cannon

 

[Harp]

I had secluded myself with law work when my sister called the following
day; still difficult to believe Diana died, she had captured so many hearts.

 

[reetpleat]

JFK, 911, Lady DI, I was at home having dinner when they happened. I swear. No, I wasn't with anyone, no, no witnesses, but you gotta believe me. I was at home that night, I swear.