What Events Stopped You in Your Tracks!

[Jingbang]

Re: What Events Stopped You in Your Tracks!

9/11 i had just had my internet and was in a american chatroom messing about it was around 2pm on a Tuesday and someone said about a plane crashing into the twin towers, i didnt even know what the twin towers were till that day, so i thought ill jus put the news on and see if theres anything mentioned on there.
I presumbed it was just a little cropdusting type plane that had hit a block of flats or something but when i saw the pics on the news i was totally shocked.
The Diana one i was waiting for a Ferry about 4am in Dover and some random man came up and told me and i started laughing and sayin "yeah right whatever" i just thought he was some strange person who had drank a few and was talking nonsense then on the Ferry most people were on about it all the old women were quite sad and saying "ooh its a shame etc" while most of the men were like "oh well etc" and wernt really botherd.
Im glad i was out that day because i remember hearing off everyone how rubbish TV was on that Sunday and loads of things were cancelled and it was just the same old news reports reported again and again.

[Trickyvee]

Re: What Events Stopped You in Your Tracks!

9/11 stopped me in my tracks. The joker of our workplace came barging in and said that a plane had crashed into the twin towers. He was a right attention seeker and usually full of bull**** so I didn't believe him until everyone started crowding around the computer. I couldn't leave the work I was doing so it was ages before I realised it was true and saw it for myself. That night I felt really jittery and upset, wondering what the future of the world was going to be.

Two weeks later our boss, a really nice bloke, committed suicide by throwing himself infront of a train. It was completely out of the blue and had a huge impact on everyone. That really shook me up a hell of a lot.

[stockportyears]

Re: What Events Stopped You in Your Tracks!

Other "having the radio on at the right time" moments I remember was the Oklahoma city bombing.

I turned the radio on one night last year to hear Richard Bacon and others in the middle of solemnly debating what was obviously some death of major importance. One contributor said :"and a career which was really set to take off again with the O2 concerts..." and my first thought was 'Britney Spears has died', basically cause she'd just finished a run at the O2 and, well, with all she's been through recently, you wouldn't be surprised.
But then Bacon interjected "But there's such an amazing and important musical legacy!" and I realised it wasn't Britney Spears...

It was, of course, Michael Jackson.

[Marillion]

Re: What Events Stopped You in Your Tracks!

I was seventeen and still at school when John Lennon died. I hadn't heard the news that morning, and when I came into the classroom, a bit late, the teacher and one of the kids were talking about it. At first I thought they were talking about something on the telly last night, so I asked flippantly, "What's this - did I miss something good last night?"

"No," said the teacher, "It's just that John Lennon was shot dead this morning."

I was so gobsmacked that I didn't know what to say. I just said, "Oh," as if I couldn't care less! That was a bit embarrassing.

[stockportyears]

Re: What Events Stopped You in Your Tracks!

I was seventeen and still at school when John Lennon died. I hadn't heard the news that morning, and when I came into the classroom, a bit late, the teacher and one of the kids were talking about it. At first I thought they were talking about something on the telly last night, so I asked flippantly, "What's this - did I miss something good last night?"

"No," said the teacher, "It's just that John Lennon was shot dead this morning."

I was so gobsmacked that I didn't know what to say. I just said, "Oh," as if I couldn't care less! That was a bit embarrassing.

I must admit, I was just turned 11, and wasn't really that familiar with him, obviously I knew the Beatles, but knew far more about McCartney simply because he'd been in the charts all the way through the late 70s with Wings. John Lennon, to me at that time, was a bit like one of McCartney's 'backing group'. Obviously, the more I found out about the Beatles later on, I realised how important he was.

As for Elvis Presley, the only Elvis I'd actually heard of then (I was 7) was Elvis Costello, as I'd seen him on TV at some point (he must have just started to become famous), so I initially thought it was him who had died!

[Trickyvee]

Re: What Events Stopped You in Your Tracks!

I remember one of the first things having an impact on me was when Dustin Gee died. It seems silly now but I was only 9 and at the time I loved his shows on TV with Les Dennis. I remember hearing he'd had a heart attack and was very ill and thinking "oh no I hope he doesn't die" but he did and I was really sad. First time I was shocked by a celebrity death.

[darren]

Re: What Events Stopped You in Your Tracks!

I remember one of the first things having an impact on me was when Dustin Gee died. It seems silly now but I was only 9 and at the time I loved his shows on TV with Les Dennis. I remember hearing he'd had a heart attack and was very ill and thinking "oh no I hope he doesn't die" but he did and I was really sad. First time I was shocked by a celebrity death.

DO not remember dustin gee.
what age was he when died mate.
i remember when kenny everett died how sad i felt i think he died in 95 which made me 20 yrs old.

[onthebusesfan]

Re: What Events Stopped You in Your Tracks!

My Aunty remembered When Bob Grant (jack harper from on the buses) killed himself by Carbon monoxide poisoning he was found dead in his car in 2003

i Remember Reg varney Death by a chest infection he died at the age of 92 in 2008 i still miss my hero god bless you reg :cry: and the london riots in 2011 shocking at was.

My Dad remembers Hillsborough disaster and the bradford fire in 1985 both showed on live tv not like now days and my dad was about 10 i think when the king died elvis and john lennon died .

[WhiteChristmas]

Re: What Events Stopped You in Your Tracks!

I remember my mum crying at the Ibrox disaster. My oldest brother had gone to the match and hadn't come home. He turned up the next day - he and his friends had left early and got p*shed at someone's house; they didn't know anything about it! He wasn't allowed (keep in mind he was 22!) to go to football again without me as chaperone until he married and left home.

I remember the wee woman who lived upstairs from my aunty being in bits about Elvis. It didn't help that we 9-11 year-olds all told her he was just an old singer who was rubbish and wasn't as good as Abba or David Soul.

Bob Marley and John Lennon; heard about both listening to Tiger Tim's show on Radio Clyde (different nights, obviously)!

Diana; I got up early for a Dynamic Forces comic memorabilia special on QVC and found it off-air with a message to tune to Sky News for something important.

9/11 ; I was sitting in the car eating lunch from the sandwich shop opposite work when the first newsflash came on. Most of the internet went down under weight of traffic, but the Guardian's talkboards stayed up and had people from all over the world online.

7/7; I was on holiday in Portugal and watched it on the hotel bar TV.

Heysel; listening to radio commentary.

Hillsborough; in the window of a TV rental shop in Poole. Dozens of people gathered around in silence.

Jacko - there was a cryptic half-story on 5Live about an hour before it was confirmed. I remember thinking, "that doesn't sound good".

Challenger, Valley Parade and Whitney, strangely, I have no memory of.

The one that really sticks in my mind is the day Thatcher resigned. I was sitting on a bus outside (appropriately) the job centre - radio 4 on the headphones - listening to her telling the House how much she was "enjoying" the debate - thinking, "good riddance"

[Trickyvee]

Re: What Events Stopped You in Your Tracks!

DO not remember dustin gee.
what age was he when died mate.
i remember when kenny everett died how sad i felt i think he died in 95 which made me 20 yrs old.

Not that old. 40 odd I think. It was in 1986. I'd been aware of celebrity deaths before that but they'd not had an impact on me. Perhaps it was just my age and coming around to realise exactly what death meant. A few months before a great aunt of mine passed away which was my first experience of somebody I knew very well dying, and although it still didn't affect me as it would as an adult I remember how it affected everyone else in the family and that made me sad. After that I was more aware of mortality.

[shilton dipper]

Re: What Events Stopped You in Your Tracks!

Princess Diana's death 31.8.1997.......also my daughter's 5th birthday......we had a really nice day but you knew there was something else on everyone's mind that day at her party.

[Sly]

Re: What Events Stopped You in Your Tracks!

I was in the centre of Leeds the day the day the 7/7 bombing happened. It caused absolute chaos. I tried ringing home to say I was safe but the mobile networks had collapsed. The police was out in force and there were sirens blaring coming from all directions. The emergency vehicles started blocking roads up and not letting buses into the city centre. The military showed up in their transports too, they were driving on the pathways as the roads were totally gridlocked. I walked down Briggate to see if I could watch the tv's in the Curry's there, but it was a cluster of people who had the same idea.

The bus stops leading out of the city were crammed full of people wanting to get home. There were few buses managing to get through the jams. I ended up walking right out onto the city limits before I could get a bus home.

The other stuff I remember were all the big ones mentioned. Diana. 9/11. Jacko. Jill Dando. The tsunami. Saddam getting caught. It's just news man. Has no real direct effect on me. I'm bemused as to why people get upset with events like that. Nasty things happen all the time, if we were to get upset at all of them then we'd never have any good times.

[darren]

Re: What Events Stopped You in Your Tracks!

just did a check mate regarding kenny everett ( born 25 December 1944 – died 4 April 1995)..

one sad one for me was my uncle passing away in curch. i think in the early nineties he was quite an age.

also diana remember it so clearly all over the news and radio for weeks.


michael kackson would be another one.

Not that old. 40 odd I think. It was in 1986. I'd been aware of celebrity deaths before that but they'd not had an impact on me. Perhaps it was just my age and coming around to realise exactly what death meant. A few months before a great aunt of mine passed away which was my first experience of somebody I knew very well dying, and although it still didn't affect me as it would as an adult I remember how it affected everyone else in the family and that made me sad. After that I was more aware of mortality.

[havasack]

Re: What Events Stopped You in Your Tracks!

Bradford fire as I'd been to the ground to watch my team not long beforehand

Hillsborough...as above.

Twin towers....on holiday in Warkworth (Northumberland) but having a day out at Alnmouth, walking by some bloke saying on his mobile "but if the americans retaliate without thinking this could be big ****", Quickly went into the Schooner pub to watch the second tower being hit with people saying "No it's a replay of the first one" and having to pint out the difference in so they'd realise it was two seperate strikes.

[Roz]

Re: What Events Stopped You in Your Tracks!

The ones that had the biggest impact on me were:


John Lennon being murdered (was only very young but remember my parents being very upset).

Hillsborough (I knew two people who had gone and was watching it unfold on tv feeling more and more upset and anxious).

Princess Diana dying (not a fan of royalty but this was shocking - was on the way home from a nightclub and heard it on the news in the taxi).

Jill Dando being murdered (just seemed so random, a real shock).

9/11 (heard about it coming home from work and then arrived home to see the second plane hit the other tower, felt like I was watching a horror movie, just awful).


I do agree with Sly though, actors/singers/other public figures dying (unless you were a big fan) doesn't really register with me too much. If they die in a tragic way such as the ones named above maybe, but otherwise I wouldn't bother commenting on it.