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I remember running home from school to the catch the afternoon news about the historic events in Vietnam.
What other comparable news events do you remember in a big way?
Or indeed 'smaller' events happening that have stuck with you?
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Quote from: grumbler on April 30, 2025, 07:26:02 AM(https://earthsky.org/upl/2024/07/Apollo11-1st-steps-Armstrong_20Jul1969_NASA-1.png)
:cool:
Coolest event of the 20th century?
It annoys me that as a small child I have no clear memories of the moon landing.
Quote from: mongers on April 30, 2025, 07:42:49 AM:cool:
Coolest event of the 20th century?
It annoys me that as a small child I have no clear memories of the moon landing.
As a kid, I was extremely frustrated by the 6-hour delay between the landing and the moon walk. I had expected that the walk would follow only a few minutes after the landing, like we would be, getting out of the car after arriving at our destination. I couldn't believe that they were making me wait for any good reason.
The iron curtain coming down. The big thing of the age.
I remember my dad becoming a bit more relaxed after it since the chances of him (and I guess my mum, since they were both army) going of to war dropped to near zero.
Good times.
Two years later he was of to Yugoslavia as an observer though... <_<
First vague memories would be the Challenger explosion shortly followed by Chernobyl. Then the First Gulf War and its greenish night footage as I didn't have access to a TV at the time the Berlin Wall came down. I was also too young to understand what the collapse of the Eastern Bloc meant.
The world-shattering event that I will never forget is 9/11. I wasn't that young anymore, but that day, everything stood still. The images and their implications were chillingly hypnotizing.
I remember seeing the moon landing on TV and then running out the front door and looking up at the moon which was visible in the morning orafternoon sky (I can't remember which). I couldn't believe that somebody was on the moon. I kept running back-and-forth from the TV to outside to stare up at it.
My dad became frustrated with me and said I can stare at the moon anytime. It was the first and last time my dad said come indoors and watch TV. :D
I remember the Berlin Wall coming down a bit as I lived in a city right on the border then and all of sudden East Germans could come and we could go. I actually even remember Chernobyl: we were not allowed outside for days and then the playgrounds were all closed.
9/11, the COVID lockdown, ...
By the way, eighty years ago:
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Quote from: mongers on April 30, 2025, 05:42:49 AMWhat other comparable news events do you remember in a big way?
I was born in 1977 so the first big historical event I remember that kept me glued to my screen that I will always remember is the Berlin Wall coming down.
That was shocking and changed the world. Especially as Cold War brained we all were in the 1980s.
I just remember seeing how huge the Soviet Union seemed on maps and wondering, in my childish way, how the United States could beat them. We looked a lot smaller on the globe in my Kindergarten.
First event with a clear recollection: Bicentennial celebrations
First news event with a clear recollection: Reggie's 3 HR in one World Series game
Most notable news event(s): Fall of the Wall, Tiananmen square
News event where a have the clearest recollection of exactly what I was doing: 9-11.
Quote from: mongers on April 30, 2025, 05:42:49 AM(https://diplomacy.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/fly-images/3150/Saigon-hubert-van-es-640x360-c.jpeg)
I remember running home from school to the catch the afternoon news about the historic events in Vietnam.
What other comparable news events do you remember in a big way?
Or indeed 'smaller' events happening that have stuck with you?
The events that have stuck with me:
- The Berlin wall coming down
- Solidarność strikes in Poland
- The massacres in Sabra and Shatila
- 9/11
- Tiananmen Square massacre.
More recently, I think the lead-up to and start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine will stick with me in a similar way.
Also, less seriously but still imprinted on my memories: Denmark winning the Euro.
My earliest international news memory is the start of the 1st gulf war.
The first one, only a couple of weeks earlier, is the Oka Crisis.
Quote from: Grey Fox on April 30, 2025, 12:37:11 PMMy earliest international news memory is the start of the 1st gulf war.
if that is the criterium (rather than earliest big event) it's something like Challenger exploding. Not I'll forget soon either since I still have some memorabilia from that flight (obviously gifted to me before the event took place).
Chernobyl is there too. Herald of Free Enterprise sinking just after exiting the port of Zeebrugge and, oddly enough, the gassing of Kurds by Saddam somewhere in those same years.
But none of them are as big as the Curtain coming down. Gulf War, Tienanmen and the dissolution of the USSR are all in those few years too iirc.
I was 4 but I distinctly remember watching the news about the Berlin wall falling. I remember because I was annoyed and wanted to watch something else on the TV.
Quote from: grumbler on April 30, 2025, 08:02:57 AMQuote from: mongers on April 30, 2025, 07:42:49 AM:cool:
Coolest event of the 20th century?
It annoys me that as a small child I have no clear memories of the moon landing.
As a kid, I was extremely frustrated by the 6-hour delay between the landing and the moon walk. I had expected that the walk would follow only a few minutes after the landing, like we would be, getting out of the car after arriving at our destination. I couldn't believe that they were making me wait for any good reason.
You are not fooling anyone. We know it was the battle of Salamis for you.
Quote from: Grey Fox on April 30, 2025, 12:37:11 PMThe first one, only a couple of weeks earlier, is the Oka Crisis.
Oh yeah, the Oka crisis is up there for me to, as is the Quebec referendum.
Figure of speech. He didn't know how to use a microwave yet -he was a kid.
I'm not sure what the oldest event I remember is. Maybe the Russian coup. I was staying at my friend's house and even that age he had a TV in his room.
He had told me about a hilarious show called eurotrash which I was looking forward to watching.
Instead we had that all over the news.
I remember the nuclear power referendum campaign in 1979-80. Earliest specific day event is probably Whiskey On The Rocks in 1981.
Euro '88
I remember Punky Brewster tackling the Challenger explosion.
I remember the Wall coming down.
I remember New Coke.
My first memory of a news event is Elvis Presley dying. :elvis: I was five at the time, and it's a strange thing for me to remember as my parents aren't fans of Elvis.
The first major world event I remember was the US-Iran hostage crisis. I was seven when it began and eight when it was resolved.
Quote from: Savonarola on April 30, 2025, 03:50:37 PMMy first memory of a news event is Elvis Presley dying. :elvis: I was five at the time, and it's a strange thing for me to remember as my parents aren't fans of Elvis.
The first major world event I remember was the US-Iran hostage crisis. I was seven when it began and eight when it was resolved.
Yes I well remember that, especially as at the time we were studying middle east politics at 6th form college.
And one specifically British experience, I remember bumping into my history teacher in the corridor as I was on my way to an A level 3 hour history essays exam, and my exchanging with him the news that two more of 'our' ships had been hit and on fire or already sunk.
Stuck with me as our class was going to be write about history, whilst significant history were happening to our country in a way that hadn't happened since WW2.
Quote from: Darth Wagtaros on April 30, 2025, 03:37:13 PMI remember Punky Brewster tackling the Challenger explosion.
I remember the Wall coming down.
I remember New Coke.
Ok I definitely remember New Coke and the Challenger exploding. The latter was especially surreal as we had gotten all these hype videos in school since there was a school teacher on board.
And come to think of it I remember being in Kindergarten and having the Falkland War explained to me.
Quote from: mongers on April 30, 2025, 05:42:49 AM(https://diplomacy.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/fly-images/3150/Saigon-hubert-van-es-640x360-c.jpeg)
I remember running home from school to the catch the afternoon news about the historic events in Vietnam.
What other comparable news events do you remember in a big way?
Or indeed 'smaller' events happening that have stuck with you?
Best dramatic depiction of the events is definitely from the opening scenes of the Chuck Norris classic, "Braddock Missing In Action III".
Quote from: crazy canuck on April 30, 2025, 01:35:44 PMYou are not fooling anyone. We know it was the battle of Salamis for you.
I was too busy rowing to take in much of that battle.
Quote from: Valmy on April 30, 2025, 02:38:41 PMQuote from: Josquius on April 30, 2025, 02:18:10 PMMaybe the Russian coup.
Which one? 1991 or 1993?
Checking up the show I wanted to watch only started in 93.
So that's the first big historic event.
I can certainly remember sports in 92 though.
Quote from: grumbler on April 30, 2025, 06:01:07 PMQuote from: crazy canuck on April 30, 2025, 01:35:44 PMYou are not fooling anyone. We know it was the battle of Salamis for you.
I was too busy rowing to take in much of that battle.
:lol:
Quote from: grumbler on April 30, 2025, 06:01:07 PMQuote from: crazy canuck on April 30, 2025, 01:35:44 PMYou are not fooling anyone. We know it was the battle of Salamis for you.
I was too busy rowing to take in much of that battle.
I would have figured that, at the very least, you'd have been on the drums. :(
I remember Canada Russia 72. It was a very big deal. But I missed Game 8 because I was playing outside with my best friend instead. Monkey bars over hockey.
I remember the Vietnam war ending. My parents were subscribers to Life magazine and I saw photographs of wounded children and I was sad and also confused because war was not like it was in the comic books.
Everyone talked about Watergate. To me it seemed like a nice hotel with a waterfall.
I remember how everyone was shocked by the Sex Pistols. It took me a few years before I actually got to hear the record in boarding school. I thought it was pretty good.
That same year, close to lights out, one of my roommates was watching Monday Night Football in the TV room, and he ran into the room crying. Howard Cosell had just announced the assassination of John Lennon. We were all upset and got to hear the Beatles all week during study period.
Quote from: Tonitrus on April 30, 2025, 05:44:39 PMQuote from: mongers on April 30, 2025, 05:42:49 AM(https://diplomacy.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/fly-images/3150/Saigon-hubert-van-es-640x360-c.jpeg)
I remember running home from school to the catch the afternoon news about the historic events in Vietnam.
What other comparable news events do you remember in a big way?
Or indeed 'smaller' events happening that have stuck with you?
Best dramatic depiction of the events is definitely from the opening scenes of the Chuck Norris classic, "Braddock Missing In Action III".
While classic may be too much, even with the limited Chuck Norris canon (pun intended), that is indeed the best scene of the movie. Continuity be damned or Chuck is a bigamist.
Rest of the movie is MIA I&II rehashed.
As for me, Berlin Wall, with people being happy and some East Germans showing up since they could travel, at last, without clearance from the Stasi.
9/11 as well, but more of a different vibe.
I also remember the Porto victory in 1987 in Vienna vs Bayern. One of my first TV sport memories.
Quote from: Darth Wagtaros on April 30, 2025, 03:37:13 PMI remember New Coke.
My dad was going to make a fortune by getting several dozen bottles of the original Coca Cola, keeping them in our crawl space and selling them off later in the New Coke dystopia. I think the bottles exploded after the first winter in there, leaving us with a brown sticky mess, but I don't know why he even bothered keeping them there after Coca Cola Classic was released.
The Aldo Moro abduction and execution; I was 6 but I remember clearly my parents talking about it;
Espana 82!
L.
Quote from: Savonarola on May 01, 2025, 07:21:34 AMQuote from: Darth Wagtaros on April 30, 2025, 03:37:13 PMI remember New Coke.
My dad was going to make a fortune by getting several dozen bottles of the original Coca Cola, keeping them in our crawl space and selling them off later in the New Coke dystopia. I think the bottles exploded after the first winter in there, leaving us with a brown sticky mess, but I don't know why he even bothered keeping them there after Coca Cola Classic was released.
I remember we had some bottles of Old Coke, and we did a blind taste test with the new stuff.
We were surprised that New Coke actually won in our family.
Nevertheless we were a Coke family (my parent were Rum and Coke aficionados at the time) so there was no hesitation about going back to Coke Classic.
They actually kept New Coke on the market for a while, didn't they?
Earliest historic memory might be Mulroney winning an absolutely massive landslide election in 1984 - or similarly Reagan doing the same that same year.
Quote from: grumbler on April 30, 2025, 06:01:07 PMQuote from: crazy canuck on April 30, 2025, 01:35:44 PMYou are not fooling anyone. We know it was the battle of Salamis for you.
I was too busy rowing to take in much of that battle.
wins thread
I remember the Yom Kippur War on TV, and the North Vietnamese invasion of South Vietnam, which I mostly followed mostly in The Stars and Stripes, a US military newspaper.
This is why I think the F4 is a more iconic jet than the F14.
Quote from: Barrister on May 01, 2025, 01:42:51 PMI remember we had some bottles of Old Coke, and we did a blind taste test with the new stuff.
We were surprised that New Coke actually won in our family.
Nevertheless we were a Coke family (my parent were Rum and Coke aficionados at the time) so there was no hesitation about going back to Coke Classic.
They actually kept New Coke on the market for a while, didn't they?
I've read that more people preferred Pepsi in The Pepsi Challenge because, for a small amount, you'll usually prefer the sweeter drink, but at a full serving you might not (depending on personal preference.)
They had New Coke for about five years; I see from Wikipedia they then rebranded that as Coke II, but I don't remember that. The 90s would also be the era of OK Soda and Crystal Pepsi; the darkest days of the Cola Wars.
Crystal Pepsi was preak of the illicit classroom soft drinks. "What teacher, it's just water. Ignore the bubbles, I like sparkling water"
Quote from: Savonarola on May 01, 2025, 03:30:10 PMThey had New Coke for about five years; I see from Wikipedia they then rebranded that as Coke II, but I don't remember that. The 90s would also be the era of OK Soda and Crystal Pepsi; the darkest days of the Cola Wars.
I enjoyed OK Soda.
Living in Winnipeg, which was only one hour from the border, you'd shop across the border frequently. I remember getting OK Soda. I thought it was "OK".
I also didn't mind Crystal Pepsi, although that was a year or two later.
Ah - 90s nostalgia...
Quote from: The Brain on April 30, 2025, 03:12:14 PMI remember the nuclear power referendum campaign in 1979-80. Earliest specific day event is probably Whiskey On The Rocks in 1981.
Correction: it may have been the Sadat assassination, which *googled* was a few weeks before WOTR. :hmm:
Quote from: Barrister on May 01, 2025, 01:42:51 PMQuote from: Savonarola on May 01, 2025, 07:21:34 AMQuote from: Darth Wagtaros on April 30, 2025, 03:37:13 PMI remember New Coke.
My dad was going to make a fortune by getting several dozen bottles of the original Coca Cola, keeping them in our crawl space and selling them off later in the New Coke dystopia. I think the bottles exploded after the first winter in there, leaving us with a brown sticky mess, but I don't know why he even bothered keeping them there after Coca Cola Classic was released.
I remember we had some bottles of Old Coke, and we did a blind taste test with the new stuff.
We were surprised that New Coke actually won in our family.
Nevertheless we were a Coke family (my parent were Rum and Coke aficionados at the time) so there was no hesitation about going back to Coke Classic.
They actually kept New Coke on the market for a while, didn't they?
Earliest historic memory might be Mulroney winning an absolutely massive landslide election in 1984 - or similarly Reagan doing the same that same year.
Was being made in one facility for a good many years later.
Quote from: mongers on April 30, 2025, 05:42:49 AMWhat other comparable news events do you remember in a big way?
Or indeed 'smaller' events happening that have stuck with you?
I am not entirely sure it was good parenting, but my parents let me watch the evening news (at 7:30 pm) from when I was quite little.
I remember the big international issues, like the Camp David talks, the Iran hostage crisis and images of war in Lebanon.
Obviously, the most pressing issue was the threat of nuclear war, that everyone would die. I was very anxious about this after the evening news showed a clip from the movie "The Day After" with missiles being fired. Looking up at the sky and checking if there were vapour trails probably wasn't time well spent, but I did it anyway.
So that brings me to what has really stuck with me, the images of the Berlin wall coming down, just weeks after images of Austria and Hungary opening their borders again.
Strangely, I also remember feeling very reassured by images from the Reykjavik talks between presidents Reagan and Gorbachev a few years earlier.
The images of Khomeini's child soldiers during the Iran-Iraq war were also disturbing.
As a Norwegian, one of the big media events obviously was Norway beating England 2-1 at home in football in 1981. Norwegians have a very special fondness for and interest in English football.
I remember Lech Walesa and Solidarity in Poland and the crackdown on them.
Strangely, there are not many Norwegian news events that I vividly remember, except one: The so-called Hadeland murders. Neo-Nazis had gunned down one of their own on a deserted road not far from where we lived. Violent murder was rare, and with Nazis? Wow. This was in 1980, I think.