What is the most historic event you witnessed?

iamstop

I'd say many people will now say the Queen or Obama's visit, some may even have been in NY for 9/11, any others?

Cookie_Monster

11/9 (on the telly though)

kraggy

9/11. In the flesh.

Got covered head to toe in the dust from the buildings.

kippy

9/11 in New York.

1mcampo1

Millennium?

kfallon

My own birth.....don't remember much of it tho!

Fremen

Berlin wall coming down. It's one of my earliest memories.

JohnP199

The 2010 Ice Age

Rented Mule

I was at Stevie Ray Vaughn's farewell performance.

Latchy

kraggy wrote: »

9/11. In the flesh.

Got covered head to toe in the dust from the buildings.

As with two people I know who had only left the WTC five minutes before the first plane crashed .They hung around to watch the collapse of both towers .


The Berlin wall ...

I was at sea when 9/11 happened with the only tv available at the time on the ships bridge so the Queens vist would be the most historic , that I witnessed live on BBC 24 hr news and RTE player .

krudler

on tv, 9/11 definitely, was on holidays in the Canaries at the time and due to fly home a couple of days later,were out getting some hangover breakfast and saws crowds of people around a tv in a pub, saw the second plane hit it was crazy.

Mena

11th of Feb, 1990, witnessing Mandela released from prison in Paarl.

problemchimp

The popes mass in the phoenix park 1979, Italia '90 in a camper van with the lads. We were young, single and we had hair!! I'm assuming you mean events witnessed in the flesh, not on T.V. Also I got whalloped by a police man during the poll tax riots in London and I was only on my way home from work, I didn't give a shiite if the locals had to pay poll tax.

KeithM89_old

Probably the sinking of the Titanic back in 1997....:p

Ghost Buster

The nutter storming onto the Late late Show set and calling Pat Kenny 'an insufferable ass hole"

lucylu

May 1994 Ireland Winning the Eurovision 3 in a row and a record 7th time

enda1

Mine would be mostly sporting.

Ireland thumping England in rugby at Croke Park after hearing the UK national anthem being played there for the first time.

France playing basketball in Paris to knock us out of the play-offs for the world cup.

GavRedKing

Watched 9/11 on holidays, Obama and the Queen on Rte player in work.

I was over at the France v Ireland Thierry Henry handball so thats my most historic event to date ive witnessed in the flesh.

moomooman

In person, Bill Clintons speech in college green, Jack Charlton and the lads in college green again... Zooropa in the RDS :pac:

Thats pretty lame in fairness.

NothingMan

Saw The Smashing Pumpkins first last ever show. I won't be seeing their next one.

Dravokivich

The fireworks display by the USS JFK out in Dun Leereee. Probably not historic, but it was quite an event. It got damaged by a floating platform next to it. haha, anyone with Shore Leave couldn't go back on board.

enda1

Dravokivich wrote: »

The fireworks display by the USS JFK out in Dun Leereee. Probably not historic, but it was quite an event. It got damaged by a floating platform next to it. haha, anyone with Shore Leave couldn't go back on board.

I'd say that was many a Navy man's excuse for shacking up for the night with our local fillies!

Dravokivich

enda1 wrote: »

I'd say that was many a Navy man's excuse for shacking up for the night with our local fillies!

ah, destiny has a weird way of working out like that.

Officially though, they ended up having to sleep in the warehouse next to Stena Line's dock.

Opelfruit

I was there when they managed to fit the internet into a computer for the first time.

KTRIC

The bombing of Canary Worf in 2012


Oh sh!te I said too much

chopperbyrne

Watching the second plane hit the WTC live on television.

iamstop

I was in Chicago for 9/11. I skateboarded down town. The place was empty bar a few police. Most of the roads were blocked off with those blue wooden road blocker things. Was so surreal having a Chicago copper, who normally despise all things skater, just give me a nod and move the barrier for me. The lack of noise in such a city was eerie.

Ray Palmer

I would have thought witnessing something would really mean seeing it in person and not on TV

I was in Time Square when Obama won the election. I actually saw film crew video tapping somebody screaming down the phone about how he won. What was funny was I saw her run to the phone not dial and start screaming. So she wasn't talking to anybody and the crew didn't see that bit :rolleyes:

Saw the Pope in Phoenix Park but not really historical if you ask me now.

Opelfruit

Dravokivich wrote: »

The fireworks display by the USS JFK out in Dun Leereee. Probably not historic, but it was quite an event. It got damaged by a floating platform next to it. haha, anyone with Shore Leave couldn't go back on board.

enda1 wrote: »

I'd say that was many a Navy man's excuse for shacking up for the night with our local fillies!

That event always reminded me of the movie Mutiny on the Bounty!

Smegball

My birth on homevideo!

bijapos

Sport: I was at the 76, 77, 78, 79 and 80 All Ireland finals, as a small kid, and I was at most of the semi finals of those years too, so I got the whole Dublin-Kerry thing of the 70's, one of the most memorable times in the history of GAA. Worked at the 1998 World Cup went to 7 matches and was in the stadium for the final and afterwards on the Champs Elysee.

And sadly trying to translate, in my then poor German, a German paper for two mates from Liverpool the day after the Hillsborough tragedy. One of them, we found out later that day lost a cousin.

Other: Standing outside the Hungarian Embassy in Bucharest in Summer 1989, not long after the Hungarians had decided to let anyone cross their border with Austria. The dominos had started to fall. I had an Irish passport and had no issue leaving Romania but the elation on the faces of those, (who were almost all East Germans) who got a visa to go to Hungary, meaning they could continue on to Austria and then Germany was unforgettable. A couple of days later I was in Budapest and the place was in turmoil, thousands waiting to get trains to go West. The feeling at the time was that it would only last a few weeks and that then the border would be closed so the time to get out was now.

Just writing this, remembering those few days makes the hair stand on the back of my neck all over again. I was changing money on the black market like there was no tomorrow and buying beers and cheap Sekt for everyone, it shortened my holiday by a couple of weeks but that was history in the making and I'm glad I realised it at the time.

arybvtcw0eolkf

Ray Palmer wrote: »

I would have thought witnessing something would really mean seeing it in person and not on TV

+1.

I'd have thought the same.

But I guess live TV has made the world a smaller place.

For me it would be witnessing the civil war in Beirut, then the night we were leaving.

General Michel Aoun and his Chritian forces were making their last stand in East Beirut and some Israeli forces were engaged in a battle in the mountains to the south - I remember looking at it all and thinking 'well its someone else's war now', and I felt like a voyeur looking in on something obscene.

Four hours later I was drinking with my civilian friends back home here in Dublin and not wanting to tell anyone about it all.

Ok, on TV my biggie would be Mandela'a release and Mick Carruth's Olympic Gold medal.

Then watching the second plane hit the twin towers on TV.. I was just home from Lebanon (again) and we were getting reports in work that tensions were high in the Irish battalions area of operations as the locals were celebrating in their thousands on the streets.

faceman

Either that massive earthquake in China a few years ago or the opening of the Empire Strikes Back in the cinema.

Elliemental

I remember the fall of the Berlin Wall very well. Also, the release of Nelson Mandela. I was only a child at the time, so had little grasp of the significance of these events.

I doubt it really counts as "historic," but my earliest memories are of the Hillsborough Distaster. Although I was not there, I remember the mood of the city afterwards (I'm from Liverpool), the aftermath of the event and the impact that it had.

Chuck Stone

When Snuffler got killed by a car on the road; Mrs Murphy loved that dog.


Seen Theirry Henry hand the ball in Paris. Well kinda - because I was at the far end of the stadium - but YKWIM.

Fratton Fred

In person it would have to be Pompey winning the FA Cup, followed by Courtney Walsh and Curtley Ambrose's last game for the Windies at Lords.

On TV, same as above really. I grew up convinced that there would be a WWIII so to see the fall of communism and in particular the Berlin war were amazing. The release of Mandela and the ending of Apartheid would rank alongside that.

I was all prepared for the Rapture but it didnt happen

df1985

Was in croke park for ireland v england, first time for god save the queen to be played. Ive never felt emotion or passion like that before and ive been to a lot of rugby, soccer and gaa matches including about 10 all ireland finals.

Ill leave big kildare gaa days out of it cause im sure no one gives a ****e

Also we all witnessed a new millenium in 2000 folks, nothing to us but not many generations will get to say that.

Latchy

Elliemental wrote: »

I remember the fall of the Berlin Wall very well. Also, the release of Nelson Mandela. I was only a child at the time, so had little grasp of the significance of these events.

I doubt it really counts as "historic," but my earliest memories are of the Hillsborough Distaster. Although I was not there, I remember the mood of the city afterwards (I'm from Liverpool), the aftermath of the event and the impact that it had.

Strangley had overlooked this because I was in the city on the day of that terrible event to , watching it all unfold on tv,on the BBC news as it was hapenning which I also remember so well because a friend from Dublin who was living in London at the time , had come to vist me for the weekend .

I was also in Liverpool when James Bulger was murdered and you could see the sadness ,sorrow and pain in everybodys face right across the city .

NothingMan

Fratton Fred wrote: »

In person it would have to be Pompey winning the FA Cup

I was there! Despite having little or no interest in football I got some of the best seats in Wembley, all free thanks to working for the sponsoring company of Portsmouth at the time!

Match was forgettable, nice pints afterwards though.

Elliemental

Latchy wrote: »

Strangly had overlooked this because I was in the city on the day of that terrible event to , watching it all unfold on tv,on the BBC news as it was hapenning which I also remember so well because a friend from Dublin who was living in London at the time , had come to vist me for the weekend .

I was also in Liverpool when James Bulger was murdered and you could see the sadness ,sorrow and pain in everybodys face right across the city .

Ofcourse, poor James Bulger. I remember that, too. Even twenty years later, I can see those grainy, fuzzy CCTV pictures of that toddler being led away to his death, by two other children. Very sad days for the country, as well as just the city itself.
Just going back to Hilsborough; I was nine and my parents did their best to shelter me from the full impact of it. But everyone who was around at that time remembers the ever increasing death toll as the afternoon wore on.

df1985

Dont really get why people include what they saw on tv to be fair.....you could include a lot of things even just in the past week!

Fratton Fred

NothingMan wrote: »

I was there! Despite having little or no interest in football I got some of the best seats in Wembley, all free thanks to working for the sponsoring company of Portsmouth at the time!

Match was forgettable, nice pints afterwards though.

Oki?

You were probably where I was, in the middle tier. Great way to watch football.

Latchy

df1985 wrote: »

Dont really get why people include what they saw on tv to be fair.....you could include a lot of things even just in the past week!

Because ie, not everybody was there in Manhatten while the twin towers were attacked but watching it happen live on tv still makes people feel they are witnessing history

Elliemental wrote: »

Just going back to Hilsborough; I was nine and my parents did their best to shelter me from the full impact of it. But everyone who was around at that time remembers the ever increasing death toll as the afternoon wore on.

Yes indeed , to say the city wept buckets while it all unfolded before their eyes would be a understatement .I was out that night in a club and everywhere you went people were in floods of tears knowing they had lost a friend or somebody they knew ,people from all backgrounds and walks of life .

NothingMan

Fratton Fred wrote: »

Oki?

You were probably where I was, in the middle tier. Great way to watch football.

I was near the half way line about 5 rows from the front. Yep Oki. Was a great position, nice stadium too. Was impressed with the lack of queue for beers.

cesc77

I was 20 miles away from New York when the towers came down but could see the resulting dust cloud from my house.It was surreal watching the towers fall on tv and out my window,in the distance was proof that it was really happening.

The town I lived in had many cops and firefighters who were involved in the tragically vain search for survivors.The haunted look on their dusty faces when they came into the bar for a few cold ones after working 18 hour shifts looking for their pals,will always stay with me.

There wasnt a thing you could say to these guys,just nod and make sure that the"house" kept the beers coming.

Such a frightening day as it seemed that the attacks just kept coming and there was little anyone could do.

LuckyGent88

In Croke Park to witness Clare win the Hurling All-Ireland after a 81 year wait and the scenes while running across the pitch.

Croke Park for the Ireland-England Rugby match and then watching on the TV afterwards the emotion coming from John Hayes during the national anthem.

dubtom

All the historic events for me have been on TV, not sure if that's a good or bad thing. Apart from 9/11, which as it happens was the day I dug the foundations for my shed, strangely enough I can remember with clarity the digging as much as what unfolded on TV that day, the 1st Iraq war I remember as being terrifying as well as exciting, it seemed to just erupt on the 10pm news. It was said to be the first fully televised war,and it seemed that way, from the planes dropping bombs on Baghdad filmed live from hotels, to supposed down pilots being chased by baying crowds in a canal and shot at,never did find out if that really was an allied pilot. Funnily enough I rarely watch TV now,all the major events I usually see weeks later on utube.

BESman

I was on the tube in London the last night that drinking on the tube was legal. One minute we were boarding and the next minute, a flash mob came out of nowhere with lots of booze and started cramming onto the carriages. Was absolute chaos, but fun. No more booze on the tube now folks.

I agree, probably the most significant historical event since the Industrial Revolution....or the invention of the modern day stapler.

Chris P. Bacon

The most historic thing i witnessed was on 29 March 2004 all across Ireland,at 12 o' clock i had to stand outside for a smoke :mad:

Latchy

dubtom wrote: »

All the historic events for me have been on TV, not sure if that's a good or bad thing. Apart from 9/11, which as it happens was the day I dug the foundations for my shed, strangely enough I can remember with clarity the digging as much as what unfolded on TV that day, the 1st Iraq war I remember as being terrifying as well as exciting, it seemed to just erupt on the 10pm news. It was said to be the first fully televised war,and it seemed that way, from the planes dropping bombs on Baghdad filmed live from hotels, to supposed down pilots being chased by baying crowds in a canal and shot at,never did find out if that really was an allied pilot. Funnily enough I rarely watch TV now,all the major events I usually see weeks later on utube.

This is another one of those overlooked scenarios ,if only in the sense of the events which you describe and which I also remember so vividly .

When some of the first scuds were launched from the American warships I remember somebody standing next to me in the pub saying '' So I guess this is it .... WW3 ? '' .

Then on tv watching as the the tv reporters were tracking the Scuds on their way to the targets and the two downed pilots being chased along that canal yet we never did find out if they escaped but it was all so real and happening before our eyes .