What was the first big news story that caught your attention when you were young!

Lau2976

For me it was 9/11. I was still in primary school at the time and I remember it being discussed to an extent. Nobody would say it was a terror attack but one kid got in trouble for showing the jumpers pictures during a project. Those photos have always freaked me out. My mam and dad were really interested in it to do it was always being discussed in our house.

Ger Roe

[QUOTE=
Remember being amazed because it was the first newsflash I saw where regular programming was interrupted with a news program.

[/QUOTE]

I was born in 1964 and remember the coverage of violence in the north in the early 70's because of the 'newsflash'. Programmes on UTV were regularly being interrupted by news flash reports, or requests for retailer keyholders on certain Belfast streets to return and check their premises.

A sure sign of the times before 24hr dedicated news services.

People in this thread are really old or really young.

Irish Guitarist

In 1987 Dessie O'Hare ('the border fox') kidnapping Dublin dentist John O'Grady, cutting two of his fingers off with a hammer and chisel, and leaving the fingers in a box in Carlow cathedral. I was 11 at the time and it scared the crap out of me. I could imagine him doing the same thing to my father. Not that there was any reason to think that, it just went through my head.

John O'Grady died last year of cancer.

Irish Guitarist

I forgot to mention my house was only a five minute walk from the cathedral, which is why it scared me so much.

NIMAN

As someone born in the North in 68, likely sometime Troubles related.

Lollipops23

I vaguely remember the Gulf War, as my mother went to great lengths to explain world events to me. Would have been 4/5.

Princess Diana's death is the first world event I can remember with any clarity. I can still see the shocked face of my stepmam when she rushed into my room to tell me. I would have been just turned 10 then.

jaja321

For me, the earliest distinct memory of a news story, was the day Mandela was released. I remember watching it on the news in the evening (was about 12), and welling up with tears. Somehow I felt the immensity of it all, even as a kid.

xzanti

The death of Freddie Mercury, I think I was about 8.

9or10

Aberfan (21/10/1966)

pilly

Deleted User wrote: »

People in this thread are really old or really young.

I think the ones in between are out having a life. :pac::pac:

Ciaran_B

Challenger spaceship explosion.

I was a space-mad kid - loved rockets, NASA, outer space etc. It really upset me.

Missymoohaa

With me it was the Stardust disaster, I think I was about 11 and remember watching all the coverage and sobbing my heart out.

Bacchus

Two big news stories stand out for me... the OJ Simpson car chase (and subsequent trial) and the death of Princess Diana.

Doctor Nick

Enniskillen bombing sticks in my mind, was only 9 at the time. Also Hillsborough, images in the tabloids were horrendous. I was watching the match with my father despite not being a fan of football but remember feeling shocked at everybody lying on the pitch. James Bulger was another one.

Stars and Stripes

Probably Neil Armstrong landing on the moon, the Vietnam War was eternally on every news bulletin.

cyrils foxpit

Dessie O Hare on the run springs to mind, always think if it when I drive past Urlingford

WHIP IT!

I'm 35, I have vague memories of the Dessie O'Hare/Border Fox saga when he and a gang kidnapped a dentist in the late 80s. It was all over the radio and he became something of a Boogy Man to a very young WHIP IT!

The first big story I remember watching play out in front of me was the Hillsborough Disaster in 1989 when I was seven. Vividly remember watching it with my mother and have never really been able to watch footage of it since!

Boom_Bap

WHIP IT! wrote: »

The first big story I remember watching play out in front of me was the Hillsborough Disaster in 1989 when I was seven. Vividly remember watching it with my mother and have never really been able to watch footage of it since!

I remember that as well, I was in my uncles house watching the game and didn't understand what was happening and why people were celebrating on the pitch.
It's only a few years later when I realised the magnitude of what I saw on TV.

9or10

CoolHandBandit wrote: »

Vietnam war reports.

Especially seeing that poor little girl caught by napalm - gut wrenching.

I think that that news coverage has become more sanitised these days. I think in those days if they had film, it was authentic and it was newsworthy, it went out.

These days there's more of an editorial process. Not sure when it happened and I'm not sure its a wholly good thing.

indioblack

CoolHandBandit wrote: »

Vietnam war reports.

The Gulf of Tonkin incident - going back a long way, now!
As a kid, I thought it was going to be the start of World War Three.

__Alex__

I'm just gone 33 and the first one I remember taking notice of and my parents making a point of telling me about was the Berlin Wall coming down. I was 5. I remember watching the new reports about it. I knew from my parents' reactions that it was a momentous occasion but of course I didn't at that time understand why.

Maximus Alexander

31 and the earliest I remember is vague memories of the Gulf War being a thing. Tanks in the desert on TV. Oil fires. Helicopters.

AndyBoBandy

Hillsborough,

Came home from shopping for my Communion clothes and watched it all unfold on the TV.

A truely terrible day for all concerned.

__Alex__

vandriver wrote: »

The Tenerife airport disaster in March 77,where two 747s collided on the runway killing 583 people.

Lady is a tramp wrote: »

Holy f*ck, never heard of that!! :eek:

It's terribly sad but I would recommend reading about it or watching a documentary. That accident was the result of numerous different things going wrong on that day. It's very interesting.

dreamers75

Michael Jackson being set on fire, only recall it as all the girls in the estate were crying at the playground.

I thought to myself...."saps" as I rolled on by on my 3 wheeler...

__Alex__

eviltwin wrote: »

Lockerbie bombing

Actually no, this was my first big world event memory, not the Berlin Wall coming down. This happened on the evening of my first Christmas concert, I was in Junior Infants. Indeed it happened at just about the time that the concert was kicking off, I remember my parents talking about it on the way home from the concert as someone had come in and told people about it.

That flight was delayed taking off by about half an hour and because of that delay, its flight path was changed from Ireland to Scotland. Had it taken off on time, it would have been further along in its journey and it's thought that it would have exploded over Longford. Would we be now talking about the Granard bombing or the Lanesborough bombing? Shudder.

Zaph

pilly wrote: »

I thought that I remembered that happening on the day of my communion but when I look it up it was 1969 which is the year I was born.

Was there another moon landing in about 1975?

No, the last moon landing was Apollo 17 in December 1972.

valoren wrote: »

Ben Johnson getting stripped of his Gold medal in 88.
I was 7.

I watched that race in a bar in Toronto, it was a mental night when he won. But the atmosphere in the country when he was stripped of the medal a few days later is impossible to describe. It was like everyone had won the lotto jackpot and then lost their winning ticket.

DanielODonnell

I am nearly 25 too, I remember 1998 but don't remember the omagh bombing even though I live in northern ireland, the first I remember is 9/11

Blazer

Jame Bulger...I was 18 I think at the time and still shudder of the picture of the 2 guys walking him by the hand.
Even reading what they done to him still brings so much anger after all these years..I hope someday those 2 pricks die a horrible horrible death