First celebrity death you remember?

helimachoptor · 16-08-2018 05:42PM

Ayrton Senna, was really into F1 as a kid, died on my confirmation day

RockDesk · 16-08-2018 05:44PM

Freddie Mercury is the only that comes to mind.

Although I remember I was about 9 and the radio station was playing news from years earlier, but I thought it was current news. It must have been a radio version of Reeling in the Years or something. They were announcing the death of JFK. So I told my mam who strangely wasn't that surprised! So technically that was the first one I remember hearing!

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1 · 16-08-2018 05:45PM

I remember Lionel Barrymore, from Dr Kildare and It's a Wonderful life, dying in 1954 or 55 and Alexander Fleming around that time too.

Pauliedragon · 16-08-2018 05:48PM

Freddie Mercury. I was about 10. All I remember is seeing it on the front page of the paper. To this day I've ticked off every live show on my to do list but if I could turn back the clock and see one more it would be Queen with Freddie, what a showman.

Gwynplaine · 16-08-2018 05:50PM

Deleted User wrote: »

Freddie Mercury I reckon. I was about 10.

Same here. My brother had all the albums on Vinyl. He was in tears.

Ger Roe · 16-08-2018 05:50PM

Forty one years ago today - Elvis.

I remember the sense of shock on hearing the radio reports. I was thirteen, just discovering pop music and had only just started looking in to who Elvis was (his last single 'Way Down' was on release at the time)

Ironically enough, The King of Rock and the Queen of Soul have now passed on the same day - August 16th.

Harry Palmr · 16-08-2018 05:50PM

Probably Elvis Presley or Charles Chaplin. Not that it made any particular impression at the time. It was the cull of 1980 that was the first really terrible year for celeb deaths in my era. Bon Scott, John Lennon, John Bonham, Steve McQueen, Ian Curtis, Hitchcock, David Janssen, Mae West, Peter Sellers, and a few more well known names

Sardonicat · 16-08-2018 05:51PM

Elvis
I was six at the time. Was spending the summer with relatives and was staying up late watching Ben Hur when a News Flash came on with the news. I think I remember it so clearly 'cos my cousin who was about 17 was in floods of tears and inconsolable.

John Lennon.
I was 9. I knew well who he was and was very sad. It was incredibly shocking. Couldn't for the life of me understand why anyone would want to kill a Beatle
Fugging scumbag Chapman, shooting him in the back.

freshpopcorn · 16-08-2018 05:53PM

I'd be between Princess Diana and Veronica Guerin. I didn't know much about them just the news coverage.

goose2005 · 16-08-2018 05:54PM

I don't know if it counts, but I remember how desolate I felt when I learned that Roald Dahl was dead and there would never be any more books from him

mad muffin · 16-08-2018 05:55PM

Jesus Christ. May he rest in peace

pawdee · 16-08-2018 05:55PM

Elvis Presley (funnily enough 41 years ago today!). I was 9 and at my auntie's house when it came on the news. I remember there was a big piece of squashed, boiled carrot down the side of her brown vinyl sofa. They're my two standout memories from that day.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock · 16-08-2018 05:56PM

I vaguely remembering hearing about the deaths of Elvis and John Lennon when I was about 6 and 9 years old respectively. Not sure they effected me, as I didn;t know who they were.

Mildred from George and Mildred was the first time soemone died whom I was familiar with (probably means **** all to you young'uns but I loved the show at the time!)

TheValeyard · 16-08-2018 05:59PM

mikeymouse wrote: »

J.F.K
came home from school, my mother was in bits.
don't know how she found out as we didn't have a wireless

Hmmmmm.

Did she have any connections with Lee Harvey Oswald or Jack Ruby?

Yer Da sells Avon · 16-08-2018 05:59PM

mikeymouse wrote: »

J.F.K
came home from school, my mother was in bits.
don't know how she found out as we didn't have a wireless

Old-fashioned dial-up connection, probably.

Sardonicat · 16-08-2018 06:01PM

Princess Consuela Bananahammock wrote: »

Mildred from George and Mildred was the first time soemone died whom I was familiar with (probably means **** all to you young'uns but I loved the show at the time!)

Poor Yootha Joyce. Very talented lady.

shamrock55 · 16-08-2018 06:03PM

Freddy mercury

Rubberchikken · 16-08-2018 06:06PM

Elvis. Didnt like his music but loved radio Luxemburg and heard it as a newflash. S

drake70 · 16-08-2018 06:07PM

Phil Lynott

AudreyHepburn · 16-08-2018 06:08PM

freshpopcorn wrote: »

I'd be between Princess Diana and Veronica Guerin. I didn't know much about them just the news coverage.

I wasn’t sure if Veronica counted as a celebrity but I remember her death clearly as well as the British presenter Jill Dando. Didn’t know the full details until later but I knew both were murdered.

o1s1n · 16-08-2018 06:09PM

Freddie Mercury. Was only about 8 and loved Queen

Gorgeousgeorge · 16-08-2018 06:17PM

George Harrison

Greyfox · 16-08-2018 06:30PM

Dermot Morgan, I was obsessed with f ted at the time

Squall Leonhart · 16-08-2018 06:31PM

I had an awareness that Freddie Mercury died, I was 6 maybe.

Same with Kurt Cobain, about 8, too young to know anything about him other than it was news.

Veronica Guerins murder stands out

Quite clearly remember Princess Diana and the Elton John re-release of his Marilyn Monroe song.

Remember hearing about Versace but not having a clue who he was.

I remember the Jill Dando murder well.

Timothy McVeighs execution.

John Paul II dying

Saddam Husseins hanging.

Muamar Gadaffi being shot.

mojesius · 16-08-2018 06:32PM

Freddie Mercury when I was 8. My husband (a few years older than me) saw him/queen at Slane when he was a kid, lucky fecker.

Sundew · 16-08-2018 06:39PM

My first memory was the death of Princess Grace of Monaco and former actress Grace Kelly for some of you young wans. after being involved in a car accident. There is a famous photo of herself and Princess Diana meeting for the first time. It’s strange to think they both died after being involved in car accidents!

padd b1975 · 16-08-2018 06:43PM

Princess Grace.

I have very hazy memories of John Lennon bring shot.

16-08-2018 06:44PM

Bobby Sands, by a huge distance.

RabbleRouser2k · 16-08-2018 06:47PM

jmayo wrote: »

Speakin of which remember when JR was shot.

How the hell they managed to keep that secret and the time difference between the show been shown this side of the pond.

No internet, the papers weren't spoilerific I'd imagine.
It's a surprise too-according to one documentary I was watching, it had an audience of 87 million in the US when it first aired.

Not the first celebrity death, but I remember Michael Jackson and Patrick Swayze's deaths both hit me hard.

Had the tv switched off on the day Jackson died, and there was construction going on around our house, with guys driving tractors and lorries who had radios on (they told my brother the news on the radio). My brother walks in saying 'Michael Jackson's dead' and I instantly turned on the tv, checked aertel, and it said he'd been rushed to hospital. I was glued to the news for the rest of the night, and an hour after my brother giving me the news, MJ passed away.

Patrick Swayze died from the same disease as my dad, a few years after my father's passing. I remember being incredibly hopeful he'd beat the disease. He had the money, he could pay for top medical treatments (he got cyber knife surgery or something) and he was telling folks 'he was a miracle' for surviving for so long-I think he lived about two years after diagnosis.
Looking back, 2009 was a brutal year for deaths-Darren Sutherland (the boxer) took his own life the same day as Swayze. Farrah Fawcett died the same day as MJ, Natasha Richardson died in a sad accident and then there was Brittany Murphy.

Try_harder · 16-08-2018 06:51PM

Probably Freddie Mercury. I dont really remember any famous people dying in the late 80s. I remember people talking about Princess Grace but it would have been a few years after her death

First celebrity death you remember?

Comments