What is the first big news story you remember?

Moonlanding

The assassination of Kennedy really distressed me.

I do remember the head teacher came into our classroom and told us the king was dead , it didn’t mean anything to me, can’t recall I had any knowledge of him.

I remember Prince Andrew being born, when I was five or six but the big one was JFK. He was assassinated in the same week my mother was rushed to hospital for an emergency appendectomy.

In those days, children under 11 weren't allowed into hospital wards so I didn't see my mother for some days and the two events got conflated in my mind.

Like others, the death of George 6th in 1952. It was a big deal as he was relatively young. The behaviour of his brother, Edward 8th, was blamed by some - including the Queen Mother I believe - because he abdicated, leaving his younger brother to take on the role of king which he did not want and had not been brought up to do. The stress (and the smoking) affected his health.

The riderless horse in JFK's funeral procession- I was frightened by the boots that were backwards in the stirrups- He died on my 3rd birthday-

Good heavens some of you are a good bit younger than me.
"Queen Mary the Queen mother" as she was designated who died in 1952 not long before the coronation.

The invasion of Hungary, and the refugees arriving at our primary school when I was 6.

Many of these events took place before I was born. I remember the excitement when the Apollo mission went to the moon.

Elvis's death 1977

Grace Kelly's marriage to Prince Rainier 1956 TheSuez crisis 1956. I was 7.

Churchill dying or 'You've never had it so good', not sure which was first.

Aberfan; but also a horrible picture in a newspaper where they'd put another head on a monkey. Found that so distressing...

I vividly remember Marilyn Munroe's suicide in 1962 - why this sticks on my memory I do not know.

Blinko I remember that headline about Fuchs - I've only just 'got' it thanks to your post!
I was only about 12 but how many of today's 12 year olds would be oblivious to the double entendre?

There were probably quite a lot of reports that were of more interest to British people but I remember as a child feeling very shocked by the news footage on the Mau Mau uprising. (the rebellion against British rule lasted from 1952 to 1960 and I guess I was around 7 or 8 years old when I started to be partially aware of these news reports).

From those reports I gathered that the Mau Mau were some sort of evil devils.

As in all incidents of rebellion or war, there are vicious and ruthless acts acts committed by all parties, and no doubt the Mau Mau were responsible for some of those. But only recently a completely different story was revealed and compensation was awarded to some of the Kenyans who had been tortured by our forces.

I remember being very excited about the first satellite being launched into earth orbit.
My Dad and I listened to the beeps from it on the wireless.
I thought Sputnik was wonderful, although I really didn't understand anything about it, I was 5.

Like you, it's the Great Train Robbery.

Vietnam war was reported every night, on the news

Aberfan, it was the first time I realised children could die.

Kennedys assassination. I was 10.

The end of WW2. I was 7. I think that the street party made more impact on me than the actual event though. My mum let the photographer go into her bedroom to take wider pictures of it through the open window, which amazed me. I wasn’t even allowed in there!

Assassination of John F Kennedy 22nd November 1963. It came over the wireless and I remember my mum crying.

The Profumo affair - I didn’t understand (probably just as well!) the tv news coverage so I asked my dad who Christine Keeler was. I remember he got very flustered and said “a tennis player or a model or something...” and changed the subject ?

The two things that stay with me are the moors murders and my mum telling me not to speak to strange men. Also Aberfan sticks in my head very much watching it on an old black and white television.

Kennedy assassination. I was 11 at the time. I remember Aberfan too. That was so tragic.