What is the first big news story you remember?

I definitely remember the Abervan disaster, but I’ve always been convinced I remember the Eichmann trial although that’s very unlikely because I was only 3.

Remembering the Coronation in 1953 we had all the Road set out with tables loaded with sandwiches and jellies,we all got a mini mug and a spoon,I remember my dad being very poorly on the day he was in bed being treated for mumps and we managed to extra bowls of jelly for him as his throat was so sore .
Such a great thread thank you ChickenCakey

I was born in 1954 and I think I would say that Aberfan springs to mind first. I was also fascinated by the Moon Landings, and as I was at a Catholic school at the time, we were no doubt told about JFK. I also remember the Train Robbery as my cousin was in the Police Force and involved in the investigations.

Here are some dates of the events mentioned:

Gagarin in space - April 1961
Cuba crisis - October 1962
Profumo affair - March 1963
Great Train Robbery - August 1963
Kennedy assassinated - November 1963
Churchill died - Jan 1965
World Cup Final Wembley - July 1966
Aberfan - October 1966
Margot Fonteyn arrested - July 1967
Apollo 11 Moon Landings - July 1969

Dates of the Moors Murders:

July 1963 to October 1965

Thalidomide tragedy, I remember being at my grandma’s looking through a magazine and seeing photos of limbless babies, I was about 6 or 8 and was traumatised by it.

I watched the coronation on a neighbours tv with lots of other people from our street. My mother and older brother had camped out overnight to watch it. My father was off with his ‘other woman’.

Next newsworthy item was the one that most people remember, the assassination of J.F. Kennedy. I was 17 and at ballroom dance classes. A couple arrived late as they had seen it on the news and told us all about it.

The assassination of John F Kennedy, I was five.

Secretshopper1, if we didn’t have these diverse threads with people posting their thoughts and memories there would be no gransnet. I find it stretches the mind and tests my memory to think about stuff that wouldn’t normally come to mind.

The next one was the tragedy of Aberfan.

Like NanKate it is the coronation as we bought a tv specially and everyone came round to watch.

JFK being elected, remember not being able to sleep coming downstairs looking over mum's shoulder as she sat in front of the fire reading the paper and asking who the picture was. Dad already in England
expected back on 7th Dec to bring us all over on the 8th I was 7

The Profumo scandal, and my mother struggling to answer my questions about it, such as "What is a prostitute?"

Elvis Presley dying

Kennedy shooting being announced during early evening news program c 6 .50 pm ( Cliff Mitchelmore?).

1966 worldcup when on exchange with a German family

Aberfan

Bobby Kennedy's death, we had done a school exam and girl collecting papers passed on news.

Shipwreck of the Torrey Canyon oil tanker in 1967. Remember getting oil on my feet on our summer holiday to Cornwall that year!

A cluster of things - death of George VI, ( My Mum cleaning down the stairs and getting to the bottom and telling us what had happened- picking up on the gloom. I was 7.) The coronation,( again, my Mum, at the coronation party, on the stage playing the piano by ear for requests. Conquest of Everest, Korean War. I was practising my reading over my Dad's shoulder as he read the newspaper and became upset thinking there was a war coming our way. An Oxford and Cambridge boat race when the boats sank.

I turn cold even now at the memory of Aberfan. I was 8 then and visulised it happening in our classroom. Probably the one it did happen in was very like ours. I remember crying at the thought of the headmaster found dead trying to protect two of the smallest pupils.

I knew children could die, as I had seen the war memorial to the nuns and children who died when a school run by the sisters of St. Joseph in Copenhagen was bombed by mistake.

The Suez Canal crisis in 1956. Was on the first ship to pass through after peace negotiations. Although my first memories go back to when I was 3 yrs old and listening to How Much is That Doggie in the Window when it came out

I remember John Kennedy’s assassination. I was 8 and staying with my grandmother who heard the news on the radio. She was so shocked. Also Profumo, Aberfan and many others.
I remember when I was around 6 or 7 reading the front page of the Telegraph and there an article about fears for the collapse of Wall Street. I remember thinking why don’t they build better walls.

Just remembered having vague memories of the dreadful floods in East Anglia when I was very small, probably only 4. I was certainly aware that something awful had happened, something to do with the sea rushing in to people's houses.

Winston Churchill's death is something I certainly remember, since we were taken to the lying-in-state in Westminster Hall.

The broadcast by Neville Chamberlain on 3rd September 1939 announcing the outbreak of WWII. I was six years old.

Asking my mother why the radio was playing such gloomy music and she replied 'The King has died'. February 1952 - I was four.

Unfortunately the Aberfan disaster, still gives me the shivers

The aberfan disaster. I was about 8 at the time.

Aberfan for me too, I still remember standing with my mother looking out of our front window seeing the cloud of dust over the top of the mountain, and hearing the alarm bells ringing from the fire station. I was 5.

Aberfan and Kennedy.