What historical event do you remember?

[Kontiki]

I guess the earliest major event (although hardly "historic" in any important sense) would be the 1984 Olympics (I was 8 at the time). I have an oddly spotty memory of things happening before I was about 7 or 8 - certain things stick with me, but I can't remember a significant world event. I'm sure I watched some, but I just can't remember them.

[Dr Strangelove]

Originally posted by SlowwHand
Would have to be Kennedy vs. Nixon.

Oh yeah! I remember those debates. Nixon really did look like h**l under the hot TV lights. I remember asking my parents if he was sick, and if they should excuse him until he feels better. Mom laughed, Dad told me to shut up.

[Sten Sture]

Born in '65, and I remember some moon landings and Vietnam coverage, but the strongest memory is the '72 Olympics in Munich.

[orange]

Born 1983. I can remember the Gulf War...support our troops and all that jazz in our elementary school. I remember Clinton's election (I voted for him in our elementary school election, which predicted Clinton winning by a margin of 54% to 33% to 13% Clinton Bush Perot respectively, don't ask me how I remember that ) I remember the strikes on Serbia, I remember Kosovo, I remember Gulf War II.

I don't remember the fall of the Soviet Union, though I remember knowing that it broke up. I don't remember the fall of the Berlin wall, though I remember that East and West Germany combined at some point, making my globe invalid.

[Buck Birdseed]

Strange that so many people mention sports events early in their lives... My fist vividly-remembered sporting memory (rather than just being caught up in the imagery and controversy surrounding an event, like the 1988 Seoul olympics and Ben Johnson's fall from grace) was as late as 1992, age 11... Sweden's European Championship group game against England, and that second Brolin goal. I think I memorised exactly the path the ball took, I can almost see it before me. Thern, Brolin, Dahlin, Brolin, top of the net.

[Straybow]

Yeah, I know what you mean. Here I was, just a kid who climbed over the fence at the stadium. I got to see the last lap of the race between the tortoise and the hare.

You think Harry Cary was a card? You should've heard that crazy Aesop on the megaphone.

After the Romans came the games just never were the same.

[Ramo]

I remember being in school and hearing about the Berlin Wall falling, and I couldn't understand why the adults were making such a big deal.

[Alexander's Horse]

Area 25. Vividly remember that.

[Kontiki]

I would have thought that more people would have major sporting events as their first vivid memory. You typically don't give a rats ass about political issues when you're really young, and sometimes your parents will shield you from news that they think may scare you. Alot of kids are very much into sports, however, and I doubt few parents would have a problem with their kids watching something like the Olympics.

[Q Classic]

i remember being 3, nosed pressed up against the telly screen, watching the images of challenger exploding.
1986.

[Lancer]

I remember when JFK was shot. I was just a kid. What year was that? Anyway what implanted it in my mind was my mother in the kitchen, leaning her head on her arm which was on the counter, and hitting the counter with her fist while crying and repeating "no", over and over. One of those moments that are clear as yesterday. No, yesterday isn't so clear.

[Propaganda]

The breakup of the Soviet Union, Gorbachev/Yeltsin "debate" and "October 1993".

[Dr Strangelove]

Originally posted by Lancer
I remember when JFK was shot. I was just a kid. What year was that? Anyway what implanted it in my mind was my mother in the kitchen, leaning her head on her arm which was on the counter, and hitting the counter with her fist while crying and repeating "no", over and over. One of those moments that are clear as yesterday. No, yesterday isn't so clear.

Yes, I remember that one clearly too. The first thing I did when I got home was to ask Mom if she had heard about the President being assasinated. She thought I was playing some sort of sick joke and became very angry. She threatened to wash my mouth out with soap, but I managed to squeeze past her and turn on the TV. I happened to tune in just in time to catch Johnson being sworn in. Mom watched, but she wasn't quite convinced even though I pointed oput to her that there could only be one reason for having the Vice President sworn in. By the time that she had made up her mind again to scrub my mouth out anyway Walter Cronkite was back on repeating the news of the President's death. When it finally hit her that this wasn't a joke she dropped on to the couch like someone had punched her down. I went to the bathroom and got a wet rag for her to put on her head. All she could say was "Why on Earth would anyone want to do that? It doesn't make any sense."

[Alexander's Horse]

Sport:

I was taken the the Sydney Cricket ground at an early age for rugby league and cricket matches. Around 1970.

The Munich Olympics stand out as an early memory.

Also Muhammad Ali fights - the Rumble in the Jungle and the Thriller in Manilla

[Tingkai]

I remember a world without MTV.

The earliest big event that I remember are the Centennial celebrations and going to Expo 67. After that it would be the moon landings and then the October Crisis.

It's kind of weird reading about some people's first events being things like the Berlin Wall coming down or the Gulf War (I had already graduated from Uni). Or the Doctor and Sputnik (Before my time).

I don't know exactly why it seems weird. Maybe its because I read all of people's messages and create a mental image that everyone is around my age, and then threads like this one shows that ain't true.

[Straybow]

I thought I remembered the first moon landing, but when I described it my dad said that was a later moon landing. The first historic event I really remember is the assassination attempt on McGovern. I didn't understand it.

[Lord Merciless]

Ford assassination attempts around 76/77.

[Kidicious]

Born in 1968. Death of Elvis.

[Bereta_Eder]

Originally posted by Buck Birdseed
Strange that so many people mention sports events

Yeah I remember very clearly when Greece won the European Basketball Championship for the first time in history.

I was living in Belgium at the time and I was just zapping through the channels, completely oblivion to the fact that that day it was the euro basket finals.

Only by accident I turn on BRT, the flemish chanel which I couldn't understand since it was in dutch but oh miracles of miracles I see a basket ball game.... and the shirts pf the players looked suspiciously close to that of the national team of Greece and the other of the USSR.

It was the final seconds and the score was even with only a few seconds remaining. Time out. Turn volume to ten, listening to the curses shouted in greek of the national team coach to the players

then a faul, then two free shots...complete silence amongst the stadium in athens... one shot in.... explosion of cheers.... second in, second explosion.

Now ony a fraction of the secon remaining.... soviets get the ball.... pass it on with lighting speed, inhumane defence by the greeks.... a soviet clears... gets up makes the 3 points shot... OUT!!! Greece champion of Europe!!!! CHAOS, JOY!!!!


Unforgettable.

[TheStinger]

a few things stand out.

seb coe vs Steve Ovett in the 80 olympics.

The SAS storming the iranian embassy in London.

1st launch of the shuttle

The falklands war

[Saras]

For all practical purposes it was not USSR, but Lithuania.

And I admit Nikos Galis ruled and governed.

[Chemical Ollie]

Pinochet taking power in Chile. The early 70's energy crisis (every second street light was turned off on my street). Nixon resigning. The Social Democrats losing power in Sweden 1976 after 40+ years of rule. Poll on nuclear power in Sweden 1979. Iranian revolution and the American failure to rescue the embassy hostages. Sovjet invading Afghanistan. Gulf War 0 (Iran-Iraq).

And everything thereafter. I have never been on-site at any major historic event.

[MRT144]

i was born in 1983 and the most vivid early historical memory was the 1989 earth quake in san francisco mostly because i was involved in it. it was pretty solid.

[aaglo]

A couple of my first memories of historical events (born in 72):
- The handover of american hostages from iran (end of the 70's)
- summer (moscow) & winter (lake placid) olympics in 1980 (these I remember very well - propably because they are not-so-historical events)
- president Kekkonen's retirement in '82 (was the president of finland for 25 years)

[Aro]

I remember the death of Pope Pius XII in 1958 (he reigned for 20 years!). Not only is the first historical event I remember, but one of my first memories at all. I was only a 4 year boy.
Btw, Pius XII (Eugenio Pacelli) was the Pope during the WW2 and the Holocaust. His role in the WW2 and the the diplomatic relationships between the Vatican and the Nazis is being discussed today...

[Sten Sture]

Originally posted by Buck Birdseed
...Thern, Brolin, Dahlin, Brolin, top of the net.

Those infernal ball kickers tricked me into becoming a fanatic for your silly sport with their exploits in '94. (I do admit being confused about Martin Dahlin for a minute, the first time I saw him... )

[GePap]

I remember the 1986 World Cup and all the big games for Maradona, yet I do not remember the Challenger blast, The big "political" events were the riots and upheavals in Panama in 1987 and 1988. I remember well everything after that.

[TheStinger]

I remember 86 World cup with that cheating drug addict who robbed us.

[Adam Smith]

Born in 1956. I remember JFK's funeral (our parish priest was in it) but not his assasination.

Weirdest memory, in retrospect, was the Cuban Missile Crisis. Growing up just outside of Washington, DC, our new elementary school was one of the first in the country to have a fallout shelter. Each week we lined up on the playground according to whether we would stay at the fallout shelter, walk home, or have our parents pick us up in the event of a nuclear attack. As if it would have mattered worth a #$%*.

[Andemagne]

as allways, great thread, Stefu