Where were you when…..

….John F. Kennedy died?

….Cassius Clay defeated Sonny Liston?

….9/11?

….Princess Diana died?

….Elvis Presley died?

I was at home in England watching television when there was an in interruption to the BBC programme and a stranger (a man) came on air to announce President Kennedy had been shot in Dallas. All the regular BBC newsreaders were at a party and a producer had to make the announcement. Isn’t it amazing I can remember that detail from all those years ago?

I actually got up early in the morning in England to watch the Clay (as Ali was known then) Liston fight on television live in England. A few hours later I made the shocking announcement to the regular train passengers I travelled with from Brighton to London that Clay had won. No one at first believed me.

I was head of programming (and Managing Director) at CITN/Cayman27 when the Master Control operator called me during the live transmission of ‘Daybreak’ to come and look at the CNN live picture of a passenger jet plane embedded in one of the New York twin towers windows. The commentator was discussing with another on how it could have happened when another passenger plane flew past and into the adjoining tower windows. At first the commentator amazingly didn’t see this happen. They had to be told by a producer and it was played back. Until then no one had suspected it was deliberate. And a terrorist attack.

I was at The Prospect Playhouse here in Cayman in the evening after a performance when my wife, Joan, called to say Princess Diana had been involved in a car crash in France and had been taken to hospital. Reports were it was serious. I told the people around me and drove home. Joan and I were laying on the bed listening to the news when they announced she had died. Joan thumped the bed six times with her hands crying and saying , “No. No. No.”

I was working as Contracts Manager in England on a building site in Rye and staying at an Inn at the nearby smallest English town of Winchelsea.  I was having a drink before going up to my room to bed when a man walked in and announced Elvis had died. I had never seen this man before but he was so shocked he had to share it with someone so he came in. There were four of us present plus the owner of the Inn who was behind the bar. Then other people arrived to share the news and be with company.

I can remember many more details of all those events just as if it was yesterday. Actually, that’s not true. My recollection of events yesterday has been almost obliterated from my mind already.

The 40th anniversary of Elvis’ death brought all those shocking events come streaming back into my mind.

I bet with most of the above events I listed, if you are as old as I am, you can remember exactly where you were when….