Modern History - The Stories I've Seen Unfold

A bit of a change in posts for today.

Every now and then we witness a defining moment in history.

I wasn't born when Elvis died.

But like many I remember exactly what I was doing Sunday 31st August 1997.

It was a number of weeks after I had left school and just taken my exams and my results were good enough to get me into the college course I wanted. They were also good enough to do the modern apprenticeships in childcare I wished to do. However, I turned down both options in favour of taking on a new job in a couple of weeks time in an office.

On Sunday 31st August 1997, I was a month away from my 17th birthday and working in a paper shop. I had woken up to go to work. It was a normal Sunday. Normal except my mum was transfixed to the tv in shock that Princess Diana had been killed in a car crash.

That day at work was somewhat surreal. The papers sold fast. We had our normal customers but we sold out of EVERY newspaper that day. Incredibly rare for a Sunday. It was almost as if everyone wanted a piece of history. Of course, the papers were printed out very early in the morning to be available to sell that day. Some newspapers got second editions out that day but not in our shop as we closed at 12 on Sundays. All the papers that day said Dodi had died in the accident and Princess Diana was in a serious condition. You don't expect to be telling the shocked members of the public that hadn't had the tv or radio on that morning that that was no longer the case.

The following week, it was her funeral and it was my last weekend working at the shop with a new job to go to on the Monday. The shop closed for 3 hours out of respect and to allow the staff to watch the funeral at St Pauls Cathedral. One of the most beautiful pieces of architecture in London.

On September 11th, 2001, I was on my second day in a new job. I was working as a cook in an elderly ladies home. I was working with the other chef and learning the ropes. We were in the kitchen so knew little of what was going on. The other chefs daughter was a travel agent and phoned to say they hadn't heard the full story of what was going on but all flights into the US were cancelled until further notice and all planes on course to New York and Washington were being diverted. We went into the tv room just as the second plane struck The World Trade Centre. Call me old fashioned but in the circumstances I choose not to call it "The Twin Towers". Although it has always been the Trade Centers nickname, I believe that it should be honoured in it's rightful name rather than become a place known by the informal name when it holds so much history. The years dwindled by. The threat of war with Afghanistan, the war itself. Onto Iraq. The capture and killing of Saddam. Then finally almost 10 yrs after the 9/11 attacks, Bin Laden too was executed and thrown to the sharks on May 2nd 2011. I have to admit I didn't know the date of Bin Ladens death until I did a little research.

Both of these events led to major conspiracy theories of the UK Royal Family and the US Government. Throughout the years these theories have been endless. But these are the biggies of our own lifetime.

Then of course came the fall of Libya and the eventual death of Gaddafi in October 2011.

2011 was a big year.

The earliest big news event I remember from my childhood was The Zeebrugger Disaster. 25 years ago today, a ferry named "The Herald of Free Enterprise" capsized on it's journey to Southern England. 193 people lost their lives in a "mechanical error". The ferrys back door did not shut properly if I remember correctly. This was when I was six and I still remember it vividly.

Just a year later, another big event stays in my mind. Lockerbie happened in 1988. Much in the news again recently, a bomb went off on a Pan America flight as it flew over the UK, the plane came down on a Scottish Village of Lockerbie. A total of 260 people died, 11 of those villagers killed by debris. Mostly American and British victims were on the plane. The reason it has been in the news recently is because it was by the order of the Libyan government.

Finally, the last BIG news story I remember from when I was growing up was the shocking attack on a school in Scotland. No-one had really heard of Dunblane.  Not until March 13th 1996. 16 children aged 5 and 6 were shot dead by a local shopkeepe, a teacher died trying to protect the children before the gunman turned the gun on himself. It's become a far too frequent occurrence in modern American colleges for a student to go on a form of rampage. It is never right - no matter where it is or whatever the reasons the attacker has. But to do it to a whole bunch of defenceless young children was shocking and always will be. It's one of those things I will never forget. Now having young kids myself, I cannot imagine the terror those mothers endured that day. You believe your kids are safe in school and to have a gunman go in like that defies belief. School security is now much tighter than it was back then.

So, this is what affected me most when I was growing up. The times the news REALLY did shock me to the core. This is just what I've seen in a little over 30 years on this planet. I really have to wonder what stories some of the most elderly could tell.