Off Topic Historic moments you'll never forget

September 11. I'd taken the day off work to decorate the bedroom. Our lass and I were painting the ceiling and we had Steve Wright on the radio.

He interrupted a tune to tell us in a slightly confused tone "It seems a plane has crashed into the World trade centre, we'll bring you more as the news in".

I think I just thought 'that's a weird one'. Then a few minutes later he came back to say in a slightly more worrying tone. "A second plane has crashed into the World trade centre".

Wtf? Come on downstairs, get the telly on.

What came next seemed so surreal. There were five of us watching these unbelievable events live on the portable in the kitchen.

One thing that seems to stand out from that memory is that not one us uttered a single word throughout what felt like a horrible nightmare. I mean, there was no 'Oh my God this is awful', no comments from any one of us. I don't think we could take it in.

Just silence. It really did feel like a dream.

It's the worst event I ever witnessed and I pray I'll never witness worse.






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9/11. I remember it was the day before I went back to school and the BBC interrupted the snooker. Even at 13 I knew it was a world alter event.

2008 Financial Crash. I remember people queuing to withdraw their savings from Northern Rock and then collapse of Lehmann Brothers.

 

Eerie to see that hours after I posted that a huge fire at a block of student flats occurred in Bolton, all covered in cladding, going up in flames in seconds.

 

I always thought my first ever very hazy memory was watching the 66 cup final with elder brothers. . Only recently, I mentioned this to one of my brothers. He explained it just didn't happen! We were all dragged out on a family outing apparently. Other brother confirmed this. Weird, as I could remember it so clearly. I was 4+ so seemed feasible, I think I wanted it to be true that I'd convinced myself.

Someone mentioned the Iranian embasssy siege, I recall News updates while watching the World snooker final, when it was popular. I was convinced it was the Dennis Taylor final, and fairly recently had a wager with a mate. He has an incredible memory so when he was challenging this, I wisely reduced it to a pint. And it wasn't.

Which goes to show maybe I worry too much about my recent fading memory, it's actually always been ****!
I do remember most of the events mentioned on here. Other notables; the moon landing, 1990 WC semi vs Germany, 1970 WC QF loss vs Germany, (****s), Boycs hundredth 100. Also remember watching the horrendous New Orleans floods around (2005?), because it was the first time I was able to follow a disaster as it developed on US news channel. It was pretty devastating. I think around a similar time, I recall watching a very tense armed siege develop in Newcastle, when Gazza turned up after a Friday night out with a kebab and a couple of Newky Browns to diffuse the situation.

 

Make that two events where I know where I was. I was at Cottingham show when Flixborough went up, heard the bang.

 

Dont worry https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20190516-why-you-cannot-trust-your-earliest-childhood-memories ... too much

 

9 11 was 4 days before I got married, I remember watching on a TV at work which everyone had gathered round, the delay & queues at the airport before we went on honeymoon to Tunisia [which years later was the target of that massacre...] I remember laying around the pool when we got there, watching planes flying high overhead & thinking 'they're just bombs really' & I'm going back on one in 2 weeks from an arab country

On a happier note, after city had won the home leg against Watford and we were finally off to 'that Wembley', everybody singing, walking, dancing, cheering, celebrating, beeping their car horns as we walked down Derringham Street back to a pub, like a scene from the end of 'fever pitch' , oh and getting married & children being born

 

That'd be Raoul Moat. Some pillocks round here still see him as some sort of Robin Hood figure.


So here's the facts:

Released from prison. Shot and injured his ex-girlfriend then killed her new partner.

Robbed a chipshop and scared the staff ****less. Minimum wage, young kids, trying to earn a living, told them they were going to die.

Shot a police officer who was parked on a motorway intersection. Through the window when he wasn't looking. In cold blood. And blinded him. The officer later took his own life.

Hid out in a drain in Rothbury for five days. That's when Gazza turned up in his dressing gown with KFC and lager. He wasn't a well man at the time to be honest.

Threatened by letter and social media to kill police officers.

Was eventually cornered into a standoff.

Then shot himself.


Only the good die young?

He's the ****ing exception.

 

9/11 .. the Tsunami .. the triple trawler disasters .. more personally I recall the Flixborogh disaster in 1974 and the Lockington train crash in 1986 .. not because they were worse but because of the impact they had on me personally. I remember living in Hessle at the time and the windows shaking when Flixborough blew such was the ferocity of the explosion.. then had joined the emergency services in 86 and saw the fall out from Lockington. Made me realise just how hard it is for those personnel involved at the time having to descend on a scene like that then tell the relatives of those who lost their lives.

 

"He's killed someone, which isn't nice, really."

 

Not Paul's finest hour that, was it?


Got to admire his addlebrained optimism though.