What was the first major news story you remember as a child?

[COOL HAND LUKE]

"Assassination of JFK is the first I can remember, but worst by far was the Aberfan disaster in 1966... I've visited the site and the graves there, it was desperate bad luck - fifteen minutes earlier or a day later and the children would not have been there... and nobody at the NCB was ever held to account for it, despite many warnings about the state of the slag mountain up above the village."

[Far Cough]

"Tenerife disaster was a massive clusterfuck on all sides, obviously the fog, the Pan Am pilot taking the wrong exit, the KLM pilot too hasty in getting ready for takeoff and wasn't some ATC listening to a football match?"

[wils]

Kiing Cross fire was a big one. Although I was a teenager by then so not the first. But when I think about London before the fire with wooden escalators and people walking around smoking it feels like that was a different city to modern London.

[BRANDED]

"Not a specific news story. When young the idea of a bogeyman emerges into your consciousness. This comes from adults, siblings and peers. It comes from word of mouth and news stories. I don't think I ever encountered a bogeyman but the idea of one and who they might be becomes ever more solid as you get older. To this day my only experience of a bogeyman is in the stories of others."

[southbankbornnbred]

"The Roman invasion of Britain by Claudius in AD 43 - although, admittedly, I was on the Romans' side. I remember waking up, seeing the Caelum News XXIV etched onto some wax and papyrus by a then middle-aged Kay Burley, and thinking: 'Fuck me, things will never be the same here. Bloody immigrants.' I'm old."

[violator]

"Mad to think that the Tenerife disaster only happened because of an act of terrorism, what a fucking twist of fate"

[Manuel]

"Gary Strodders shank 2:18 Tue Feb 20 ''The Tenerife air crash disaster in 1977 for two reasons One- my old.man worked as an aircraft engineer and was glued to the box. Two We had been on holiday there a month or so before'' Wow, what a close shave that was, could have easily been you on that plane!!"

[Russ of the BML]

"For me personally, it would be the siege of the Iranian Embassy in London. Seeing that SAS trooper on the balcony, and then blowing the windows and going in, was something that will stay with me. I was only 5 at the time and into Action Man and action heroes, so it was immense for me (without knowing at the time the grim reality of the situation). I also recall my mum sitting crying in front of the telly after the IRA bombed the military band in Hyde Park. I think it was the one where they killed several horses and the pictures were quite distressing."

[mashed in maryland]

"First ones I have fleeting memories of are the Yugoslav wars and various famines/crises in Africa. I remember seeing starving babies on TV only a couple of hours after CITV/CBBC finished, reporting then made today's reporting look tame, even with how modern news is designed to shock/catch attention. Also remember the IRA in the news a lot, and saw one of their bombs go off myself First one I remember being everywhere was the moral panic about Extacy/drugs in general. What I remember was all the adults in real life talking like it was all nonsense and how Brian Harvey getting ""cancelled"" (to use modern language) for what he said about it was ridiculous. First one I took any real interest in was the war on terror after 9/11 (was about 14-16). A lot of adults no matter what newspaper they read, and almost everyone else my age seemed to think that invading Afghanistan/Iraq was a silly idea and would cause more harm than good but all the journalists, politicians and experts on telly were telling us it was essential and had to be done and freedom would reign supreme. Thankfully we've all learned from our mistakes back in those days, and politicians, journalists and whatever talking heads the news wheels out to persuade us are all 100% honest now and would never lie about anything ever."

[chim chim cha boo]

"My mum and dad waking my 4 year old snuggled up happily asleep self and my 2 year old sister because 'something you'll remember for the rest of your lives' was happening. I remember our old black and white TV flickering away as some dusty craters skipped by with some Americans talking through a walkie Talkie and a posh BBC presenter explaining what was happening to us poor East End folk. It was all a bit lost on me and my sister fell asleep. But mum and dad were right, it's one of my first joined-up memories, the Moon landing. I'd like to have thought 'great, the Americans can piss a load of money on putting two blokes on a dusty old rock and we don't even have a bath and we've got an outside toilet' but as a kid you're completely ignorant of that, all your pals are in the same boat and you are happier for it. It's only later that you realise how much they struggled to bring you up properly. Sad really as I don't think I appreciated them enough."

[Hammer and Pickle]

I remember adults getting worked up about the price of a gallon of petrol. Was a total abstraction for me at the time otherwise.

[Nurse Ratched]

"CHL - you're right. After I posted below something else occurred to me. The Moorgate Tube crash. I don't remember remembering it...er if you know what I mean. But I do remember being upset when I was a kid when my aunt said she was going to MARgate. My parents and aunt worked out I'd confused Margate with Moorgate and I thought my aunt was going to be in an accident/die. That was before the Kidsgrove incident, I'm sure. But I don't remember watching or hearing the news about the Moorgate disaster at the time it happened."

[Dwight Van Mann]

Elvis dropping dead.

[COOL HAND LUKE]

I don't wear this idea that someone was 'too young to remember' certain events. Often it would've been the reactions of the older kids and adults around you that made it stick.

[Far Cough]

ag ag ag or Battle of Rorke's Drift

[arsene york-hunt]

The relief of Mafeking

[wils]

"Remember my older sister explaining why everyone was talking about Margaret Thatcher on the news, ""Horrible woman who no one likes"". Evidently wrong about that as she went on to win three elections and even convinced my old man to vote for her in the second of those elections. Falklands war I was old enough to follow myself without asking my sister. So maybe that's a better answer."

[zanteboy]

Moon landings.

[yngwies Cat]

Guessing it was something to do with the IRA

[Swans Of Never]

"I distinctly remember bouncing down the stairs one Saturday morning in March, 1987 expecting my normal Going Live! fun and frolics only to be greeted by some boat lying on its side just off Zeebrugge. As a ten-year-old at the time I was really miffed that my favourite show had been shelved. Nearly forty years later I have realised that may have been an insensitive view..."

[Nutsin]

I remember the winter of discontent. Labour Party were in power and we had strikes everywhere.

[Tomsdad]

The death of Elvis. I

[Tomsdad]

The death of Elvis. I

[Mex Martillo]

I thought I was old until I read treads like this. It was the cod wars for me.

[ludo21]

Space... there was always a lot about space. I'm too young to remember the first moon landing etc... but the tv spent a lot of time at Cape Canaveral / Houston.

[Hello Mrs. Jones]

JFK Assassination