Famous Deaths
maidinscotland
Posts: 5,648 Forum Member
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Following on from the Freddie Mercury thread where I noticed some people posting where they were and what they remember about certain famous people dying, do you have any such memories?
A really weird one that I remember and a totally true story was when Pope Paul died. I was 10 years old and we had a picture of him above our bed (my parents were really quite religious). I remember he was ill and we were getting updates on the news and then we had to go to bed. My mum came up to our room and told us that he had passed away and I remember she was a bit upset. During that same night we were awakened by a loud noise and it turned out that his picture had fallen off the wall (that had never happened before that I could remember!).
Another one I remember was when Elvis died because my pal (whose dad was a fan of his) came into school hysterical.
A really weird one that I remember and a totally true story was when Pope Paul died. I was 10 years old and we had a picture of him above our bed (my parents were really quite religious). I remember he was ill and we were getting updates on the news and then we had to go to bed. My mum came up to our room and told us that he had passed away and I remember she was a bit upset. During that same night we were awakened by a loud noise and it turned out that his picture had fallen off the wall (that had never happened before that I could remember!).
Another one I remember was when Elvis died because my pal (whose dad was a fan of his) came into school hysterical.
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They'd be looting.
I was going to post about JFK, I was 12 at the time and he was a high profile President.
Anyway, around 10 years later I was going through my hall cupboard and came across them. I randomly picked one the magazines up and opened a page. The page I turned to happened to be on the article about Michael Jackson.
I will never forget what the journalist doing his entry wrote in which he exclaimed that he was child a prodigy who turned to a global superstar. The final sentence then said 'unfortunately his music rather like the man himself has become a pale imitation of the former self.'
I thought to myself well with these series of concerts he has got coming up at the O2, he might make a comeback. Around 2 or 3 days later it was around 10.40 pm on the Thursday and I was trying to surf the internet and everything kept freezing up. I then went on the Sky broadband link and the page slowly loaded up saying Jackson has suffered a heart attack. I then managed to click the link and the page was slow loading up and the tab at the bottom of the screen said 'Michael Jackson dies of heart attack.' I could not believe it.
I turned on BBC News 24 and it was all over the news and they were trying to get confirmation whether it was true or not as it was first reported on the celebrity gossip page TMZ.
It was strange because his death was the first in which someone who was really famous had passed during the era of social media and instant reporting. When I came home from work the following day, which was a Friday, my sister said look at the music channels, every channel was showing Michael Jackson videos.
My mum was enthralled with the whole Kennedy clan and had loads of books and pictures of them all. She knew all the names of the later ones too.
Probably, lol. I just thought it weird that British schoolgirls would be upset by the death of an American president. I think it's hard now to realise what a massive celebrity JFK was at the beginning of the 1960s.
The other famous person's death I was really shocked and saddened by was John Lennon's.
Far more so than many more famous stars of 'my' generation.
Hardly famous, a drug addicted alcoholic who really killed herself.
That is so synical, but sadly so true.
Many famous genuises could similarly be described as 'drug addicted alcoholics' by those sufficiently mean spirited, or just plain ignorant.
Amy wasn't a genius but was both talented and a lovely person. That makes her untimely death tragic.
There is a certain section in America who does the looting and riots. The vast majority of American's do not riot or loot. Just like every country in the world, there is a section that you are not proud of.
Lovely? .. She made a very nasty drunk.... She died in her peak though.. Unlike MJ
Not a president. But i'll admit here & now that i'll raise a glass to Satan for finally collecting Dick Cheney when he goes. Horrible human being.
I thought the news only came through in the early evening. I remember my parents being shocked, and explaining to me that he was very popular so a lot of people were upset.
I was allowed to stay up late, because the radio comedy "The Navy Lark", which I loved, wasn't broadcast until 9.30 that evening.
Don't remember anything about Freddie Mercury dying.
The Worlds End murders in 1978 (the guy was found guilty just last week) - was watching Michael Parkinson interviewing Frank Sinatra
Twin Towers - was actually watching Sky News at the time!
No,it just wouldn't happen these days,like us in the UK,America has gone through decades of having rotten or indifferent leaders,JFK,like Churchill had huge charisma.
I would have been 11 but my memory is that my Mum and Dad were at the pub and me and my year younger brother were 'home alone'............and broke the news to them when they got back from the pub
But it's a long time ago so I could be wrong.......
I thought one of her parents had died.
A pal came along and seeing my quizical look said" Havent you heard....Elvis has died"
She was a massive fan.
JFK was shot about 12.30 so that would make it 6.30 in the UK. Suppose it would have been about 7ish before the news started to break over here.
Presumably (because of the Pope's death) the picture had received some attention that day and may have been touched several times.