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Earliest memory of a celebrity death that shocked you?


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Old 18-11-2016, 13:44
paulsh1
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Just wondering who your earliest memory of a celebrity death that genuinely shocked/saddened you?

Mine was Sid James in 1976 when I was around 10.

Everyone I knew at school was shocked because we all loved Sid from the Carry on films and Bless This House.
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Old 18-11-2016, 14:04
Daisy Bennyboots
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Kurt Cobain. I knew he had a drug problem but I thought he's sort himself out for the sake of his baby.

Why do we always remember where we are when we hear of shocking deaths? I was in the Town Hall car park when I heard Cobain has died, weird.
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Old 18-11-2016, 14:08
Jimmy Connors
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I think it must have been Elvis Presley.
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Old 18-11-2016, 14:18
Walter Neff
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Just wondering who your earliest memory of a celebrity death that genuinely shocked/saddened you?

Mine was Sid James in 1976 when I was around 10.

Everyone I knew at school was shocked because we all loved Sid from the Carry on films and Bless This House.
It was Sunday afternoon, 5th August 1962, I was watching the BBC news, and Michael Aspel was the newsreader. His announcement was short, sharp, and I thought, quite harsh, MARILYN MONROE IS DEAD!

Although I was 25 years old I had never really been touched by death at that time, but I was in total shock for several days afterwards. Everyone seemed to be touched by the tragedy, Richard Dimbleby even hosted a special Panorama programme on Marilyn. All I could think was, "what a terrible waste" and 54 years later I still feel the same.

The one consolation is that Marilyn will always be young and beautiful, while if she had lived she would be 90, the same age as the Queen.l
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Old 18-11-2016, 14:24
The Prumeister
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Charlie Chaplin.
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Old 18-11-2016, 14:30
cavalli
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John Lennon.

I was only a little kid, 5 or 6 but I can still remember the profound shock and sadness around me even though my parents weren't exactly fans. I was ill with tonsillitis and I seemed to be struck down with it on the anniversary of his death for a good few years, I wondered if it meant something, such a morbid child

Freddie Mercury was the first one that meant something though, he was always part of my life, Dad used to play Queen tapes in the car and his iconic Live Aid performance on my birthday, then suddenly he was gone. So so shocking, probably made more so due to the cause of death if I'm honest.
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Old 18-11-2016, 14:32
Johnny_Cash
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Marty Robbins in 1982, I recall my mum coming into my bedroom and telling me the sad news.
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Old 18-11-2016, 14:37
dizzie
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I was very young, but I remember my mum being incredibly upset at Tommy Cooper's death - he did die on live TV, so I guess there was a much more immediate impact of a death like that. However, the first celeb death I can remember having my own visceral reaction to was Freddie Mercury's death. Having loved Queen's music since I was a little kid, finding out he had died was really upsetting.
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Old 18-11-2016, 14:37
Littlegreen42
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I don't even like referring to her as a "celeb", but for me it was Princess Diana.

I was only nine but I remember it being 6am and having the TV on while eating my breakfast and the news stating that she had been killed in Paris.
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Old 18-11-2016, 14:55
catboy71
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Marc Bolan....I was 9 when he died and he was my first musical hero. It was tough at that age to try and understand that he had gone.
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Old 18-11-2016, 15:01
donna255
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An actor called Pete Duelle who was in a TV show Alias Smith and Jones, I watched as a child. Very early 70s and I think I was 11? He killed himself over the christmas period. I remember crying and being so upset.

The next person I cried over was Eric Morecambe, he was such a part of my childhood.
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Old 18-11-2016, 15:05
Dan Fortesque
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Elvis Presley when I was nine years old.
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Old 18-11-2016, 15:23
Ruby94
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An actor called Pete Duelle who was in a TV show Alias Smith and Jones, I watched as a child. Very early 70s and I think I was 11? He killed himself over the christmas period. I remember crying and being so upset.
Me too! I must have been about 9, and loved the show. I remember hearing that he'd committed suicide and I didn't have a clue what that meant.
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Old 18-11-2016, 15:25
paulsh1
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An actor called Pete Duelle who was in a TV show Alias Smith and Jones, I watched as a child. Very early 70s and I think I was 11? He killed himself over the christmas period. I remember crying and being so upset.

The next person I cried over was Eric Morecambe, he was such a part of my childhood.
Wow.I remember that programme well when I was growing up.I had no idea he had committed suicide.

I also remember Roger Delgado who played the original Master in Dr Who being killed in a car crash in 1973, but I was probably a bit too young to fully understand it.
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Old 18-11-2016, 15:29
Mint-Opinion
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Mine was Princess Di. I had been out clubbing and was staying at a mates house. There was a few of us there and we was all a little worse for wear shall we say. Think the news broke very early Sunday morning/Saturday night and we all sat there in a state of shock. I thought I'd dreamt the whole thing.
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Old 18-11-2016, 15:58
Mandark
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I think it must have been Elvis Presley.
Elvis Presley when I was nine years old.
Yeah, when I think back, it was as if I'd known him for countless years despite being at Primary school. Even though media was much more limited back then, it totally dominated like Diana's demise did 20 years later.

Bing Crosby went that year too! Remember that well!!
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Old 18-11-2016, 16:45
Lenitive
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Yeah, Diana here as well. I remember we even got a special talk about it in assembly.
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Old 18-11-2016, 17:17
Patti-Ann
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Richard Beckinsale

Diana too, both totally out of he blue
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Old 18-11-2016, 17:49
sqwerty505
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There's a lot of these that do stick in my mind, probably Elvis being the first, but also Richard Beckinsale (so gorgeous!), Tommy Cooper, Eric Morecambe and John Lennon. The one that was the biggest shock though, has to be Princess Diana.

(This year, and it has certainly been a year when sadly there have been a lot of celebrities we have lost, David Bowie was the most affecting, for me anyway.)
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Old 18-11-2016, 18:27
Brummy Girl
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The first celebrity death that I remember getting upset about was Freddie Mercury. I was 13 at the time. It came out of blue as he only announced that he had HIV the day before his death so I never had time to digest that info before he passed.

I still can't watch the These Are The Days Of Our Lives video all the way through as that was one of if not the last video he ever made. He looked so gaunt and pale and when he says/sings "I still love you" down the camera at the end it was like he knew he was saying goodbye.
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Old 18-11-2016, 19:01
Sandra Bee
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Buddy Holly/Big Bopper/Ritchie Valens when I was 9.
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Old 18-11-2016, 19:16
sheila blige
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An actor called Pete Duelle who was in a TV show Alias Smith and Jones, I watched as a child. Very early 70s and I think I was 11? He killed himself over the christmas period. I remember crying and being so upset.
I was just thinking of the very same person. I remember where I was - in the kitchen at home and mum was trimming my hair - and they announced it on the radio. I was devastated! I loved Alias Smith & Jones! It was near to Christmas as well - so sad.

The news of Pete's death - not mum cutting my hair!
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Old 18-11-2016, 19:22
UrMyStar
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I don't even like referring to her as a "celeb", but for me it was Princess Diana.

I was only nine but I remember it being 6am and having the TV on while eating my breakfast and the news stating that she had been killed in Paris.
Princess Diana for me too. My Dad never let us have the TV on in the morning but when we went to the shop to get rolls e.t.c it was on the front of all the papers.
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Old 18-11-2016, 19:25
nats18
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Mine was Princess Di. I had been out clubbing and was staying at a mates house. There was a few of us there and we was all a little worse for wear shall we say. Think the news broke very early Sunday morning/Saturday night and we all sat there in a state of shock. I thought I'd dreamt the whole thing.
She was mine too. I was 8 so I didn't really get it but I was sleeping in my mums bed for some reason. She woke me up to tell me.
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Old 18-11-2016, 19:31
Mandark
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An actor called Pete Duelle who was in a TV show Alias Smith and Jones, I watched as a child. Very early 70s and I think I was 11? He killed himself over the christmas period. I remember crying and being so upset.
Crikey, you've made me realise that when I was watching early repeats of that show, I had no idea one of the actors was dead!!
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