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Earliest memory of a celebrity death that shocked you?


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Old 19-11-2016, 11:08
cavalli
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Also remember Ayrton Senna the racing driver being killed during a race. He was a huge star, and I can only liken it to one of today's big sports stars being killed very suddenly.
My dad did a lot of work with F1 in those days, I remember him bringing home a Senna race suit and helmet once (yes I tried them on ). When he died, dad went into mourning, first time I'd seen him cry, he sat and watched all the coverage with the curtains drawn.
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Old 19-11-2016, 12:12
Yoshi Fan
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Princess Diana for me too. Everybody was up at 7am in their gardens and in the newsagents discussing it in total shock.
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Old 19-11-2016, 17:29
Nostlagic
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Going downstairs (when i was 8) to watch Sunday morning cartoons only to hear that Princess Di was killed in a car accident. Still remember when me and my friend looked at each other in complete shock! (i was staying over)
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Old 19-11-2016, 18:03
Shoe Lace
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I was 7 years old when Diana died. I still remember how we were having a meal at a local pub when the news came on, it must have been in the afternoon of the 31st, news didn't travel that fast back then.

Can't really remember any other celebrity deaths that left such an impression to be honest.
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Old 19-11-2016, 20:23
sunnymeg
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Lillian Board, who has been largely forgotten about , She was a British athlete who won a silver medal for the 400 metres in the 1968 Olympics and had a great future ahead of her. She died of bowel cancer just over 2 years later at the age of 22. It was the first time I really heard about cancer, as it wasn't spoken about openly in those days.
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Old 19-11-2016, 20:29
Eddie Badger
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Lillian Board, who has been largely forgotten about , She was a British athlete who won a silver medal for the 400 metres in the 1968 Olympics and had a great future ahead of her. She died of bowel cancer just over 2 years later at the age of 22. It was the first time I really heard about cancer, as it wasn't spoken about openly in those days.
I remember that. I seem to remember it was announced on World of Sport and how stunned by older relatives were by the news.
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Old 19-11-2016, 20:34
swingaleg
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President Kennedy.......my memory is that aged 11 and 10 me and brother were 'Home Alone' whilst Mum and Dad were at the pub and we told them the news when they got home
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Old 19-11-2016, 20:51
little-monster
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Princess Di
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Old 19-11-2016, 21:09
musicjukebox123
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For me they were both in 1997 the first celebrity deaths I remember watching on the news.
At the time being young I didn't really grasp the weight of it but can still remember the news report for both.
Princess Diana and Michael Hutchence.

With regard to first celebrity death that shocked me first and then others after I'd say Heath Ledger then Michael Jackson and Robin Williams.
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Old 19-11-2016, 22:35
Nesta Robbins
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One death I still remember vividly, which really affected me was when I was about 11, in 1967 and watching tv footage with the family of Donald Campbell attempting to break his water speed record, when his boat suddenly flipped up into the air and he was killed. Presumably this was televised and played out live, because I'm sure I remember my dad being excited watching his record attempt and seeing him travelling so fast.
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Old 19-11-2016, 22:42
daisy_johns
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Elvis Presley. I was early 20's.
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Old 20-11-2016, 19:41
MissD1
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I remember when John Lennon was shot and even though I was very young, I remember feeling shocked and sad.

I also remember the announcement of Elvis dying but I was even younger and had no real feeling about it.

I think Diana was one which caused a lot of upset in many people.
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Old 20-11-2016, 19:50
Mark39London
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I remember the deaths of John Lennon and Elvis Presley, but it was the death of Eric Morecambe that saddened me the most.

Probably because I met him briefly in Morecambe town hall, I was young and smiled at him and he did the funny glasses movement back at me. Must have been done in less than two seconds, but you remember the little things.

I was never a great fan of Diana and as I was living in Germany at the time, I thankfully missed most of the mass hysteria.
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Old 20-11-2016, 19:51
jamiesd
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Tommy Cooper. Was watching it with my mum and dad. We were unsure what was going on. Poor Tommy.
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Old 20-11-2016, 19:53
Mark39London
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Tommy Cooper. Was watching it with my mum and dad. We were unsure what was going on. Poor Tommy.
I missed it at the time, but have watched it on YouTube since. It's sad and a little unreal. You can understand how people thought it was part of his act.
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Old 20-11-2016, 21:31
paulsh1
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Tommy Cooper. Was watching it with my mum and dad. We were unsure what was going on. Poor Tommy.
I missed it at the time, but have watched it on YouTube since. It's sad and a little unreal. You can understand how people thought it was part of his act.
Strangely my OP has turned full circle.Sid James sadly passed away in very similar circumstances, although not on live TV.

Many thanks for all your contributions.Its amazing how these thing stick in your mind.
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Old 20-11-2016, 21:48
mojomama1967
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Lillian Board, who has been largely forgotten about , She was a British athlete who won a silver medal for the 400 metres in the 1968 Olympics and had a great future ahead of her. She died of bowel cancer just over 2 years later at the age of 22. It was the first time I really heard about cancer, as it wasn't spoken about openly in those days.
I remember that well as a youngster watching in black and white when they had the news cameras beside her hospital bed conducting what I assume would have been her final interview.
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Old 20-11-2016, 21:56
Steve9214
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When I was 12 recall Ross McWhirter of the Guinness book of Records being shot dead by the IRA on his own doorstep - about 20 miles from where I lived.

A day or so later Graham Hill, the racing driver crashed his plane and also died.

I remember getting upset as there was the 1975 Xmas edition of Record Breakers that had been recorded, and was broacast a few weeks later with Ross and Norris both in it - but I missed it as I had a dentist appointment - no video recorders back then
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Old 20-11-2016, 22:08
d0lphin
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When I was 12 recall Ross McWhirter of the Guinness book of Records being shot dead by the IRA on his own doorstep - about 20 miles from where I lived.

A day or so later Graham Hill, the racing driver crashed his plane and also died.

I remember getting upset as there was the 1975 Xmas edition of Record Breakers that had been recorded, and was broacast a few weeks later with Ross and Norris both in it - but I missed it as I had a dentist appointment - no video recorders back then
Yes, I think it was Ross McWhirter for me too - I used to love the programme Record Breakers and it was a real shock.
Also, Elvis Presley - my mum's friend came to our house in tears and my mum ended up crying too so I think I was more upset by them crying than about Elvis himself.
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Old 20-11-2016, 22:18
Steve9214
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Yes, I think it was Ross McWhirter for me too - I used to love the programme Record Breakers and it was a real shock.
Also, Elvis Presley - my mum's friend came to our house in tears and my mum ended up crying too so I think I was more upset by them crying than about Elvis himself.
The fact that he was murdered on his own doorstep by the IRA.
And just a few towns away from where I lived
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Old 20-11-2016, 22:26
Arcana
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Bruce Lee 😲
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Old 20-11-2016, 22:32
David Wright
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Tommy Cooper for me as well.

Was such a bizarre situation and like everyone in the audiance me and my family initially throught it was all part of the act... Until they suddenly cut to adverts and you knew something was terribly wrong.

After that, Senna, Diana and Jill Dando's death was pretty shocking at the time as well (more for the brutal way she died than anything else)

Hasn't been a really shocking death for a long while...
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Old 20-11-2016, 22:38
babelogue
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Probably Freddie Mercury. I remember my mum being really upset and saying it felt like some she knew had died.

I also remember my mum shaking me awake one Sunday and saying 'You'll never guess who's died'. Me: 'my uncle Jimmy?'. 'No, Princess Diana.'
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Old 21-11-2016, 00:53
Hobbes1966
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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.
I was going to write the same thing. Even now I can't watch Days of our Lives without tears at the end. I was twenty five when he died.
We knew he was ill but as soon as I read his statement I wrote to him. I posted it the day before he died. I was devastated and to me no one has or will come close to him.
It's sad his mum passed away almost to the day of the anniversary of his death.
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Old 24-11-2016, 23:09
clarendel
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While not a 'celebrity' in the modern, degraded usage of the the term, it would have to be JFK. Heard about the assassination on the car radio while driving home from evening classes. Nothing else has come close.
I was a bit too young to remember JFK being assassinated but I do remember the assassination of his brother Bobby a few years later.
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