Actually no mine would be the Millennium Bug!

I don't really know about the news, I tend to remember advertisements more.

For me it’s Diana as well and then the violent disintegration of Yugoslavia, the genocide in Bosnia and the NATO bombing campaign in Serbia. That one I remember quite explicitly.

Princess Diana's death for sure.

I was with my cousins and we saw the news bulletin on the tv and we ran upstairs to tell my mum, nana and auntie who were doing some work and we got told off for making up bad lies that aren't funny

Only minutes later when my mum came down to get a cuppa did she then believe us and we all just sat watching for like an hour solid.

I think my earliest memory of anything at all was from when I moved house at age 4 so some time in probably 2001 - definitely needed to have a look through the posts in this thread for inspiration to answer the question and I thought my answer would be something from 2002 as I have no memory of 9/11, but actually I do also remember being aware of the foot & mouth outbreak of 2001 as it tied in with my mum's work! (In terms of single news events rather than that being an ongoing thing for months, it's probably the Queen Mother's death, which I tangentially remember because I was aware it happened the same day my sister broke her arm which is another of my earliest 'personal' memories).

I don't think I will ever understand why so many people cared so much about Diana's death to the point it's been mentioned in half the posts in this thread but I was less than 1 year old when that happened so obviously no chance of me being aware of her while she was alive x

On 06/06/2026 at 21:31, lewistgreen said:

It also happened in the sky 🤭

😂🤣 The way I am howling laughing a this!

20 minutes ago, Bror said:

I think my earliest memory of anything at all was from when I moved house at age 4 so some time in probably 2001 - definitely needed to have a look through the posts in this thread for inspiration to answer the question and I thought my answer would be something from 2002 as I have no memory of 9/11, but actually I do also remember being aware of the foot & mouth outbreak of 2001 as it tied in with my mum's work! (In terms of single news events rather than that being an ongoing thing for months, it's probably the Queen Mother's death, which I tangentially remember because I was aware it happened the same day my sister broke her arm which is another of my earliest 'personal' memories).

I don't think I will ever understand why so many people cared so much about Diana's death to the point it's been mentioned in half the posts in this thread but I was less than 1 year old when that happened so obviously no chance of me being aware of her while she was alive x

I've certainly never seen a reaction like it before or since, even the queen's death was tame in comparison. I remember going on a visit to London with my cubs a while after and the absolute sea of flowers being left outside Kensington Palace, it was like a field! It's very vividly stayed with me. I don't think I quite understood the reaction at the time either being so young but I definitely felt it and that was coming from a fairly "anti-royal" household too.

Edited June 15Jun 15 by Spiceboy

This got a lot more interest than I was expecting so thanks all; it has been really interesting to read all the responses so far.

I visited my grandparents at the weekend and asked them the same question so found out a lot of their '60s news memories in particular. One that has especially stuck with me is how my grandad found out about the assassination of JFK! He was watching a film at the cinema and they just stopped it and put a message on the screen saying the president was dead instead 😱

29 minutes ago, Bror said:

I don't think I will ever understand why so many people cared so much about Diana's death to the point it's been mentioned in half the posts in this thread but I was less than 1 year old when that happened so obviously no chance of me being aware of her while she was alive x

I think it's partly because a lot of us are the optimum age that it was the first big event we remember in the 90s, it was huge. The coverage of it nationwide was relentless and lasted for weeks. It was probably the only conversation on everybody's lips the day the funeral happened.

I was 5 when Diana died so would have expected to have had some awareness of it but nope, absolutely nothing.

Also remember Diana was only 36 when she died so it’s not like it was expected. It was a huge shock to everyone.

On 14/06/2026 at 13:44, Silas said:

For me it’s Diana as well and then the violent disintegration of Yugoslavia, the genocide in Bosnia and the NATO bombing campaign in Serbia. That one I remember quite explicitly.

Same here, the famous documentary about the conflict was repeated recently on bbc4 (from 1995) and it’s essential viewing.

On 15/06/2026 at 09:19, Jade said:

This got a lot more interest than I was expecting so thanks all; it has been really interesting to read all the responses so far.

I visited my grandparents at the weekend and asked them the same question so found out a lot of their '60s news memories in particular. One that has especially stuck with me is how my grandad found out about the assassination of JFK! He was watching a film at the cinema and they just stopped it and put a message on the screen saying the president was dead instead 😱

Oh, I asked my mother this and she said the death of Elvis! She said they were watching the TV and suddenly there was an interruption to say that Elvis Presley had died and her whole house being shocked and devastated by it!