Originally Posted By bloona I remember Mr Bloona hearing on the radio that she had been in the accident but was still alive. I was still in bed, then he re appeared in the bedroom and said she had died. I was stunned. It was my cousin's daughter's birthday that day (today!) and she felt weird going ahead with the party. My friend is in London today and has seen all of the Royals today and heard the ceremony. She said it was very moving. I think she was a great woman who tried to change peoples views on many issues.
Originally Posted By jonvn I'm really surprised people remember this. I didn't think it was a big deal. I still don't. Does it matter that I remember where I was when Elvis died? Or when I was told one of my cousins died? I mean, when someone dies, you tend to remember. I remember where I was when I heard that Phil Silvers died as well as John Ritter and Pete Duel. This sort of thing just sticks with you, I guess. Or me, anyway.
Originally Posted By LPFan22 My sister and I both looked up to Princess Diana. I was in shock over her death... and was still in shock over my own sister's death several months before. I was petsitting at my employer's home the night Princess Diana died and I was glued to the tube with the dogs at my side. ~~~ I remember where I was when I heard that Phil Silvers died as well as John Ritter and Pete Duel. ~~~ I was at my grandmother's funeral when I heard about John Ritter. The priest actually mentioned it during the ceremony. That seems funny to me now. I'm never surprised to hear of anyone's death anymore. I'm definitely more prepared and accepting of it. I can't say I'd feel that way if my husband died way before his time but anything else I can handle.
Originally Posted By x Pirate_Princess x I was just starting my senior year of high school, and I remember I was doing homework on our "patio" (which is like a den add on in the back yard) and watching TV. I can't remember WHAT I was watching, but I remember hearing it on breaking news and then hearing she wasn't dead yet (or hadn't been pronounced yet). I called my best friend, since her mom is British. My friend and I were in shock. It was a surreal experience. Like it was happening in another life time. The only time I ever felt like that was during 9-11, when that feeling was increased 10 fold.
Originally Posted By hopemax I was at Disney World. We came back from the parks, and when we turned on the tv in our room at Dixie Landings, there was the news of the crash. I was also at WDW the day the House voted to impeach President Clinton. For that I was writing in my journal at a table at Scat Cats lounge, and they had a big screen tv showing it.
Originally Posted By irishfan I was on the train going to Dublin to see the U2 Popmart concert. Bono dedicated "One" to her that night, and they had massive images of her behind the stage.
Originally Posted By debtee Diana's death had a huge impact on me. I was too young for Elvis and don't remember that, I also grew up in England so her death meant more and the impact was bigger. I remember as a child standing outside St. Paul's Cathedral when Charles and Diana were married with thousands of other people, we had camped out over-night to get our spot. Everyone was happy and people you didn't know would come and start talking to you. It was a very friendly and safe atmosphere. When Diana arrived everyone cheered as she excited the that coach, with her beautiful dress all around her, she walked up the stairs and then turned and waved, she really did look like a princess. We Diana died were on out way back from a holiday in Canberra when we stopped at a restaurant and everyone was glued to the TV which we thought was odd. As we stood and watched I could not believe it and came home and watched all the coverage and the funeral. All of my family in England were very saddened by her death.
Originally Posted By DlandDug I remember most notable deaths since John F. Kennedy. On Sunday evening, August 31, 1997, I was driving up to West Hollywood to visit a friend. I was going to help him hang some mini-blinds. As I drove up, I kept the all news channel on the radio. They announced that Princess Diana had been involved in a serious automobile accident, her boyfriend had died in the accident, and she was being rushed to a hospital in Paris. What struck me was that I had no idea that she had a boyfriend, as well as wondering what she was doing in Paris. When I arrived at my friend's house, I told him the news. He sighed and said that Diana's life was becoming more of a soap opera than Elizabeth Taylor's. I went down to my car to get some tools from the trunk. As I passed through the courtyard, I saw a huge TV screen in an adjoining apartment. There was a somber newscaster on, and the on screen graphic said, "Diana Dead." So I went back and told my friend, who immediately turned on his TV. After hanging the blinds, we went to get a bite to eat. What was striking to me was how deserted West Hollywood was that night. A Sunday night at the end of Summer, and there was hardly anyone out.
Originally Posted By vbdad55 lets not forget watching Monday night football when they broke in to say John Lennon had been shot -- of all the deaths for some reason that one hit me harder than any of the others... still pizzes me off today that it occured the way it did
Originally Posted By Liberty Belle I was 14 and lying in bed in the afternoon reading when I turned the radio on. I actually heard it in an ad instead of a news broadcast - an ad for a newspaper saying something like "the woman the world loved is dead. Tomorrow, a tribute to a princess". Being in an ad like that, it didn't feel real although I was kind of shocked, a big part of me thought I'd heard wrong. It wasn't until I saw the TV coverage that I was really sure she'd died. I thought, and still do think, that the saddest part was her leaving behind her two young sons. I think I was the only one of my friends who actually thought it was sad. People get strange when someone in the public eye dies, as if it's more of a joke than a sad occasion. We'd bought my poodle Ebony the day before, and people started asking us if we were going to change her name to Diana. We didn't, of course, although now I partly wish we had, she's turned silver and her name makes no sense.
Originally Posted By WorldDisney Wow, GREAT responses everyone . Keep 'em coming!!!! I think I'm going to watch 'The Queen' again since I own it. Great film and showed the immense pressue of the Queen and then the new Blair administration to react to her death along with the infighting about it. Interesting stuff .
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder "lets not forget watching Monday night football when they broke in to say John Lennon had been shot -- of all the deaths for some reason that one hit me harder than any of the others..." Yep- and to think we had to learn something like that from Howard Cosell. For me, Diana Spencer- meh, really can't get into the whole thing. But Lennon, there was someone who affected and will continue to effect generations of people.
Originally Posted By leemac I was actually in Reston, VA staying with a close family friend. I was on a trip from Boston down to WDW. We had just come in from dinner and it was on CNN. I have a terrible memory but I distinctly remember seeing the caption turn from "Princess Diana seriously injured" to "Princess Diana Dead" - the newscaster didn't get the information until a few moments later. I didn't get back to London until mid-September but was able to go to Kensington Gardens to see the memorial. It was probably the single most moving thing I have ever seen. An entire nation in mourning together. You do tend to remember these things. I remember when I heard about 9/11 - I was in the Hilton Nagoya in Japan (TDS had opened the week before), had just got in from dinner and was watching BBC World to catch up on the soccer scores and then the program was interrupted. The very next day I was in Hiroshima, standing in the shadow of the shattered A dome, and had backpackers coming up to me with Japanese newspapers asking what had happened. Very unsettling indeed.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 Lennon hit me much harder than Diana, also. I remember where I was when I heard that one - again, on the car radio, driving home. I was 20, still living at home, and had school the next day, but I couldn't sleep. I just put on headphones and listened to the radio all night. I flipped between stations, and every music station was playing Beatle and Lennon songs. All night, nothing but. Even the stations that normally played Sinatra or were "urban contemporary," which I thought was a great sign of respect. I remember when I flipped again at something like 4 in the morning, and one station had music that wasn't Lennon. I was temporarily outraged (and punchy). How dare they not play Lennon! LOL. Turned out to be a spanish-language station that probably just didn't have his records. I remember I did go to school that morning but to this day I have no idea how I functioned with zero sleep (I could never do "all-nighters" like some could, but I did that night).
Originally Posted By WorldDisney Yeah, good points. I guess it depends on people's perspective, generation, etc. I was like 6 years old when Lennon died and really don't know much about him now, so yeah not much for me on that front lol. I do like his Imagine song though. Got it on my Ipod . My mother still talks about the day Martin Luther King Jr. died and how it seem like the day stood still not just for us Black folks, but for the world everywhere. She was still in High School when it happened and heard about it on the radio at home and my grandmother just stood there and cried when they heard it. It was too much to much to bear I guess. They even shut down school the next day for it and talked about the rioting because of it. It is amazing how a single individual, a single person can impact a society, a nation, the entire world and because they died tragically, decades later people can still remember exactly where they were and what they were doing when they heard it. I couldn't even remember my ex girlfriends birthday every year, but THIS I can remember 10 years later lol.
Originally Posted By debtee ^ I agree about what generation you are from effecting how you feel WD. John Lennon's death meant nothing to me. I was a child and it really had no impact, still doesn't to tell the truth. However when I read on LP about what a huge impact his death had on other lp'ers, it does make me stop and think that yes lots of people were effected by his death, depending on the age they were when it happened, what they were doing in their life when it happened.
Originally Posted By 999HAUNTS I was actually at the snackbar at what used to be our local drive-in. When I came back, Brittany told me that Princess Diana was dead. I thought that she was being silly and trying to trick me, but sure enough, the theater broke into our movie to repeat the news. It was pretty surreal.
Originally Posted By vbdad55 <However when I read on LP about what a huge impact his death had on other lp'ers, it does make me stop and think that yes lots of people were effected by his death, depending on the age they were when it happened, what they were doing in their life when it happened< yep, of all the deaths mentioned - JFK / MLK / RFK / Diana / et al.....none had the effect John Lennons did on me. Part of my youth died the night he died -- it was awful.
