Death of iconic celebrities

[Hibernia&Alba]

Was talking to my dad earlier tonight and the subject somehow turned to memories of unexpected and shocking deaths of celebrities we each remember. Being born in the late 1970s, the only death I can think of which was truly shocking at the time was Princess Diana in 1997. I vividly remember it being late Saturday night, I was reading, and my dad coming into my room to tell me there was a newsflash on the TV of her car crash and news was coming in.

My dad was born in 1952 and his collection is far more impressive. He clearly remembers the death of Marilyn Monroe in 1962, JFK in 1963, Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy in 1968, Jimi Hendrix in 1970, Elvis in 1977 and John Lennon in 1980. He also remembers the Reagan shooting in 1981 and was scunnered when he pulled through :greengrin.

Are there any deaths you vividly remember and which have stayed with you?

[Hibrandenburg]

Elvis is my first recollection of a major celebrity dying. I was 12 and my mother was in mourning for what felt like months.

[Peevemor]

Elvis was probably my first too. I was 10 and was in my bed and I remember my sister (14) being quite shocked when she came to tell me.

Diana's probably the next one that I remember clearly. We were having a lock-in Leerie's having just got back from the Cowal games in Dunoon and we watched events unfolding.

[Hiber-nation]

Lennon. I had just walked up the stairs in our office on the way to our room that morning when a colleague stopped me and told me the news. It was one of these moments when you felt a bit light headed, completely devastated.

I can't actually remember how I heard of Marc Bolan's death but it really hit me hard as I'd been a huge T Rex fan when I was young.

[lord bunberry]

Ayrton Senna for me, I remember being totally shocked that he was dead. I don’t know if it was because it happened live on tv or because it was because he was so famous, but it was something that gave me a real jolt at the time.

[Future17]

Ayrton Senna for me, I remember being totally shocked that he was dead. I don’t know if it was because it happened live on tv or because it was because he was so famous, but it was something that gave me a real jolt at the time.

Same. I was a massive fan of his and was very young. I think seeing it happen and waiting for news made it a lot worse when the news eventually was bad.

I found it really hard to comprehend and it took me a while to stop thinking about it each day.

[Pretty Boy]

Diana is the one that springs to mind to me too. I was playing football early on the Sunday morning and we hadn't had the TV on at all. My dad picked up another dad and his son and the 1st thing he said was 'what about Diana?' My dad was a bit bemused as that wasn't a normal conversation start. 'What about her?' 'She's dead'.

Pope John Paul II is another ai always remember. He was an old man with a chronic degenerative health condition so it was hardly a shcok and he wasn't really a celebrity. He was probably the first world leader who felt relevant to me who had died though and I remember it being almost media saturation for a few days.

Finally a totally bizarre one and I have no idea why but I remember being totally stunned and a bit gutted when Richard Whiteley from Countdown died. I quite like the show but I wasn't an avid fan. I suppose it was just because he was someone who had always been there.

[NORTHERNHIBBY]

Diana . I was not aware of anything about the story as it developed over late Saturday into Sunday. I recall turning on the radio and there was somber music on all stations. Was really strange.

[calumhibee1]

I honestly don’t think there’s any for me.

I’ve got little interest in celebrity culture and I’m not nearly as into music and film as a lot of folk are so I don’t have those idols that others have. Where as things like 9/11 I remember like it was yesterday.

I can’t relate to celebrities etc and I just don’t really care generally.

[Jay]

Elvis. It was my dad's birthday and he was a huge Elvis fan. I'd got up and made him breakfast in bed, newspaper got delivered so I picked it up and put it on the tray. Front page was the news he had died . I was so sad delivering the news to my dad. I was 10 at the time.

Tommy Cooper, I remember watching it on TV. Wasn't a fan but saw him collapse and the curtain going round him then then on the news later they said he had died.

Another odd one but Steve Irwin. My boys were young and huge fans. Having to tell them what happened stuck with me for a while

[Bangkok Hibby]

Was talking to my dad earlier tonight and the subject somehow turned to memories of unexpected and shocking deaths of celebrities we each remember. Being born in the late 1970s, the only death I can think of which was truly shocking at the time was Princess Diana in 1997. I vividly remember it being late Saturday night, I was reading, and my dad coming into my room to tell me there was a newsflash on the TV of her car crash and news was coming in.

My dad was born in 1952 and his collection is far more impressive. He clearly remembers the death of Marilyn Monroe in 1962, JFK in 1963, Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy in 1968, Jimi Hendrix in 1970, Elvis in 1977 and John Lennon in 1980. He also remembers the Reagan shooting in 1981 and was scunnered when he pulled through :greengrin.

Are there any deaths you vividly remember and which have stayed with you?

John Smith, John Lennon, George Harrison, Frank Zappa, Christopher Hitchens, Denis Potter, my mate Jim.

[Ronniekirk]

JFK for me was glued to the television Had a profound impact on me at a young age as did Martin Luther Kings Assassination


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[McSwanky]

Jock Stein was the first one I remember being totally shocked by. I was quite young though. Senna and Lady Diana are also good shouts, Michael Jackson and Freddie Mercury were pretty big news too.

The number of people who 'died' when I was at school was ridiculous, the rumour would go round in the morning, and by the end of the afternoon you'd be sure said person was dead. Then you'd go home, watch the news and find out they were very much alive and kicking! Aaah, the days before phones/internet!

[O'Rourke3]

I was aware that Hendrix, Brian Jones and Cas Elliot had died at the time. Couldn't miss the announcement about Elvis but the first two that made me think were were both drumners. Keith Moon then John Bonham. Easily two of my top 10 bands. My next celebrity death that caught me was Joe Strummer. Lemmy late 2015 before 2016 had it in for many. David Bowie and Prince being the hardest.

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[Hiber-nation]

Jock Stein was the first one I remember being totally shocked by.

Aye that was awful. Near the end of the game the camera panned on to him in the dugout and my wife said "That man's going to die of a heart attack". I told her not to be so daft but it was clear he wasn't well at all.

[Northernhibee]

Bowie hit me hard, I don’t know if it’s the alter egos that he had but he felt superhuman and would be around forever.

[ac1]

Cobain. Massive Nirvana fan (still am). Had tickets to see them at the SECC which had been rescheduled from March after his Rome suicide attempt to my 14th birthday on the 15th April 1994. My dad broke the news in a 'dont give a ****' kind of way knocking on the bathroom door when I was in the bath. Will never forget it

[DaveF]

Can't say it shocked me as such, but I do recall John Wayne falling off the perch in 1979. Probably because westerns were always on the telly back then!

[marinello59]

Joe Strummer’s death was the one that got to me. I remember hearing it on the radio and sitting in a state of total disbelief.

[BS44]

The female prime minister of India in the 80s, think because it was her own bodyguards who killed her that it really got my attention.

Jill Dando was another that shocked the British public at the time, still unsolved too.

[grunt]

Lennon. I had just walked up the stairs in our office on the way to our room that morning when a colleague stopped me and told me the news. It was one of these moments when you felt a bit light headed, completely devastated.
This. Heard about it early morning, had a long commute into work and can still remember standing on the station platform in a daze, wondering how it could have happened.

[Dalianwanda]

In terms of ones I remember Id say Elvis was the first and John Lennon who died on my 10th birthday.....Modern ones would be Diana, just remember coming in from the pub with the ex & it being on telly..The one Ive been most moved by would certainly be Prince (I had a lot of festivals that year so was at a lot of tributes which added to the sense of celebration of genius and loss of someone special)..

[J-C]

I remember the Bobby Kennedy assassination, I was only 5 when JFK died but 10 when his brother was killed by Sirhan Sirhan, so my memory is clearer. My 1st real shock at a celebrity dying was Robert Palmer, I'd met him in Buster Browns after his gig at the Playhouse, sat and had a few drinks with him, saddened when he died of a heart attack aged 54 in 2003.

[EH6 Hibby]

I remember the Bobby Kennedy assassination, I was only 5 when JFK died but 10 when his brother was killed by Sirhan Sirhan, so my memory is clearer. My 1st real shock at a celebrity dying was Robert Palmer, I'd met him in Buster Browns after his gig at the Playhouse, sat and had a few drinks with him, saddened when he died of a heart attack aged 54 in 2003.

Sirhan sirhan was approved for release last week. Quite surprised by that.

[J-C]

Sirhan sirhan was approved for release last week. Quite surprised by that.

Really, that's a surprise.

[Oscar T Grouch]

First one I really remember is John Lennon, came home from school and my ma was crying, we were all big Lennon/Beatles fans so it hit us hard. Jock Steins death was also shocking because of it happening at the Wales game. I have some vague memories of Elvis dying but I was too young to really know what was going on then. I remember my stomach falling to the floor when I heard Dimebag had been shot on stage and died. Jeff Hanneman's death also got me too, we knew he was ill but didn't know the extent of it and I was totally shocked when it was announced.

[Hibernia&Alba]

Cobain. Massive Nirvana fan (still am). Had tickets to see them at the SECC which had been rescheduled from March after his Rome suicide attempt to my 14th birthday on the 15th April 1994. My dad broke the news in a 'dont give a ****' kind of way knocking on the bathroom door when I was in the bath. Will never forget it

Great shout with Cobain. I'd forgotten him, and Amy Winehouse. Both very shocking, and both members of the 27 club, along with Hendrix, Joplin, Brian Jones etc.

[Hibernia&Alba]

Sirhan sirhan was approved for release last week. Quite surprised by that.

That's a shock. I didn't think he'd ever be approved for release, and for his own safety as much as anything.

[Hibernia&Alba]

This. Heard about it early morning, had a long commute into work and can still remember standing on the station platform in a daze, wondering how it could have happened.

Aye, lots of stories of people crying in their cars as they listened to the radio on the way to work. He was murdered in the early hours of the morning our time, so it was breakfast news. My dad is a huge Beatles fan (as am I) and Lennon's murder is the one he remembers most clearly.

[Jones28]

I remember Diana’s funeral but the first big one was Micheal Jackson.

Mandela was a weird one, I got a text from my mrs saying “Nelson Mandela has died 😊”, I messaged her back saying “WTF?! Why are you smiling?!” Forgetting she was on a night out and steaming and had sent the smiley face in error 😂. I’d been at the cinema watching. Gravity - great movie!

[Lancs Harp]

The one that hit me the most was John Lennon. A huge Beatles fan and John was always my hero. I was totally stunned.

Like many others on this thread was totally stunned by the death of Di. I was out on the saturday night and woke up the Sunday Morning a little worse for wear putting the TV on and gradually realising the piece about Diana was talking about her in the past tense.

[matty_f]

Diana is the one that springs to mind to me too. I was playing football early on the Sunday morning and we hadn't had the TV on at all. My dad picked up another dad and his son and the 1st thing he said was 'what about Diana?' My dad was a bit bemused as that wasn't a normal conversation start. 'What about her?' 'She's dead'.

Pope John Paul II is another ai always remember. He was an old man with a chronic degenerative health condition so it was hardly a shcok and he wasn't really a celebrity. He was probably the first world leader who felt relevant to me who had died though and I remember it being almost media saturation for a few days.

Finally a totally bizarre one and I have no idea why but I remember being totally stunned and a bit gutted when Richard Whiteley from Countdown died. I quite like the show but I wasn't an avid fan. I suppose it was just because he was someone who had always been there.

I had been out and was walking back home through the Cowgate and a group shouted to us from over the road that she was dead. We thought they were just taking the piss and I remember coming downstairs the next morning and seeing the news.

I’m never that fussed about celebrity deaths, though it’s fair to say that Sean Lock dying the other day had an impact.

[Scouse Hibee]

Elvis was the first major one I remember. When Diana died I was in bed pissed after a major all day and night session, the missus came in and shouted “Diana’s dead”. I jumped up and was in shock for a minute as the last guy I had left the night before had a wife called Diana and I instantly thought it was her!

[MyJo]

Normally celebrity deaths don’t impact on me, some are a bit of a shock but none have ever stopped me in my tracks like I did when I heard that Chester Bennington had killed himself.

I absolutely loved Linkin Park when I was a teenager and still do to this day so I was stunned when I heard about this. He was only about 7/8 years older than I am and had four kids so to hear that he not only died but did it himself was incredibly sad and made me genuinely upset

[J-C]

Normally celebrity deaths don’t impact on me, some are a bit of a shock but none have ever stopped me in my tracks like I did when I heard that Chester Bennington had killed himself.

I absolutely loved Linkin Park when I was a teenager and still do to this day so I was stunned when I heard about this. He was only about 7/8 years older than I am and had four kids so to hear that he not only died but did it himself was incredibly sad and made me genuinely upset


I was shocked when I heard Chris Cornell had died, he had just got back on the road gigging, seemingly looking happy he took his own life but his wife filed a law suit against his doctor for prescribing drugs that affected the singers state of mind and contributed to his death, they settled out of court.

[Hibernia&Alba]

I remember Diana’s funeral but the first big one was Micheal Jackson.

Mandela was a weird one, I got a text from my mrs saying “Nelson Mandela has died 😊”, I messaged her back saying “WTF?! Why are you smiling?!” Forgetting she was on a night out and steaming and had sent the smiley face in error 😂. I’d been at the cinema watching. Gravity - great movie!

Michael Jackson is a great call. Never a fan of his music, but in his pomp he was the most famous person in the world. That was a huge shock.

[Radium]

In my younger years the deaths of Elvis and John Wayne were notable because of the impact on family members. The 9 year old me had seen Elvis movies but my dad was a big fan. Similarly I had a grandad who grew up on cowboy films.

Personally the first death of a personality that made me properly look up was Rik Mayall coming as it did shortly after Mel Smith.


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