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 .
Are there any deaths you vividly remember and which have stayed with you?
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Thread: Death of iconic celebrities
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09-09-2021 01:16 AM #1
Death of iconic celebrities
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09-09-2021 04:51 AM #2
Elvis is my first recollection of a major celebrity dying. I was 12 and my mother was in mourning for what felt like months.
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09-09-2021 05:13 AM #3
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.
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09-09-2021 06:19 AM #4
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.
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09-09-2021 06:21 AM #5
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.
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09-09-2021 06:41 AM #6This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote
I found it really hard to comprehend and it took me a while to stop thinking about it each day.
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09-09-2021 07:27 AM #7
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.PM Awards General Poster of The Year 2015, 2016, 2017. Probably robbed in other years
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09-09-2021 07:34 AM #8
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.
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09-09-2021 08:18 AM #9
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.
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09-09-2021 08:19 AM #10
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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 whileLast edited by Jay; 09-09-2021 at 08:23 AM.
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09-09-2021 08:29 AM #11
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09-09-2021 08:49 AM #12
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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09-09-2021 09:13 AM #13
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!
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09-09-2021 10:18 AM #14
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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09-09-2021 10:49 AM #15This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote
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09-09-2021 12:39 PM #16
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.
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09-09-2021 04:53 PM #17
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
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09-09-2021 06:19 PM #18
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!
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09-09-2021 06:57 PM #19
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.
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09-09-2021 07:18 PM #20
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.Last edited by BS44; 09-09-2021 at 07:22 PM.
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09-09-2021 07:36 PM #21
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09-09-2021 08:29 PM #22
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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)..
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09-09-2021 08:57 PM #23
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.
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09-09-2021 09:01 PM #24This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote
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09-09-2021 10:05 PM #25This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote
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10-09-2021 11:30 AM #26
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.
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10-09-2021 04:24 PM #27This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show QuoteHIBERNIAN FC - ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF HISTORY SINCE 1875
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10-09-2021 04:25 PM #28This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show QuoteHIBERNIAN FC - ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF HISTORY SINCE 1875
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10-09-2021 04:29 PM #29This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show QuoteHIBERNIAN FC - ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF HISTORY SINCE 1875
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10-09-2021 08:36 PM #30
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!"...when Hibs won the Scottish Cup final and that celebration, Sunshine on Leith? I don’t think there’s a better football celebration ever in the game.”
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