January 20, 2009
Most memorable TV moment
I was pondering today as to what I would say was my most memorable TV moment, in the wake of all the hullaballoo about the inauguration of Barack Obama as President of the USA.
I thought and thought. Was it the first landing on the moon? No. I was a toddler, and although my parents kept me up to watch it on their dodgy old black and white telly, I have no memory of it whatsoever.
Was it a Royal Wedding? A day off school, a family gathering at my grandparents house, with homemade pies and cakes, and gallons of weak tea, to watch, as a family, in colour (they were the only ones to have colour TV when Princess Anne married Captain Mark Phillips) - no it wasn't that.
Was it that memorable day when Michael Portillo lost his parliamentary seat, when I lived in Leeds, and we had a party in Harold Street to celebrate? No, I was too drunk to remember much about that occasion.
Was it the day Princess Diana died? Nope. I heard that on the radio, and dashed off to catch a train to Cornwall, to spend a week learning to surf at Sennen Cove. Doesn't count as a TV moment.
Was it the day the Tories were ousted from power? Or TV coverage of a strike in the 80s with captivating, vehement, intelligent anti-Thatcher rhetoric? Was it the recent clean up of the medal table by the Team GB cyclists at the Olympics? Was it the first time I saw a punk band on The Old Grey Whistle Test? Was it being blown away by any one of a number of the BBC's natural history series (specifically The Blue Planet)? Or seeing Deadwood in Spain? Or the shock of the massive tsunami that hit Thailand on Boxing Day a couple of years ago? Or the recent earthquake in China - when my parents were actually IN China?
No.
None of these.
The TV moment I remember with most clarity was the day Tommy Cooper died on TV. And my memory was jogged by a post about it over at metafilter. Funny thing is, I have never been a Tommy Cooper fan....
And yet I can remember everything. The details of the wallpaper on the chimney breast and the carpet at my grandparents house; who was there, what they were wearing. I can remember the smells, the quality of light and the absolute and total shock of everyone when we realised that TC's dramatic collapse, the subsequent speedy drawing of the curtains at Her Majesty's Theatre, and hastily put together ad break wasn't a joke, but real. And I know it's one of those moments that I will always remember. At the cost of many I would prefer to remember. Memory is a strange thing.
What's YOUR most memorable TV moment?
Posted by glittrgirl at January 20, 2009 2:56 PM
Comments
Mine was the Challenger disaster. I was off ill from sixth form, had been in bed most of the morning, and mum woke me up to watch the take off. I sat in front of the TV huddled in a blanket and saw the whole thing occur live. It's stuck with me.
Posted by: Scumkitten 
at January 21, 2009 11:16 AM
Well, I was going to say Charles and Diana's wedding - like you, I got a day off school, and I was totally into the whole fairy princess thing. But then, and I almost hate myself for being so cliched, I think 9/11 would have to top that in terms of a televisual event. There was something so mesmerising about the same images being shown over and over again until they were pretty much embedded into the viewers' brains.
Posted by: PrincessPea at January 21, 2009 6:36 PM
I think my most memorable tv moment was watching the Tiananmen Square massacre and being absolutely horrified but also impressed at the bravery of the man who stood in front of the tanks. I also vividly remember the footage of the Berlin Wall coming down and those scary AIDS - don't die of ignorance ads. I don't think it's a coincidence that these are all events from the late 1980s as I was approaching my teens then and starting to take more of an interest in the outside world as well as actually noticing what was on the news, I think that when I was younger I was less 'tuned in' to that kind of content on tv.
Posted by: purlpower at January 26, 2009 7:16 PM
Post a comment
Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)
