Where were you? What were you doing?

[Charles Bannerman]

On Friday 22nd November 1963, round about tea time GMT, President John F. Kennedy of the United States was shot and killed in Dallas, Texas. The 50th anniversary of this event is therefore on Friday.

Many who were around at the time (and that effectively now means at least the over 55s) have a strong tendency to remember where they were and what they were doing when they heard this news. This has become known as the "JFK moment".

 

I was swimming in a Life Boys gala at the old Inverness swimming pool in Friars Street when my mother, who was among the spectators, gave me the news.

 

Anyone else remember where they were and what they were doing when they heard about JFK?

 

And apologies for the typo in the subtitle, which I can't change and which of course should read "generation"

Edited November 20, 2013 by Charles Bannerman

[starchief]

I was running away from a grassy knowle, trying to get rid of a smoking gun.

[Sneckboy]

I was running away from a grassy knowle, trying to get rid of a smoking gun.

 

It's knoll.

[Kingsmills]

Was too busy getting a hang of the act of walking and talking and overcoming incontinence.

[Renegade]

 

I was running away from a grassy knowle, trying to get rid of a smoking gun.

 

It's knoll.

 

 

Only someone who was there would know that! 

[caley100]

I was on holiday in Dallas, Texas, staying with my uncle and aunty, My Uncle Lee let me play with his ex ww2 rifle!  

[Yngwie]

I'm too young for this, but I do remember where I was when John Kennedy got his leg snapped by that Romanian.

[Yngwie]

So what's the "JFK moment" for younger generations?  Probably the death of Diana.

 

I vividly remember what I was doing when that news broke on the radio, but this being a family website.....

[ilpadrino]

I was running away from a grassy knowle, trying to get rid of a smoking gun.

 

It's knoll.

know-all

[+DoofersDad]

So what's the "JFK moment" for younger generations?  Probably the death of Diana.

 

I vividly remember what I was doing when that news broke on the radio, but this being a family website.....

 

Ah! You were in the tunnel of love when it all came to a shuddering end?

 

I suppose the twin towers was another "JFK" event.  Hopefully you were doing something different then because as I remember, it was a weekday afternoon and not a Sunday morning.

[Rival]

So what's the "JFK moment" for younger generations?  Probably the death of Diana.

 

I vividly remember what I was doing when that news broke on the radio, but this being a family website.....

On the date of Diana's death I had just returned to Muir from Sydney on holiday, I was about 9/10, Arrived in Glasgow Airport and heard the news from my uncle who worked at Airport Security there.

[Kingsmills]

I wonder if the Scottish JFK moment is where you were when you heard news of the Dunblane Massacre ?  I was driving down the A9 from Wick

[Yngwie]

Another "moment" : when you eventually realised what The Village People were all about.

[caley100]

My JFK moment was on the 21st Dec 1988, I was driving home from Manchester for xmas and was about an hour past Lockerbie when I heard on the radio about a plane crash on the village, the rest is infamous history.

[culduthel]

I remember as clear as day what happened on hearing about JFK.

 

I was in Inverness, ten years old lying on our lounge room floor watching the TV and the news came on.  Must have been around 6pm or 7pm in the evening.  My Mum and Dad were getting ready to go out to a dinner and dance ( Dad in black tie and my Mum in full length evening dress - that was a pretty common way of dressing in Inverness in those days for events at the Caledonian Ballroom etc. etc.)

 

There was a dramatic introduction stating that President Kennedy had been killed by an assassin's bullet.  I immediately ran through to my parents bedroom to tell them that President Kennedy had been shot dead.  My Mother told me not to talk nonsense and refused to believe me.

I insisted that they come through and listen to the news themselves if they didn't believe me. They did and I have never seen such fear in my Father's and Mother's faces as on that night. They had both lived through the second world war and both had parents who had lived through the first world war.  There immediate talk turned to the threat of another war.  Given Kennedy's assassination happened not long after the Cuban Missile crisis you can understand why they reacted that way.

 

The next morning my parents told me that the dancing part of the Dinner and Dance was cancelled out of respect for President Kennedy.  People just had the dinner instead and then talked endlessly about the assassination and the prospects of war before going home early.

 

I also remember my mother telling me that President Kennedy was an extremely popular President amongst  the British people at the time and that this was a very, very bad day for the world and we all needed to pray for peace.

 

Very, very  heavy times indeed.

[Charles Bannerman]

They did and I have never seen such fear in my Father's and Mother's faces as on that night. They had both lived through the second world war and both had parents who had lived through the first world war.  There immediate talk turned to the threat of another war.  Given Kennedy's assassination happened not long after the Cuban Missile crisis you can understand why they reacted that way.

 

The next morning my parents told me that the dancing part of the Dinner and Dance was cancelled out of respect for President Kennedy.  People just had the dinner instead and then talked endlessly about the assassination and the prospects of war before going home early.

 

That was also the kind of shocked reaction that I saw in my own mother and which I also couldn't fully understand at the time. My own spontaneous reaction wasn't particularly profound since I didn't at the time appreciate the potential implications which my mother obviously did. As Culduthel says, this was only 13 months after the Cuban Missile Crisis where Kennedy was perceived as having stood firm to carry the day, possibly averting nuclear war. The sudden loss of that source of world security must have been alarming for those who understood what was involved and also the immediate thought might have been that the KGB could have been responsible which would clearly have created an extremely dangerous situation.

It is also true that JFK was very popular in the UK - which is a bit ironic since his father, Joseph Kennedy, had been US Ambassador here at the start of the war, didn't like the Brits and did everyhing he could to obstruct American support.

[PullMyFinger]

Was too busy getting a hang of the act of walking and talking and overcoming incontinence.

 

Any progress?

[Dmacca]

I remember where I was the morning news came of the death of Elvis, Sandy bay Holiday Camp, Exmouth, Devon.

 

Remember someone had written ELVIS R.I.P on the beach, it was a sunny morning, amaizing how certain things stay with you.

[+DoofersDad]

Elvis! Dead? OMG

[dougiedanger]

What aboot when Take That split up?

 

Ah mind the first Top of the Pops after that, very emotional.

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

The day the Caley died

[Kingsmills]

 

Was too busy getting a hang of the act of walking and talking and overcoming incontinence.

 

Any progress?

 

 

Two out of three....

[dougiedanger]

The day the Caley died

 

20 years next year.

 

And by the way, thanks to CB for explaining what the "JFK moment" means.

 

By f*ck, would never have known otherwise. 

[+bughtmaster]

Extra extra!........read all about it

 

Caley live and well............................rumour had it that Caley had died..............but NO Caley still live on.

 

Under the guise of an eagle with a thistle on its back...................All doing well and heading for their first premiership title.

 

Hail Caledonian !!!