Earlier this week I was having a discussion with the ‘young’ winners at the Prince’s Trust Employee Awards. I asked about what ‘Events’ in their lives had triggered ‘instant recall’. An “I remember where I was/what I was doing when…” moment. The only, but unanimous, answer I got from this ‘under 30’ group was 9/11.
Being twice their age (and a bit) I have a few more. Princess Diana’s death, Man walking on the moon, Cuban missile crisis, the Coronation and others.
But perhaps the most vivid ‘instant recall moment’ was what I was doing 50 
years ago on 22nd Nov 1963. I was 16 and had just got in from school. I was watching our tiny black and white television when the news of President Kennedy’s assassination was announced. The BBC then went into meltdown; not knowing what to do next. So my most vivid memory is of the BBC logo on the screen for what seemed like hours as we watched and awaited further news. I can recall every detail of my parent’s front room where we watched the precious TV.
Kennedy seemed to encapsulate everything that was new and forward looking at that exciting time. The UK was still recovering from the war. But us ‘baby boomers’ were going to ‘change the world’. It really was a very exciting time to be alive as a teenager.
Philip Larkin summed up 1963 in his poem, Annus Mirabilis
Sexual intercourse began
In nineteen sixty-three
Between the end of the Chatterley ban
And the Beatles' first LP.
1963 gave me another ‘instant recall moment’ as I did indeed see the Beatles live for the first time. I say ‘see’ as you couldn’t hear anything above the screaming.
I wonder what ‘instant recall moments’ today’s teenagers will have in 50 years time?