Aberfan disaster

What major historical events do you remember?

The Aberfan disaster was the catastrophic collapse of a colliery spoil tip on 21 October 1966. The tip had been created on a mountain slope above the Welsh village of Aberfan, near Merthyr Tydfil, and overlaid a natural spring. (Wikipedia)

I was very young and I remember coming downstairs and hearing the evening news on the television. What upset me the most was that the children that died were my age. It scared and upset me. School children were buried below the collapsed spoil heap. I was very frightening.

The Moon landings

What major historical events do you remember?

It was the summer of 1969. My dad got us up from bed so we could watch the moon landing on TV. I remember Patrick Moore explaining what was happening excitedly. Micheal Collins filming the moon lander from his vantage point in the command module, it was dropping down towards the surface of the moon, then the landers own camera as it seemed to creep down toward the surface, it’s retro rockets blowing away the lunar dust as its shadow started to fill the screen. Then “the Eagle has landed”….grainy black and white TV pictures…

Man had landed on the moon after a journey of about 250,000 miles. It doesn’t sound that far when you write it down. Did it only take 3 days to get there?

Then after a while Neil Armstrong climbed down the ladder and stepped onto Lunar regolith. “it’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”. Nowadays there would be a proper speech, but it was fantastic to see both Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the moons surface. I don’t remember any more than being utterly amazed….