Where were you when ...?

It was the seventh anniversary of 9/11 on Thursday. I was going to do a piece about where I was at the time (and ask you to say where you were too), but I forgot. Funny how quickly we forget, isn't it?

As it happens, I was in Forest's old office in Palace Street, London, close to Victoria Station. There were four of us - me, Juliette, Ben and Jo. I think it was Ben who alerted us. He was online, looking at the BBC website.

The World Trade Center in New York has been hit by an aeroplane, he said. We ignored him. It didn't sound too serious. Probably one of those small light aircraft. Bad luck for the pilot, but accidents happen.

"Wow," said Ben a few minutes later. "One of the towers has collapsed."

We rushed over to switch on the TV. It was a small 14" portable. The reception, as ever, was terrible. The images were fuzzy and in black and white - like the pictures of the Apollo moon landing. None of that mattered. We were glued to the screen for the entire afternoon and well into the evening.

Other "where were you?" moments:

• 7/7 London bombing (July 2005): That's easy. I was in Harrogate to address a meeting at the LGA (Local Government Authority) annual conference. My opponent was Deborah Arnott of ASH but although the meeting went ahead many delegates understandably preferred to watch the TV monitors in the foyer. Others were busy checking out of hotels to rush back to London where they had family and friends. (The mobile phone system was down so no-one could get through.) One acquaintance, thinking I was in London, emailed to ask if I was alright. She wasn't the only one. Funnily enough, had I not been in Harrogate I would have passed through Kings Cross - where one of the bombs went off - an hour before the explosion.

• Murder of John Lennon (December 1980): I was in the offices of KH Publicity in Fleet Lane - my first job and my first year in London - when the news came through. I was genuinely shocked. I grew up with The Beatles. Later that day I had to deliver something to an address in Battersea. I took a cab. We got stuck in traffic on the Embankment and it cost £40 return (a large sum in those days). Unusually the driver didn't say anything but the radio played one Beatles track after another without interruption. I shall never forget it. Or the price of the journey.

• Brighton bomb (October 1984): I was in London, asleep in bed, when the bomb went off, destroying a substantial part of the Grand Hotel where the prime minister and many of her Cabinet colleagues were staying. I heard about it when I woke up - which felt strange because, at midnight (three hours before the explosion) I was actually in the Grand Hotel enjoying a drink in the main bar. The attack occurred during the 1984 Conservative party conference and Margaret Thatcher was due to speak later that day. Needless to say, she didn't disappoint. And we wouldn't have missed it for the world. We jumped in the car and drove back to Brighton, arriving just in time to join in the standing ovation she received as she walked into the packed hall and on to the platform.

Comments

[idlex]

I was at home on 9/11. My mum had her TV on. and drew my attention to a single burning tower on the screen. A minute or so later, the second plane struck. I watched all day, rooted to my chair.

I don't remember where I was with 7/7, or the Brighton bomb, or John Lennon's assassination. But I was visiting an Elvis fan when Elvis died, I heard it on the radio, and went down and told him. "The King is dead." It took a few seconds for him to realize what I meant.

And I remember exactly where I was when JFK was assassinated. Diana too.