The Enid Blyton Society

I'm pretty sure Elvis was the first celebrity death I can remember. I had never heard of him at the time, I was only seven or eight.

I was six. the main reason I remember him dying was the song 'I Remember Elvis Presley' which came out just after!

Ah yes Danny Mirror. A one hit wonder for sure.

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Elvis for me to. It was just before my 10th birthday.

     I have almost never remembered any ceiebtrity's death specifically - in my first couple of decades, might not have even noticed the death at the time it happened. I'm not sure if I knew who John F. Kennedy was while he was alive - I might have been dimly aware that he was the U.S. President; but what is certain is that I do not have the faintest idea of where I was or what I was doing at the time news of his death appeared - probably took no notice of it even if I did hear about it at the time.
     Especially in my first 20 years or so, I had almost no social awareness or political awareness, no sense of really being a part of the world or feeling any connection with society at large, and largely lived in my own imaginative world.
     Maybe that changed a bit later on, but I dare say I am probably still more detached from many affairs of the world than most people would be.
     It's very likely that, in my childhood, Enid Blyton's death was the one I most noticed and cared about. But even so I'm not quite sure when I first found out about it, because, rather oddly, I actually heard two claims of her death a year or so before it actually happened. In one case, another boy at school told me she had died, and, from the context, it was obvious that he was trying to upset me (I was regularly bullied in school and much disliked, because I was "different" and didn't even pretend to try to conform - so I am not at all paranoid in believing boys explicitly tried to hurt or upset me). I presume he believed it was true, but in fact he must have somehow got incorrect information about Enid Blyton's death. I do seem to recall another false claim of her death, but don't now remember the exact context. In fact, I don't remember now how, or when, I first found out about her *real* death.
     Another well-known (well, relatively) death that I was rather sad about was much later: Isaac Asimov's death in 1993. I had taken to reading much of his non-fiction (finding it of more interest than his better-known fiction), and much of whatever knowledge I have of science was gained from many of his books. He also expanded outwards into other topics, and sometimes incorporated social or historical commentary, and, in a world both he and I saw as quite dark, I came to see him as a beacon of rationality and advocate of humane values in a world-wide ocean of insanity. So I was quite sad to learn of his death and thought this was quite a loss to humanity.
     But on the whole I take little notice of celebrity deaths, and must say I don't really care a lot about them.

Regards, Michael.

The first death I was genuinely upset about would be Fred Astaire's death in 1987. I was 16 and had really just 'discovered' Fred Astaire a few years before, so it seemed shocking, even though he was 88, which seemed very old to me at the time (it seems a lot less old now!)

The death of King George VI on 6th February 1952 is the first one I really remember. I was eight years old and I recall the whole school being sent home at lunchtime. My sister, Jane was born on this day and so this is another reason for remembering it so vividly.

MJE wrote: I have almost never remembered any ceiebtrity's death specifically - ....
But on the whole I take little notice of celebrity deaths, and must say I don't really care a lot about them.

Regards, Michael.

Trust you to write a long post about something you don't care about. (Btw I mean no offense by this at all, only a bit of fun. )

The first celebrity death I remember is Michael Jackson, when I was 7. I was way too young to actually appreciate the significance of what he had contributed to music, so I didn't really care, and was rather perplexed as to why everyone seemed so distraught over the death of someone who looked 'terrifying' to me back then. Anyways...

The first celebrity death I actually felt bad about is Paul Walker. Even though I hadn't watched a single Fast and Furious movie, I still admired the guy and well, he was hot. Besides, it seemed so tragic and ironic that he died in a car crash.

Not a well known name (even I didn't know it at the time), but I remember being slightly affected by the death of Charlotte Long in 1984. My dad was reading the Times, and just announced that the girl in The Tripods had been killed in a car accident. 11 year old me thought how horrible it could be that a life could be snuffed out just like that.

Come to think of it, 1984 was when we lost Johnny Weissmuller, Tommy Cooper, Eric Morecambe, Richard Burton, Bernard Youens and Leonard Rossiter, all of which I had heard of to some degree or other. I think this was the first year I properly realized famous people weren't these immortal beings on television after all.

Actually my first memory is when I was 7, living in Madrid, and one of the most famous South American singers, Mercedes Sosa died. I still remember how sad and strange I felt, seeing every newspaper, the news of her death, and after watching many videos of her singing and then.. (okay this is getting too tragic.) Anyway, it's so sad that the world lost such an amazing singer, but of course her memory will always remain alive in all the millions of people who continue to listen to get songs, and continue to enjoy her music..

I remember being very young and watching a news report with my mum about someone who had died and she said 'oh, I really liked him.' I do not remember who it was, though. It might conceivably have been Elvis but as I was only coming up for two when he died that seems very unlikely. More likely it was John Lennon, when I was five or so.

Petermax wrote:The first celebrity death that I remember is the Duke of Windsor on 28th May 1972.

I suppose that would be mine too. Being little, I probably didn't even know who he was but my Grandmother was a big fan and had a huge encyclopaedia-like book about him - possibly from the lead-up to the Coronation that never happened - and showed me lots of pictures from it.

I can certainly remember Elvis as we were in a school-bus coming back from a week-long camp and the noise was so much I couldn't hardly hear the newsreader on the radio playing. When I said 'he just said Elvis is dead' quite a few didn't believe me. Before that, I would also have heard of Mama Cass's untimely death.

Eddie Muir wrote:the death of King George VI on 6th February 1952 is the first one I really remember.

I wonder how our late King would feel at being referred to as a celebrity..

Moonraker wrote:We didn't have celebrities in my childhood days. They belong firmly to the modern era. In the 50s, there were statesmen, talented actors, accomplished musicians - and a footballer's wife was where she should be, in the footballer's kitchen.

Blimey, I can't believe I wrote that sexist comment 10 years ago. After all, we all know they can't cook.