[TV] 9/11 - BBC1 doc just started

[wellquickwoody]

I was at home on holiday, we were flying to Italy the next day and I happened to turn on the TV news as the first tower was hit. I genuinely thought terrorism straight away, recalling the basement bombing there.

I was also flying to Italy the next day, about 8 or 9am to Verona? An elderly lady asked me to look after her bag at Gatwick!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Weststander]

I was also flying to Italy the next day, about 8 or 9am to Verona? An elderly lady asked me to look after her bag at Gatwick!!!!!!!!!!

Gatwick to Naples, a lovely 10 day holiday in Sorrento, what a great place.

 

[clapham_gull]

Was working in a TV facility in Camden and as I was walking out saw the news of the first plane on the big TV in reception.

Rushed back up stairs to get my mate (from Ghana) and he looked up (paused for a second) and very calmly said "Bin Laden".

It was like something out of a film - but then again that day, everything was wasn't it ?

This was at the time the media were still theorising about a State or even an "anti-globalisation" attack I remember.

During the Cold War there was much exchange of students being Ghana and Russia and he was one. He spoke fluent Russian and had read in a Russian newspaper about the possibility of an attack on US soil.

He was also well versed in the fall out of the Afghan/USSR war.

My other memory will be getting the 88 bus home (I think the Underground were closed?), crossing Vauxhall Bridge and seeing all the armed police/military lined up both on the bridge and outside the M16 building.

 

[Cotton Socks]

I worked in an IFA office. Left work to pick up my child from playgroup & heard it on the radio. Got back home turned on the TV to see the tower collapse & my eyes welled up. I told my child to go upstairs and play as kids TV was not being turned on. Rang my boss to tell him what was going on, he was so shocked that he didn't believe me and said I'd been watching too many superman films!
I've just watched the documentary & no matter how much footage of it I've seen over the last 20 years. It still shocks me & I get something in my eye.

 

[Paulie Gualtieri]

I was stocking mini bars on the top floor of the Sofitel hotel (connected to the North Terminal) at Gatwick whilst this was going down.

I will never forget the panic at the airport that day

 

[Couldn't Be Hyypia]

I was driving back from Tunbridge Wells station to Crowborough, having secured funding for my business. I was bursting with excitement at the potential. I heard on the radio that a light aircraft had hit the World Trade Centre. By the time I got home, I saw the second tower get hit and the towers go down. We watched for hours. We called a few people to check they were ok and to reassure others.

The following day I had a call from the investor. He said "the world's changed forever, we've decided to pull the investment". I understood. It really felt like the World changed that day.

RIP Rob.

 

[Rugrat]

Was in Vegas on an incentive trip. Supposed to be leaving following day but was another week+ before any flights. Spent the who!e day watching the news.

Vegas was very, very quiet, like a ghost town for the next week

 

[Pickledegg]

We were driving through the main gates where I was based and the security level had suddenly increased and there was an obvious increase in armed presence.

We got to our workplace and watched it all unfold, realising that our roles were about to drastically change.

Very shortly after this, we were taking part in intensive training in the deserts of Oman and not many weeks later many of us were deployed.

Sent from my SM-G988B using Tapatalk

 

[Fignon's Ponytail]

I've only recently found out that my old High School American Football coach was a firefighter back in Connecticut on that day. He and the rest of his station headed straight to NY and spent the next few days at Ground Zero.
Hes had health issues since, and recently said that they have now lost more firefighters to cancers in the last 20 years (that were responding to the emergency & subsequent clear up) than they actually lost on 9/11 itself.

Just an incredibly horrific and sad part of our history, which still makes me go cold to think about. Doesn't seem like 2 decades ago though...

 

[BBassic]

I'd just gotten back from town and saw my mum watching it. I thought she was watching a disaster movie so left her to it and plodded off to my room. Went back downstairs a few hours later to find the "disaster movie" still on the telly. Then it clicked.

 

[Dave the OAP]

Quite brilliant tv yesterday.

 

[rocker959]

Never forget it , thought who is going to be hit next , very scary time .

 

[Bry Nylon]

Quite brilliant tv yesterday.

Yes - I was amazed by the calibre of contributors they secured. Normally it is marginal players looking for a pay day but with limited knowledge of events. The fact they managed to get detailed interviews with the former President plus heads of his security detail and CIA folk and the White House ops team etc is huge kudos and gave a fascinating perspective on events and our modern history.

 

[Insel affe]

I had met the wife in early 2001, in August we got married in Cyprus, stayed for two weeks and then flew back to Heathrow and straight out to Detroit to meet her family.
We then flew home September 8th a Saturday landing on Sunday 9th.
I remember her calling me up in shock, panicking because her mother was supposed to be in NY that day, so I left a job as the customer was understanding and went home to watch it all unfold, shocking...
Turned out her mothers flight was supposed to be from Boston to NY later in the day, so that obviously got cancelled.

The world changed that day.

 

[Dave the OAP]

Yes - I was amazed by the calibre of contributors they secured. Normally it is marginal players looking for a pay day but with limited knowledge of events. The fact they managed to get detailed interviews with the former President plus heads of his security detail and CIA folk and the White House ops team etc is huge kudos and gave a fascinating perspective on events and our modern history.

I think if I was at school studying social history, this would be a must watch

 

[golddene]

I had just had a complete career change from engineering work in a factory for 27 years before being made redundant then took a similar post with a company making nameplates for four years before getting a job with a utility company installing 33kv cabling digging the roads and installing ducts prior to pulling cables for the Canary Wharf upgrade, working in Marsh wall under the main tower. Wife phoned me to tell me to get out quick as there were fears that that area could be targeted. RIP all who perished, tragic day in history.

 

[Poojah]

One of those days so profound I can still remember all of the finer, mundane details of where I was, what I'd been doing. I'd just got home from sixth form for my lunch, which was a slightly random selection of an onion bhaji, a Spar brand beef and onion baguette and a packet of pickled onion space raiders. I was just beginning to tuck in whilst listening to local radio when the song that was playing, 'Let's get back to bed' by Sarah Connor ft. TQ, was interrupted and the news presenter simply uttered the dramatic words "America is under MASSIVE terrorist attack".

I literally ran to the TV and turned on the BBC - couldn't believe my eyes. I'd grown up in the 80's and 90's with a backdrop of IRA-led attacks in the UK, but this was something on such a completely different scale I could barely process what I was seeing. I managed to pull myself together enough to go to the Grimsby v Sheffield United Carling Cup game that evening, and I don't think I've ever experienced a more surreal atmosphere at a football match. Hardly anyone was watching the game, just chatting amongst themselves trying to contemplate what the hell had just happened.

Utterly jaw-dropping events, the likes of which I hope we never see again. Sadly, I think that's probably unlikely - too much hate in the world.

 

[Dave the OAP]

I had just had a complete career change from engineering work in a factory for 27 years before being made redundant then took a similar post with a company making nameplates for four years before getting a job with a utility company installing 33kv cabling digging the roads and installing ducts prior to pulling cables for the Canary Wharf upgrade, working in Marsh wall under the main tower. Wife phoned me to tell me to get out quick as there were fears that that area could be targeted. RIP all who perished, tragic day in history.

I was working at Thomas More Street by st Kartherines Docks testing systems for a Turkish bank and was summoned over to Anchorage House, East India dock in our TOC/NOC and we knew something was going on really badly as all of our international network links dropped ( their hub in the US was the first tower that was hit) our whole screen went red and we were all watching the TV. The only other time that happened is when a ship sank and cut the trans Atlantic cables as it hit the bottom.

We were all asked if we wanted to stay just in case as obviously all our American colleagues were in shock. I was sent home as it was really technical stuff they were doing and attended the Southampton game at withdean which was one of the most surreal experience ….only really had experienced that at the evening game at the Goldstone, the announcer said that MHS Sheffield had been sunk!

Sickening

 

[DavidRyder]

I was home and meant to be job searching, but put the news on instead. My sister in law was a stewardess for United and was on a trip to the US at the time, so I was going through major panic until her uncle called to say she was ok - at which point the tears of relief just flooded out. Up until that point, I didn't know whether to call my wife as I had no idea if her sister was caught up in it.

It was one of those days that you can never forget, so many tragic stories, and the footage was like never before due to mobile phones etc. Still chilling to this day.

 

[DavidinSouthampton]

The documentary was fascinating, and as someone else has already said all credit for the standard of interviewee thay manged.

I was sitting working in our kitchen that day with the television on just for a bit of background noise when the programme was interrupted to show what was going on in the US. I was transfixed (and horrified) for several hours.

Working for the Churches, I was actually going to be involved the following day in an inter-faith Conference in Westminster -- I was doing the prayers at the end. There was obviously a lot of debate about whether to cancel, but the nature of the event - to promote cooperation and understanding between people of different faiths - seemed all the more important. The then Bishop of Guildford - John Gladwin, a very good guy - was chairing it and wanted to go ahead, so it did.

It was surreal the next day going to London, very obvious and heavily armed police everywhere and everyone afraid that London could be the next target. And our event was in Methodist Central Hall, the big Methodist Church very close to the Palace of Westminster. It all went very well, though, everybody agreeing it was a very important event.

And needless to say all the Moslems (enormously decent and peace loving people) involved were horrified at the events of the previous day.

That last sentence is not to say that all Moslems are peace-loving, which obviously they aren't, but anyone who labels Islam as purely a religion of hate is very, very wrong.