My first political memory was when I was about 8 years old. I came home and found my mum in the kitchen crying while listening to the radio. I asked her why she was crying – and she told me Princess Diana had died accidentally. I didn’t understand why she was so upset about a princess – I still thought Princesses were fictional in some way. She told me she was very sad because she loved Princess Diana – which confused me even more. I didn’t want her to be sad about something that seemed so distant. Now I realised how important that moment was.
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I remember accompanying my Mum into a voting booth, I think it was for the 1987 general election but it may have been a local election a year or two later than that. She explained the process of casting her vote to me. On the walk to the polling station…
In "earliest political memories"
Last autumn we ran an experimental online public engagement series called 'earliest political memories'. We collected a total of 68 memories that were generously contributed by members of the public. You can read all the contributions here. The series caught the attention of our colleague Rachel O'Connell in the School of English who…
In "earliest political memories"
Wow! This is fascinating. I am passionately interested in this area [...] And on to the question you posed! Yes, I do believe that I can identify a particularly significant 'political' moment for me at the age of 8 in 1971. A bit of background...I had grown up in Brighton with…
In "earliest political memories"