I switched the televison on and switched on Ceefax to get the latest news like i did every morning, while i was waiting for the kettle to boil for my coffee, i came back in to read it and there it was.
I went out later to get a couple of the Sunday Papers special editions that had been published, everyone was talking about it.
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NEVER WRESTLE WITH A PIG..YOU BOTH GET DIRTY BUT THE PIG LIKES IT!!
I used to listen to Talk Sport radio late at night when my OH was working.
It came on the news around 2am that Diana had been involved in a car crash in Paris. First she was unhurt and seen outside the vehicle...then she had a broken arm but Dodi and the driver were thought to be dead. No news of the bodyguard at that time.
I got up and turned the TV on, the images were already being shown of the tunnel where the car had entered...then the news she had died, then the mangled car was shown, and so on.
I stayed up all night watching it.
I thought from the first reports that this was no normal RTA, I have never changed my opinion.
I would have never heard about this person if the British news media never reported on her or if I had never paid any attention to it. Her existence never affected my existence in any way apart from being exposed to it through that media. However, I did note the apparent rabidity of the press, and their likely role in creating the conditions that led to this fatal accident, and I noted the adoration and sadness of many people who also had never met or known her but had seen her through the media. Nowadays some tell us British "nationalists" are far right people not much different to Nazis, but I think the adoration of Princess Diana (which sometimes creates the opposite reaction - a form of hatred in some) is one example of how people are led into becoming nationalists (proud of one's country, British first etc). I think some people might have considered her an anti-establishment figure because apparently she wasn't quite up to the Queen's expectation - but again I only got that impression through listening and reading certain output from the media.
I got up for a wee, thought must put the news on, I don't know why. They were saying Diana had a car accident, not sure how injured she was. Then not long after they said she was dead. I'm not a big Diana fan, but I did like her. I was stunned.
I was preparing to go down south to interview the family of Brian Connolly, the lead singer with the glam rock band, The Sweet. That was an interesting experience.
I was in a hotel room in Swansea. I chatted up the hotel barmaid and she came back to my room. I was sitting on the edge of the bed feeling a bit ruff looking out the window at a coast guard helicopter rescuing someone at sea and turned on the bedside radio. Looked at the time and decided I'd enough time to go back to bed for half hour. Missed breakfast but can't complain
