Has there been any images from world events that have stuck in your mind? Tragic events, happy events or somewhere in between - which ones?

One particular photo from the Hillsbourough football tragedy in England always comes to mind with a girl being squashed against the fence. Always wondered if and prayed that she got out alive.

Septemer 11 has a great deal of mind burning images.

On a happier note - Sydney Olypmic Games opening ceremony (the sheep turning into lawmowers was classic), Cathy Freeman winning her race and the walker who was disqualified moments before entering the stadium.

And Charles and Di's wedding - not a great royalist here but it was such a fairy tale.

The unforgettable and very horrific picture of the lone student in front of a huge tank, about to mow him down, in Tianamen Sq, June 4, 1989.The pictures of the millions in the ensuing protest march where we were all asked to wear white or yellow to mourn the innocents that had been massacred.Any pictures of the candle -lit vigils that have been held on every anniversary of that dreadful day.They all affect me deeply still.

That naked girl running in Vietnam, 9/11 both when the 'planes hit and then the collapse, at Princess Diana's funeral the pink carnation which got caught up in the official flowers and refused to fall off.

June 2nd, 1953. The Queen's Coronation (I was 8 years old).

October 11, 1982, The raising of the Mary Rose.

I still remember watching the moon landing in 1969, huddled around an old black-and-white TV at school. We thought it was great- no schoolwork for a whole day!

I vaguely remember the raising of the Mary Rose. I was still at school, and, unfortunately, found it very boring to have it on, although having television in school was a novelty!

There is another one which I just happened to see going trough an old National Geographic. Australians might remember when the huge dust storm hit Melbourne in the 80's and the images from that - a huge cloud of dust soaring hundreds of metres into the air that blocked out the sun from the city and some of it even ended up in New Zealand.

Many images have stayed with me, mostly traumatic ones.
The single man seemingly holding back the tanks during the Tianamen Square protest has also stayed with me.
Watching the news when 9/11 happened has also stayed with me, as has the picture of the little napalmed Vietnamese girl.
The American soldiers raising the flag on Iwo Jima.
The sight of the aboriginal camp at Uluru,before the place was developed, is one that will stay in my minds eye forever, as will the face of the lady there that wanted to adopt me!
The photo of Reagan getting shot.
One of the nicer images is when I was camped on a huge plain,east of Broken Hill. In one glance I took in trucks approaching from 100 k,s away,Kangaroos hopping along the side of the road nearby and an infinate number of stars with a couple of shooting stars.
Another nice one is actually a photo I took of my wife. She is standing in the middle of the reddest outback road .
I recall another sad one that I can`t forget. It`s a picture of a caravan park,the gas lines and gas tanks had exploded and the picture showed burnt bodies in unusual positions.
One of the oldest images is a picture taken in Phnom Peng. It`s a shot of a bank with its doors open and cash blowing in the wind outside.

To all of the above I must add the assassination of Kennedy and the collapse of the Berlin wall.

Something a bit more cheerful this time, (though whether including international football as a world event may be questionable...), seeing Manchester United, who were 1-0 down in the 1999 European Cup final after the full 90 minutes and almost ready, as a supporter, to turn the TV off, and then seeing there were 4 minutes of added time to play.
I thought, well they can get a goal in 4 minutes, and a minute later they did. Extra time and a win were now possible, but within 2 minutes (was it from the corner?) a ball went across the goal area and went in. That couldn't have been a better film script, which also remindes me of the 2002 World Cup qualifier where England beat Germany 5-1. Though they still bombed in the Cup (relatively), this seemed to raise them into the level of a proper world-class team again after losing and drawing to some very poor opposition previously.

As someone in charge is bound to say it (I should know, I'm one of them!) I'll get it in first, please don't turn this into a football thread

I should remember the more recent terrorist attack over Madrid on march this year, but it's the 9/11 that got struck in my mind. I had the "misfortune" to watch it live, and unfortunately I don't think I could ever forget the second plane crashing on one of the Twin Towers.

On a more positive aspect, , I remember the beginning of the year 2000 in a 24-hour special celebration all over the world, starting in Sydney (I remember a neon sign reading "2000" over this famous bridge, probably you Australian people out there can help me with the name of this bridge ) I found it awesome to be able to watch how the different parts of the world celebrated this "unique" event.

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probably you Australian people out there can help me with the name of this bridge

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Ask and ye shall recieve! It was the Sydney Harbour Bridge (we like really original names here- guess what attributes the Great Sandy Desert and the Snowy Mountains have, lol).

Another couple that come to mind are the exploding space shuttle, and Sir Donald Bradman striding out for his last Test cricket innings.

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whether including international football as a world event may be questionable

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sure ... why not?

On a similar vein then - Wayne Pearce sitting on the ground looking totally dejected after losing the grand final ...

Along the 9/11 memories is the image of the 2nd building that fell. I can remember sitting on the edge of my parents' bed (I was with them at the time) and watching the news. Mom was alternating between putting on makeup in the bathroom and coming into the room to see what was happening and Dad was in the living room. I remember watching the building fall. We saw it happen live, and I remember just sitting there with my mouth hanging open. I slowly said, "It fell. It just fell." That's all I could say, because I was shocked that I watched it happen right then. It was almost like slow motion and was almost unbelievable. Surely it had to be some kind of weird movie that they were playing that wasn't really real. A modern "War of the Worlds," and they were going to tell us it wasn't real in just a few moments.

Various pictures of 9/11 will always stay with me. That was one.

And, I'll never forget the picture of the Challenger just after it blew up. I remember exactly where I was at the time and what I was doing.

Strange how the really tragic things are the ones that we tend to remember the most. We need to find more positive things to keep in our minds.