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Thread: Earliest memory

  1. #1

    Earliest memory

    Talking at work today about our earliest memory as princess di marriage came up. Which I can remember
    Also I remember my brother being born in 76. I was 5 yr old
    What’s yours ?
    Andy

  2. #2
    Being 10 years younger than my brother I was always his stuntman from an early age.
    One of my earliest memories is being pushed by one of his mates flat out in my pedal car up an Evil Kenevil style ramp.

  3. #3
    Grand Master Dave+63's Avatar
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    I remember walking home from the park after shitting my pants at about four years old.
    I too temper my sister being born and dad sneaking us to the incubator one at a time because we weren’t supposed to. She’s five years younger than me.

  4. #4
    Grand Master thieuster's Avatar
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    I have very, very early memories. One even traceable to the exact day and time. Born in May 1958, I remember me and my mom watching a (partly) solar eclipse through the window of the dining room in October 1959... 17 months old. About the solar eclipse: I remember the dining table, the sideboard the green carpet and the parquet floor. I remember sitting on my mom's lap with a weird thing on my nose. We moved to another house next March, complete with different furniture etc. I was nearly 2 y/old then. Later on, I checked if my memories were correct. The date and time of the solar eclipse were easily found. The time correspondent with the memory of looking out of the dining room window: that was SSE facing. That lines up with the 11:50 AM eclipse.

    I have more memories of that period living in that house. My dad with his foot on a chair (I later found out that he had undergone knee surgery), the kitchen with black and white tiles.

    I later thought that these are uncommon early memories. However... both my kids tell about things they remember. Some are as early as mine were. It's not as uncommon as I once thought.

    Menno

  5. #5
    Craftsman
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    Quote Originally Posted by thieuster View Post
    I have very, very early memories. One even traceable to the exact day and time. Born in May 1958, I remember me and my mom watching a (partly) solar eclipse through the window of the dining room in October 1959... 17 months old. About the solar eclipse: I remember the dining table, the sideboard the green carpet and the parquet floor. I remember sitting on my mom's lap with a weird thing on my nose. We moved to another house next March, complete with different furniture etc. I was nearly 2 y/old then. Later on, I checked if my memories were correct. The date and time of the solar eclipse were easily found. The time correspondent with the memory of looking out of the dining room window: that was SSE facing. That lines up with the 11:50 AM eclipse.

    I have more memories of that period living in that house. My dad with his foot on a chair (I later found out that he had undergone knee surgery), the kitchen with black and white tiles.

    I later thought that these are uncommon early memories. However... both my kids tell about things they remember. Some are as early as mine were. It's not as uncommon as I once thought.

    Menno
    I think it is quite rare to have such early clear memories.

    I can’t remember anything before I was about five...

  6. #6
    Master
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    I remember telling my mum I didn't want to go to playgroup. I was sat on the floor in our old living room playing with some toy cars. I guess I was around three and a half?

  7. #7
    Master pacifichrono's Avatar
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    Born in 1947, my earliest vague memory is sleeping over at my grandparents house in about 1950.

    I clearly recall President Truman supporting Governor Adlai Stevenson in his presidential bid against General Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1952:



    ...and TV coverage of the Korean War:



    ...and unfortunately, the early 1950s 'McCarthyism:'



    I was just a lad, but witnessed it all on the family TV every night!

  8. #8
    Master subseastu's Avatar
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    What I had fro breakfast this morning. Scrambled egg and coffee, no wait, pineapple and tea, no wait not had it yet.

    I actually have very few memories which I find disappointing but it seems to be the way I am. The earliest is in my go cart and finding a (massive, well it as to me) snake under it in our back garden. It must be from when i was about 3 as we moved shortly afterwards. Not because of the snake.

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  9. #9
    My wife has a much richer memory than i do. All joking about women never forgetting aside, i'm almost jealous. Scratch that, I am jealous. Her and my daughters have a far richer more vivid sense of the past that I do.
    I sometimes regret that amount of stuff I've simply lost.

  10. #10
    Master
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    I can remember being in the front garden with my dad when i was 2 or 3.Also remember being in eye hospital when i should have been starting school.

  11. #11
    Master
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    We moved out of my parents first home when I was five in early 1988. I have a quite a few vague memories of around that time but I struggle to put them in order. As a specific memory that I can date, the earliest thing I remember is the Challenger space disaster, which was three months before my 4th birthday.

    My sister has a crazily good memory; she was born in 1978 and can remember lots from the early 80s with surprising detail

    Good post OP

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  12. #12
    Grand Master TheFlyingBanana's Avatar
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    This has always been an interesting discussion point in my family - the earliest memory I seem to have is from around 18 months old - substantiated by other family members. From two years old onward I have literally loads of memories- and my recall of my life from age three is ridiculous- many of the tons of memories are as clear as if they were just a few years ago.

    I recall family phone numbers and car registrations from when I was three or four years old. Holiday memories in vivid detail, and literally dozens and dozens of them from age two or three. The detail is to the extent I can recall say a house or place as if I had visited it a few months ago.

    It’s a bit weird, and completely pointless really, but I’ve always been this way.

    My sister on the other hand barely seems to recall anything from before she was about twelve...
    So clever my foot fell off.

  13. #13
    Master Thewatchbloke's Avatar
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    I remember quite a few childhood things from about 4 years old onwards, but I vividly remember watching Churchill's funeral on TV at my parents friends house and I would only have been three and a half then.

    The other memory that's burned indelibly into my mind is when I was four I contracted mumps and was confined to bed. Whilst confined to bed I also developed tonsillitis then meningitis although we didn't know what the problems were until I was admitted to hospital. There were two single beds in the bedroom I was in and my mum slept in the one adjacent to mine to keep an eye on me. The night my mum called the ambulance I was drifting in and out of consciousness but when I was conscious I could see a Dalek slowly spinning around in between the two beds, as it turned to face me I'd shut my eyes and count to three, by then it was turning to face the other bed and I could open them again! It seemed as real as anything I've ever experienced but my mum swore she didn't see it!

  14. #14
    Master flame's Avatar
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    Hi

    Born '68....earliest year I can definitely pinpoint is Summer '76....although recall growing cress at infant school too

    Best - Neil

  15. #15
    Grand Master Raffe's Avatar
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    I am born in 66 and remember watching the Apollo 11 moon landing, not quite 3 and a half years old. Lots of other memories, but not able to date.
    Someone who lies about the little things will lie about the big things too.

  16. #16
    Grand Master Daddelvirks's Avatar
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    Holiday memories in vivid details for me as well. When I returned to Devon with my friends when I was in my thirties, I remembered a hidden pub, Hunter's Inn, which I visited with my parents in 1975 and 1976. When in the area I could guide them to the pub without any hesitation or a map!

    Always been that way, guess I liked my holidays........
    Got a new watch, divers watch it is, had to drown the bastard to get it!

  17. #17
    Grand Master Passenger's Avatar
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    Made to dress/black up as a chimney sweep and ride a lorry decked out for Lizzies silver jubilee in '77, quite what/why that particular theme eludes me, I was 6 and the soot took ages to clean off in the bath later. I recall how nervous my mum was before the health visitor came to the house to check on how my baby sister was getting on, perhaps I was 4. I ran into the sea in Skegness whilst walking on the beach one Autumn, at 3 something years old, we had to go to my aunties to dry off. Quite a lot of undateable memories 'helping' Dad in the garden as a toddler.

  18. #18
    Grand Master
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    Getting up this morning, everything before that is just a blur.

  19. #19
    Master
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    I was about 4 years of age and watching my mother talking to a neighbour. I was stood up on a bed at the time and my dad coming into the bedroom and slapping my arse. I did not see him again until I was around 23 years of age.

  20. #20
    Master Harry Smith's Avatar
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    I remember an incident where I saw a male member of my family shouting and shaking a female (which I believe was my sister) through the bars of a cot. This could only have happened when I was under a year old due to confirmation of location and dates. I also remember having measles which I caught at around 18 months old. Many others but I can't confirm as precisely.

  21. #21
    Grand Master Andyg's Avatar
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    Dropping a plastic water pistol through the bars of the balcony of my parent 2nd floor flat - it broke, I cried. I must have been about 2.

    Then, in 1964 I remember moving into my parent first house and running to the bottom of the garden, through a gate and in to a massive rec which the house back onto. Happy days.

    Whoever does not know how to hit the nail on the head should be asked not to hit it at all.
    Friedrich Nietzsche


  22. #22
    Grand Master thieuster's Avatar
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    I talked to my wife about this. She's (among others) a qualified psychologist and is currently doing a neuroscience & psychology research at Harvard (I don't know where she finds the time, but she pulls it off and is happy with it). Anyway, last year she attended a series of lectures and one of the subjects mentioned was this 'early memories' or 'childhood amnesia'. In the past, early memories were often 'memories by association' like: "I remember a brown cabinet" that was in the family for ages. However, the latest studies show that there are a number of people with indeed very early memories. Often verifiable by date or something like that.

    More interesting is that follow-up studies show that these people have a different mindset when it comes to storing memories. Most of us have this: we smell something and we say "Oh, this reminds me of...". It looks as if people with very early memories have that too, but with a lot of other sensorial 'memories', (often visual) as well. E.g., they can recall dates in combination with the weather on that day or similar facts of that moment. It's a different way of 'storing memories' and a different way of being able to retrieve those memories. So there is a chance that more people have those early memories, but are unable to 'open the file'.

    Same goes for looking at numbers and days of the week as a colour... Look for synesthesia.

    Menno
    Last edited by thieuster; 22nd May 2019 at 18:28.

  23. #23
    Master
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    Born in September 1967. Think I remember being in my pram! Definitely remember playing with my cousins in the garden pre-school so summer 1971????

  24. #24
    Master
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    All I can remember is blackness then there was this big bang - then it was light.



    B

  25. #25
    Having had an accident at 17 resulting in quite a bad head injury (I know it explains a lot) I have no clear memories of earlier events, with the exception of a small handful traumatic experiences - strangely no nice memories whatsoever.
    It's just a matter of time...

  26. #26
    Thomas Reid
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    Watching a rocket launch on a TV in a shop window. It was in 1960 or 1961. It was amazing for two reasons. I had never seen a rocket before. I had never seen a TV before.

    Best wishes,
    Bob

  27. #27
    Master woodacre1983's Avatar
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    Excellent post OP!

    For me I have one memory of being very young it is nothing more than being pushed in what I call an old fashioned pram. In Bridlington. I’ve confirmed with family members I’d of been just under 2! Can’t remember anything of that time other than the pram and having been back to Bridlington many times since I’m fairly sure of the place in Brid we was.

    My first memory of a full event so to speak was walking home with my mum who was pushing my buggy pushchair, it was raining mum had taken me to the post office to collect her money. I can remember mum smoking me on rains to control me!



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  28. #28
    Master steptoe's Avatar
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    Born in 1958 - i remember being in my pram (not a pushchair) and a pigeon nearly flying into my face, flapping it's wings and hitting the pram hood. I must have been not much over a year old.
    What is odd is that i can remember it happening outside the local bakers, Webbers as my mum pushed the pram past.

    I can also remember being left outside the house in my pram for some fresh air (perfectly normal at the time), and the young girls who were neighbours taking turns to push the pram up and down the road while singing to me.

    I'm known as Mr memory man by all my friends, they always ask me any questions they need answering about primary school days.
    My mum, aged 87, also has detailed memories as did her dad.

  29. #29
    Grand Master Neil.C's Avatar
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    I can remember sitting on the stairs as my Nan comforted me when my Mum went off to work.

    We lived at my Grandparents until I was two so obviously a bit earlier than that.
    Cheers,
    Neil.

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