Sep 11th heads TV moments
Tuesday, 16 Oct 2007 09:54
Millions saw the September 11th attacks
Watching the Twin Towers topple on September 11th has been named the most memorable moment in 50 years of TV.
In a survey for Freeview to mark the turning off of the first terrestrial signal in Whitehaven, Cumbria, 2,000 British TV viewers were polled.
To see the top ten moments in pictures click here.And they said the moment New York's iconic Trade Centre collapsed after being hit by hijacked passenger jets was the moment which remained longest in the mind.
The dramatic events were broadcast around the world and millions of people watched live as the full extent of the al-Qaida terror attacks became known.
Named as the second most-memorable moment was the funeral of Princess Diana in the summer of 1997, following the Paris car crash which killed her and her partner Dodi al-Fayed.
Elton John performed a new version of Candle in the Wind and Diana's brother Earl Spencer delivered a stirring tribute to his sister after her coffin was carried for four miles from Kensington Palace to Westminster Abbey.
An estimated 32 million Britons tuned in for the funeral which followed a week of national mourning.
The fall of the Berlin Wall separating the east and west portions of Germany in 1989 was voted third in the list, while Neil Armstrong landing on the moon in 1969 as television was just becoming an accessible medium was fourth.
Bob Geldof demanding the world donate money for Africa at 1985's Live Aid concert was fifth, with an estimated 1.5 billion viewers tuning in from 100 countries to watch the multi-venue event.
Numbers six to eight are dominated by classic British comedy sketches: The Two Ronnies' Fork Handles in sixth, followed by Rick Gervais doing 'the dance' in The Office and Monty Python's Dead Parrot skit.
England's 1966 World Cup win at Wembley was voted ninth and was the only sporting event to feature in the top ten.
Former US president John F Kennedy's 1963 assassination in Dallas, Texas, completed the top ten.
Whitehaven is switching over to a digital signal this week and will begin the process of a complete switchover in Britain by 2012.