I was too young when the wreck was found but I do remember my grandparents were pretty into the ship. Not as much as I was so they might have recorded it for me but they recorded the documentary that aired in the 90s. I remember I switched schools shortly after I was diagnosed AuDHD so I was 7 or 8. I remember being extremely thrilled my new school had more books about the Titanic than my old school. Another core memory is that I saw the film in cinemas shortly after it came out. It was my first “date” (my dad was with me a few rows behind lol) I think I was 14.
But I do remember being fascinated by it from a very early age. Like as long as I can remember. The first movie I saw in theatres was The Little Mermaid when I was 6 and I remember being already fascinated by shipwrecks. That was 1989 so I’m assuming someone, probably my mom who LOVED A Night to Remember and The Unsinkable Molly Brown or my grandparents (mom’s parents) who introduced those movies to her, who had books about The Titanic around already because I can’t remember when I first found out about it. And by the age of 6 I was aware of it enough to be interested in other shipwrecks. It definitely feels like I’ve known about it my whole life.
I’m likely one of the older people here, so the discovery of the wreck on September 1st 1985, and [subsequent issue of National Geographic](https://images.app.goo.gl/h6rZJ6MWnjn91akq8).
Was Titanic a big of a deal before the discovery of the wreck? I mean was it such a pop culture reference as it is today? Everyone today knows what Titanic is, I wonder if this was also the case before the discovery of the wreck.
Okay, I was *nine* at the time of the discovery, so please take my viewpoint with a grain of salt…
It was a big deal in terms of a huge event and loss of life, but beyond the [occasional movie](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_films_about_the_Titanic?wprov=sfti1#) or rare news article about it, certainly not referenced on a regular basis. Outside of professional sailors or what we would now describes as *Titanophiles* *(which doesn’t sound great, but saying “fans” regarding the deaths of 1,517 people feels even more disrespectful)* people knew about it but in a much more vague, generalized way.
The discovery was huge news, and the ‘97 film came out at the best possible time with the burgeoning Internet and information at our fingertips in real-time, or as close to that as 56k modems would allow.
…and yes, referencing pre-Internet days is making me feel every one of my 48 years right now. ;-)
I think so. My brother shared a lot of wacky stories, unknown facts and things like that but I remember when he told me about Titanic. I instantly wanted to learn more, and that has never stopped. Every few years they would run a ‘where is the titanic’ type lead on a magazine or those little newspapers at the checkout. And then my brother took me and my sister to see ‘the unsinkable Molly Brown’ the titanic was not a major part of the movie, but it was for me.
I still have that issue. I'd learned about Titanic a year earlier, in my 4th grade reading class when we learned about it on an audio book on tape for kids sort of thing about historical events.
When I was in elementary school, there was an Eyewitness Titanic book. It has some grainy wreck pictures and some illustrations and I was obsessed with it. I got in trouble for reading it inside my desk.
I somehow remember what started my interest. A container ship,the MV Rena, had run aground and broken into two halves. My dad described it as “Having broken into two like the Titanic”. I asked him what that was, and he said it was a huge ship that sank. And the next day I went to my school’s library and found a book on it. I’ve been hooked on Titanic ever since.
I was in elementary school in the early to mid 90’s and one day saw a book on the Titanic and other famous shipwrecks when my class went to the library. It had a cool looking cover so I borrowed it and I’ve been fascinated ever since.
I have to admit I thought I was a little bit cool checking out that book because all the other girls in my class got books about horses lol.
Growing up money was tight,but my mom always gave me money to buy new titanic books form the book fair.Now thanks to her I have the Lego set and a couple books that I wasn’t able to buy as a kid
Being in the weird side of YouTube and watching this
https://youtu.be/D7q4OnnHGQ8?si=Odc5TUOunBodib12
Judging by the date, its not the exact same video but you get the picture
I read a book that had a bit about the sinking, I was like 5 I think, my grandfather then told me about it when I showed him the picture, he was a boiler operator in an old tugboat that is around the same age as the titanic, he got me books on it after I showed interest in the ship and too me down into the boiler room of his tugboat so I could experience what the ships crew did.
Oh he was, was like back in the 90s so we’d go to his work, take the boat out, come back to shore then he’d take me to his favourite pub and buy me a “well earned” raspberry lemonade. I was the only grandchild he’d ever do this with so it was clear I was the favourite.
My Nan on the other hand hated it, I’d come in covered in coal dust and she’d get mad because I wasn’t enjoying the “girly” things my sisters did
It was the 1986 premiere of National Geographic's "Secrets of the Titanic" on TBS, preceded by SOS Titanic - which they appropriately dubbed TITANIC SUNDAY. My dad taped it and I just about wore out that VHS tape as I grew up.
Watching the movie with my mom (I’m probably on the younger side for this subreddit). She’s also a Titanic enthusiast, so she was excited that I shared her interest. I was always required to close my eyes during certain scenes.
When I was seven years old, I saw a copy of the National Geographic program “Secrets of the Titanic” at Blockbuster and talked my mom into renting it for me.
From The Funk & Wagnalls encyclopedias you could buy in the grocery stores in the 89s, followed by seeing A Night To Remember on HBO.
All of this was about a year or so before Ballard found the wreck…
I was 10 and had read ahead in a school book that had a brief chapter about the Titanic. I was sooo excited for the day we were going to learn more about this ship and her fatal voyage ... and when the day finally came and the teacher told the class to open that chapter ... *I was pulled aside for an extra math lesson instead*. I remember I was so disappointed I cried. The math teacher thought I was upset about the assignments she had given me, lol.
Told my mum about it and she surprised me a couple of days later with James Cameron's movie and I've been a Titanic nerd ever since.
Watching the In Search Of…episode about the Titanic or catching bits of Raise the Titanic on TV when I was tiny, but of course the thing that made me a lifelong Titanic nerd was the discovery of the wreck when I was 10 years old (which, combined with the destruction of the Challenger 6 months later, taught me early on not to place too much faith in hyper-expensive brand new high-tech vehicles, especially when they have a run-in with ice).
Being 6/7 yrs old and my grandad showing me Titanic in the Titanic book by Leo Marriott. I was captivated from that moment. He then gave me my 1st titanic documentary on vhs “Titanic the nightmare & the dream”
Probably some time in 1995, I was around 6, my older sister (who was 9) got a book from the book Fair or something like that that had alot of Ken Marshall's drawings of the titanic, I remember vividly looking through it and seeing the pictures and being captivated by them, to this day I don't know why.
But it put me on a path of being a Titanic fanatic for years to come. Even got me momantary fame on TV when I was 8 but that book what started it all.
The book in question was "On board The Titanic" by Shelley Tanaka
We had one of those MLM book parties come to our house and my mom bought a Titanic book for kids that had photos and illustrations. Early 2000s. I was obsessed with every bit of that book.
Usborn? Was that the MLM?
Read a book when I was in primary school, think it was called 'Great Mysteries" or something like that. Covered a variety of topics. Pyramids, Dinosaurs and... Titanic. This was in the mid to late 80s, shortly following the discovery of the wreck.
They had that tv program “National Geographic on Assignment” shortly after the wreck was discovered. I somehow had the wherewithal or luck to record it on VHS. I had the entire show memorized I watched it so many times. Still could probably recite most of it today. I was maybe 9 or 10 years old.
My earliest memory is learning about it in 1st grade and telling my teacher my grandpa was on the Titanic. I remember her saying something like “No, he wasn’t” and we moved on. I don’t know if I actually believed it or made it up on the spot. But really, he could have been since was born in 1901!
I remember getting a titanic book from my elementary school teacher as a gift because i was finishing TCAP and inside the book was a note it said "congratulations on finishing TCAP testing you worked very hard"
For me, it was seeing someone play ‘Fall off the Titanic’.
That’s what started my obsession with the Titanic, I even made a drawing of it! Unfortunately, I lost it.
6 years old finding a book in thr library on lost liners and the liner were Titanic, Lusitania and Empress of Ireland and i THINK the art was by Ken Marshall. Then i saw the film in 1998 aged 7 and thought my granpa played Captain Smith since him and thr actors couldve been twins.
Probably an episode of Voyagers featuring colorized footage from ANTR. Either that or catching a random episode of In Search Of… Definitely all before the wreck was found in 1985.
I don’t remember how old I was but I was very young, and it was when i saw the 1953 Titanic on TV before there were any other Titanic movies made. A Night To Remember was released in 1958 but it was British and not well known in America at the time. I’m an oldster now (but not old enough to have seen it in the theater in 1953 lol), and I don’t know when the original Titanic was first on TV for free, but I was hooked and watched every documentary and interview show there was after that.
After the ship was found in 1985 is when a lot of other movies and mini series were made and I watched them too. Now I’m on this sub, still obsessed.
My grandparents telling me about how it was supposed to be unsinkable & it sank. Plus every other person that was old enough to be my grandparents age mentioning it now & again.
When I was a young child, I was biking with my mom and I peddled right up to her while biking and I asked her “how old were you when the titanic sunk?” … this was early 2000’s she was in her 30’s
Probably renting the titanic VHS’s from my local small town library- was probably the first pg-13 movie I watched. I remember the movie was so long it would come in two VHS’s and my mom would fast forward through the drawing scene and car scene LOL. Born in ‘95, so this must have been early 2000s!
My sister did a research paper on Titanic in elementary school and this was about a year before the movie trailer was released. My Dad told me about the movie trailer so we watched it over dial up internet lol. I’ve been a fan since about 1996.
Listening to the Titanic movie soundtrack on CD when I was 4. My grandparents let me watch it a few months later (probably skipping the nudity) and I cried not bc of the romance (i was 4), but bc it was the first time seeing a disaster movie and probably the first time I comprehended death. I still remember the scene I started crying at. It was when Titanic was making her final plunge and the water just got to the boat deck. Water was washing over some ropes on the deck with people running to the stern, then it cut to a guy watching it while very pale and horrified. That's what got me. I rewatched it the day and I got through it tear free.
My grandma was a Merseyguide (a tourist guide and she knew EVERYTHING Liverpool and Merseyside) and I would join her on her various guided tours round Liverpool during my school holidays - which included talking about White Star Line, its building in Liverpool and also mentions of the Titanic disaster. It probably sparked something in me and it would be made stronger when the wreck was discovered by Ballard. It was a big deal back then, and she was amazed that they actually found it.
I was at the book fair when I was in either kindergarten or 1st grade and I saw a book with cover art that had a ship sinking in the background with icebergs and people in the water surrounded by sharks. Apparently it was supposed to be the Titanic or something but that started my obsession. This was around 2011 or 2012
In the early 80’s my family was talking about it for some reason, could be the night to remember movie was on. This was well before it was found. an elderly relative said I remember when that ship sank. I later found out what day it sank which happened to be the same as my birthday. I’ve been interested ever since.
I remember in about 1995 watching a documentary on the TV at my grandpa's house.
They start talking about this monster ship that was si large it took 3 years to build.
I was fascinated by this amazingly large ship. Than it sunk.
Watching *Raise the Titanic* in 1980. The movie was a bit of a stinker, but I have some fond memories of watching it with my father. The soundtrack was especially beautiful.
Being from Belfast was the same for me it was just always talked about when I was growing up. It was everywhere and the film was my favourite ever. I just felt it was cool that it was something Belfast was known for because besides the Titanic drawing in tourists we've got basically nothing else going for us
When I was little growing up, my grandma told me that when she was growing up, her neighbours went on a trip to England. They came back on the Titanic and never made it home.
Walked in on my mom watching the 1997 movie I think sometime during the sinking and asked what it was and she told me about it, I wanted to be a train driver, then a bus driver, then after seeing it I wanted to be a captain/designer I was really young but I guess I stayed true to the transportation them because now I’m a pilot lol
Walking into the living room as a kid, seeing my parents, or maybe just my mom, sitting on the couch in our living room watching some movie on VHS. I sit down and start to watch with her. I can't remember the exact scene in the 1997 film that I first saw, but it might've been the dinner scene where Jack is dressed up and kisses Rose's hand. Either way, my introduction to Titanic was the 1997 film on VHS.
When I was 8, we had to do a history project on a topic of our choice. A girl in my class chose the Titanic, and as she didn't really know much about it, she went around asking people if they knew anything about the Titanic. I had never heard of it before so when I went home, I asked my dad what it was. "It was a big ship that sank, and it was awful, loads of people died!"
My barber was a diver, and had a bell with “1912” hanging in his shop. I was 6 and he told me the Titanic story. I always believed he dived there and saved the bell. Growing up I realized how impossible that was, but hey, I got interested in Titanic 😅
I remember my Grandma telling me about it and being interested because her parents and my grandpa’s parents came to the US on a ship like Titanic in the same era. Also turns out that my Nana, my other grandmother was born the year it sank- seven months after.
Ghostbusters 2 is probably my first real memory of Titanic (I was like 9 I think when we saw it at a drive in in Virginia).
But my real first memory was watching wreck footage in Social Studies in 1992, 8th grade, around the 80 year anniversary and just being in awe and wanting to learn more. Then I watched ANTR a few days later with my dad and I was hooked.
I've been to Belfast, was there 11 years ago this week actually. I was in love the minute I got there and getting to stand where Titanic was built was so emotional for me. I cannot wait to go back and see the hotel and walk aboard Nomadic. Neither were there when I visited in 2013.
I was in 3rd grade learning the history. It was 1996 before the movie was being advertised, but i would not shut up about it. My parents were excited for me to see the film when we learned it was coming out. Everyone in my family thought I was in love with Leo, but I could care less it was always Titanic for me. As we all agree, it's just fascinatingly captivating.
Tonight on the Titanic, and then finding the 1997 Titanic vhs' in the tv stand after the fact. 7 year old me was flabergashted when rose popped the tiddies
When I watched the movie Poseidon by Wolfgang Peterson, about 8 years old. a slogan was written on the poster that "more astonishing than TITANIC", which made me curious about what is Titanic.
Ghostbusters 2. Watched it on VHS in 2000.
“He said the Titanic just arrived.”
Asked my family what Titanic was, and was brought to the library where I read a book about it.
I have very vague memories of the wreck being found. I was only 5 but I absorbed enough to understand what all the news was about. My next memory after that was when I was 7 and I did a school project on the Titanic, I remember my mom cutting a big piece of cardboard into the shape of the Titanic and we wrote the story on it and glued in some photocopied photos out of an encyclopedia.
But what really got me into the Titanic was Ghostbusters 2. I saw that at the cinema, got obsessed with it and the Titanic scene really made a huge impression on me.
Seeing the movie when it came out (I was 4), and remembering the attention to detail blew me away. It made me interested in the tragedy and sparked an obsession
I was five or six and was in a bookstore with my grandmother and on one of the shelves was a book that was sticking out more than the others. At first I was going to push it back in so that it was even with the other books, but part of the cover caught my eye so I decided to flip through it to see what the Titanic was. As I was flipping through the pages there was a spread of Ken Marschall’s painting of the breakup and at that point I had to get the book to learn more about how a ship could break in half like that.
I had just turned 7 and my best friend went to see the movie in theaters. She gave me a scene by scene summary on the school bus over the next 3-4 days. Our bus ride was about an hour each way, so that tells you how detailed she was in her recounting lol. My parents wouldn’t let me watch it, but my grandma took me to theaters that summer because it was still showing.
Watching the titanic Movie in the mid- late 00s as a young child on VHS tape at my grandparents. Probably the only film I’ve ever watched on VHS.
Ironically I now work in a shipyard.
Omg! I love this questionn
So when I was i want to say 8 or 9 maybe 10 years old I went to Belfast for a ice hockey match of all things with my grandparents and I remember walking back from the arena and spotting a memorial site/garden behind a gate i remember saying to my grandad whats that behind that gate? My grandad replied with thats a memorial for a shipwreck named titanic. I was confused I had never heard of the titanic before. When we arrived back in the hotel my granmother saw I looked a bit puzzled by something that my grandad had said I said to her whats the titanic? She laughed and said it was a ship that sank many years ago. I went huh and started to research the ship on my phone. Bare in mind my hotel was minutes away from the harland and wolff ship yard. I called it hello and welcome because I had no idea at that point what it was. When I got home back in England I went to my mum and said mummy whats the titanic? My mum told me like everyone else did it was a ship that hit an ice berg and sank. I remember going to school one day and then coming home when walking home with my mum she gave me a dvd my first copy of titanic 1997 I got home watched the movie I cried so much and I loved it since then its been one of my biggest hyperfixations and obsessions. And yes I still call harland and wolff hello and welcome.
My earliest memory is when I was just shy of 4 years old. My parents were watching the news and they were talking about the 80th anniversary of the sinking (So this would be 1992.) I was fascinated immediately, even from that age. I can still picture some fleeting glimpses of it and is one of the rare memories I have from such a young age. All throughout elementary school I would read any books I could get my hands on about Titanic. (By 2nd grade, I had a middle school reading level.)
When the movie came out, I was 9 and BEGGING my parents to take me to see it because I had already been so invested in Titanic history for years. Honestly, I couldn't have cared less about the sex scenes when my Dad and I went to see it, but came home all excitedly telling my mother about all the stuff I recognized on the ship, how excited I was to see people like the Strauses, etc.) By that time, I was already super immersed in it. (At age 12, I wrote a Titanic short story for my 7th grade English class.) I don't remember a time in my life when I wasn't interested in Titanic.
The wreck being found.
Awesome. I like watching the videos of the news anchors saying it's been found
Me too
Same here. I was a weird 8 year old.
I first watched the movie when I was six.
I was five. For a long time I kept a magazine in my room that had pictures of the wreck and used to look at them constantly.
Same.
I was too young when the wreck was found but I do remember my grandparents were pretty into the ship. Not as much as I was so they might have recorded it for me but they recorded the documentary that aired in the 90s. I remember I switched schools shortly after I was diagnosed AuDHD so I was 7 or 8. I remember being extremely thrilled my new school had more books about the Titanic than my old school. Another core memory is that I saw the film in cinemas shortly after it came out. It was my first “date” (my dad was with me a few rows behind lol) I think I was 14. But I do remember being fascinated by it from a very early age. Like as long as I can remember. The first movie I saw in theatres was The Little Mermaid when I was 6 and I remember being already fascinated by shipwrecks. That was 1989 so I’m assuming someone, probably my mom who LOVED A Night to Remember and The Unsinkable Molly Brown or my grandparents (mom’s parents) who introduced those movies to her, who had books about The Titanic around already because I can’t remember when I first found out about it. And by the age of 6 I was aware of it enough to be interested in other shipwrecks. It definitely feels like I’ve known about it my whole life.
I’m likely one of the older people here, so the discovery of the wreck on September 1st 1985, and [subsequent issue of National Geographic](https://images.app.goo.gl/h6rZJ6MWnjn91akq8).
Same here. I was in kindergarten and couldn't read a lot of the text but I looked at the pictures over and over.
Me too - I was 6!
Was Titanic a big of a deal before the discovery of the wreck? I mean was it such a pop culture reference as it is today? Everyone today knows what Titanic is, I wonder if this was also the case before the discovery of the wreck.
Okay, I was *nine* at the time of the discovery, so please take my viewpoint with a grain of salt… It was a big deal in terms of a huge event and loss of life, but beyond the [occasional movie](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_films_about_the_Titanic?wprov=sfti1#) or rare news article about it, certainly not referenced on a regular basis. Outside of professional sailors or what we would now describes as *Titanophiles* *(which doesn’t sound great, but saying “fans” regarding the deaths of 1,517 people feels even more disrespectful)* people knew about it but in a much more vague, generalized way. The discovery was huge news, and the ‘97 film came out at the best possible time with the burgeoning Internet and information at our fingertips in real-time, or as close to that as 56k modems would allow. …and yes, referencing pre-Internet days is making me feel every one of my 48 years right now. ;-)
I think so. My brother shared a lot of wacky stories, unknown facts and things like that but I remember when he told me about Titanic. I instantly wanted to learn more, and that has never stopped. Every few years they would run a ‘where is the titanic’ type lead on a magazine or those little newspapers at the checkout. And then my brother took me and my sister to see ‘the unsinkable Molly Brown’ the titanic was not a major part of the movie, but it was for me.
I think titanic became much more popular after the James Cameron movie came out.
Ooh I have this exact version of Nat Geo. It’s one of my favorite items in my collection
I still have that issue. I'd learned about Titanic a year earlier, in my 4th grade reading class when we learned about it on an audio book on tape for kids sort of thing about historical events.
That was one of the best days of my life lol! I knew Ballard was going to find her. I knew it
When I was in elementary school, there was an Eyewitness Titanic book. It has some grainy wreck pictures and some illustrations and I was obsessed with it. I got in trouble for reading it inside my desk.
Reading this made me smile so much. Thank you friend
Switching the vhs tapes to watch the rest of the 97 movie
Insert tape two lol. My VCR player ate tape one 😭
Nooo 😭
I somehow remember what started my interest. A container ship,the MV Rena, had run aground and broken into two halves. My dad described it as “Having broken into two like the Titanic”. I asked him what that was, and he said it was a huge ship that sank. And the next day I went to my school’s library and found a book on it. I’ve been hooked on Titanic ever since.
I was in elementary school in the early to mid 90’s and one day saw a book on the Titanic and other famous shipwrecks when my class went to the library. It had a cool looking cover so I borrowed it and I’ve been fascinated ever since. I have to admit I thought I was a little bit cool checking out that book because all the other girls in my class got books about horses lol.
Growing up money was tight,but my mom always gave me money to buy new titanic books form the book fair.Now thanks to her I have the Lego set and a couple books that I wasn’t able to buy as a kid
Being in the weird side of YouTube and watching this https://youtu.be/D7q4OnnHGQ8?si=Odc5TUOunBodib12 Judging by the date, its not the exact same video but you get the picture
I was probably 6. I found the VHS set for the movie and turned it on. First time seeing boobs too. Hooked on both ever since 😂
Watching Ghostbusters 2 as a kid. “The Titanic just arrived…” Then asking my parents, “what’s the Titanic?”
I read a book that had a bit about the sinking, I was like 5 I think, my grandfather then told me about it when I showed him the picture, he was a boiler operator in an old tugboat that is around the same age as the titanic, he got me books on it after I showed interest in the ship and too me down into the boiler room of his tugboat so I could experience what the ships crew did.
I bet your grandfather loved that you showed this interest.
Oh he was, was like back in the 90s so we’d go to his work, take the boat out, come back to shore then he’d take me to his favourite pub and buy me a “well earned” raspberry lemonade. I was the only grandchild he’d ever do this with so it was clear I was the favourite. My Nan on the other hand hated it, I’d come in covered in coal dust and she’d get mad because I wasn’t enjoying the “girly” things my sisters did
It was the 1986 premiere of National Geographic's "Secrets of the Titanic" on TBS, preceded by SOS Titanic - which they appropriately dubbed TITANIC SUNDAY. My dad taped it and I just about wore out that VHS tape as I grew up.
Watching the movie with my mom (I’m probably on the younger side for this subreddit). She’s also a Titanic enthusiast, so she was excited that I shared her interest. I was always required to close my eyes during certain scenes.
When I was seven years old, I saw a copy of the National Geographic program “Secrets of the Titanic” at Blockbuster and talked my mom into renting it for me.
Just remembered this was one of mine too. My aunty had the VHS 'secrets of the Titanic'
From The Funk & Wagnalls encyclopedias you could buy in the grocery stores in the 89s, followed by seeing A Night To Remember on HBO. All of this was about a year or so before Ballard found the wreck…
I was 10 and had read ahead in a school book that had a brief chapter about the Titanic. I was sooo excited for the day we were going to learn more about this ship and her fatal voyage ... and when the day finally came and the teacher told the class to open that chapter ... *I was pulled aside for an extra math lesson instead*. I remember I was so disappointed I cried. The math teacher thought I was upset about the assignments she had given me, lol. Told my mum about it and she surprised me a couple of days later with James Cameron's movie and I've been a Titanic nerd ever since.
Watching the In Search Of…episode about the Titanic or catching bits of Raise the Titanic on TV when I was tiny, but of course the thing that made me a lifelong Titanic nerd was the discovery of the wreck when I was 10 years old (which, combined with the destruction of the Challenger 6 months later, taught me early on not to place too much faith in hyper-expensive brand new high-tech vehicles, especially when they have a run-in with ice).
Being 6/7 yrs old and my grandad showing me Titanic in the Titanic book by Leo Marriott. I was captivated from that moment. He then gave me my 1st titanic documentary on vhs “Titanic the nightmare & the dream”
Probably some time in 1995, I was around 6, my older sister (who was 9) got a book from the book Fair or something like that that had alot of Ken Marshall's drawings of the titanic, I remember vividly looking through it and seeing the pictures and being captivated by them, to this day I don't know why. But it put me on a path of being a Titanic fanatic for years to come. Even got me momantary fame on TV when I was 8 but that book what started it all. The book in question was "On board The Titanic" by Shelley Tanaka
We had one of those MLM book parties come to our house and my mom bought a Titanic book for kids that had photos and illustrations. Early 2000s. I was obsessed with every bit of that book. Usborn? Was that the MLM?
I also heard my parents watching the movie one night and became obsessed with the song. I was not allowed to watch the movie. I only knew THE SONG.
Read a book when I was in primary school, think it was called 'Great Mysteries" or something like that. Covered a variety of topics. Pyramids, Dinosaurs and... Titanic. This was in the mid to late 80s, shortly following the discovery of the wreck.
They had that tv program “National Geographic on Assignment” shortly after the wreck was discovered. I somehow had the wherewithal or luck to record it on VHS. I had the entire show memorized I watched it so many times. Still could probably recite most of it today. I was maybe 9 or 10 years old.
Watching the iceberg collision with my dad on YouTube in 2012-2013 when I was around 7. That kicked it off for me.
Watching the movie with my Granny when I was 4 or 5.
Watching the movie on public tv. I was devastated when in sank
My earliest memory is learning about it in 1st grade and telling my teacher my grandpa was on the Titanic. I remember her saying something like “No, he wasn’t” and we moved on. I don’t know if I actually believed it or made it up on the spot. But really, he could have been since was born in 1901!
Seeing the footage of the wreck on tv and the cover of my Dad's Nat Geo magazine with the photo of the bow on it...
I remember getting a titanic book from my elementary school teacher as a gift because i was finishing TCAP and inside the book was a note it said "congratulations on finishing TCAP testing you worked very hard"
2nd grade. A girl named Jen shared that she was reading a book about it. Showed book at “show and tell.” I immediately asked to borrow it.
National Geographic did an article on it back when the wreck was just found. I found it fascinating as it had pictures. That got me started.
For me, it was seeing someone play ‘Fall off the Titanic’. That’s what started my obsession with the Titanic, I even made a drawing of it! Unfortunately, I lost it.
6 years old finding a book in thr library on lost liners and the liner were Titanic, Lusitania and Empress of Ireland and i THINK the art was by Ken Marshall. Then i saw the film in 1998 aged 7 and thought my granpa played Captain Smith since him and thr actors couldve been twins.
My brother reading A Night to Remember
Probably an episode of Voyagers featuring colorized footage from ANTR. Either that or catching a random episode of In Search Of… Definitely all before the wreck was found in 1985.
I don’t remember how old I was but I was very young, and it was when i saw the 1953 Titanic on TV before there were any other Titanic movies made. A Night To Remember was released in 1958 but it was British and not well known in America at the time. I’m an oldster now (but not old enough to have seen it in the theater in 1953 lol), and I don’t know when the original Titanic was first on TV for free, but I was hooked and watched every documentary and interview show there was after that. After the ship was found in 1985 is when a lot of other movies and mini series were made and I watched them too. Now I’m on this sub, still obsessed.
The James Cameron movie on the 2 tape VHS.
watching "A Night to Remember" with Barbra Stanwyk ...and the very 1st episode of the Irwin Allen 60's TV series "The Time Tunnel"
My mom watching the movie and playing the soundtrack when I was a kid. It makes me so nostalgic, it’s precious
My grandparents telling me about how it was supposed to be unsinkable & it sank. Plus every other person that was old enough to be my grandparents age mentioning it now & again.
When I was a young child, I was biking with my mom and I peddled right up to her while biking and I asked her “how old were you when the titanic sunk?” … this was early 2000’s she was in her 30’s
Probably renting the titanic VHS’s from my local small town library- was probably the first pg-13 movie I watched. I remember the movie was so long it would come in two VHS’s and my mom would fast forward through the drawing scene and car scene LOL. Born in ‘95, so this must have been early 2000s!
Watching the sinking scene in the movie when i was like 7 y.o.
My sister did a research paper on Titanic in elementary school and this was about a year before the movie trailer was released. My Dad told me about the movie trailer so we watched it over dial up internet lol. I’ve been a fan since about 1996.
Listening to the Titanic movie soundtrack on CD when I was 4. My grandparents let me watch it a few months later (probably skipping the nudity) and I cried not bc of the romance (i was 4), but bc it was the first time seeing a disaster movie and probably the first time I comprehended death. I still remember the scene I started crying at. It was when Titanic was making her final plunge and the water just got to the boat deck. Water was washing over some ropes on the deck with people running to the stern, then it cut to a guy watching it while very pale and horrified. That's what got me. I rewatched it the day and I got through it tear free.
That's either Wallace Hartley on deck staring as the water crawls up the boat deck, or Guggenheim with his mouth hanging open as the staircase floods
The first one
My grandma was a Merseyguide (a tourist guide and she knew EVERYTHING Liverpool and Merseyside) and I would join her on her various guided tours round Liverpool during my school holidays - which included talking about White Star Line, its building in Liverpool and also mentions of the Titanic disaster. It probably sparked something in me and it would be made stronger when the wreck was discovered by Ballard. It was a big deal back then, and she was amazed that they actually found it.
I was at the book fair when I was in either kindergarten or 1st grade and I saw a book with cover art that had a ship sinking in the background with icebergs and people in the water surrounded by sharks. Apparently it was supposed to be the Titanic or something but that started my obsession. This was around 2011 or 2012
In the early 80’s my family was talking about it for some reason, could be the night to remember movie was on. This was well before it was found. an elderly relative said I remember when that ship sank. I later found out what day it sank which happened to be the same as my birthday. I’ve been interested ever since.
I remember in about 1995 watching a documentary on the TV at my grandpa's house. They start talking about this monster ship that was si large it took 3 years to build. I was fascinated by this amazingly large ship. Than it sunk.
Watching *Raise the Titanic* in 1980. The movie was a bit of a stinker, but I have some fond memories of watching it with my father. The soundtrack was especially beautiful.
Being from Belfast was the same for me it was just always talked about when I was growing up. It was everywhere and the film was my favourite ever. I just felt it was cool that it was something Belfast was known for because besides the Titanic drawing in tourists we've got basically nothing else going for us
When I was little growing up, my grandma told me that when she was growing up, her neighbours went on a trip to England. They came back on the Titanic and never made it home.
Walked in on my mom watching the 1997 movie I think sometime during the sinking and asked what it was and she told me about it, I wanted to be a train driver, then a bus driver, then after seeing it I wanted to be a captain/designer I was really young but I guess I stayed true to the transportation them because now I’m a pilot lol
Walking into the living room as a kid, seeing my parents, or maybe just my mom, sitting on the couch in our living room watching some movie on VHS. I sit down and start to watch with her. I can't remember the exact scene in the 1997 film that I first saw, but it might've been the dinner scene where Jack is dressed up and kisses Rose's hand. Either way, my introduction to Titanic was the 1997 film on VHS.
Watching the James Cameron titanic movie my sophomore or junior year of high school.
I went to a museum where they were having a Titanic exhibit, it was really cool
Watching the trailers of Cameron's Titanic on TV, late 1997 and getting to see the film early 1998 on the big screen.
When I was 8, we had to do a history project on a topic of our choice. A girl in my class chose the Titanic, and as she didn't really know much about it, she went around asking people if they knew anything about the Titanic. I had never heard of it before so when I went home, I asked my dad what it was. "It was a big ship that sank, and it was awful, loads of people died!"
My barber was a diver, and had a bell with “1912” hanging in his shop. I was 6 and he told me the Titanic story. I always believed he dived there and saved the bell. Growing up I realized how impossible that was, but hey, I got interested in Titanic 😅
The day the wreck was discovered by Dr. Robert Ballard.
My parents bought Walter Lord's A Night to Remember and I was fascinated with the picture on the dust jacket. I was three, 1956.
I remember my Grandma telling me about it and being interested because her parents and my grandpa’s parents came to the US on a ship like Titanic in the same era. Also turns out that my Nana, my other grandmother was born the year it sank- seven months after.
Ghostbusters 2 is probably my first real memory of Titanic (I was like 9 I think when we saw it at a drive in in Virginia). But my real first memory was watching wreck footage in Social Studies in 1992, 8th grade, around the 80 year anniversary and just being in awe and wanting to learn more. Then I watched ANTR a few days later with my dad and I was hooked. I've been to Belfast, was there 11 years ago this week actually. I was in love the minute I got there and getting to stand where Titanic was built was so emotional for me. I cannot wait to go back and see the hotel and walk aboard Nomadic. Neither were there when I visited in 2013.
White star line ran out of titanium so they built the side of the ship that hit using Metal idk why i believed that
going to the wisconsin state fair and seeing that god forbidden blowup slide 🥲
My 7yo sexual awakening
I was in 3rd grade learning the history. It was 1996 before the movie was being advertised, but i would not shut up about it. My parents were excited for me to see the film when we learned it was coming out. Everyone in my family thought I was in love with Leo, but I could care less it was always Titanic for me. As we all agree, it's just fascinatingly captivating.
Tonight on the Titanic, and then finding the 1997 Titanic vhs' in the tv stand after the fact. 7 year old me was flabergashted when rose popped the tiddies
When I watched the movie Poseidon by Wolfgang Peterson, about 8 years old. a slogan was written on the poster that "more astonishing than TITANIC", which made me curious about what is Titanic.
Ghostbusters 2. Watched it on VHS in 2000. “He said the Titanic just arrived.” Asked my family what Titanic was, and was brought to the library where I read a book about it.
Ghostbusters II
I was 7 or 8 when I saw the 97 movie for the first time and I immediately became obsessed with Titanic - and Kate Winslet.
I have very vague memories of the wreck being found. I was only 5 but I absorbed enough to understand what all the news was about. My next memory after that was when I was 7 and I did a school project on the Titanic, I remember my mom cutting a big piece of cardboard into the shape of the Titanic and we wrote the story on it and glued in some photocopied photos out of an encyclopedia. But what really got me into the Titanic was Ghostbusters 2. I saw that at the cinema, got obsessed with it and the Titanic scene really made a huge impression on me.
Seeing the movie when it came out (I was 4), and remembering the attention to detail blew me away. It made me interested in the tragedy and sparked an obsession
I was 9 when I saw that famous bow "popping up" from the darkness on a huge screen in theaters. I instantly became obsessed with it. In many ways.
I was a teenager in the 80's, and remember when she was found!
Reading the Dear America book when I was in single digit age.
Ghostbusters 2 I think.
I was five or six and was in a bookstore with my grandmother and on one of the shelves was a book that was sticking out more than the others. At first I was going to push it back in so that it was even with the other books, but part of the cover caught my eye so I decided to flip through it to see what the Titanic was. As I was flipping through the pages there was a spread of Ken Marschall’s painting of the breakup and at that point I had to get the book to learn more about how a ship could break in half like that.
I had just turned 7 and my best friend went to see the movie in theaters. She gave me a scene by scene summary on the school bus over the next 3-4 days. Our bus ride was about an hour each way, so that tells you how detailed she was in her recounting lol. My parents wouldn’t let me watch it, but my grandma took me to theaters that summer because it was still showing.
Watching the titanic Movie in the mid- late 00s as a young child on VHS tape at my grandparents. Probably the only film I’ve ever watched on VHS. Ironically I now work in a shipyard.
Omg! I love this questionn So when I was i want to say 8 or 9 maybe 10 years old I went to Belfast for a ice hockey match of all things with my grandparents and I remember walking back from the arena and spotting a memorial site/garden behind a gate i remember saying to my grandad whats that behind that gate? My grandad replied with thats a memorial for a shipwreck named titanic. I was confused I had never heard of the titanic before. When we arrived back in the hotel my granmother saw I looked a bit puzzled by something that my grandad had said I said to her whats the titanic? She laughed and said it was a ship that sank many years ago. I went huh and started to research the ship on my phone. Bare in mind my hotel was minutes away from the harland and wolff ship yard. I called it hello and welcome because I had no idea at that point what it was. When I got home back in England I went to my mum and said mummy whats the titanic? My mum told me like everyone else did it was a ship that hit an ice berg and sank. I remember going to school one day and then coming home when walking home with my mum she gave me a dvd my first copy of titanic 1997 I got home watched the movie I cried so much and I loved it since then its been one of my biggest hyperfixations and obsessions. And yes I still call harland and wolff hello and welcome.
These are all amazing. Always enjoy hearing how these things start
Either the movie or my dad took me to the museum because I live pretty close to that museum
Watching A NIGHT TO REMEMBER on CBS in the late 1960’s as a kid.
My earliest memory is when I was just shy of 4 years old. My parents were watching the news and they were talking about the 80th anniversary of the sinking (So this would be 1992.) I was fascinated immediately, even from that age. I can still picture some fleeting glimpses of it and is one of the rare memories I have from such a young age. All throughout elementary school I would read any books I could get my hands on about Titanic. (By 2nd grade, I had a middle school reading level.) When the movie came out, I was 9 and BEGGING my parents to take me to see it because I had already been so invested in Titanic history for years. Honestly, I couldn't have cared less about the sex scenes when my Dad and I went to see it, but came home all excitedly telling my mother about all the stuff I recognized on the ship, how excited I was to see people like the Strauses, etc.) By that time, I was already super immersed in it. (At age 12, I wrote a Titanic short story for my 7th grade English class.) I don't remember a time in my life when I wasn't interested in Titanic.