Week of November 29, 2001 – CBS Weekend Roundup – Gordon Skene Sound Collection –
Twenty years ago today, November 29, 2001 George Harrison quietly passed away in Los Angeles at 58 of complications from Cancer. With him went one more element in the legacy of The Beatles, John Lennon having been murdered 21 years earlier. A not entirely unexpected passing, but one which brought floods of emotion and reminiscences from just about everyone of a certain age on. He was part of our world and he helped shape so much of what the 60s stood for; the positive things, those elements that, in many ways defined who we were, particularly those of us who were coming of age during the Kennedy Years and breathed a sigh of relief when they first appeared on Ed Sullivan. The Beatles signaled a change and George was a crucial element in that change – he was that essential element that made it all okay. They came bearing keys and opened up all the locks.
So the death of George Harrison was a moment of reflection on life as it was in 2001. We were still reeling over the catastrophe of 9/11 – we were getting ready to embark on a 20 year mission to Afghanistan and uncertainty.
The world was still carrying on; still at odds, still unsure.
Reports from Afghanistan, this 9th week of air-strikes and American troops settling in for what would be an endless war. Speculation over where Osama bin Laden was hiding and assurances it was in Afghanistan, “somewhere around Kabul”. The presence of Russian troops under the premise of re-taking their embassy in Kabul which had been overrun by some 4,000 refugee families living on and around the compound.
That, and other news was where the world was standing as presented by the CBS Weekend Roundup – and twenty years later . . .?
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