Jordan North has revealed how he narrowly avoided a bombing in Northern Ireland when he was a child.
The BBC Radio 1 DJ, who came second on this year’s I’m A Celeb, has admitted a last minute decision by his mother saved his family from being caught up in the Omagh Bombing.
On August 15, 1998, a bomb planted by the Real IRA exploded in the town, killing 29 people and injuring 220 others.
Speaking on BBC Radio Ulster’s Lockdown Lowdown, Jordan said: “My dad was in the Army for 24 years. In 1997 his battalion, the Queen’s Lancashire Regiment, was posted to Omagh so we moved out there.”
“In August 1998, when the Omagh bomb happened, we were there at the time and we were meant to be going into town that day, into Omagh.”
“But I’m one of four boys and my mum said we were all playing up. It was in the middle of the summer holidays and it was hot. It wasn’t raining for once.”
“But my mum said, ‘I’m not going into town with these lot. They’re doing my head in’, so we decided to go for a walk,” he explained.
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“We were in Gortin Glen when the bomb went off. We heard it from there. It was an awful time.”
“Dad rushed us all into the car because he knew we had to be back on camp.
“I remember I was only eight years old and it was one of the first times I felt really sad,” he added.
