Michael Jackson remains the King of Pop

“I had the dubious honour of being the first person to announce, live on TV, that Michael had died.”

Everyone knows where they were when President Kennedy was shot, or when they heard Elvis had died.

For a younger generation, Michael Jackson’s death was their JFK moment. It’s five years since Jacko suffered a cardiac arrest and died at his home here in Los Angeles.

The week has been marked with celebrations charting the singer’s remarkable life.

For me, the memorials take me back to that evening. I had the dubious honour of being the first person to announce, live on TV, that Michael had died.

I was working with KTLA Prime News at the time as an anchor when the word started filtering in.

It was a strange evening to say the least. My first thought, oddly, was that I didn’t have a jacket on.

I couldn’t announce the death of the biggest pop star of the modern era without a suit jacket on. It’s strange what goes through your head.

We announced the news and, after that, it was just all about Jackson. There was speculation he’d suffered a drug overdose, but it would be a year until the truth was known.

The night seemed endless and I remember thinking no other news seemed to be happening in the world. Everything appeared to have stopped.

After presenting the news, I was straight on to reporting on GMTV, as it was known before Good Morning Britain.

The whole day was exhausting, but I was proud to have taken part. I met Michael Jackson once, at a house of a friend out here in Los Angeles.

Like everything surrounding Michael, it all seemed quite surreal. I can’t say too much but I did notice his voice believe it or not, but it was a heck of a lot deeper than it was when he was in public.

As I drove home along Sunset Boulevard on the night of his death, the atmosphere was incredible.

I’ll never forget it every car had the windows rolled down and was blaring out Michael Jackson songs, which were being played wall-to-wall on every radio station.

The coroner ruled that the King of Pop had died of acute intoxication after suffering a cardiac arrest.

Conrad Murray said he had found Jackson in his room, not breathing and with a barely-detectable pulse, and had tried to resuscitate him.

But on the eve of the anniversary of his death, it was ruled Jackson’s death was homicide thanks to the combination of prescription drugs he had been given.

Dr Murray was convicted of involuntary manslaughter for Michael’s death in 2011 and he served two years in prison. It was left to Jackson’s poor children to pick up the pieces of their lives.

I know what it’s like to grieve for a dad but did his three children, Prince, 17, Paris, 16, and 12-year-old Blanket, have time to process what happened?

They apparently enjoy £5 million allowance per year. I don’t think there are enough gobstoppers and copies of the Beano available to spend that amount of pocket money on.

Michael was so ever-present in their lives, none more so than in the weeks, months and even years following his death, that I doubt they’ll ever properly grieve for their dad.

We all know what happened to Michael he was robbed of a childhood in many ways by his abusive father.

It was a year ago when the sad news came of Paris Jackson’s suicide attempt, when she found out Michael wasn’t her biological father.

This all took an understandable toll on the young woman who was, after all, only 11 when her dad died.

Thankfully, she seems to have bounced back and is looking fit and healthy these days. And her older brother Prince is keen to make a move into showbusiness himself.

Last year, Prince made a guest appearance on drama 90210 and also worked as a correspondent for Entertainment Tonight. Who knows, maybe this Prince will be the new Ross King?