The reminiscence bump is the higher prevalence of autobiographical memories from adolescence and early adulthood. The reminiscence bump has also been found in the memory for public events, which could, as recently has been suggested, be explained by cultural life scripts. Life scripts are culturally shared knowledge about the order and timing of life events in an idealized life course. They are examined by categorizing which events are expected to occur in a prototypical person's life and when these events are supposed to occur. The present study found, however, no support for cultural life scripts as an explanation for the reminiscence bump in the memory for public events. Most public events were expected to occur before the reminiscence bump period. Although there was some agreement about which public events are likely to happen in a prototypical person's life, there was little agreement about when these events are supposed to occur. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.