Taxidermist Carl Akeley posing with the leopard he killed with his bare hands after it attacked him, 1896. Not wanting to end up stuffing the cat with his own entrails, Akeley raised his rifle and fired twice, but he missed both times. On his third shot, the bullet grazed the leopard, sending the feline into a frenzy. Enranged, the big cat screamed and charged the American, all teeth and bad attitude, ready to take his revenge. Terrified out of his mind, Akeley pulled the trigger a fourth time, only to realize that he was out of bullets. Downright desperate, Akeley tried to flee, loading cartridges into his rifle as he ran. Working the bolt, he turned to shoot, only to see the leopard flying through the air, fangs bared. Fortunately, Akeley’s first shot had wounded one of the cat’s back paws. Thanks to the bullet, the leopard’s jump was a bit off, giving Akeley enough time to throw up his hands. The cat sank its jaws into the man’s forearm, and the two started wrestling back and forth, fighting for their lives. Eventually, the man and cat grew weak and tumbled to the ground. Finally, he managed to strangle the leopard with his left hand while ramming his right arm down the leopard’s throat.

Judy Garland taking a break from filming “The Wizard of Oz”, 1938. Judy Garland was put on a diet while filming The Wizard of Oz. That diet, consisted of chicken soup, coffee, and … 80 cigarettes a day. She was 16 years old The insecure teenager was by that time addicted to barbiturates and amphetamines and was on the road to alcoholism. In addition, she was routinely molested by older men including studio chiefs who considered her little more than their “property”.

President Harry Truman shakes hands with Pablo Picasso. Vallauris, France, 1958

Abraham Lincoln’s beloved mutt Fido – the first Presidential dog to be photographed, and the reason Fido (Latin for “to trust”) became such a popular dog’s name (1861)

British soldier on a pony in zebra camouflage. East Africa WWI (1915)

Dora Ratjen, a German Olympic athlete, who was arrested at a train station on suspicion of being a man in a dress, 1938. The father, Heinrich Ratjen, stated in 1938: “When the child was born the midwife called over to me: Heini, it’s a boy! But five minutes later she said to me: It is a girl, after all”. Nine months later, when the child, who had been christened Dora, was ill, a doctor examined the child’s genitalia and, according to Heinrich, said “Let it be. You can’t do anything about it anyway”.

Ratjen’s winning 1.63-meter jump at the 1937 German Athletics Championships.

Albert Einstein and his daughter become citizens of the United States rather than return to Germany under Hitler. October 1, 1940

A man holding his daily ration of food (125 grams of bread, of which 50–60% consisted of sawdust) during the Siege of Leningrad, 1941-1944. More civilians died of starvation, cold and disease in the first few months of the siege than all the US Military deaths in all theaters of the war. Total US military deaths from all causes: 407,000 Total number of dead from the beginning of the siege, September ’41, to December ’41: 780,000, almost entirely civilian deaths. And the siege lasted 900 days. Out of a population of around 3.5 million civilians, 400,000 survived in the city.

Adolf Eichmann walks around the yard of his cell, Israel, April 1961. A German Nazi SS-Obersturmbannführer (lieutenant colonel) and one of the major organisers of the Holocaust. Eichmann was tasked by SS-Obergruppenführer (general/lieutenant general) Reinhard Heydrich with facilitating and managing the logistics of mass deportation of Jews to ghettos and extermination camps in German-occupied Eastern Europe during World War II. In 1960, he was captured in Argentina by Mossad, Israel’s intelligence service. Following a widely publicised trial in Israel, he was found guilty of war crimes and hanged in 1962.

Photo of sentencing from the Nuremburg trials. The name of the offender and their punishment next to them, Hess is hidden because Goering was standing up, he received life imprisonment.

Bodies of Benito Mussolini with mistress Clara Petacci, April 1945

The skeleton of a Japanese atomic bomb victim whose flesh was cooked off their bones in the heat of the blast. It lies in the rubble of a house next to an unbroken ceramic pot. September 1, 1945 Nagasaki

“All I Want For Christmas Is A Clean White School” – Segregationists protest the attendance of 6-year-old Ruby Bridges outside William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans, 1960

Czeslawa Kwoka, age 14, Auschwitz. December 1942

Men of Easy Company (portrayed in HBO’s Band of Brothers) celebrate V-E day in Hitler’s private residence, May 8, 1945. “War brings out the worst and the best in people. Wars do not make men great, but they do bring out the greatness in good men. War is romantic only to those who are far away from the sounds and turmoil of battle. For those of us who served in Easy Company, and for those who served their country in other theaters, we came back as better men and women as a result of being in combat, and most would do it again if called upon. But each of us hoped that if we had learned anything from the experience it is that war is unreal, and we earnestly hoped that it would never happen again.” – Dick Winters

December 1948, Talladega, AL., Klansmen and Santa Claus presented a radio to Jack Riddle, a 107 year old Negro and his wife, Josey, 86, so they could have their wish, to “hear the preachers.” Grand Dragon Samuel Green explained that this demonstrated the true heart of a Klansman.

First Miss Soviet Union Beauty Pageant, 1988