Tina Turner, the Rock Legend Who Loved Cars

Tina Turner was known for many things: her unmistakable raspy voice, her unrivaled on-stage energy, and her ability to overcome whatever life threw her way. Did you know she was also an avid an auto enthusiast?

Turner’s love affair with cars began early in her career, when she was teamed up with Ike Turner. In 1970, Sammy Davis Jr. bought her a white XJ6 Jaguar as a gift. Then her husband Ike Turner bought her a silver Jaguar XKE in 1973.

According to Turner’s 2018 autobiography, My Love Story, Davis originally wanted to gift her a Mercedes-Benz, but her assistant suggested a Jaguar instead because the singer “was into English cars.” Turner admitted the Jag “awakened my passion for fast cars.”

“It may sound silly,” Turner wrote, “but one of my favorite escapes, and a secret pleasure, was driving my Jaguar. I loved it because it was something I could do by myself, one of the few times I could be alone and free.”

The 12-time Grammy Award winner experienced similar joy in the Jaguar XKE.

“I’ll never forget the moment I got behind the wheel and pulled out of the dealership,” she wrote. “It was late and a little misty when I drove the sleek silver Jaguar on Wilshire Boulevard. As far as I was concerned, there was no one else on the road—just me, driving with the windows down, looking and feeling fabulous. I can still hear the sound of the motor, the vroom that signaled it was ready to take me anywhere I wanted to go.”

In 1978, during her divorce from Ike Turner, she famously walked away with only her stage name, “Tina Turner,” but, to her relief, the judge also ruled that the two Jaguars should stay with her, indicating their personal importance.

Following the massive success of her 1984 comeback album, Private Dancer, her taste shifted. She bought a Lamborghini LM002 (an early SUV). Because she only had an automatic driving license, her partner (later husband) Erwin Bach had the car radically customized, replacing the standard V12 engine and manual transmission with a V8 engine and automatic gearbox from a Mercedes-Benz 500E. This bespoke LM002 remains one of the most unique vehicles she owned.

Her collection also included a Mercedes-Benz G-Wagen from 1985. In the 1990s, she also appeared in a series of popular television advertisements for the Chrysler Plymouth family of cars, including the Acclaim and Laser.

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Leslie Caron: French Star of Hollywood Musicals

Leslie Caron is a celebrated French actress and dancer whose career flourished in both Hollywood and European cinema, making her a global icon of grace and charm.

Discovered by Gene Kelly, Caron was famously cast in the 1951 musical classic An American in Paris, which launched her international fame. Her slight, youthful figure and expressive eyes made her an ideal muse for dreamy, romantic roles. She went on to star in other major hits, most notably the title role in Lili (1953), for which she received her first Academy Award nomination, and later, the poignant film The L-Shaped Room (1962), earning her a second nomination and a Golden Globe Award.

Caron’s enduring appeal lies in her ability to transition seamlessly between whimsical dance numbers and complex dramatic acting, embodying the sophistication of French culture on the international screen. Renowned for her charm, poise, and expressive performances, Leslie Caron remains one of the last surviving stars of Hollywood’s Golden Age of musicals.

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Paul and Linda McCartney Crossing the Legendary Abbey Road With Their Pet Pony Jet in 1977

Jet was a Shetland pony owned by the McCartney family and was one of the inspirations for the 1973 Wings hit song “Jet.” These photographs were taken near Abbey Road Studios in London, where The Beatles famously shot their album cover in 1969. The McCartneys were at the studio during this period.

The photos were notably used by their daughter, Mary McCartney, as one of the key images in her 2022 documentary about Abbey Road Studios, If These Walls Could Sing. She has mentioned that the images of her mother, Linda, with the pony on the crossing was a special inspiration for her.

“Jet was our pony for a very long time,” Mary said. “He was named after the song. He was a feisty little pony who we rode and loved. But it all comes back. I mean, that’s a very unusual photo. And I loved the idea that by doing this documentary, I have been able to show the world one of my favorite photographs, which is my mother taking our pony across the zebra crossing to the studio. I just think it shows her character to a T and what a rule-breaker she was.”

45 Fascinating Photos That Show 1970s Lifestyle

The 1970s in the United States and the Western world were defined by a profound cultural and social transition, moving away from the rigid structures of the previous decades toward greater individualism and complexity. This lifestyle was marked by a blend of economic anxiety (due to recessions and the oil crisis) and burgeoning personal freedom.

Fashion was highly expressive, embracing diverse trends from bell-bottoms and platform shoes to Bohemian chic and disco glitter. Socially, the decade saw the strengthening of the Second-Wave Feminist movement and environmental consciousness, symbolized by the first Earth Day. Home life often shifted toward informality, with open floor plans and earthy, nature-inspired color palettes dominating interior design.

These fascinating photos, found by Thomas Hawk, reveal what life in the 1970s looked like.

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Studio Shots of Michael Biehn and Linda Hamilton for the Iconic Film “The Terminator” (1984)

On the set of The Terminator, Michael Biehn and Linda Hamilton forged a dynamic that mirrored their characters’ tense, desperate alliance. Hamilton played Sarah Connor, a young Los Angeles waitress who is initially unaware that she is the key to the future of humanity. Biehn played Kyle Reese, a resistance soldier from the post-apocalyptic future (2029 A.D.) who is sent back in time to protect Sarah from the Terminator.

Their on-screen connection is crucial, as the entire future of humanity depends on their brief, intense romance. They share a chemistry that is desperate, tender, and born out of shared trauma and the need to survive. This romance ultimately results in the conception of John Connor, the future leader of the resistance, fulfilling the predestination paradox at the core of the film.

Biehn almost didn’t get the part. When he first auditioned for director James Cameron, he gave his reading with a Southern accent because he had been preparing for an audition for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof that morning. Cameron and the producers initially didn’t want the character of Kyle Reese to be geographically specific. Biehn’s agent quickly explained the mistake, and a second, accent-free reading secured him the role.

Hamilton has mentioned that she initially had doubts about the project, finding the script and the concept a bit “schlocky” and not matching her “thespian ambitions” at the time. However, Cameron specifically wanted her because he felt she had the ability to convey vulnerability while also possessing an underlying strength that would make her transformation into a resilient figure believable. Hamilton broke her ankle shortly before filming began. Rather than recasting her, the injury was managed with a special wrap/cast, allowing her to push through the physically demanding role, which perhaps even added to Sarah Connor’s look of being constantly stressed and on the run.

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When Freddie Mercury “Married” Actress Jane Seymour at Fashion Aid, 1985

On November 5, 1985, the fashion world and the music world collided at the Fashion Aid benefit, held at London’s Royal Albert Hall. Fashion Aid was a spin-off of Live Aid, organized to raise additional funds for Ethiopian famine relief.

The charity event brought together the greatest names in fashion, with designers like David and Elizabeth Emanuel, Bruce Oldfield and Joseph Tricot taking part in the catwalk display. There were also guests in attendance from the celebrity world and beyond, with The Beatles’ former drummer Ringo Starr, actress Anjelica Huston, and even Margaret Thatcher in the audience. A handful of the stars that performed at Live Aid also lent their support to Fashion Aid, with George Michael, Madonna, Grace Jones, Mick Jagger, Jerry Hall, and Boy George turning up for the event.

One of the most memorable segments of the night was a humorous mini-ceremony in which Freddie Mercury “married” actress Jane Seymour. This wasn’t a real marriage, it was a tongue-in-cheek fashion-performance sketch staged as part of the show’s theatrical runway presentations. Seymour was the bride, modeling a bridal collection by designers David and Elizabeth Emanuel, and Mercury was the groom. The memorable finale of their “wedding” involved Mercury grabbing and kissing Seymour, and she considers it one of the highlights of her career.

“They said ‘we’d like you to be the bride and your groom with be Freddie Mercury,’” Seymour later recalled in a 2023 interview. “I went ’yes okay!,’ I mean I’m a huge fan. When they asked me to be involved with Fashion Aid, I said absolutely.”

Talking about the wedding dress she wore on the night, Seymour said: “It was perfect. It couldn’t have been any better. It fit me like a glove. I wonder where it went!”

She then described what Freddie was like in person, revealing: “He was very shy before we went out, then he suddenly became the mercurial Freddie Mercury.”

“I couldn’t manage the dress and the flowers that weighed too much, but I didn’t want to let anyone down,” the actress said. “Then there’s Freddie and he’s gone ahead [down the catwalk]. He’s doing his thing and I’m like the bride trying to catch up. Eventually I do catch up, then he just grabbed me and kissed me, which I was not expecting. But I was very happy to be kissed by Freddie Mercury.

“Then of course he grabbed my big floral arrangement and threw it out! To this day, as far as my children and a lot of people are concerned, it was the highest, most important moments of my career being Freddie Mercury’s bride. He kind of made it, and I was just so thrilled that I was there by his side and was a part of it.”

At the end of the evening, Mercury and Seymour made their way to the hotel where the reception was being held, still dressed as the bride and groom. Astonished hotel guests recognized the couple and photographed them, believing they were witnessing a celebrity wedding. Freddie, finding it very amusing, did nothing to dissuade them. He did suggest they should change their clothes.

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40 Photochrom Prints of Constantinople From the 1890s

The late 19th century introduced the mesmerizing technique of Photochrom, a photolithographic process that transformed black-and-white negatives into richly detailed, colorized images. This innovation offered the Victorian public a vivid, almost fantastical, view of distant lands previously unseen in natural color.

The Photochrom prints of Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul) from the 1890s are particularly striking, showcasing the majesty of the Ottoman capital just before the 20th century. These images meticulously captured iconic landmarks like the Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, and the bustling shores of the Golden Horn, depicting the city’s complex mix of Byzantine and Ottoman architecture, often populated by elegantly dressed figures.

Serving as early forms of picture postcards and travel documentation, these prints preserved a romanticized, colorful record of a culturally rich city at the crossroads of East and West.

A street at Stamboul with fountain, Constantinople, Turkey, circa 1890s

A part of the Eyoub (i.e., Uyüp) cemetery, Constantinople, Turkey, circa 1890s

Alman (German) Fountain, Constantinople, Turkey, circa 1890s

Barbers near Seraskierrat, Constantinople, Turkey, circa 1890s

Bosphorus (i.e., Bosporus), Rumeli and Anadali-Hissar, (i.e., Anadolu Hissarı), Constantinople, Turkey, circa 1890s

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