Cadbury Chocolates Commissioned by Queen Victoria in 1900 for British Soldiers Fighting in the Boer War

In late 1899, Queen Victoria decided to send a gift of chocolate to over 100,000 British soldiers serving in South Africa during the Second Boer War (1899–1902) to boost morale for the New Year of 1900.

The British chocolate industry was dominated by Quaker families (Cadbury, Fry, and Rowntree), who were strict pacifists opposed to the war. They initially refused to take payment or brand the tins for war efforts. Ultimately, they compromised by producing the chocolate for free, packed into unbranded or minimally marked tins.

The tin featured a profile portrait of Queen Victoria, her royal monogram (VRI for Victoria Regina Imperatrix), and the inscription: “I wish you a happy New Year - Victoria RI” alongside “South Africa 1900”.

Many soldiers cherished the tins as personal tokens from the Monarch and refused to eat the chocolate. As a result, several intact bars survived inside their original packaging for well over a century, occasionally surfacing at auctions and museum exhibits fully preserved (though long past edible condition).

George Owen Wynne Apperley: Late Romantic Painter of Spain and Morocco

George Owen Wynne Apperley (1884–1960) was a British painter associated with the late Romantic tradition.

Born on the Isle of Wight, Apperley trained briefly at the Herkomer School before developing a largely self-taught style. In 1917, he moved to Spain, settling in Granada’s Albaicín district, where he became known for his atmospheric portraits, landscapes, and figurative works inspired by local life and Mediterranean light. Political tensions later forced him to leave for Tangier, Morocco, where he continued to paint until his death.

Celebrated for his refined technique and romantic sensibility, Apperley is remembered as one of the distinctive British artists who made their careers in Spain and North Africa. These evocative works showcase the romantic vision and refined artistry of George Owen Wynne Apperley, a British painter deeply inspired by Spain and Morocco.

The Pretty Girl

A Gypsy

Beauty of Cordoba

Card Player

Castanets

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Beautiful Jacqueline Bisset on 35mm Color Slides

Jacqueline Bisset (born September 13, 1944) is a British actress. She began her film career in 1965 and came to prominence in 1968 with roles in The Detective, Bullitt, and The Sweet Ride, for which she received a Golden Globe nomination as Most Promising Newcomer. Bisset transitioned from an international sex symbol and screen siren in the late 1960s and 1970s into one of mainstream cinema’s most acclaimed and enduring dramatic actresses by the 1980s.

After breaking into Hollywood in the late 1960s with roles in Bullitt (1968) alongside Steve McQueen and The Sweet Ride (1968), she dominated 1970s cinema across multiple genres. Bisset starred as pregnant flight attendant Gwen Meighen in Airport (1970), one of the highest-grossing films of the decade that launched the 70s disaster film genre. She earned serious critical respect working with European auteur François Truffaut in Day for Night (La Nuit américaine, 1973), which won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Her performance as Julie Baker cemented her status in international art cinema.

In The Deep (1977), her opening underwater scene wearing a thin white T-shirt became a global sensation. Newsweek declared her “the most beautiful actress of all time,” and the movie popularized the wet T-shirt trend worldwide, though Bisset often expressed frustration that media focus fixated on her physical appearance rather than her performance. She appeared in Agatha Christie’s star-studded adaptation Murder on the Orient Express (1974) and Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe? (1978), for which she earned a Golden Globe nomination.

In the 1980s, Bisset deliberately shifted toward complex, mature roles that showcased her versatility and dramatic range. She starred opposite Candice Bergen in George Cukor’s final film, Rich and Famous (1981), portraying an ambitious, uncompromising novelist. She delivered a bold performance in Class (1983) as an attractive older woman engaged in an affair with her son’s prep school roommate (played by Andrew McCarthy). She reteamed with director John Huston for Under the Volcano (1984), starring alongside Albert Finney. Her tragic performance as Yvonne Firmin brought critical acclaim.

Recognizing the changing roles available for women in studio films, Bisset took on major television roles, notably starring as Josephine de Beauharnais in the acclaimed miniseries Napoleon and Josephine: A Love Story (1987).

Throughout both decades, Bisset maintained a reputation for privacy and independence, consistently refusing to conform to typical Hollywood studio expectations while balancing American blockbusters with European auteur cinema.

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Rarely Seen Photos of a Young Dave Mustaine With His First Band, Panic

Before joining Metallica in late 1981, a teenage Dave Mustaine formed his very first group, Panic, in Southern California around 1980. Though short-lived and plagued by tragedy, Panic was where Mustaine developed his aggressive lead guitar style and wrote early riffs that eventually shaped thrash metal history.

The original lineup was Dave Harmon on drums, Tom Queck on guitar, Bob Evans on bass, Pat Voeks as singer, and Mustaine on lead guitar. Although the band lasted a long time, the guys rarely performed and rehearsed, especially in late 1980 and 1981, when the band was already beginning to break up. They mostly went to parties, jammed a little, and hung out with girls.

“Well, there was a talent show where they told us we were too loud and kicked us out, but my first gig was with Panic at Huntington Beach.” Mustaine recalled. “Although the sex, the girls and the drugs were rampant, it was marred by the death of two friends: the guy who made our sound and our drummer at the time.”

On that tragic day, Harmon was replaced by Mike Leftwych, who along with sound engineer Joe died in the car accident. Mustaine stated that after the band started to fall apart in 1981, Quecke was also killed in a separate car crash shortly after.

“We were all partying, and I decided to spend the night,” Mustaine said. “I stayed behind and these two guys went home. They were driving down the Pacific Coast Highway, south of the pier, by the Jack in the Box, and crashed. The driver was able to get out of the car, but he diеd because he’d broken his neck. The drummer was asleep in the back, and he, unfortunately, diеd in the fire. Yeah, Panic had a very painful beginning; our other guitar player also died in a car crash. It was kind of a very painful, dark period when I started playing.”

The sequence of events left the band shattered. Shortly after Panic dissolved in 1981, Mustaine spotted a classified ad in The Recycler placed by drummer Lars Ulrich—leading directly to his audition and entry into Metallica, where he would stay for a little less than 2 years.

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50 Stunning Photos of Claudette Colbert in the 1950s

During the 1950s, Claudette Colbert (September 13, 1903 – July 30, 1996) pivoted her career away from mainstream Hollywood films and successfully transitioned into television and Broadway stage roles. As the traditional studio system evolved and her box-office drawing power began to wane, she leveraged her early background in theater to reinvent her career during her 50s.

The decade began with a major line of demarcation in her film career. Colbert was originally cast as Margo Channing in All About Eve (1950). Just days before shooting began, she severely injured her back while filming the climax of Three Came Home (1950). The role was recast with Bette Davis, becoming one of cinema history’s most iconic performances.

As quality film roles for women over 40 grew scarce in studio-system Hollywood, Colbert pivoted early to live television anthology drama and stage performances. She guest-starred in high-profile television programs, including The Ford Television Theatre, General Electric Theater, Climax!, and Playhouse 90.

Colbert returned to her roots on the Broadway stage. Her biggest theatrical triumph of the decade came in 1958 starring opposite Charles Boyer in Julia Hu’s comedy The Marriage-Go-Round, which earned her a Tony Award nomination for Best Actress in a Play. While less active on the big screen, she took on selective domestic and international film roles such as: The Secret Fury (1950), Thunder on the Hill (1951), and Si Versailles m'était conté... (1954).

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Linda Harrison: The Silent Icon of ‘Planet of the Apes’

Born 1945, American actress Linda Harrison is best remembered for her powerful silent performance as Nova in the classic science-fiction film Planet of the Apes (1968) and its sequel Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970).

A former beauty pageant winner from Maryland, Harrison was signed by 20th Century Fox and quickly became one of the studio’s rising stars of the late 1960s. With almost no dialogue, she conveyed emotion and presence through expression and physicality, creating one of the most enduring images of the original Planet of the Apes series.

Harrison remains closely associated with the film and is celebrated as a distinctive face of late-1960s Hollywood. These vintage photos capture the beauty, presence, and lasting impact of Linda Harrison, the unforgettable silent icon of Planet of the Apes.

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People Wash Their Car as the Rubble of the World Trade Center Looms in the Background Shortly After the September 11 Attacks

This is a real photograph taken on September 24, 2001, about two weeks after the September 11 attacks, by Bay Area News Group photojournalist Jane Tyska while documenting the post-9/11 recovery effort in Manhattan. It shows two people washing a Mazda MX-5 Miata on a street near Ground Zero, with the skeletal remains of the South Tower of the World Trade Center visible in the background amid ongoing recovery and cleanup work.

When the Twin Towers collapsed, toxic dust, pulverized concrete, glass, and ash covered all surrounding streets and buildings. The black Mazda MX-5 Miata shown in the photo had been parked inside a nearby garage since September 11. Roughly two weeks later, when residents and owners were finally permitted back into the restricted zone to retrieve their vehicles, the owners pulled the car out and began hosing away the dense layer of hazardous debris so it could be safely driven out of the Financial District.

Photographers were drawn to the scene because it captured a stark juxtaposition: two everyday people engaging in a mundane task, washing a sports car, right in front of the wreckage of Ground Zero.

The photo has circulated widely in recent years (especially in Miata enthusiast communities), sometimes sparking skepticism that it might be AI-generated or staged due to the stark contrast between the ordinary act of washing a car and the catastrophic scene behind it. Tyska has confirmed its authenticity, calling claims that it’s fake “absolutely ridiculous.” She still works as a staff photographer and happens to own a classic red NA Miata herself.