Rarely Seen Photos of Sir Roger Moore as a Child From the 1920s and 1930s

Sir Roger Moore’s childhood was marked by severe health struggles, the hardships of World War II, and a strong passion for the arts. Growing up as an only child in South London, his early years blended modest family security with the terrifying reality of the Blitz.

Born on October 14, 1927, in Stockwell, London, Moore was the only child of George Alfred Moore, a London Metropolitan Police officer, and Lillian “Lily” Pope, a homemaker. Because his father had a steady job during the Great Depression, the family enjoyed a level of modest financial security that many of their neighbors lacked. Moore often spoke warmly of his parents, noting that they fully supported his early endeavors.

Moore was a famously sickly child. He once joked that he had contracted “every childhood disease known to man,” battling severe illnesses that included double pneumonia, jaundice and mumps. Because he spent so much of his youth in and out of hospitals, his parents became highly protective of him. Lacking the physical strength to defend himself against neighborhood bullies, Moore developed a sharp, witty personality to defuse dangerous situations with humor, a trait that would later define his acting style.

His teenage years were heavily disrupted by World War II. During the Blitz, when Nazi forces heavily bombed London, Moore and his family took cover in an Anderson shelter built in their garden. He recalled the terrifying environment of serving as a wartime bomb spotter, once becoming so frightened by an oncoming V1 buzz bomb that he dropped his warning whistle. To escape the danger, he and his mother were eventually evacuated from London to Devon, leading him to attend multiple schools, including Battersea Grammar School and Launceston College.

Though he excelled academically and was a keen swimmer, Moore’s true childhood passion was art. Encouraged by his mother, he loved drawing and painting and initially aspired to be a professional artist. This passion led him to drop out of high school at age 15 to take an apprenticeship as a tracer and animator at a local animation house producing films for the war effort. However, his animation career was short-lived; he was fired after making a mistake with some animation cels, which inadvertently steered him toward extra work and his eventual legendary acting career.

When the Rolling Stones Performed on a Flatbed Truck in New York City in 1975

On May 1, 1975, The Rolling Stones staged one of the most legendary guerrilla marketing stunts in rock history by performing live on a moving flatbed truck rolling down Fifth Avenue in New York City. Instead of attending their scheduled, traditional press conference inside the Fifth Avenue Hotel to announce their upcoming Tour of the Americas ‘75, the band completely bypassed the media. They left journalists waiting inside the hotel while they blasted an extended version of their hit song “Brown Sugar” directly on the rain-slicked streets outside.

The truck loaded up its backline equipment, amps, and instruments at 12th Street and barreled down Lower Fifth Avenue toward Washington Square Park, bringing Manhattan traffic to a sudden standstill. The idea came from drummer Charlie Watts, who was inspired by historical New Orleans jazz musicians who traditionally used flatbed trucks to promote their upcoming gigs.

The casual, chaotic performance served as the official live public debut of guitarist Ronnie Wood, who had just joined the band to replace Mick Taylor. Mick Jagger, sporting a flashy yellow blazer and carrying a parasol, strutted across the tiny moving stage alongside Keith Richards, Charlie Watts, Bill Wyman, and keyboardist Billy Preston, while hundreds of ecstatic fans and blindsided reporters chased the truck down the street.

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1909 Rolls-Royce 40/50 HP Silver Ghost Roi des Belges: The Origin of “The Best Car in the World”

The 1909 Rolls-Royce 40/50 HP Silver Ghost Roi des Belges represents the early flowering of a legend. Powered by an exceptionally quiet 7.0-liter inline-six engine, the Silver Ghost quickly earned its reputation for unmatched refinement, reliability, and engineering excellence.

The elegant Roi des Belges open touring body, a style originally associated with the King of Belgium, added grace and presence to the already outstanding chassis. It was cars like this that led contemporary observers to declare the Silver Ghost “the best car in the world”, a title that has remained inseparable from Rolls-Royce ever since.

More than a century later, the 1909 Silver Ghost Roi des Belges still stands as a defining masterpiece of Edwardian motoring. These photos capture the pioneering elegance and enduring legacy of the 1909 Rolls-Royce 40/50 HP Silver Ghost Roi des Belges, the car that helped establish the phrase “the best car in the world.”

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36 Stunning Portraits of a Young and Beautiful Laraine Day in the 1940s

Laraine Day (born La Raine Johnson, October 13, 1920 – November 10, 2007) was an American actress, radio and television commentator, and former Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) contract star. She experienced the peak of her Hollywood career during the 1940s, transitioning from MGM contract star to a versatile freelance leading lady opposite major stars like Cary Grant, John Wayne, and Joel McCrea.

Day started the decade securely under contract at MGM. In 1941, she was even voted Hollywood’s “Number One Star of Tomorrow.” She cemented her early popularity as Nurse Mary Lamont, the prominent love interest opposite Lew Ayres in MGM’s highly successful Dr. Kildare franchise. However, fearing the role was limiting her growth, she requested a change. The studio subsequently killed off her character in Dr. Kildare’s Wedding Day (1941).

Some of her best 1940s work occurred when other studios borrowed her from MGM. She displayed immense dramatic depth in Alfred Hitchcock’s classic thriller Foreign Correspondent (1940) and starred opposite Cary Grant in the romantic comedy-drama Mr. Lucky (1943). Frustrated by a lack of challenging roles at MGM, particularly after losing the lead in Undercurrent (1946) to Katharine Hepburn, Day left the studio in May 1946. She signed a lucrative independent contract with RKO Pictures for $100,000 per film. There, she delivered what she considered her favorite and most memorable performance: a psychologically complex, kleptomaniac protagonist in the film noir The Locket (1946).

Beyond the silver screen, Day expanded her creative horizons during the war years. In 1941, she made her formal stage debut on a national theater tour of Angel Street alongside a young Gregory Peck. She also became a familiar voice across American households, making prominent guest appearances on acclaimed anthology programs like the Lux Radio Theatre and The Screen Guild Theater.

Day’s personal life underwent a massive transformation during this era. She married flight instructor James Ray Hendricks in 1942, adopting three children with him before a messy divorce in 1946. In 1948, she married legendary, fiery baseball manager Leo Durocher. The high-profile union shook up her Hollywood image. She relocated to New York, where she became a fierce supporter of his team, the New York Giants. Her constant presence at the ballpark earned her the official title “The First Lady of Baseball,” and she even wrote a book about her experiences, Day with the Giants.

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Paris in 1960 Through Fascinating Photos

These fascinating photos capture Paris in 1960, a city in the midst of postwar recovery and rapid modernization. The images show everyday life along the boulevards and side streets: elegantly dressed Parisians going about their routines, and the classic architecture of the capital.

Under the early years of the Fifth Republic, the city was cleaning its historic facades, expanding, and adapting to a new era while retaining much of its traditional charm. The photos offer a vivid and nostalgic glimpse of Paris at a moment of quiet transformation more than sixty years ago.

Paris. Arc de Triomphe - Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, 1960

Paris. Arc de Triomphe, 1960

Paris. Arc de Triomphe, 1960

Paris. Arc du Triomphe du Carrousel, 1960

Paris. Madeleine church, 1960

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Brandon Lee Playing a Nintendo Game Boy During the Filming of “The Crow” (1993)

Just hours before his tragic death on March 31, 1993, Brandon Lee was quietly captured in a candid photograph, seated on set, playing a Nintendo Game Boy. It’s an image both ordinary and deeply haunting: a 28-year-old actor passing time between takes on the set of The Crow, unaware that these would be among his final moments.

While the image looks somber, the reality behind it was lighthearted. The original Game Boy didn’t actually belong to Brandon. It belonged to his 12-year-old co-star, Rochelle Davis, who played the young girl, Sarah. Davis frequently loaned the console to Brandon between takes. The two struck up a friendly, highly competitive rivalry on set, constantly passing the handheld console back and forth to battle for the highest score in Tetris.

As the son of Bruce Lee, Brandon was no stranger to public scrutiny, yet he had carved his own path, determined to be more than just his father’s legacy. The Crow was meant to be his breakout role—a dark, stylish film that would showcase his range and depth as an actor.

That afternoon, Brandon was filming a scene in which his character, Eric Draven, is shot and killed. Due to a devastating oversight, a prop gun contained a fragment of a real bullet, left lodged in the barrel from a previous scene. When the blank round was fired, the bullet fragment was propelled with lethal force, striking Brandon in the abdomen. For a moment, no one realized what had happened, it looked like just another intense take. But as the truth sank in and panic erupted on set, he was rushed to the hospital. After hours of surgery, Brandon succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead, sending shockwaves through Hollywood and his grieving family.

The parallels to Bruce Lee’s own early death in 1973, at just 32 years old, stirred painful memories and fueled speculation about a family curse. Because the film was nearly finished, the director completed The Crow using pioneering CGI techniques to map Brandon’s face onto stunt doubles. Released posthumously in 1994, the movie became a massive cult classic and remains celebrated as Brandon Lee’s defining artistic legacy. That photo of him with a Game Boy remains a reminder of the fragility of life, and of a bright talent taken far too soon.

Louis Anquetin: Pioneer of Cloisonnism and Parisian Modernism

Louis Anquetin (1861–1932) was a French painter associated with the Post-Impressionist movement and one of the originators of Cloisonnism. Born in Étrépagny, he studied in Paris under Léon Bonnat and Fernand Cormon, where he formed close ties with Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Émile Bernard, and Vincent van Gogh.

Around 1887, Anquetin and Bernard developed a distinctive style using flat areas of color outlined by bold black contours, inspired by stained glass and Japanese prints. His nocturnal scenes of Paris, such as Avenue de Clichy, captured the energy of modern city life. Later in his career, he turned toward the techniques of the Old Masters, particularly Rubens, producing more traditional and allegorical works.

Though his fame faded after abandoning the avant-garde, Anquetin remains an important figure in late 19th-century French art. These striking works showcase the bold vision and lasting influence of Louis Anquetin, a key innovator of Cloisonnism and modern Parisian painting.

At the Moulin Rouge

At the Circus

At the Circus

At the Races

At the Races

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