27 unbelievable photos of historic moments that will give you some perspective
Words: Charlie Gardiner-Hill
A healthy dose of perspective from time to time can do us all a world of good. These relatively unknown photos reveal the human and humbling stories behind some of the world’s most historic moments.
1. Salvador Dali kisses Raquel Welch’s hand after completing his still famous portrait of her in 1965.
2. This is the last known photo of the Titanic afloat, taken before it’s sinking in 1912.
3. Jacqueline Kennedy watches her husband from backstage as he takes on Richard Nixon in their first televised debate in 1960.
4. Onlookers react to the explosion of the Challenger shuttle on 28th January 1986.
5. The Hollywood sign shortly after it was installed in 1923, as you can see from the photo, it originally read Hollywoodland.
6. A Native American overlooks the newly completed Trans-Continental railroad in 1868.
7. Enormous crowds gather at Woodstock in 1969.
8. Army officers and politicians clamber over furniture to watch the signing of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919 at the end of World War I.
9. Buzz Aldrin’s photograph of Neil Armstrong moments after he had walked on the moon.
10. Wilbur Wright circles the statue of Liberty in the Model A on 29th September 1909.
11. A background photo of the “Tank Man” stand-off in Tianamen Square which is now used as a symbol of pacifism and peace. The unidentified “Tank Man” can be seen to the left of the digger.
12. Norway receives its first ever shipment of bananas from 1905.
13. This photo was taken in secret in 1932 and is one of only two ever taken of the Supreme Court in session.
14. The Beatles walk back across the Abbey Road zebra crossing after photographing their iconic album cover.
15. German prisoners react to footage of concentration camps in 1945.
16. The only known photo of Abraham Lincoln at Gettysburg before he delivered his famous address on 19th November 1863.
17. In a picture so iconic it almost looks posed, Abraham Lincoln and General George McClellan in the general’s tent at Antietam in 1862.
18. Two (very brave) men record the iconic MGM Lion in 1929.
19. Director Alfred Hitchcock gives notes on set during the filming of ‘The Birds” in 1962.
20. Three men run in the marathon event at the first modern Olympic Games in 1896.
21. Iranian forces look out upon the now infamous view of burning oil fields set alight by Iraqi forces during the Gulf War in 1990.
22. Boston Marathon Race Manager Jock Semple attempts to remove Kathrine Switzer from the 1967 race, as her trainer Arnie Briggs intervenes. After her then boyfriend Tom Miller body checked Jock Semple out of the way, Switzer became the first woman to ever officially complete a marathon wearing numbers.
23. A view from the top of the Empire State Building on opening day in 1931. The people in the foreground would have been some of the first to see the city from that perspective.
24. Howard Carter peers through the doors of Tutankhamun’s Shrine after he uncovered it in January 1924.
25. Taken in 1912, this is the iceberg that is thought to have sunk the Titanic. You can see the shadow of black and red paint smeared alongside the side.
26. Taken at Edgware Road Station, this photo depicts the first ever underground train journey in 1862.
27. A bird’s eye view of JFK’s funeral held in the Capitol Building, taken in November 1963.
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