We all think we’ve got a pretty good idea of what’s gone down in modern history, don’t we? Sure, we’re no experts but we’ve heard most of the big things. But hearing and reading what’s happened in modern and cultural history is one thing – but seeing them for yourself is something else.
Okay, okay, we can’t jump back in the past and actually experience things but we can check out some really rare photos from the past century or so and get a great sense of what things were like.
Enjoy and share this cracking collection of pretty rare and unusual pictures. We know we certainly did!
Let’s start with Arnie’s first day in the States, 1968. Decades later the Austrian would be Governor of California.
Here’s Alan Shephard – the first American in space – preparing for orbit.
The Beatles meet Ali.
Then years later play this classic gig upon a rooftop.
Here’s JFK meeting a young Bill Clinton.
An early snap of an arrested Microsoft founder Bill Gates.
Martial arts practice. The guy on the right? Osama bin Laden.
Classic Bond.
Bruce Lee meets… CHUCK NORRIS.
South American revolutionaries meet: Fidel Castro from Cuba and Che Guevara from t-shirts.
Here’s Robin Williams cheerleading!
Legendary beauty Marilyn Monroe and entertainer great Sammy Davis Jnr. lark by a car.
Castro again – looking like Liam Neeson – chats politics with Malcolm X.
Muhammed Ali talks down a suicidal guy from a building.
An early shot of Bruce Lee.
Very early Mickey Mouse sketches from Walt Disney’s drawing pad.
The Eiffel Tower in construction.
Albert Einstein and a moustacheless Charlie Chaplin.
Elvis – called up by the US Army.
Bill Gates and his future rival – Apple’s original ‘genius’, Steve Jobs.
Behind the scenes of The Godfather.
The Golden Gate Bridge being constructed.
Marlon Brando – ever the serious man – talks civil rights with Martin Luther King.
Barack Obama on his high school basketball team.
William Harley and Arthur Davidson sat atop two of their legendary creations in 1914.
Russian bigwig Vladimir Putin as a teenager.
HRH The Queen during her military service no less.
And here’s The Queen meeting the queen of Hollywood, Marilyn Monroe.
The Rolling Stones before they were famous.
Guns n’ Roses guitarist hangs out with future star Robert Downey Jr.
Building Mt. Rushmore in the late ’30s.
Batman Adam West hits the skins.
How cool were they, eh? It was like a potted history of the past hundred years of pop culture. Fantastic. If you’ve a pal that you know would get a kick out of seeing Karate Osama or would cheer to see Robin Williams in drag, why not share this post with them?