The exile and return of Charlie Chaplin

See the list of alleged communists Orwell gave to the British government

In 1949, Orwell provided a list of communist sympathizers to a British anti-communist propaganda unit, naming figures like actor Charlie Chaplin and writer John Steinbeck. When it was made public in 2003, some called Orwell a government informant, though others blamed his tuberculosis, which would take his life a year later, while others blamed his romantic interest in the woman who asked him for the names.

Charlie Chaplin's 'Modern Times' blended slapstick and satire

The 1936 film thrust Chaplin's iconic Little Tramp character into the Industrial Revolution, satirizing how mass production was dehumanizing individuals. The movie was not only a hit, but it was also the product of a burgeoning Hollywood: Chaplin had founded his own company (United Artists) in 1919.

Since the revolution, approximately 1.4 million Cubans have fled to the US

Although Castro initially enjoyed broad support after toppling Batista in 1959, nearly 2 million Cubans chose exile in the years that followed. Most settled in the US, while others dispersed across Latin America and Europe, shaping migration patterns that persist to this day

Voltaire's writing sent him into exile

In 1717, the writer's satirical poem "La Henriade" landed him in prison for a year. By 1726, the French government's distaste for his work caused him to leave the country for England, though he returned a few years later. That would be short-lived: In 1734, his "Lettres Philosophiques" sent him packing again, moving to Champagne, then Berlin, then Switzerland, before finally returning to Paris in 1778.

Marlon Brando sent Apache and Yaqui actor and activist Sacheen Littlefeather to reject his Oscar

Each year at the Academy Awards, winners of the highest achievements in film give speeches expressing their gratitude, while also venturing into politics, humor, and emotion. Some speeches are met with boos, including Littlefeather's message from Brando refusing the award in protest of Hollywood’s treatment and portrayal of Native Americans in film. Others have remained memorable for their brevity, like Joe Pesci's six-word acceptance.

'Dr. Strangelove' is widely considered the best satirical film

Stanley Kubrick’s satire about nuclear war came just two years after the Cuban Missile Crisis and spoke to Americans still coming to terms with the possibility of nuclear annihilation. In 1989, the Library of Congress included it among the first 25 films preserved in the National Film Registry, a repository for the greatest achievements in cinema.

Eleanor Roosevelt sheltered student activists at the White House after they were subpoenaed by HUAC

In 1939, when Congress subpoenaed leaders of the American Youth Congress on suspicion of communist ties, Eleanor Roosevelt attended the hearings herself and then invited all 10 students to stay at the White House, as they had nowhere to sleep.

Steve Martin was a wildly successful stand-up—and abruptly quit doing it

In the ‘70s, few stand-up comics were bigger than Steve Martin, who released multiplatinum albums and regularly sold out arenas. As he detailed in his 2007 memoir, Martin had grown disillusioned with his success as a stand-up and pivoted into film.

Six American diplomats secretly hid in the Canadian Embassy for months after escaping the hostage crisis

When Iranian students seized the US Embassy, six Americans slipped away and took refuge with the Canadian Ambassador. The CIA orchestrated a daring escape under the cover of a fake film crew—later depicted in the Academy Award-winning film "Argo."

American dance legend Martha Graham, sometimes called 'the Picasso of dance,' refused to perform at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin and conceived the piece 'Chronicle' in response to the experience.

Ayatollah Khomeini returned to Iran on Feb. 1, 1979, after 14 years in exile

Greeted by millions of Iranians flooding the streets of Tehran, Khomeini's return was a defining moment of the revolution. Within days, he appointed a rival prime minister, effectively dismantling the last remnants of the Shah's government and consolidating clerical rule over the new Islamic Republic.

The Chinese Exclusion Act was America's first major immigration restriction

The act, signed in 1882, barred Chinese laborers from entering the United States, marking the first significant restriction on free immigration. This overview examines 19th-century Chinese immigration, rising anti-Chinese sentiment, and the diplomatic implications of exclusionary legislation.

Comedy legend Catherine O'Hara, star of 'Schitt's Creek' and 'Home Alone,' quit 'Saturday Night Live' after just one week to return to her old job.

See Minnelli's iconic performance of 'Maybe This Time' that helped earn her an Oscar

In the film "Cabaret," Minnelli performs the show tune as Sally Bowles, a protagonist embarking on a new love affair in 1930s Berlin. Minnelli's emotive performance and belting vocals helped land her the prestigious acting award.

A theater group staged 'Waiting for Godot' at San Quentin prison in 1957

The play, about being stuck, resonated with inmates. Critics noted that the incarcerated audience empathized with its hopeless characters much more than those at the show's North American premiere in Miami, who'd walked out in disgust.

The inaugural Cannes Film Festival featured legendary directors

The festival’s first year was 1946. It featured 11 films from some of the world’s best filmmakers, including Jean Cocteau, Alfred Hitchcock, George Sydney, and Billy Wilder.

Talese’s story on Joe DiMaggio examined the sports star’s life post-retirement

The profile, written in the aftermath of his popular “Frank Sinatra Has a Cold,” similarly offered a close look at an American icon after their prime. In DiMaggio’s story, however, the Yankees player seeks to vanish into obscurity and live a quiet life, golfing and mourning his ex-wife Marilyn Monroe.

Why a Nobel Prize winner was awarded 30 years of free beer

Niels Bohr, the Danish physicist who won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1922, moved into the Carlsberg Honorary Residence in 1932 and was entitled to free delivery of Carlsberg beer for as long as he lived there. He did so until he died in 1962.

The Chitlin Circuit provided Black entertainers a safe network during Jim Crow

Black musicians and comedians regularly toured the Chitlin Circuit, an informal entertainment network that developed performers like Tina Turner and Redd Foxx during the Jim Crow era.

In 1939, baseball star Lou Gehrig delivered his inspirational 'Luckiest Man' speech after retiring due to the health condition that now bears his name.

Watch a 1934 short film starring jazz legend Cab Calloway, a major figure in the Harlem Renaissance's music scene

Watch Celine Dion perform at Eurovision 1988

By 1988, the 20-year-old singer was already a star in her native Canada but was a relative unknown outside the French-speaking world. That changed when she represented Switzerland at Eurovision, performing "Ne Partez Pas Sans Mo." She'd go on to win the contest that year and soon become one of the bestselling artists in the world.

Watch Salvador Dalí's surreal appearance on 'The Dick Cavett Show'

During this 1971 talk show episode, Dalí enters the stage with his pet anteater, flinging it onto an actress' lap. He proceeds to talk strangely about the significance of anteaters and his mustache. Many argue such public appearances were examples of Dalí's performance art, where he made real interactions surreal.

Watch contemporary footage covering the US-backed Shah of Iran fleeing the country in the face of the 1979 Iranian Revolution

Guitarist Charlie Byrd brought bossa nova to the US after a government-sponsored tour

The Mutual and Cultural Exchange Act of 1961, also known as the Fulbright–Hays Act, sought to spread understanding through education and cultural exchanges. Its passage led to a government-sponsored music tour of South America featuring jazz guitarist Charlie Byrd. In Brazil, Byrd was introduced to the music of João Gilberto and returned to the United States eager to incorporate bossa nova into his own music.

‘Guiding Light’ was the longest-running scripted drama in broadcast history

The show ran for 72 years, starting as a radio program in 1937, and eventually transitioning to television in 1952. Along the way, it launched several Hollywood stars, like Kevin Bacon, James Earl Jones, and Christopher Walken. CBS canceled the show in 2009.

A critic on what BTS' return from military service means

Sarah A. Son, a lecturer in Korean Studies at the University of Sheffield, argues that K-pop icons now recognize how intertwined their band's identity is with that of their country. In her review of Netflix's documentary "BTS: The Return," Son suggests the group, after serving in the military, is more attuned to the pressures of such a specific kind of stardom.

Why Captain America sparked outrage in 1940

In 1940, Captain America’s debut showed him punching Hitler months before the US entered WWII. The bold cover sparked backlash and even threats.

The United States has had a tumultuous relationship with Cuba since its 1959 revolution, highlighted by a nuclear crisis and a decades-long trade embargo.

Relive Bobby Fischer’s Cold War victory with 'Drunk History'

Comedy Central’s "Drunk History" retells Bobby Fischer’s 1972 win over Boris Spassky with irreverent humor. The sketch hilariously highlights how a chess match became a Cold War spectacle, turning Fischer into an unlikely American celebrity.

An impostor convinced Frank Shorter he’d lost the gold

The 1972 marathon at the Munich Games featured a dramatic finish, thanks to someone posing as a competitor entering the stadium before Shorter. The stunt confused Shorter and the crowd (and enraged the American television announcers) as he entered the final stretch.

In 1945, Surrealist artist Salvador Dalí and legendary animator Walt Disney began collaborating on a short film that was not completed until 2003, years after both men had died.

See the most iconic photos from four decades of LIFE magazine

In preparation for this weekend's Eurovision finale, which is something like the World Cup of pop music, here's a young Céline Dion performing (for Switzerland?) at the 1988 competition.

The distributor behind 'Rocky Horror' pulled the film from its scheduled national release, believing it would be a failure, though it eventually amassed a dedicated fanbase through midnight showings, a trend that continues over 50 years later.

Mark Twain spent decades feuding with the US Postal Service, convinced its costs and regulations were bureaucratic overreach.

In 2009, the nation was gripped by the story of a missing young boy who was believed to be floating over Colorado in a homemade balloon, until it was revealed that he was at home the whole time.

The identity of the Tank Man in the iconic photo from the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests remains unknown and was possibly killed.

Famed poet TS Eliot rejected the manuscript for George Orwell's political fable 'Animal Farm,' writing that its criticism of authoritarianism was not 'the right point of view.'

The name 'Silicon Valley' arose from the founding of Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory in Fairchild Semiconductor in 1956-57, founded near Stanford University in Palo Alto

Before humans, the Soviet Union and the United States sent animals—including apes, dogs, and cats—to space during the Space Race.

Existentialist writer Jean-Paul Sartre coined the famous phrase 'Hell is—other people' in his play 'No Exit'

Against his wishes, Albert Einstein's brain was removed before his cremation, and the pathologist responsible stored it for decades in mason jars within a beer cooler.

After her fellow cult members tried to kill her with an LSD-infused hamburger, one member of the Manson Family, the murderous cult led by Charles Manson, decided to testify against the group's leader.

See a ranking of the best (and worst) Federal Reserve Chairs since 1914 out of the 16 men and women who have held the office since.

Despite being favored by 87% of Americans, Congress does not have term limits.

The most expensive ad of all time was for Chanel No. 5 perfume and cost roughly $33M to produce in 2004—about $57M in today's dollars.

In 2026, Finland was named the world's happiest country for the ninth consecutive year based on its wealth, social safety network, and high life expectancy, among other factors.

Fast-casual restaurant Chili's is experiencing a resurgence, with its parent company recently reporting a nearly 32% increase in sales, thanks to passionate Gen Z fans on TikTok.

NBA superstar Victor Wembanyama spent the 2025 summer training with monks in central China to enhance his body and mind.