From the American sweetheart to the platinum ice queen, and Jean Harlow to Sydney Sweeney, the blonde has been a multi-faceted - and controversial - figure in popular culture.

On 14 August 2003, 22 years ago this week, the electricity cut out for more than 50 million people in the US and Canada. The BBC was in New York City when the lights went out.

The Black Cauldron was a 1985 experiment that dramatically failed, arguably putting the future of the studio in question.

After a forgotten WW2 propaganda poster was discovered in 2000, it found an astounding new resonance in 21st-Century Britain.

The yellow eating machine revolutionised video games 45 years ago. What has made Pac-Man and his adventures so addictive?

In August 1964, three civil rights activists were found dead in the Deep South. The public's response provided the impetus for new civil rights legislation in America.

The F1 champion Niki Lauda had a near-fatal accident in Germany in August 1976. After defying all expectations, he told the BBC in 1977 how he willed himself to stay alive.

In July 1969, Senator Edward Kennedy pleaded guilty to fleeing the scene of an accident where a young aide died. But many questions about the 'Chappaquiddick incident' went unanswered.

Jane Goodall began her groundbreaking field study 65 years ago by living among chimpanzees in Tanzania. In 1986, she told the BBC how similar chimps and humans really are.

For more than 100 years, the sign has been a Los Angeles landmark both in real life and on the silver screen. In 1978, Alice Cooper told the BBC why he was helping to restore an icon.

In July 1987, the "Butcher of Lyon" was sentenced to life in prison by a French court. Four years earlier, the BBC reported on how France felt about this reckoning with its dark past.

Almost 55 years ago, Michael Eavis hosted the first of his legendary music festivals. In 1970, the BBC visited his Somerset dairy farm to find out what made it unique.