THE PAST IN PICS

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A mother holds her son lovingly at the beach while posing for a picture. The child is Ted Bundy, who would grow up to be one of the worst serial killers in the world, 1950

Bundy (1946 – 1989) kidnapped, raped and murdered numerous young women and girls during the 1970s and possibly earlier. After more than a decade of denials, he confessed to 30 murders committed in seven states between 1974 and 1978. His true victim total is unknown and likely significantly higher.

Bundy was executed at Florida State Prison in Raiford on January 24, 1989.

Biographer Ann Rule characterized him as "a sadistic sociopath who took pleasure from another human's pain and the control he had over his victims, to the point of death and even after." Bundy once described himself as "the most cold-hearted son of a bitch you'll ever meet," a statement with which attorney Polly Nelson, a member of his last defense team, agreed. "Ted," she wrote, "was the very definition of heartless evil."

Bundy in 1978

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Bluetooth is a short-range wireless technology standard that is used for exchanging data between fixed and mobile devices over short distances and building personal area networks.

The Bluetooth logo

The technology was developed by engineers Sven Mattisson Jim Kardach in the late 1990s. Needing a name for it, they came up with Bluetooth, the king of Denmark, Harald "Bluetooth" Gormsson, a name said to refer to his dead tooth.

The king is most famous for uniting Norway and Denmark, a parallel Mattisson and Kardach recognised in that the were "seeking to unite the PC and cellular industries with a short-range wireless link".

The Bluetooth logo is a combination of the Nordic runes for the letters H and B for 'Harald Bluetooth':

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In medieval Germany, husbands and wives could legally settle disputes through marital duels. The man fought with one arm tied, the woman with weights and rock-filled sack. If the husband lost, he was beheaded, if the wife lost, she was buried alive. Peace was encouraged before combat.

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Below, the grave of Leonard Matlovich, a gay Vietnam Veteran. His gravestone says: "When I was in the military, they gave me a medal for killing two men, and a discharge for loving one."

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Martin Luther King removes a burnt cross from his lawn that was placed there by the Ku Klux Klan, 1960:

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In 1996, a newborn baby girl was left in a garbage can near the city of Kolkata, India. Three friendly street dogs discovered and protected her for nearly two days, even attempting to feed the child before authorities were contacted and the young one was saved.

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Two bullets which collided in the at Gallipoli 1915:

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Yousuf Karsh’s iconic portrait of Winston Churchill, 1941:

Unaware that a photographer had been commissioned to take his portrait, Churchill refused to remove his cigar. Once the photographer was set up he walked towards Churchill, who removed the cigar from his mouth. According to the photographer, Yousuf Karsh: “By the time I got back to my camera, he looked so belligerent, he could have devoured me. It was at that instant that I took the photograph.”

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Philippe Halsman shot this famous photo of Salvador Dalí in 1948. This was the days before photoshop, special effects and manipulation of images. Halsman had his wife and daughter assist in throwing the cats and water into the photographic frame. After 26 shots they finally captured this image that has echoes of Dali’s own artwork.

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Betty White in her Los Angeles home with her dog, 1952.

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Special delivery, 1954