The sultry star of Batman and The Emperor's New Groove was given away by her mother and never knew her father.

In January 1997, British sailor Tony Bullimore was trapped for four days in an upturned yacht that was filling up with "bitterly cold" water in the Southern Ocean.

When he became acting president of Russia at the start of the year 2000, the former spy was an enigma to many. Who is the "man of deeds, not words"?

Released in 1946, Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life was derided as an "over-sentimental" Christmas yarn, but its bold exploration of mental health issues resonates today.

In December 1933, five-year-old Shirley Temple signed with a nearly-bankrupt Fox Studios. In History looks back at how she revived the studio's fortunes – and became a superstar.

Charles M Schulz drew his beloved Peanuts strip for 50 years until he retired on 14 December 1999. By then, the unassuming cartoonist had built a billion-dollar empire.

In December 1950, a BBC cameraman captured the fall of Pyongyang, a defining moment in the Korean War, when US General Douglas MacArthur threatened all-out nuclear war.

Arthur Ashe revealed his diagnosis in 1992 after years of secrecy, and became a pioneering campaigner for Aids awareness.