Curated playlist
Knights Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic
- Mohammad Reza PahlaviOn his first day at a Swiss boarding school, Iran's crown prince got beaten up.
- Anwar SadatAnwar Sadat was shot dead by his own soldiers at a parade celebrating his war.
- François MitterrandFrançois Mitterrand, who ended France's death penalty, once urged rejecting mercy in 80% of cases.
- Charles de GaulleCharles de Gaulle tried five times to escape German prison camps in the First World War. He even posed as a nurse.
- Konrad AdenauerObservers said Konrad Adenauer became West Germany's first chancellor by one vote, his own. He was 73.
- Boris YeltsinBoris Yeltsin climbed onto a tank in 1991 to defy a coup. Soldiers sent to crush the protest switched sides.
- Mobutu Sese SekoMobutu renamed his country Zaire, its cities and himself. He also banned Western suits and European baby names.
- Abdullah II of JordanIn 1996, a man who would become King Abdullah II of Jordan appeared on screen in an episode of Star Trek: Voyager titled Investigations. At the time he was a prince commanding his country's Special Forces, and his part had no lines. He was…
- Emmanuel MacronEmmanuel Macron was 39 years old when he took office as President of France on the 14th of May 2017. No French head of state had been younger since Napoleon. He was also the first president born after the founding of the Fifth Republic in…
- Hamad bin Khalifa Al ThaniSheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, born on the 1st of January 1952, ended his time as Emir of Qatar with a short televised address on the 25th of June 2013. He told the nation: "The time has come to open a new page in the journey of our…
- HirohitoEmperor Hirohito's first radio broadcast announced Japan's defeat.
- Josip Broz TitoTito once wrote to Stalin: stop sending assassins to murder me. He said five had already been caught.
- Wojciech JaruzelskiWojciech Jaruzelski declared martial law in Poland on the 13th of December 1981. Later he helped end Communist rule.
- Enrico De NicolaA journalist begged Enrico De Nicola in print to accept leading Italy. He won roughly 80% of votes in 1946.
- Mohammed VI of MoroccoMohammed VI of Morocco was eight years old in 1971 when he received United States Vice President Spiro Agnew at the Royal Palace in Rabat. It was his first public engagement, and he would not become king for another twenty-eight years. In…