Incredible images from history (including Hitler taking a nap).

These are some of history’s most astounding images: famous subjects snapped in the most unexpected circumstances.

A dictator dozes off. A star looks shocked at the spillover breasts of a rival. A young future president shaking hands with the man then leading the ‘free world’.

Some are just beautiful, others heartbreaking.

And some might even make you question your perception of the world you thought you knew.

1. German dictator Adolph Hitler (1889 – 1945) asleep in an armchair watched by his mistress, Eva Braun, circa 1940.

In 1945, Hitler and Braun bit into thin glass vials of cyanide. As he did, Hitler also shot himself in the head with a 7.65mm Walther pistol. The German public was unaware of Braun’s relationship with Hitler until after they died.

2. Sophia Loren and Jayne Mansfield at the 20th Century Fox Party

Years after this photo was taken, Loren told Vanity Fair: "Paramount had organised a party for me. All of cinema was there, it was incredible. And then comes in Jayne Mansfield, the last one to come. For me, that was when it got amazing. . .. She came right for my table. She knew everyone was watching. She sat down. And now, she was barely . . . Listen. Look at the picture. Where are my eyes? I’m staring at her nipples because I am afraid they are about to come onto my plate. In my face you can see the fear. I’m so frightened that everything in her dress is going to blow - BOOM! - and spill all over the table."

3. Anthony Perkins watches as Audrey Hepburn gives Pippin, her pet deer, a drop of bubbly in 1959.

Perkins and Hepburn starred together in the 1959 film, Green Mansions. Despite Hepburn being a Hollywood darling, the movie was a box office disaster.

4. Future president Bill Clinton shakes hands with John F. Kennedy 1963.

As a teenager representing his home state of Arkansas at Boys Nation in 1963, Bill Clinton shook hands with then-President John F. Kennedy, creating an image that was layered with new meaning when Clinton himself entered the White House.

Fifty years later, the photo was updated and colourised.

5. Norma Jean Dougherty - aka Marilyn Monroe - poses with her first husband, James "Jim" Dougherty (1942).

Marilyn Monroe, born Norma Jean Mortenson, had a tumultuous childhood. Monroe was a ward of the state and although several people offered to adopt her, her mentally ill mother Grace refused to allow it.

When she was 15 and in a foster home, Monroe struck up a relationship with her neighbour Jim Dougherty. When circumstances wqith her foster family changed, and it became apparent Monroe would be sent back into care because she was still underage, Dougherty, 20, was convinced to marry her.

Dougherty went on to serve a long stint in the US Marines and Monroe, unhappy with their arrangement, served divorce papers on him four years later. Dougherty claimed: "She wanted to sign a contract with [20th Century] Fox and it said she couldn't be married - they didn't want a pregnant starlet."

6. The Beatles' last public performance on the roof of Apple Records in London.

This impromptu performance was eventually shut down by police but not before some amazing footage was recorded.

"There was a plan to play live somewhere," Ringo Starr said. "We were wondering where we could go - 'Oh, the Palladium or the Sahara.' But we would have had to take all the stuff, so we decided, 'Let's get up on the roof'."

7. Elvis Presley has his trademark hair shorn at his army induction in 1959.

He was the rebellious King of Rock 'n' Roll, but Elvis Presley happily served his country ... albeit with his famously rebellious fringe shaved down to regulations length. 

8. The mangled remains of 'Little Bastard' are towed away in 1955.

James Dean's Porsche Spyder sports car was nicknamed 'Little Bastard', and was the car he was driving when he died during a high-speed car crash in California.

The "Little Bastard" not only killed James Dean, but killed and maimed others who came in contact with it causing many to say that it was cursed. George Barris, who customized the 550 originally, bought the wrecked carcass of "Little Bastard" for $2500. Parts of it were installed in other vehicles that were later involved in several accidents.

9.  Muhammad Ali fights George Foreman at Stade du 20 Mai. Kinshasa, Zaire in 1974.

George Foreman was the undefeated heavyweight champion when he was challenged by Muhammad Ali in 1974. Ali won by knockout, putting Foreman down just before the end of the eighth round. It has been called "arguably the greatest sporting event of the 20th century".

10. The King and Queen with Princess Elizabeth, Princess Margaret and Winston Churchill on the balcony of Buckingham Palace on VE-Day. (1945)

On 30 April, 1945, Nazi leader Adolf Hitler committed suicide during the Battle of Berlin. Germany's surrender, therefore, was authorised by his successor, Reichspräsident Karl Dönitz. To celebrate in London, crowds massed in Trafalgar Square and up the Mall to Buckingham Palace, where King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, accompanied by Prime Minister Winston Churchill, appeared on the balcony of the palace before the cheering crowds.

Princess Elizabeth (the future Queen Elizabeth II) wore her uniform and her sister Princess Margaret were allowed to wander incognito among the crowds and take part in the celebrations.

11. Queen Elizabeth II shakes hands with Marilyn Monroe  at a Royal Performance of The Battle of the River Plate at the Empire Theatre, Leicester Square, London,1956.

Both only 30 at the time, The Queen and Marilyn Monroe, this marked the first time the Queen and Monroe shook hands. Monroe stands next to heartthrob Victor Mature.

12. Actress Brigitte Bardot watches Pablo Picasso at work in his studio in Vallauris during the 1956 International Cannes Film Festival.

Brigitte visited Pablo Picasso at his studio at Vallauris outside Cannes during film festival of 1956. Some speculate she really was trying to convince him to make her his muse. Picasso never painted Bardot.

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