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.

When John Stonehouse's clothes were found on Miami Beach on 20 November 1974, many people presumed that the UK Member of Parliament had drowned – until he turned up in Australia.

Isabel Belarsky was one of the millions of migrants who passed through Ellis Island in New York. In 2014, she told the BBC about arriving in the US from the Soviet Union in 1930.

The UK publication of DH Lawrence's novel, Lady Chatterley's Lover, gripped the nation in 1960. In History looks at the trial that led to its release – and the rush to buy the book.