Images Dated 19th May 2003

London, GWR poster, 1940s

Poster produced for Great Western Railway (GWR) to promote train services to London. Although the style of the artwork would suggest a date in the 1940s, the area shown near Blackfriars Bridge was damaged during World War II. This damage is not shown in the poster. It is possible that the artist, in seeking to produce a promotional poster setting forth the capital in its best aspect, and in keeping with the spirit of optimism and the desire to move forward from the horror of war, chose not to depict the buildings as damaged. Artwork by Frank Henry Mason (1876-1965), who painted marine and coastal subjects and, in addition to designing railway posters, was also involved in engineering and shipbuilding

© Please read our licence terms. All digital images must be destroyed unless otherwise agreed in writing

Cannes-Cinema-Festival-Kidman

Australian actress Nicole Kidman poses for photographers as she arrives at the Palais des festivals to attend the screening of "Dogville" by Danish director Lars Von Trier during the 56th Cannes film festival 19 May 2003. The film, starring Nicole Kidman, is in competition for the Golden Palm. AFP PHOTO BORIS HORVAT / AFP PHOTO / BORIS HORVAT

© Agence France-Presse (AFP) - All Rights Reserved

COBE DMR image of background microwave variation

Echoes of the early Universe. False-colour microwave map of the whole sky, showing variations or "ripples" in the cosmic microwave background. The mean temperature of the background radiation (2.73 degrees Kelvin) is shown as deep blue; pink and red areas are warmer while blue areas are cooler - red is +0.27 milliKelvins (mK), pale blue is -0.27mK. The red band across the centre is radiation from our own galaxy. These variations in the background are consistent with the inflationary Big Bang theory of the creation of the Universe, and the existence of invisible dark matter'. The data for this image were gathered by the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) satellite. With text lines

© NASA GSFC/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY