“Words can tell a story, but it’s pictures that will make you believe in it. Such is the power of a photograph; the ability to strip away illusions, to illuminate something hidden, and sometimes force us to accept unpalatable truths.”
That’s how Gaby Hinsliff introduces this week’s photo special, a round-up of scandalous photos that changed the world. Spanning CCTV shots of health secretary Matt Hancock, caught snogging his mistress in the middle of a pandemic, Hugh Grant posing for his police mugshot after being caught with a sex worker, and Michael Jackson dangling his baby son from a hotel balcony, it’s a look back at recent history through pictures that have altered its course.
Editors
@meropemills @ruthlewy @becbecliuliu
Art director
@maggie_b_murphy
Picture editors
@huntforcaroline @kateedwa
Marilyn cover: Tom Kelley Studio
(Hugh Grant): Getty Images
(Matt Hancock): Enterprise News and Pictures
(Monica & Bill): Dirck Halstead/Getty Images
© Lee Miller Archives, England 2026. All rights reserved.
(Michael Jackson): Tobias Schwarz/Reuters