Perhaps the most famous ship in Israel's history, the Exodus was by no means the only refugee ship that attempted to take European Jews to Palestine, but it was perhaps the most iconic.

The ship, part of the Aliyah Bet operation, departed from France, with more than 4,500 passengers. The majority of them were Holocaust survivors and among them were 655 children.

His obituaries remembered him as a onetime president of Austria and as a former UN Secretary General. But Kurt Waldheim, who was 21 when the Second World War broke out, was also recalled for his reluctance to shed light on his past.

Fourteen people were killed in an incident that has since been described as the first suicide attack on Israelis.

The attack, which also left 27 people with injuries, occurred on the number 405 bus from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The driver had reached the junction after the Israeli Arab village of Abu Ghosh, when a man seized the steering wheel and began shouting in Arabic.

Born Marvin Neil Simon, the esteemed playwright and screenwriter, is now 84-years-old. He was born in the Bronx, New York City, in 1927 - just before the Great Depression hit the United States.

Growing up in Manhattan, Simon was the younger of two sons and his father sold cloth fabric to the dress manufacturers in Manhattan's garment district

Her name is one that lives on, in the make-up bags and cosmetic stands of the world. When she died at 97 in 2004, she had been retired from the company that bore her name for a decade.

But she enjoyed more than 50 years as one of the most influential individuals in the cosmetics industry, during which time she developed a reputation as a savvy and hardworking businesswoman

The Night of the Long Knives, as it became known, was Adolf Hitler's purge of SA members. The Nazi leader personally led the well-planned rush of arrests, assassinations and execution on an ordinary Saturday, June 30 1934.

It was described as the fraud of the century, the worst financial crime of the recession, and much, much more. The multi-billion dollar fraud scheme the financier landed Bernie Madoff a 150 year sentence; his legal team had asked for just 12.

Hollywood legend Mel Brooks was born Melvin Kaminsky to a Russian Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York.

One of the biggest Jewish stars to date, Brooks is a member of the short list of entertainers who have the distinction of having Academy Awards and Emmys to their names.

The legendary television and film producer died at the age of 83 after suffering a stroke.

Born to Jewish parents on 22 April 1923, in Dallas, Texas, Spelling enjoyed more than five decades of career success on both the small and big screens. His world renowned and widely celebrated work launched the careers of many major stars of the 1980s.

Michael Schwerner, or "Mickey" as he was known to his friends, and Andrew Goodman, were political rights activists – a job that caused their untimely death by the Klu Klux Klan.

Mr Schwerner and Mr Goodman met when they both joined the Congress on Racial Equality in Meridian, Mississippi to take part in Freedom Summer.