A man holds a pigeon during the British Homing World show of the year at Blackpool's Winter Gardens in Blackpool, north west England on January 17, 2016. Homing pigeon fanciers from across Europe gathered to find the Supreme Show Champion with judges casting their eyes over hundreds of birds on show. The Royal Pigeon Racing Association organises the event and has Queen Elizabeth II, who keeps pigeons at Sandringham, as its patron. (Photo by Andrew Yates/Reuters)

While the lido was described as bringing “modernism to the masses” on the British coast it was just the latest example of a trend that had been developing since Victorian times – transforming seaside towns into resorts for leisure and entertainment. In the latter half of the nineteenth century, the fashion was for local authorities to build great piers stretching from the promenade out into the sea. The Eastbourne Pier, pictured here in May 1931, was erected between 1866 and 1870 to an ingenious design by Eugenius Birch, which saw the structure sitting on special cups allowing the supporting struts to “move” in bad weather. Arranged on the pier's 1,000-foot length were kiosks, a theatre, a ballroom and a camera obscura. 1931. (Photo by Aerofilms Collection via “A History of Britain From Above”)

A woman is tattooed during the Great British Tattoo Show in Alexandra Palace in north London, Britain May 23, 2015. (Photo by Neil Hall/Reuters)

New York's famed Empire State Building hosted new guests on Saturday night as images of endangered animals were flashed across its facade.

A runner taking part in the 38th Annual Empire State Building Run-Up is pictured arriving on the 86th floor in the Manhattan borough of New York February 4, 2015. (Photo by Carlo Allegri/Reuters)

(L-R) Poppy Delevingne, Model of the Year Cara Delevingne, Joan Smalls and Karlie Kloss pose in the winners room at the British Fashion Awards at London Coliseum on December 1, 2014 in London, England. (Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)

Ford is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Mustang with a limited-edition model and a display atop the Empire State Building. The car had to be broken into five pieces for the ride up the building’s elevators and reassembled late at night, when the deck is closed to visitors. Photo: The 2015 Ford Mustang convertible, assembled overnight, sits on the observation deck of the Empire State Building. (Photo by Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times)

A relic hunter dubbed “Indiana Bones” has lifted the lid on a macabre collection of 400-year-old jewel-encrusted skeletons unearthed in churches across Europe. Art historian Paul Koudounaris has hunted down and photographed dozens of gruesome skeletons in some of the world's most secretive religious establishments. Photo: Albertus in the church of St George in Burgrain, Germany. Incredibly, some of the skeletons, which took up to five years to decorate, were even found hidden away in lock-ups and containers. (Photo by Paul Koudounaris/BNPS)