American film star Marilyn Monroe (Norma Jean Mortenson or Norma Jean Baker). (Photo by Keystone Features/Getty Images). 1952

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi attends the inauguration ceremony of Jacob Zuma on May 9, 2009 in Pretoria, South Africa. Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma is South Africa's fourth President since the end of apartheid. (Photo by Foto24/Gallo Images/Getty Images)

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 poses for a photographer (not pictured) as a man sits next to her in downtown Catania, Italy April 20, 2016. (Photo by Tony Gentile/Reuters)

Tourists take pictures of straw figurines of traditional deities Shennong (R) and Zhang Wulang (L back) during China's National Day Holiday, in Xinhua county, Hunan province, October 4, 2015. (Photo by Reuters/China Daily)

A model presents a creation by Japanese designer Yoshikazu Yamagata for his label writtenafterwards during the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in Tokyo, Japan, 16 March 2016. The presentation of the Autumn/Winter 2016 collections runs from 14 to 19 March. (Photo by Kiyoshi Ota/EPA)

Kim Kardashian arrives for the Thierry Mugler exhibition opening at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in Montreal, Chittenango, United States of America on February 26, 2019. (Photo by Splash News and Pictures)

The singing group The D-Day Darlings take part in the unveiling ceremony of a permanent war memorial, created by artist and writer Fabian Peake, at St Pancras International railway station in London, Britain, November 8, 2018. (Photo by Peter Nicholls/Reuters)