A circus horse kisses a woman, 1981In 1981, the last Belle Vue Christmas Circus rolled up at Manchesters Kings Hall. It had been a regular Christmas date since the 1920s: a traditional family circus with a ringmaster, band, tigers, bears and performing ponies, along with acrobats, strongmen and clowns. The Guardian photographer Don McPhee was there to take this picture of a woman being kissed by one of the circuss horses as part of an act. McPhee, who was based in Manchester, began his

they were separated for nine months while Chia Chia

the yellow of the produce matching the yellow bands of the flip-flops was the icing

With just two tail-ender wickets remaining and needing 107 runs for victory

one on the distinctive Chopper bike

publicity shoots and demonstrations

faced Yugoslavia in the quarter-finals

amid huge political changes and a flood of foreign investment

It depicts the Scottish swimmer Bobby McGregor

captured by the photographer Murdo MacLeod

There were some surprising voices in both camps: Margaret Thatcher

Gazza was a gift to photographers but a nightmare to his teammates – Chris Waddle later said he got about three hours’ sleep in the seven weeks they spent rooming together at Italia ’90

but this quiet moment of sportsmanship displayed by Andrew Flintoff