We suspect that you won't have seen the majority of the images on this list before. This one, however, is likely to be an exception. It's one of the most famous sporting photographs of all time, capturing the legendary baseball player Babe Ruth saying his final goodbye to the Yankee Stadium where he spent almost all of his playing career. A cancer-stricken Ruth is frail and gaunt, having to use a baseball bat as a makeshift cane in order to stand, but still bows respectfully toward 'Ruthville.' The image won photographer Nat Fein the Pulitzer Prize.
Astonishingly, none of Ruth's doctors had the courage to tell him that he was suffering from cancer; he was left to figure it out for himself. Shortly after this image was taken, no longer able to support himself, he entered Memorial Hospital, where he died on August 16th, 1948. This photo was taken barely two months earlier.
To insure one’s house, one’s car or to underwrite a life insurance policy, that is common practice. But who would pay an insurance premium for his/her thumb, legs or smile? Stars, of course.
At the top of the ranking are the legs of Mariah Carey, worth 810 million USD: The diva became, in 2006, the Gillette brand muse for the advertising campaign «Legs of a Goddess». She then took out an insurance policy with London Lloyds to protect her legs, a decision that is far from being insignificant. Among its customers, the London insurer then included several icons of music, such as Bob Dylan or Rod Stewart.
David Beckham’s body insured for 195 million USD: European champion with Manchester United in 1999, David Beckham was in 2006 the most renowned footballer of the planet. In relation to his sporting activities, he took out an insurance cover for his legs. The huge amount paid for his insurance would reportedly exceed the 103 million USD disbursed by Real Madrid for the cover of Christiano Ronaldo in 2009. The fashion model would later extend his insurance cover to his entire body.
15 million USD in insurance for Kim Kardashian’s curves: The curves of Kim Kardashian are her number one beauty asset. The reality TV star, who is crazy about plastic surgery, has underwritten an insurance policy worth 15 million USD to protect her famous butt.
The culinary critic Egon Ronay assured his taste buds: The famous Hungarian culinary critic has insured his taste buds since 1957, for the amount of 400 000 USD. An original insurance policy which allows him to cover his sense of taste without which he will no longer be able to practice his job.