In the 1970’s and 80’s, over one hundred families in California had their homes ransacked by the same man. Many of them woke up in the middle of the night to a flashlight blinding their eyes. A man was standing over their bed, wearing a black ski mask. He held knives to throats, and guns to heads, demanding that they do what he said, if they wanted to live. Within a matter of hours, he ruined and ended lives, slipping small mementos in his pocket as he ran into the darkness.

For 146 years, the Barnum and Bailey Circus was known for being the greatest show on earth. None of it would have been possible if it were not for an ambitious entrepreneur named PT Barnum. While his life and career were sometimes the source of controversy, he truly was a brilliant businessman, and many of his ideas forever changed the entertainment industry as we know it today.

 His nickname is still known across the globe. Simon Bolivar, El Libertador (The Liberator), the man who almost single-handedly wrested South America from Spanish control. Without a doubt, he was one of the most important men who ever lived: a Latino George Washington, a general who could stand shoulder to shoulder with Napoleon. In his short life, he united all of modern Colombia, Venezuela, Panama, and Ecuador into a single superstate… and then lived long enough to see all his dreams turn to dust in the harsh daylight of independence. 

Soldier, hero, exile, radical, general, dictator, man of the people, Simon Bolivar was many things. Yet outside Latin America, knowledge of his life is something most of us are sorely lacking. Today, we take you on a sweeping ride through the epic life of the man known to history as The Liberator.

He is the worldwide symbol of rebellion and revolutionary struggle. His silhouette is familiar to billions, representing the epitome of cool anti-establishmentism. Yet, few people know the real story behind the legend of Che Guevara. In this week’s Biographix, we discover the man behind the myth to reveal an individual whose passion for social justice saw no bounds.

He is the world’s most famous cyclist, dominating his sport like no one before or since. Yet his reputation has been forever tarnished by a scandal that tore at the very fabric of professional cycling, pitting the sports elite against each other.

 Two thousand years after his assassination he is still revered as one of the greatest rulers in all history. Yet, his story reverberates as a tale of the dangers of power unbounded. His military genius and political skill saw him rise to the position of dictator for life. But it all came to a bloody end on the Ives of March. In this week’s Biographics, we discover the man who was Caesar.

Hirohito was the longest reigning monarch in Japan’s history, serving as Emperor for 63 years. Vested with supreme power and viewed as a deity by his people, he presided over a nation that unleashed a war savagery that shocked the world. His unprecedented radio address to his nation, announcing Japanese surrender in World War Two startled the people, only to be followed with the bombshell that he was not a God but a fallible human, just like them. In this week’s Biographics, we go beyond the pomp and ceremony to discover the man who was Emperor Hirohito. 

To some he was the very embodiment of evil – the psychopathic incarnation of the Devil himself. To others, he was a god-fearing defender of the faith, courageously standing up to the feared Ottoman Empire. In his time, he was known as Vlad the Impaler, thanks to his favorite method of execution. Today we remember him as the real-life inspiration for Bram Stoker’s infamous prince of darkness. In this week’s Biographics, we discover the gruesome truth about the real Vlad Dracula. 

 Maximilien Robespierre promised to usher a fairer, more representative form of government to the French people. What they got was a reign of terror that saw thousands facing the horror of the guillotine.

Adolf Eichmann was a thin little man with bow legs and a hook nose. In the civilian world he had been viewed as of no account, a socially awkward loser with little to redeem himself. Having joined the Nazi party, however, his unquestioning commitment to orders coupled with his need for ruthless efficiency allowed him to carve out a career that see him go down as one of the greatest mass murderers in all of human history. In this week’s Biographics, we trace the life, crimes and death of Adolf Eichmann.