Charlie Chaplin grew up in poverty in London, was sent to a workhouse twice before he was nine, and began performing in music halls as a child. He joined a touring company that took him to the United States in 1914, where his Keystone films made him a sensation. He invented the Tramp, a small figure in a bowler hat who mixed slapstick with pathos. Chaplin later co-founded United Artists, which gave him full control over his films, and he made masterpieces such as The Gold Rush and City Lights. His films mixed comedy with social themes, and he made The Great Dictator as a satire of Hitler.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.