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Six degrees

Kim Dotcom (below) and his Megaupload empire have been catapulted into the public's consciousness, as much for the sometime Hong Kong resident's lifestyle as for their alleged copyright infringements. In jail and facing the forfeiture of more than HK$2 billion in cash and the seizure of assets including 15 Mercedes, a Rolls-Royce Phantom and a Lamborghini, Dotcom has had the presence of mind to hire the lawyer who won a notorious sexual harassment case for client Bill Clinton ...

When a survey of journalists ranked the Monica Lewinsky scandal the 53rd most significant story of the century, Clinton responded by asking, 'What's a man got to do to get in the top 50?' Having been so publicly shamed himself, perhaps it is unsurprising that the former president of the United States was happy to spill the beans about a fellow world leader being found staggering around outside the White House in his underpants trying to hail a taxi to take him for pizza. The man in question was Boris Yeltsin ...

The late Russian leader's state visits were rarely dull and included him jumping on stage in Germany before attempting to conduct a brass band while singing and dancing a jig; professing his 'love of Italian women' to Pope John Paul II; and playing wooden spoons on the balding head of the Kyrgyzstani president. On a visit to Stockholm, shortly before falling over, Yeltsin informed his audience that the meatballs he was eating resembled the face of Swedish tennis ace Bjorn Borg ...

The former world No1 won 11 Grand Slams and five consecutive Wimbledon tournaments. Years later, the Italian press reported the Swede had attempted suicide. Having narrowly avoided bankruptcy, the 'Ice Borg' bounced back with an eponymous clothing line. With promotional material urging Swedes to 'F*** for the Future', the label proved a huge hit and now, in Sweden, Bjorn Borg Fashion outsells all other brands except Calvin Klein ...

The label has been offending the easily offended since the 1980s, when a 15-year-old Brooke Shields made the shock proclamation, 'Nothing comes between me and my Calvins.' By 1997, the situation had become so unbearable that a US Senate subcommittee met to discuss the effect modern culture was having on, well, modern culture. At the gathering, a spittle-flecked Joe Lieberman railed against 'violent and perverse', 'disgusting stuff' such as Calvin Klein ads, the television show When Animals Attack and Dennis Rodman ...

A colourful character in every sense, Rodman became as well known for his courtside antics, which included headbutting a referee and kicking a cameraman in the groin, as he was for his basketball-playing abilities. Eager to prove that nothing scared him, the 6 foot, 6 inch vegetarian wrestled Hulk Hogan and dated Madonna. He also took part in notoriously dangerous car race the Gumball 3000, the 2001 winner of which was another 6 foot, 6 inch-er, Kim Dotcom.

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