With a stunning series of campaigns, almost all of them directed against fellow Muslims, he first subdued Central Asia, then added to his dominions by conquering the Khanate of the Golden Horde, a vast territory stretching north into Russia and Ukraine, and the biggest of the Mongol fragments.

ECONOMIST: Tamerlane

When the film was made during the peak period of anti-terrorist legislation the golden touch of Hollywood was, it seemed, sufficiently persuasive for the authorities to permit a massed horde of extras dressed as the nation's most famous terrorist to cavort riotously in Parliament Square.

BBC: Viewpoint: V for Vendetta and the rise of Anonymous