98for98 The century in photographs: today 1925

The Independent's photo-history of the 20th century rolls on to 1925, bringing with it another evocative image from the Hulton Getty Picture Collection. Mussolini - pictured here with his pet lion cub - continued to pursue his dictatorial aspirations with formidable ruthlessness. Il Duce deployed the police to quash any organisation, club or person potentially posing a political threat, the ex-journalist bringing particular pressure to bear on the press.

With a quarter of the 20th century behind it, America was still able to take stubborn pride in its antediluvian streak. Four months after Tennessee made it a crime to instruct schoolchildren in the theory of evolution, teacher John Scopes was convicted of "exhibiting an irreligious tendency to exalt so-called science and deny the Bible", and was fined $100.

The South African government got around to dealing with a legislative oversight when it realised that the widespread colour bar, which excluded black, coloured or Indian workers from undertaking skilled or semi-skilled employment, was illegal. The South Africa Party of the more liberal Cape and Natal provinces failed to prevent the colour bar taking its place in the statute books when the government exploited a constitutional loophole and sidestepped the party's Senate majority.

Back in Britain, London's night-clubs seethed with flappers performing the latest dance scandal: the Charleston. It was not only ladies of questionable rectitude who whirled their arms and legs in frenzied syncopation. To the shame of the best families, the dance - which had come from South Carolina via New York - was a hit with the season's debs.