Valentine's Day special: A look at some memorable kisses in recent history

Some anthropologists argue that kissing is not an innate or intuitive human behaviour as some cultures do not practise it at all.

Anthropologist Vaughn Bryant, from Texas A&M University, believes that kissing first started in India around 3,500 years ago and spread slowly after Alexander the Great conquered the Punjab in 326 BC.

“Kissing was very restricted up until very recently to areas of Asia – South-east Asia mainly – and Europe until the conquests in the 1500s,” Professor Bryant said. “No one in the New World kissed, no one in Oceania kissed, the Eskimos didn’t kiss, people in sub-Saharan Africa didn’t kiss.”

Regardless, the act of a kiss is generally seen today as an act of affection.

To mark this year's Valentine's Day, the US photo stock agency Getty Images curated a kiss moment collection which reveals a story behind the scene. Here's a look at some memorable kisses captured in recent history:

A jubilant American sailor clutching a white-uniformed nurse in a joyful, back-bending, passionate kiss while thousands jam the Times Square area to celebrate the long awaited victory over Japan during WWII. (Photo: Alfred Eisenstaedt / Getty Images)

Riot police walk in the street as a couple kiss on June 15, 2011 in Vancouver, Canada. Vancouver broke out in riots after their hockey team the Vancouver Canucks lost in Game Seven of the Stanley Cup Finals. (Photo: Rich Lam/Getty Images)

 Famed British actor Peter Sellers and wife at home on the couch kissing. (Photo: Allan Grant/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images)

Ringo Starr of The Beatles with fans Dorothy Howe left and Judith Howe at Kingsford Smith Airport in Sydney at 6.30am on 14 June 1964. (Photo: Trevor Dallen/The Sydney Morning Herald/Fairfax Media / Getty Images)

British-born singer and songwriter John Lennon (1940 - 1980) kisses the cheek of his wife, Japanese-born musician and artist Yoko Ono on the back porch of their Bank Street apartment in Greenwich village, New York, New York, October, 1972. (Photo: Brian Hamill/Getty Images)

Burt Lancaster (1913 - 1994) and Deborah Kerr(1921 - 2007) in a scene from 'From Here to Eternity', Halona Cove, Oahu, Hawaii, 1953. The film was directed by Fred Zinnemann, for Columbia Pictures. (Photo: Columbia Pictures/Archive Photos/Getty Images)

 Prince Charles, Prince of Wales kisses Diana, Princess of Wales after she presents him with a prize at polo in Cirencester. (Photo: Tim Graham/Getty Images)

TRH Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and Prince William, Duke of Cambridge kiss on the balcony at Buckingham Palace on April 29, 2011 in London, England. The marriage of the second in line to the British throne was led by the Archbishop of Canterbury and was attended by 1900 guests, including foreign Royal family members and heads of state. Thousands of well-wishers from around the world have also flocked to London to witness the spectacle and pageantry of the Royal Wedding. (Photo: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

A couple kiss inside a room filled with pro-democracy sticky note messages outside Hong Kong's Government complex on October 10, 2014 in Hong Kong, Hong Kong. (Photo: Chris McGrath/Getty Images)

Circa 1927: Monta Bell (1891 - 1958 ), the American film director who was prevalent during the 20s is obviously enjoying himself, being kissed by a group of blondes and brunettes. The girls are playing in the new film 'After Midnight' which Bell is directing for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. (Photo: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

FRANCE - CIRCA 1950: Roubaix: The Ball. (Photo: Jean-Philippe CHARBONNIER/Gamma-Rapho/Getty Images)