1953: Playboy’s first issue had Marilyn Monroe on the cover. Hefner’s editor’s letter reads: “We enjoy mixing cocktails and an hors d’oeuvre or two, putting a little mood music on the phonograph and inviting in a female acquaintance for a quiet discussion on Picasso, Nietzsche, sex . . . “

1955: The company begins marketing its trademark “bunny” cufflinks. Today, licensed Playboy products are sold in over 100 countries.

1960: Ian Fleming writes a short story for the magazine introducing the suave British spy James Bond.

1966: Playboy opens its first “international club and casino” in London. Its license was revoked in 1981 and it closed. Hefner says he was a victim of a “witch hunt.”

1975: Hefner’s private secretary and former lover Bobbie Arnstein is convicted of conspiracy to distribute cocaine and jailed for 15 years. Two months later, she commits suicide.

1981: John Lennon gives his last interview to Playboy, and explains why The Beatles won’t re-form: “Do we have to do the walking on water again because a whole pile of dummies didn’t see it the first time?”

1982: Hefner’s daughter, Christie, is made president of the company.

1989: Pamela Anderson makes her first appearance on the cover of Playboy. To date, she has appeared on the cover 10 times.

2002: Playboy runs its “pink slip pictorial” on “The Women of Enron.”

2003: Hugh Hefner acquires his 112th pair of silk pajamas.