The term rare disease is, in a sense, a misnomer. If all of the people with rare diseases worldwide inhabited their own country, it would be the third-largest by population, after China and India.

John W McHugh, a member of the Gateshead Photographic Unit, used a 16mm cinecamera and rare Kodachrome colour film to capture the street parties as people celebrated across the region on 8 May 1945.