At the Cold War's apex, US President Ronald Reagan got in hot water after he joked with sound engineers who were recording him for public radio. "My fellow Americans," he said. "I'm pleased to tell you today that I've signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes." The comments weren't meant to be taken seriously, but Soviet forces were less than amused.

An open mic moment caught out French President Nicolas Sarkozy and US President Barack Obama at the G-20 summit in 2011. The pair was discussing their relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Mr Sarkozy said: "I can't stand him any more, he's a liar." Obama said his opposite number should count himself lucky. "You may be sick of him, but me, I have to deal with him every day."

Much has been made of the US and Britain's relationship, but the moment that made it even more special was when a microphone caught respective leaders George W. Bush (R) and Tony Blair (L) off guard in 2006. The US president said: "Yo Blair!" before thanking the British PM for a sweater he had received from him. Bush rounded things off by cursing before Blair saw the mic and switched it off.

Though the UK has recently seen a slew of elections, they weren't always as frequent. In 2010 Brits went to the polls for the first time in five years. The standout moment of the campaign was when PM Gordon Brown (R) forgot to switch his mic off and described a member of the public, Gillian Duffy (L), whom he had just met, as a "bigoted woman." Brown later apologized but still lost the election.

In 2015, in the midst of Europe's refugee crisis, German Chancellor Angela Merkel got caught during a UN luncheon confronting Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg over anti-immigrant posts. In a "hot mic" moment, Merkel was heard pressing him on Facebook's policies. "We need to do some work" on curtailing incendiary posts, he responded. "Are you working on this?" Merkel asked. Zuckerberg confirmed he was.

According to French newspaper Liberation, French President Jacques Chirac made jokes about the British in 2005 to Russian and German leaders. While in earshot of reporters, Chirac allegedly said of the UK: "You can't trust people who cook as badly as that. After Finland, it's the country with the worst food. The only thing the British have ever done for European agriculture is mad cow disease."