History of Celebrity

I probably still need to refine my topic a bit more, but basically it's going to look at the history of celebrity culture. I thought for example I could try to trace and explain how we got to the bizarre world of paparazzi snapped celebrities of today. As celebrities are obviously not natural, but rather cultural constructions, I thought that by looking at different celebrities in different time periods I could perhaps reveal something about the society which created and consumed them. For example I would really like to use the Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton affair as a case study for the 1960s, as it occurred around the same time that many social values and morals were changing. I suppose my thesis will mostly focus on the 20th century, but I was also hoping to briefly discuss the concept of celebrity in other ages. For example gladiators in ancient Rome often achieved a celebrity like status.