If you haven't visited Google's homepage today, check it before midnight so you can catch the delightful animation they’ve designed to celebrate the 151st anniversary of composer Claude Debussy’s birth. Scored to Debussy’s iconic Claire de Lune, it’s a surprisingly elegant little tale. Don't worry if you miss it, as it will end up in the ever-expanding doodle archives.

With search bars, Chrome and the like, perhaps a lot of us don’t visit the main Google page as often as we used to. But we should make more of an effort, as it frequently houses some very imaginative content and touching tributes to all-manner of different people, places and events. Here are some more of our favourites:

Pac-Man

‘Playable’ Google doodles have become much more common since 2010, but the first full ‘game’ doodle remains one of the best. How could it not be: it’s Pac-Man (and Ms. Pac-Man if you put in a second ‘coin’). The fact that we can play the game in a small website box goes to show how far technology has advanced since 1980.

You can still play it here.

SOPA

To protest the controversial Stop Internet Piracy Act proposed a few years ago, Google simply blacked out their logo for the day. It was as clear and concise a statement as the company could make, and several other tech giants adopted similar methods to express their objections to online censorship. As a result of the widespread outrage at the proposed Internet regulation, the act - as well as its sister PIPA bill - was eventually dropped.

Source

London Olympics

To celebrate the start of the London Olympics last year, Google released a series of interactive doodles. They were based on rowing, hurdle racing and soccer, and each served as an enjoyably distracting mini-game in its own right. Try the soccer offering, and keep pushing for that high score.

Moog

Perhaps the supreme doodle. For Dr. Robert Moog’s 78th birthday last year, the homepage featured a functional replica of the good doctor’s first iconic musical synthesizer. You can even record and playback your electronic experiments. Again, a stunning reminder of how far we've come in such a short space of time.

Click here, but be prepared to be distracted. And don't forget it’s equally impressive predecessor, the playable Les Paul electric guitar.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

The late, truly great Douglas Adams would have celebrated his 61st birthday in March of this year. To remember the talent and endless curiosity of Adams, Google’s team made up this fun homage to Adams’ most famous work. It includes a number of short animations bringing some of the fictional Guide’s most memorable entries to life.

Don’t panic when you click here.

Charlie Chaplin

The master of silent comedy may have passed away in 1977, but his spirit was alive and well when Google put together a pitch-perfect ‘new’ Chaplin short for his 122nd birthday. It only briefly features the Google logo, and is a fun, self-contained slapstick story in its own right.

Watch it here.