Six years after Osama bin Laden was killed by special forces at his secret Pakistan compound, the CIA has released a massive cache of images and videos recovered from the terrorist’s private files.

And while bin Laden’s treasure trove contained material disturbing enough for the CIA to display a warning above the files, it also highlighted he had unexpected taste in Western pop culture, and enjoyed arts and crafts.

The CIA said in a press release it had released the fascinating collection, which it has held for years, “in the interest of transparency and to enhance public understanding of al-Qaeda and its former leader”.

Among the almost 470,000 files collected from the house where bin Laden died was the 2007 viral video ‘Charlie Bit My Finger’, an early YouTube sensation which showed a hilarious encounter between a young boy and his baby brother.

The al-Qaeda leader was one of over 850 million people to view it.

A computer seized during the deadly raid had on it pirated Nintendo games, Hollywood films including animated filme Batman: Gotham Knight and the 2008 Morgan Spurlock comedy documentary Where in the World is Osama bin Laden?

It also had a video on how to crochet a basket, and a home movie showing bin Laden’s little-seen son Hazma at his wedding.

Footage of Hamza bin Laden as an adult on his wedding day. @thomasjoscelyn assesses wedding occurred in #Iran. More: https://t.co/XTdRroQFKJ pic.twitter.com/webxSxhEm7

— Long War Journal (@LongWarJournal) November 1, 2017

Alongside practice reels of public speeches and jihadist propaganda were multiple episodes of American classic cartoon Tom and Jerry, plus Mr Bean and Wallace and Gromit videos.

Bin Laden’s Hollywood collection was studded with many children’s movies including Ants, Cars, Chicken Little and Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs.

But they were countered by documentaries that probably resonated more personally, including CNN’s World’s Most Wanted, In the Footsteps of Bin Laden, and The Kremlin From Inside. He also watched National Geographic shows such as World’s Worst Venom.

One of the more illuminating discoveries is bin Laden’s 228-page private diary – an unspectacular school notebook – which confirmed for the first time that he took a summer trip to “the west” as a teenager.

Written in Arabic, an entry said he first travelled there for an unspecified “treatment” when he was 13 years old.

The next year, bin Laden – the son of a Saudi construction tycoon – spent 10 weeks in Britain to study. “We went every Sunday to visit Shakespeare’s house,” he wrote, but he was “not impressed” by British society and culture.

“I got the impression they were a loose people and my age didn’t allow me to form a complete picture of life there.”

Shortly before he was shot dead, the architect of the 9/11 attacks wrote in the diary that the visit convinced him the west was “decadent.”

Pornography and material deemed sensitive to national security was withheld from public release, the CIA said.

While the US government has released hundreds of documents over recent years, this is the largest such release and offers the public the chance “to gain further insights into the plans and works” of Al-Qaeda, said CIA director Mike Pompeo.