The famous line in Titanic from Leonardo DiCaprio, “I’m king of the world!” was improvised.
100 Mind-Blowing Famous Facts
A wildlife technician, Richard Thomas, took the famous tongue-twister “How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood” and calculated a rough estimate of what the answer would be. It came out to be around 700 pounds.
The full name of the famous Chuck E. Cheese’s mouse is Charles Entertainment Cheese.
Barry Manilow wrote many famous jingles for companies like McDonald’s, State Farm, and BandAids.
William Hung, made famous for his appearance on American Idol singing “She Bangs,” is a 73rd generation descendant of Confucius.
While writing the famous song “Hallelujah,” Leonard Cohen originally wrote 80 verses of the song, which he sometimes interchanges in and out depending on where he’s playing.
The famous Lacoste crocodile symbol was created in 1933 and was the first designer logo ever.
In the original Psycho movie, the blood in the famous shower scene was chocolate syrup.
“Finger-Lickin’ Good” had a bit of a mishap when translated to Chinese for their first KFC outlets in the country, the famous phrase became “eat your fingers off.”
Bats aren’t blind. Despite the famous idiom, bats can indeed see, but they still use their even more famous echolocation to find prey.
0.5% of the male population are descended from Genghis Khan. (Scientists did a study in 2003 showing that about 16 million dudes share a Y chromosome with the famous Emperor.)
Wally Amos is responsible for making more than just cookies famous. You may be familiar with Wally “Famous” Amos, thanks to his packaged chocolate chip cookies. But before he worked his magic on the sweet treats, he was in the business of making people famous, Biography reports. He discovered and signed the folk duo Simon & Garfunkel and was a talent rep for acts like Diana Ross, Sam Cooke, and Marvin Gaye.
Theodore Roosevelt had a pet hyena. Its name was Bill, and it was a present from the Ethiopian emperor. Roosevelt was famous for his many pets, including a one-legged rooster, a badger, a pony, and a small bear.
Neil Armstrong’s hair was sold in 2004 for $3,000. The lucky buyer, John Reznikoff, holds the Guinness World Record for the largest collection of hair from historical celebrities, reports NBC. But Armstrong’s lawyers threatened to sue Marx Sizemore, the not-so-lucky barber who cut the former astronaut’s hair; they said he violated an Ohio law that protects the rights of famous people. Sizemore said he wouldn’t pay, and Reznikoff said he wouldn’t give back the hair but that he’d donate $3,000 to charity.
Thomas Edison is the reason you love cat videos. After inventing the kinetograph in 1892, Edison was able to record and watch moving images for the first time. He filmed short clips in his studio, some of which feature famous people like Annie Oakley and Buffalo Bill. But the real stars of these early videos are the Boxing Cats—adorable cats that he recorded in a boxing ring circa 1894.
“OK” most likely stands for fake words. In the 1830s, people jokingly spelt abbreviations incorrectly. One of the most famous: “All correct” turned into “orl korrekt,” and then of course into OK. Historians think it stuck because Martin Van Buren—known as Old Kinderhook, after his hometown in New York—supporters called themselves the OK Club when he was campaigning for reelection.
Competitive art used to be an Olympic sport. Between 1912 and 1948, the international sporting events awarded medals for music, painting, sculpture and architecture. Shame it didn’t catch on, the famous pottery scene in Ghost could have won an Olympic medal as well as an Academy Award for the best screenplay.
Louboutins’ iconic red soles were inspired by Andy Warhol. The 60s pop artist’s drawing Flowers caught the eye of the famous designer which gave him the idea to add the infamous sole to his designs.
The Eiffel Tower was originally intended for Barcelona. The Spanish city thought it was too ugly, so Gustave Eiffel pitched it to Paris instead. French critics weren’t too thrilled either, but it’s one of the most famous landmarks in the world today.
The Chanel Double C was the first designer logo of all time. The famous double C symbol was created by Coco Chanel in 1925. This famed Parisian brand’s symbol was the first ever designer logo and remains unchanged to this day.
Only 2 countries don’t sell Coca-Cola. Due to political reasons, North Korea and Cuba do not distribute the world’s most famous drink.
Millie the White House dog earned more than four times as President Bush in 1991. Once known as the most famous dog in White House history, Millie was one of Bush’s family dogs. One of her amazing feats? The $900,000 in royalties earned from Millie’s Book easily outsold the $2,291 earned in 1991 by the President for his 1988 campaign autobiography, “Looking Forward.”
Doritos are flammable. Once the world as we know it meets its end – whether through aliens, zombies, or other causes – you can rely on Doritos for survival. These famous corn chips make a long-lasting fire due to hydrocarbons and oil content. The more powder-flavoring, the longer the fire will last.
No real astronaut ever said, “Houston, we have a problem,” The famous line was only said by Tom Hanks in the movie Apollo 13.
Ben & Jerry’s learned how to make ice cream from a $5 course at Penn State. The titular Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield were childhood friends. Although Greenfield finished college, he was unable to pursue med school. Cohen, on the other hand, dropped out of school. In 1977, Cohen and Greenfield completed a course on ice cream making from Pennsylvania State University’s Creamery. One of the fun facts no one knows about this famous product: Have you ever wondered why Ben & Jerry’s is so chunky? Ben Cohen has a condition where he can’t smell or taste anything. Instead, he relied on food textures texture to provide variety in his diet. This led to the company’s trademark chunks in their ice cream.
Cap’n Crunch’s full name is Horatio Magellan Crunch. He was named after the famous explorer Ferdinand Magellan. His ship is also called the S.S. Guppy.
Only one capital in the U.S. has no McDonald’s. This capital is known as Montpelier, Vermont and it is also the smallest capital in America. Most residents have to drive to the next town over just to get a taste of the world-famous fries.
Jack Daniels died from a toe injury. The founder of the famous whiskey injured his toe after kicking a safe. This then later led to an infection until he eventually died of blood poisoning.
It did not take more than $1M to build Mt. Rushmore. The construction of this famous monument, Mount Rushmore, took over 14 years to complete. Over 400 workers built this monument from the group-up from 1927 to 1941.
Russell Horning is famous on the Internet as the Backpack Kid. Russel was born and raised in Georgia. He gained popularity after Rihanna gave him a shoutout on Instagram in 2016. He is also known for creating the floss dance.
Cordozar Calvin Broadus Jr. is Snoop Dog’s real name. The famous rapper takes his celebrity name from his mother. According to him, his mother stated that it was because he looked like Snoopy from the iconic Peanuts franchise.
A premature birth takes place when the baby arrives earlier than 37 weeks during pregnancy. Those who are born early will often have complicated medical problems. Premature birth usually occurs when not enough nutrition is given to the mother during pregnancy. A few famous premature births include Albert Einstein, Mark Twain, and Isaac Newton.
The Titanic was made in Belfast. Here’s one of our best you-know facts about the famous Titanic ship. The ship was designed by Eric Kuhne who died from a suspected heart attack. Building the ship took almost 3 years to complete.
The man with the longest beard tripped and died because of it. Hans Steininger once became famous for having the world’s longest beard at almost 5 ft long. However, he became even more famous for dying because of his beard. One of the morbidly funny yet unfortunate WTF facts: he tripped on his beard during a fire, which made him fall downstairs and break his neck.
The Mona Lisa may have had eyebrows. The famous portrait may look relatively facial hair-less, but in October 2007, Pascal Cotte claimed that Leonardo da Vinci originally painted eyebrows and eyelashes on the Mona Lisa. Using a high-definition camera, the French engineer and inventor zoomed in 24 times on Mona Lisa’s face and found a single brushstroke of hair. However, whether or not this is true is one of the many mysteries of the Mona Lisa.
The snow in The Wizard of Oz is asbestos. The famous poppy-field scene in The Wizard of Oz is blanketed by calming snow. However, it wasn’t so calming behind the scenes. The material they used for the fake snow was poisonous asbestos.
A man once ate an entire plane. You read that right. Michel Lotito was a famous French entertainer known for eating inedible things. Lotito ate metal, glass, rubber and other industrial materials. He disassembled, cut, and ate items such as bicycles, shopping carts, televisions, and – most notably – a Cessna 150. The 680kg plane took roughly two years to be “eaten” by Lotito from 1978 to 1980.
The movie’s famous girl in the red coat was a deliberate artistic choice. The use of colour in this particular scene symbolises the moral awakening of the main character, Schindler, as he witnesses the innocence and tragedy of the Holocaust.
Famous left-handed people include Leonardo da Vinci, Albert Einstein, and Barack Obama.
Famous sports players, like the baseball player Babe Ruth and tennis star Rafael Nadal, are left-handed.
Famous left-handed musicians and singers include Paul McCartney, David Bowie, Kurt Cobain, Justin Bieber and Amy Winehouse.
The Statue of Liberty was once functioning as a lighthouse. In 1886, the famous statue was a working lighthouse for years. You could see its light from 24 miles away.
On May 27, 2005, at 10:07 p.m. Big Ben’s clock stopped. It was a hot summer day in London, and the heat is presumed to be what caused the famous clock to stop.
The Eiffel Tower was originally supposed to be for the city of Barcelona. But they rejected the famous tower at the time because they considered it too ugly.
The name of M&M comes from their creators. Businessmen Forrest Mars and Bruce Murrie created the famous candy.
Hedy Lamar was a famous Hollywood film actress who also invented what became modern-day Wi-Fi.
Frederick Douglass’s birth name was Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey. When he married he chose the last name Douglass after the hero clan in Sir Walter Scott’s famous poem, Lady of the Lake.
In Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 thriller Psycho, the sound effects for the famous shower scene were created by repeatedly stabbing a casaba melon.
Michael Jackson once had an entire supermarket closed so he could shop “like a normal person.” Being famous from a very young age, Michael Jackson was never able to do many completely normal (and rather tediously boring) day-to-day activities. When he mentioned that it was his dream to go shopping and put things in a basket, one of his friends shut down his store for a day and filled it with Jackson’s friends and family posing as employees. The superstar donned a single latex glove and went about his business up and down the supermarket’s aisles, later likening it to a trip to Disneyland.
Macaulay Culkin from Home Alone let his fans vote on what he should change his middle name to. The famous Home Alone child star has faded away a little into obscurity these days, but he’s still manageing to stay relevant. In November 2018, he asked the world to give him a new middle name, as his name was “something dumb.” Out of a wide range of ridiculous finalists, he ended up changing his middle to his full name and is now officially known as Macaulay Macaulay Culkin Culkin!
Panama hats aren’t originally from Panama but from Ecuador! These timelessly stylish hats have been known to the Western world since at least the 1800s and have been seen atop the heads of many famous people ranging from President Theodore Roosevelt to Brad Pitt. They’re made from a type of palm called the Toquilla palm, a native Ecuadorian plant that is painstakingly woven together into the iconic shape. Artisans were struggling to sell the hats in Ecuador, so they exported them to Panama – where they ironically gained their name instead of from the country of origin!
John Wayne, Hollywood’s most famous cowboy, hated riding horses.
One of the most famous movie lines in history was never said. We often quote, “Play it again, Sam,” from Casablanca; but the real line is, “Play it, Sam. Play ‘As Time Goes By.’”
Lincoln Logs were created by John Lloyd Wright, son of famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright, in the 1920s. They were named after Abraham Lincoln, who grew up in a log cabin.
Nokia is the largest company in Finland. So much so, that it is viewed as a national pride by Finns! And while we often think Nokia is just a cell phone company, this famous brand was originally a paper manufacturer in 1865. Nokia branched out into technology in the 1980s.
Pompeii is famous for its graffiti, which includes gossip, scandalous accusations, profanity, and political slogans.
The Churchill myth. Of Winston Churchill’s most famous 1940 speeches: ‘Blood, toil, tears and Sweat,’ ‘Fight Them on the beaches’, ‘Finest Hour,’ and ‘The Few,’ only one, ‘Finest Hour’ was broadcast on the radio at the time. All of them were delivered to the House of Commons, but only after his ‘Finest Hour’ speech did Churchill record a version later for the BBC. The other speeches he only recorded in 1949.
Linux isn’t Linus Torvalds’ only celebrated creation. The famous Finn is also responsible for the Git versioning system and the scuba diving app ‘Subsurface’.
Linux is the most famous example of open source software but did you know that it wasn’t always that way? Early versions of Linux were distributed with a license forbidding commercial use or redistribution. It was version 0.12, released in 1992, that saw Linus adopt the GPL, making his code freely available to all.
The famous Large Hadron Collider, the world’s largest particle accelerator, runs on Linux.
Stonehenge is older than the Pyramids: Stonehenge is one of the world’s most famous prehistoric monuments, built as a cemetery in the Bronze Age, but not many people know that this is even older than the pyramids. The first stones were an early henge monument, built 3000 years BC and the exceptional stone circle was constructed in the late Neolithic period about 2500 BC. The pyramids were built and finished around 2500-2400 BC. We can conclude that both monuments are very old and worth a visit!
The world-famous characters Sherlock Holmes, Mr Bean and Harry Potter are in originated from Britain.
Football is the most famous sport in the United Kingdom.
The world-famous British playwright Shakespeare added more than 1,700 new words and phrases to the English language.
In 2014, the famous YouTube star, Grumpy Cat, earned more money than Gwyneth Paltrow – an Oscar-winning actress.