15 Trivia Tidbits That Cover Movies, Pop Culture and History They Didn’t Teach
In 1907, a millionaire heiress moved to a hotel room in New York. She stayed in that one room for the next 24 years. She ordered food to the room (including raw bacon and eggs, which she cooked herself), and paid her bills through the door as well (she kept millions on her, in cash).
Hopefully she had lots of lists of facts to keep her engaged. Facts like the following ones, about ice, beer and twins.
Look Back in Anger
Oasis had to refund £1 million to fans after technical problems ruined one 2009 concert. Rather than have the label issue the checks, they made sure the each check had Liam and Noel Gallagher's signatures — hoping that many fans would choose to hold on to the check instead of cashing it.
Grass Is Greener
The world was stunned in 1967, when Stalin’s daughter Svetlana defected from the U.S.S.R. and moved to the United States. They were stunned again in 1984, when she moved back and became a Soviet citizen again.
Spicy Picture
A.I.: Artificial Intelligence was originally going to be titled just A.I. This proved tricky for marketing because people did not know the term “A.I.” at the time, so they read the title as A.1. — as in, A.1. Steak Sauce.
Liquid Bread
At the start of the 20th century, Rainier Beer advertised its beverage as a “pure malt tonic” that offered nourishment and strength. Beneficiaries of this tonic, said ads, included mothers of young children as well as the young children themselves.
The Siamese Loophole
Police in Manila had a problem in 1925, in the form of a pair of twins who kept committing traffic violations and kept getting caught. Lucio and Simplicio Godino were conjoined twins, and they knew police wouldn’t take the offender into custody because doing so would force them to also wrongfully arrest the other.
via Wiki Commons
Worth It
Ted Turner was expelled from Brown for letting his girlfriend come live with him in his dorm. That would have been an inconvenience at any time, but it was particularly hard in the 1960s, because he soon faced being drafted to fight in Vietnam.
Your Bait of Falsehood
It’s common knowledge that The Lion King ripped off Japanese predecessor Kimba the White Lion. There are even screens going around showing the scenes The Lion King stole. But few sharing this story really saw Kimba. If they did, they’d know those copied scenes aren’t there. Those scenes are from a Kimba sequel movie, made after The Lion King.
Take Your Daughter to Work Day
In 1994, a Russian pilot made the unwise choice to let his two children — aged 15 and 12 — into the cockpit. One of them disabled the autopilot, and the plane crashed into a mountain, killing all 75 aboard.
Smoke-Filled Room
During one 1952 disease outbreak, London theaters shut down. No, the issue wasn’t that the disease was contagious, making packed gatherings dangerous. It was an outbreak of deadly smog, which meant visibility was so low, people in theaters could not see.
Waste Not, Want Not
A Greenland company attracted criticism last year when they started transporting glacial ice to Dubai for wealthy customers. Those who complained didn’t realize that the 20 tons of ice it harvested and sold is nothing compared to the 280 billion tons of Greenland ice that melt each year.
Forced Approval
When political ads end with the politician saying, “I approve this message,” that’s because of a 2002 law specifically designed to curb negative ads. Two decades on, it doesn’t appear that this did curb negative ads, and it’s also unclear whether curbing negative ads would even be a good thing.
Born for the Part
The 2007 Val Kilmer movie Felon featured actor Clifton Bloomfield in a minor role. No one realized that he’d already killed two people and would go on to kill three more, earning a 195-year prison sentence.
I Get No Respect
George Lucas said that one big problem with the media is that because of their reporting, “There’s no respect for the office of the presidency.” There is a social benefit to revering a leader as a king, he said. He said this in 1999, but still.
Archaic Language
The title of the 1997 song “tubthumping” sounds as nonsensical as the name of the band, Chumbawamba. But this was a preexisting word for preaching to the masses, referring to someone who’d thump on a tub to punctuate their protests.
Damaged Control
A famous story says that Jared Leto got into character for Suicide Squad by mailing his costars used condoms and a dead rat. When reporters probed further, they learned that, no, he never sent anyone used condoms, and he sent Margot Robbie a live rat — a pet rat, which she gladly then raised.
