38 Odd Random Facts That Most People Just Don’t Know | Random List #216

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1Burt Reynolds

Burt Reynolds

Burt Reynolds was considered for the role of Michael Corleone but Brando said he would walk if they cast him. “He is the epitome of something that makes me want to throw up. He is the epitome of everything that is disgusting about the thespian, he worships at the temple of his own narcissism.”


2. There is a book sequel to "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", called "Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator". It features space travel, Cold War politics, aliens, and Charlie's grandparents abusing drugs.


3. Ben Stiller came up with the idea for "Tropic Thunder" while working on the set of Steven Spielberg's World War 2 drama "Empire of the Sun" and seeing actors come back from "fake" Army boot camp and treating it like a real war experience.


4. Andy Kaufman demanded that his alter ego, Tony Clifton, a drunken, cigarette smoking lounge singer/insult comic, have guest appearances on Taxi with his own separate contract. After showing up to set with 2 prostitutes, Clifton was fired. A week later, Andy showed up as if nothing had happened.


5. Iron Maiden lead singer, Bruce Dickinson is considered a polymath by Intelligent Life magazine due to excelling in a wide variety of pursuits. He is a commercial pilot, presented shows on radio and TV, written novels, brews his own beer and was once ranked 7th in Great Britain for fencing.


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6Stella Bowles

Stella Bowles

An 11-year-old girl named Stella Bowles in Nova Scotia, when told she couldn't swim in her local river, initiated testing of the river for fecal contaminants. After the samples tested above allowable limits, three levels of government committed $15 million to install 600 septic tanks along the river.


7. Serial killer Thor Christiansen was only caught because his fifth would-be victim survived a shot to the head. She recognized him months later in a bar and reported him to police. Law enforcement then linked him with four other then-unsolved murders that had a similar MO.


8. In 2014, a Cockatoo celebrated its 100th birthday, it was also noticed by Queen Elizabeth II who sent a birthday card as is custom to 100-year-olds.


9. When Charles Dickens was 12 years old, his father was thrown into prison for debt. Charles was forced to leave school and work ten-hour days at a boot factory in order to help support his family. Later when he started writing, the poor conditions of the working class became a major theme in several of his works.


10. The distinctive nose of the Shinkansen 500 bullet train prevents sonic booms whenever it exits a tunnel and was discovered when scientists studied the shape of a kingfisher's beak to learn how it hit the water at high speed.


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11Daft Punk

Daft Punk

The French duo Daft Punk got their name from a negative review they received from MelodyMaker magazine for a trio they were in before. A journalist wrote that the band Darlin's music was "a daft punky thrash". They found it funny, creating one of the most influential music acts of the 90s and 00s.


12. John Lennon tried to convince Paul McCartney to drill a hole in his skull as part of a practice called trepanning explaining “All you’d have to do is just bore a little hole in your skull and it lets the pressure off. Paul replied ‘ John, you try it and let me know how it goes.'”


13. In 1974, a chemical technician named Karen Silkwood died in a car crash after attempting to expose unethical things done at the nuclear power plant she worked in.


14. The first effective syphilis cure, called Salvarsan, was created in 1909. An arsenic-based drug, it operated on the same principle as chemotherapy: it poisoned syphilis before it poisoned you. Like chemo, it was very unpleasant, but a literal lifesaver.


15. When a friend wrote "KURT SMELLS LIKE TEEN SPIRIT" on a wall, Kurt Cobain assumed it was an anti-establishment slogan and wrote a hit song. Months later he found out his friend had been making fun of him. Kurt's girlfriend wore Teen Spirit, deodorant marketed to teenage girls.


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16Alfred Hitchcock

Alfred Hitchcock

Having standard showtimes for films was not common until 1960. Previously most films would just play on a loop, and people could enter at any time. Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho required that people watch from the beginning to the end and made showtimes more standard.


17. In 1974, Johnny Carson requested that NBC stop airing Tonight Show reruns on the weekend as he wanted to save those reruns for the extra vacation days he was planning to take. NBC wanted to fill those slots, so they hired Lorne Michaels to develop a show. That show became SNL.


18. If you don't eat sushi by the age of 35, there is a 95% chance you never will. As we get older, we are less open to "novelty."


19. In 2016, two alligators in Amsterdam were found guarding €500,000 worth of crystal meth, €300,000 in cash, and several firearms. The owner of the crocodiles was following the law and had the appropriate permits for the animals.


20. When Uranus was discovered it was called George for about 70 years.


21Duffer Brothers

Duffer Brothers

Over 15 to 20 networks rejected the Duffer Brothers' "Stranger Things" series, saying no one would be interested in a Sci-Fi horror that revolves around kid protagonists. One executive said they need to make it kids show or have an adult character (Jim Hopper) be the main protagonist instead.


22. In 1946, a Nova Scotian black woman named Viola Desmond was charged with tax evasion of one cent for refusing to leave a whites-only section of a theatre. She is featured on the new $10 Canadian bill.


23. Killer whales go through menopause to avoid competition with daughters. This may shed light on why menopause exists at all.


24. If you feed a chicken a diet of spicy red peppers, its egg yolk will turn red. This is harmless for the chicken as all birds are immune to capsaicin (the substance that makes food taste spicy).


25. Erna Flegel, Hitler's personal nurse revealed in 2005 that the death of Blondi the German Shepherd affected people in the bunker more than Eva Braun's suicide.

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