41 Astounding Random Facts That’ll Test Your Knowledge – Part 141

American English spellings like "color" and "center" were first published by Noah Webster as an effort to simplify what he thought were unnecessarily complex spelling rules.

27. Peaches and nectarines are the same fruit. Nectarines simply have a recessive allele for smooth skin.

28. In the movie ‘Love Actually,’ Olivia Olson’s voice sounded so good when she sang “All I Want for Christmas Is You” that the director made her train her voice to sound more “believable” so people didn't think she was just lip syncing over Mariah Carey’s original track.

29. In 1917, Ernie Shore threw a "perfect game", with 27 outs without allowing a baserunner. However, he is only credited with a combined no-hitter because he pitched in relief of the starter, Babe Ruth, who was ejected for punching the umpire after walking the first batter of the game.

30. In 1959, Jewish-American judo expert Rena Kanokogi disguised herself as a man, entered a men's judo competition and won first place. Her medal was taken away after her victory when she admitted to being female, but it was awarded back to her in 2009.

American skateboarder Tony Hawk rejected Activision's buyout deal for the permanent use of his name and likeness on the original Tony Hawk Pro Skater game but accepted a royalty deal in which he would earn a percentage of every copy of the game sold. He earned ten times the original offer within two years.

32. Americans were the ones to introduce the use of shotguns in warfare during World War 1. They were so effective at clearing trenches, that they were called "trench brooms" and the Germans complained about its use and how it caused unnecessary suffering.

33. The Folsom Prison Blues line "But I shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die" was what Johnny Cash imagined as "the worst reason a person could have for killing another person."

34. A man named Tim Friede is immune to Snake venom. He has received more than 160 snake bites in 16 years. This has made his body to develop a natural immune response and generate high levels of antibodies to fight the snake venom. He even survived the bite of Black Mamba, one of the most venomous snakes.

35. In The Great Gatsby, Gatsby gave himself the name "Jay" because he believed it sounded upper-class and sophisticated, while in reality, the term "jay" was used as an insult during the early 1900s (when the novel took place) to describe an ignorant or inexperienced person.

The first known juvenile to be sentenced to death and executed in USA was guilty of bestiality. Thomas Granger of the Plymouth Colony was hanged in 1642 for sodomizing “a mare, a cow, two goats, divers sheepe, two calves, and a turkey.”

37. American aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart was one of the first celebrities to found her own line of clothing and luggage and was a major icon of women's fashion in the 1930s.

38. After sleeping on his couch Robert Englund told a young Mark Hamill to audition for the lead character in Star Wars. Englund later went on to play Freddy Krueger in the Nightmare on Elm Street films.

39. The worlds largest farm, Mudanjiang City Dairy Farm is located in China and covers an area of 22.5 million acres. This is the same size as Portugal.

40. Sir Patrick Stewart and Sir Ian McKellen never played chess in their life until the movie X-Men required them to do so. A chess master came in to teach them.

The longest game in baseball history went on for 33 innings for a total of 8.5 hours. The game was so long that when pitcher Luis Aponte got home at 3 am, his wife didn't believe his story for being gone. He had to promise her that he would show her proof of the game in the next day’s paper.