50 Fascinating Facts about Birthdays

Tom Cruise is obsessed with sending his co-stars cakes, even the ones he worked with decades ago. Louis Theroux, the documentary maker, went to his grandmother’s 100th Birthday Party to find 100 cupcakes from Tom Cruise, after Tom worked with his cousin.

2. Research that analyzed the birthdays of all 20 million husbands and wives in England and Wales failed to reveal any evidence of attraction or compatibility between people of particular star signs.

3. English cricket great Denis Compton was renowned for his absent-mindedness. He once arrived at a match without his kitbag, so he used an antique bat from the stadium's museum; and during a major celebration in honor of his 70th birthday, his mother rang, telling him that he was only 69.

4. On his 20th birthday, comedian Bill Murray joked about having two bombs in his luggage but instead was caught smuggling ten pounds of marijuana. He was convicted and sentenced to probation.

5. Famous jazz pianist Fats Waller was kidnapped by gangsters for three days in Chicago in 1926. He was the "surprise guest" at Al Capone's birthday party. He was later found very drunk, extremely tired, and had earned thousands of dollars in cash from Capone and other party-goers as tips.

In 1926, Poland sent the US a birthday card with over 5 million signatures. Polish citizen Leopold Kotnowski visited the White House to present the card for America’s 150th birthday. It has 30,000 pages full of art, photos, poems, and pressed flowers.

7. Steve Burns from Blue’s Clues once showed up unannounced to a kid’s birthday party after seeing a party sign and blue paw print on the house’s mailbox. He showed up in character and costume, handed out presents, and refused any compensation from the parents.

8. British pop singer Vera Lynn entertained troops during World War 2. In 2017, she released a new album to celebrate her 100th birthday, making her the oldest recording artist in the world and the first centenarian to have an album in the charts.

9. Joe Perry sold his 1959 Gibson Les Paul during his 1982 divorce. Later he found the guitar was owned by Slash. Perry called Slash and bugged him for years, offering to pay more than the guitar's worth. Years later at Joe's 50th birthday party, Slash finally gave him the guitar as a gift.

10. Actor Dick Van Dike didn't know his actual birthday until he was 18. His parents lied to him about his birth date to cover up the fact that he was conceived out of wedlock.

In 2013, NASA’s Mars Curiosity rover hummed Happy Birthday to itself by vibrating its sample-analysis unit to obtain the musical tune, but did so only on its first “birthday”.

12. 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.

13. Due to him being unable to celebrate his bar mitzvah at the age of 13 due to World War 1, Yisrael Kristal celebrated his bar mitzvah on his 113th birthday instead. Kristal was already the world's oldest living man and the world's oldest living Holocaust survivor during this time.

14. Blowing out birthday candles increases bacteria on cake by 1,400%.

15. In 2019, 18 cubs in the “Giant Panda Kindergarten” in China celebrated their 1st birthday. Researchers mistakenly thought that pandas liked solitary life and had kept each panda in a tiny den. The pandas got depressed and didn't want to mate. This all changed when the pandas were allowed to hang out together during the birthday party.

Hunter S. Thompson pranked Jack Nicholson on his birthday by shining a spotlight on his house, blasting a recording of a pig being eaten alive by bears, firing his pistol, and leaving an elk's heart at the front door, while Nicholson and his two daughters hid in the basement.

17. Hugh Jackman worked as a birthday clown named 'Coco' and made just 50 bucks. Jackman admits that he had no magic tricks and was even told off by a 6-year-old that he is terrible.

18. Queen Elizabeth has owned more than 30 Corgis over the last 80 years all of which were direct descendants of her Corgi named Susan whom she had received on her 18th birthday.

19. In 1973, the members of Led Zeppelin gave drummer John Bonham a Harley Davidson for his 25th birthday, which he promptly rode up and down the hallways of his hotel, causing thousands of dollars in damage. The next day, he wrote a check for the damages and said "Oh, and keep the bike."

20. In 2010, when Tokyo officials went to congratulate the oldest man in the city, Sogen Kato, on his 111th birthday, they were shocked to find a 30-year-old skeleton. The family, as it turned out, was still drawing off the pension he was still receiving.

A goat named William Windsor reached the rank of lance corporal in the British Army and got demoted for inappropriate behavior during the Queen's official birthday.

22. A German man named Sven Hagemeier celebrated his birthday for 46 hours by traveling through different time-zones.

23. Before his death, author Robert Louis Stevenson gifted his friend's daughter his own birthday. His friend’s daughter was born on Christmas, and often complained she felt like she had no real birthday.

24. On her 56th birthday, Carol Burnett woke up to the news that her friend and mentor Lucille Ball had died. Flowers arrived later with a note that said "Happy Birthday, Kid. Love Lucy."

25. In 2016, the oldest living leap year baby celebrated her (Daisy Belle Ward) 25th birthday on her 100th year of life.