1Joe Perry
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.
2. 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.
3. 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”.
4. 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.
5. 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.
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6Birthday candles
Blowing out birthday candles increases bacteria on cake by 1,400%.
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. 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.
11John Bonham
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."
12. 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.
13. 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.
14. A German man named Sven Hagemeier celebrated his birthday for 46 hours by traveling through different time-zones.
15. 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.
16Carol Burnett
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."
17. In 2016, the oldest living leap year baby celebrated her (Daisy Belle Ward) 25th birthday on her 100th year of life.
18. The British king or queen has two birthdays: their real birth date and one assigned to them during the summer, to ensure better weather for the parade.
19. Tenzing Norgay, one of the first two men who reached Mount Everest, didn't know when his exact birthday was. After his ascent of Everest on 29 May 1953, he decided to celebrate his birthday on that day thereafter.
20. There is a copy of the Quran written in Saddam Hussein's blood which he had commissioned for his 60th birthday. Over the course of 2 years he provided up to 57 pints of his blood to complete the more than 336,000 words that make up the text.
21Ptolemy VIII
Pharaoh Ptolemy VIII was married to his sister-wife Cleopatra II. Later when Ptolemy married his niece (Cleopatra’s daughter by another brother), it caused Cleopatra to rebel in support of their 12-year-old son. Ptolemy responded by dismembering their son and sending the pieces to Cleopatra on her birthday.
22. A billionaire hedge fund manager named Raj Rajaratnam once paid Kenny Rogers $4 million to sing The Gambler over and over a dozen times at his birthday party.
23. Christmas is banned in North Korea and instead of Christmas, the birthday of Kim Jong-suk (grandmother of the current supreme leader of North Korea) is celebrated on Christmas eve. However, some North Korean Christian believers still celebrate Christmas in secret.
24. In the 1800s, a man named James “Shanghai” Kelly used to kidnap men and forced them to work on ships. One year on his birthday he announced he was hosting a free “booze cruise” to celebrate, served opium-laced whiskey to the attendees, then offloaded them onto waiting ships and got 100 men in one night.
25. A Dutch city known as Utrecht celebrated George Orwell's 110 birthday by putting party hats on surveillance cameras.
