1 Boy Flies Without Security Clearance
In 2012, an 11-year-old boy named Liam Corcoran disappeared while shopping with his mother and managed to reach an airport. He passed through five security checks without a passport or boarding pass by blending in with a family. He successfully boarded a flight from Manchester to Rome alone, and no one discovered him until after takeoff.
2. Nickelodeon almost canceled Hey Arnold’s Christmas episode because executives believed kids wouldn’t care about its depiction of the Vietnam War. However, an executive changed her mind when her nine-year-old son watched a rough cut and asked, “Mom, is that what Vietnam was all about?”
3. In 2013, when the Wii U failed miserably, Nintendo’s CEO Satoru Iwata voluntarily cut his own salary in half for six months instead of laying off his employees.
4. In 2009, authorities jailed two college students for refusing to pay a mandatory tip of $16.35 at a Pennsylvania restaurant, citing poor service. After the incident gained national attention, authorities dropped the charges. The case sparked a widespread debate over tipping and whether it should depend on service quality.
5. In 2002, two planes collided over a German town due to erroneous air traffic instructions, killing all passengers and crew members. In 2004, a grieving man who had lost his family in the crash stabbed the responsible air traffic controller to death at his home.
6 Alexander’s Army Drinking Tragedy
Alexander the Great had a Hindu guru who accompanied his army during their return to Persia. After the guru performed self-immolation, the army held a drinking contest in his honor. Tragically, 42 participants died from alcohol poisoning, including the winner, who consumed 13 liters of unmixed wine.
7. In the 1990s, a man named Gonzalo García-Pelayo gained an advantage in a Spanish casino by recording roulette wheel results and analyzing them using a computer. He predicted that certain numbers were more likely to appear and won €600,000. A legal case against him failed, with the court ruling that the casino should fix its faulty wheel.
8. American politician Robert Carter III, between 1791 and 1803, freed all 400-500 of his slaves. He later hired them back as workers and ensured their education. Despite his efforts, his family, neighbors, and the government tried to stop him, even attempting to tar and feather him. They eventually drove him from his home.
9. In 2016, a man stalking iCarly actress Miranda Cosgrove fired shots at a woman in a car near her home, set himself on fire, and fatally shot himself in her yard. Two years earlier, Cosgrove had obtained a restraining order against a different stalker.
10. The red disc on the Japanese flag was located 1% off-center to the left until 1999.
11 Kerry Packer Pays Waitress Mortgages
Media tycoon Kerry Packer once paid off a cocktail waitress’s $130,000 mortgage after he accidentally bumped into her and caused her to spill her drinks. On another occasion, he tipped a cocktail waitress by paying off her $150,000 mortgage for providing excellent service.
12. Between 2008 and 2013, Stanford University rejected 69% of applicants who had achieved perfect SAT scores.
13. Hitler despised modern art so much that he instructed Joseph Goebbels to open a “degenerate art” gallery. This exhibition featured works seized by the SA to demonstrate what he claimed to be “saving” Germany from. However, the concept backfired, and Goebbels had to take significant measures to prevent guests from admiring the pieces.
14. Quebec’s ban on toy and fast food advertisements targeting children under 13 has significantly contributed to reducing childhood obesity rates.
15. Obese drivers face an 80% higher risk of dying in car accidents compared to drivers who are not overweight.
16 South Park’s $935M Digital Deal
In 2007, South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone negotiated an ad-sharing deal with Comedy Central, granting them a 50-50 split on all digital revenue. Those digital rights enabled them to reportedly sign a $935 million, six-year deal in 2021, making it one of the largest deals in TV history.
17. Up to half of the current Cherokee Nation can trace their ancestry to a single Scottish fur trader who married into the tribe in the early 1700s.
18. An off-duty nurse named Penny Brown saved Kevin Stephan’s life in a Little League game by performing CPR after a baseball bat struck his chest and stopped his heart. Seven years later, in 2006, Kevin saved Penny’s life in a New York restaurant by performing the Heimlich maneuver when she began choking.
19. In the 1990s, the Sultan of Brunei and his brother purchased so many bespoke Bentleys that their orders saved the company from bankruptcy.
20. FBI agent John O’Neill resigned from his federal position after his warnings about an imminent al-Qaeda attack on U.S. soil in early 2001 were ignored. He became the chief of security at the World Trade Center three weeks before 9/11 and tragically died in the attack.
15 Most Controversial & Costly Blunders in History
21 Broadway Shows Lose Money Consistently
Eighty percent of Broadway’s theatrical productions lose money, a failure rate that has remained consistent for years.
22. In 2013, French authorities sentenced an Italian man, Stefano Ampollini, to two years in jail for cheating at poker in a Cannes casino. He used infrared contact lenses to read cards premarked with invisible ink. Security grew suspicious of his $95,000 winning streak, particularly after he folded twice in hands that indicated he knew the dealer’s cards.
23. Although the location of MI6’s former base from 1964 to 1994 was supposed to be classified, The Daily Telegraph called it “London’s worst-kept secret, known only to every taxi driver, tourist guide, and KGB agent.”
24. Shell cordovan is a rare leather that comes not from animal skin but from the connective tissue of a horse’s buttocks. Shoes made from this material are waterproof, resistant to creasing, require no polishing, and can last indefinitely. Only two major tanneries in the world produce it.
25. Alberta King, the mother of Martin Luther King Jr., was murdered in 1974, six years after her son’s assassination. She was shot and killed while playing the organ at Ebenezer Baptist Church, where both her husband and son had preached.
RE: Fact #15 (Obese Drivers Face Higher Risks) – Check out the CDC’s list of top 10 killers. Being overweight ups your chances of getting *all* of them.
RE: Fact #35 (Hendrix’s Whiskey Funeral Coping Lesson) – Pack it in tight.
RE: Fact #28 (Red Ghost: Camel With Corpse) – That would really tick me off.