26 Last Execution in Tower of London
The last person executed in the Tower of London was Josef Jakobs in 1941. A German spy, he parachuted into England but was quickly captured. Upon his arrest, authorities discovered him in possession of £500, forged documents, and a German sausage.
27. In 2022, Jim Carrey considered retiring from acting, prompting producers to confirm they would not recast Robotnik in the Sonic movies if he left. However, they hoped to entice him with a great script. Carrey joked that they should write it in gold. In 2024, he confirmed his return for Sonic 3, and director Jeff Fowler humorously claimed the 24-karat ink script cost $100,000.
28. Henry, a 16th-century Cardinal and Grand Inquisitor of the Catholic Church, unexpectedly inherited the Portuguese throne at age 65. He petitioned the Pope to release him from his vows so he could marry, hoping to produce an heir, but the Pope denied his request.
29. Blind individuals who regain sight continue to struggle for years to recognize objects because vision is a learned skill rather than an automatic ability. They must train their brains to interpret visual information.
30. Thomas Jefferson once spent the equivalent of $1,400 in today’s dollars just to ship a stuffed moose to France in an effort to prove that America had large animals.
31 ‘That’s What She Said’ Origin
In the original BBC version of The Office, Ricky Gervais’s character, David Brent, frequently used the double entendre punchline, “as the actress said to the bishop.” When the show was adapted for American audiences, the phrase was changed to Steve Carell’s now-iconic “that’s what she said.”
32. Tongyangxi was a Chinese practice in which a family adopted and raised a girl with the agreement that she would marry one of their sons once they reached marriage age.
33. After a German hacker discovered the source code for Half-Life 2 and leaked it online, Gabe Newell collaborated with the FBI to lure him into a fake job interview in the United States, where he planned to have him arrested. However, German authorities apprehended the hacker before he could travel to the USA.
34. A psychological phenomenon called “change blindness” occurs when people fail to notice significant visual changes. In one experiment, nearly half of the participants did not realize that the person they were speaking to had been replaced by someone else after a brief distraction.
35. After Grigori Rasputin’s death, his daughter, Maria Rasputin, became a cabaret dancer and later joined the Busch Circus as a lion tamer. After surviving a mauling by a bear, she left the circus, worked as a riveter in the U.S., and eventually passed away in Los Angeles.
36 Ancient Greeks Didn’t Consider 1 a Number
The ancient Greeks did not consider “1” to be a number, and this idea remained controversial for centuries.
37. North Face founder Douglas Tompkins died in a 2015 kayaking accident while traveling in Patagonia, Chile, with longtime friend and Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard.
38. Before the 20th century, scholars in Korea, China, and Vietnam could easily communicate in writing because they all used Literary Chinese. However, they would not have been able to converse verbally, as each country pronounced the characters differently.
39. In 2016, Mozart sold more CDs than Beyoncé. This was due to the release of a box set commemorating the 225th anniversary of his death, which contained 200 discs per set. Since each disc counted as a separate sale, Mozart surpassed contemporary artists in total CD sales for the year.
40. In 1984, the San Francisco Giants introduced an “anti-mascot” named Crazy Crab, which became so unpopular that fans pelted it with beer bottles and batteries. To ensure the safety of the performer, the costume had to be reinforced with a fiberglass shell.
41 Saddam Hussein’s 100% Vote Win
In 2002, Saddam Hussein won a referendum on his presidency with 100% of the vote, narrowly surpassing the previous referendum, in which he won 99.9%.
42. Fifty percent of Subway, the sandwich company, is owned by a charity. Cofounder Peter Buck donated his $5 billion share of the company before he died, placing it under the Buck Foundation, which supports causes like the Internet Archive and land conservation.
43. In the 52 B.C. Battle of Alesia, Julius Caesar’s troops constructed 25 miles of defensive fortifications in just a few weeks, including spiked trenches, hidden pits, water-filled moats, wooden walls, iron-tipped stakes, and hundreds of watchtowers. The Gauls suffered a loss of 290,000 troops, while Caesar’s forces lost only 12,800 men.
44. A Portuguese woman named Maria Úrsula in the early 18th century disguised herself as a man to join the army, fought in India, and rose to the rank of fortress captain. Her identity was only discovered when she requested the king’s permission to marry a fellow soldier.
45. By 1982, the Space Invaders arcade game had become such a massive success that it had grossed $14 billion (adjusted for inflation), making it the highest-grossing entertainment product of all time at that point.
15 Most Controversial & Costly Blunders in History
46 Max Planck Ignored Physics Warning
Despite being advised by his professor not to pursue physics because “almost everything is already discovered,” Max Planck ignored the warning, went on to develop quantum theory, and won the Nobel Prize.
47. Gates of the Arctic National Park in Alaska is the northernmost national park in the U.S. It’s three times the size of Yellowstone but receives fewer visitors in an entire year than Yellowstone gets in a single day.
48. The biggest lottery scam in U.S. history was orchestrated by Eddie Tipton, head of IT security for the Multi-State Lottery Association. Feeling underappreciated and overworked, he wrote code that altered the odds from 5 million to 1 down to 200 to 1. Over the years, he won drawings in five states totaling $24 million before his arrest.
49. In the weeks leading up to D-Day, General Dwight D. Eisenhower was under such extreme stress that he was smoking six packs of cigarettes, drinking 24 cups of coffee, and averaging just two hours of sleep per night.
50. During World War II, Britain invaded Iceland to prevent the Nazis from using it as a U-boat base. The operation was nearly bloodless, with the only casualty being a Royal Marine who committed suicide en route.
RE: Fact #20 (Jack Daniel’s Illegal in Hometown) – A buddy of mine who used to work there said the distillery’s got a museum and a shop. They’ll even fill an empty collector’s bottle with bourbon for free – a little something extra, if you know what I mean.
RE: Fact #31 (‘That’s What She Said’ Origin) –
I think stuff like that appeals to our inner goofballs, like David Brent or Michael Scott. It’s similar to the “title of your sex tape” bit from Brooklyn Nine-Nine.
The phrase “that’s what she said” was around before the 70s, and Wayne’s World on SNL, and the movie, used it a ton. Wayne says it after Garth complains about holding a picture for too long.
It kinda bugged me when Tina Fey said Steve Carell “owns” “that’s what she said,” especially since other SNL people used it way back when. I bet they picked it for his character in *The Office* because it was so obviously a tired old joke.
RE: Fact #7 (Anna Cramling’s Chess Opening Loss) – Her opponent was a 2495 FIDE player, so it’s no wonder she lost, opening aside.
RE: Fact #49 (Eisenhower’s Stress Before D-Day) – He made it to 78, then died of congestive heart failure. I bet he wasn’t pounding the coffee and cigarettes as much when things were easier, but hey.
RE: Fact #41 (Saddam Hussein’s 100% Vote Win) – Saddam somehow missed voting in the last referendum.
RE: Fact #2 (Lawsuit Over Misleading Movie Trailer) – Remember that Robin Williams “Shake that rubber booty flubber” dance scene from the commercials? It was in every ad, but they totally left it out of the actual movie.
RE: Fact #10 (Bone Marrow Transplant Alters DNA) – This guy’s blood had female DNA, his kidneys had male DNA, and his spleen was a mix of both. Turns out, he got a bone marrow transplant from his daughter. Talk about a plot twist!
RE: Fact #44 (Portuguese Woman Disguised as Soldier) – Busted when she asked the king to marry her coworker. Rookie mistake.
RE: Fact #44 (Portuguese Woman Disguised as Soldier) – Wikipedia says it supposedly happened sometime between 1682 and 1700, but the first account didn’t show up until 1876—from someone who couldn’t have possibly known. Got any other proof?
RE: Fact #26 (Last Execution in Tower of London) – So, is he with that spy group I mentioned? The one where that couple got busted in Scotland for biking the wrong way – they had Nivea cream and German sausage! And another guy got caught because he was in a pub at 9 AM ordering cider, before they even served booze.
RE: Fact #31 (‘That’s What She Said’ Origin) – Steve Carell ripped it off from Wayne’s World, and Wayne’s World got it from me.
RE: Fact #24 (Beethoven’s Deafness & Conversation Notebooks) – I picked this up from the BBC Proms this year – they used his friends’ writings to paint a picture of his side of things in his conversations.
He was really protective of his nephew Karl, especially after becoming his guardian when Karl’s mom couldn’t cope.
RE: Fact #21 (Michael Jackson Buys Beatles Catalog) – Back in ’81, Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney teamed up, writing and recording some tunes together. Jackson hung out at McCartney’s place while they worked, and they became buddies. One night at dinner, McCartney showed Jackson this huge notebook filled with all his songs. Jackson got really excited, asking about buying songs and how it all worked. McCartney explained that music publishing was big business. Jackson said he’d buy the Beatles’ songs someday. McCartney just laughed and said, “Right, funny joke.”
Later, in ’84…
…someone checked with McCartney’s lawyer to see if he was going to bid. The lawyer said no, it was too expensive. The guy who handled the ATV Music sale said McCartney had first dibs but passed. Yoko Ono was also approached but didn’t bid either.
…At the time, McCartney was super rich, worth a ton of money.
After Jackson died in 2009, McCartney talked about Jackson buying the Beatles’ songs on Letterman. He said it was cool that someone finally got them, and that he hoped Jackson would give Lennon-McCartney a fair deal, since they’d been ripped off early in their career. He tried to talk to Jackson about it, but Jackson just said it was business. They didn’t really resolve things, and their friendship faded after that, but McCartney still thought Jackson was a great guy.
RE: Fact #36 (Ancient Greeks Didn’t Consider 1 a Number) – Seriously, how did they do math back then? They were pretty smart, scientifically speaking.
So, the article says the Greeks thought of one as the “seed of numbers,” not an actual number itself. It wasn’t a multiple of anything, so they saw it as a unit.
RE: Fact #28 (Cardinal Became Portuguese King) – He could’ve just become Portugal’s top church guy like Henry VIII and ditched those annoying vows.
RE: Fact #14 (Marlon Brando’s Estate Takeover) – Thirteen days before Marlon Brando died (July 1st, 2004), a new addition was made to his will. Some think he might have had dementia then. This change put Mike Medavoy (a movie guy), his brother-in-law Larry Dressler (an accountant), and Avra Douglas (a friend of Rebecca Brando’s) in charge of his $21.6 million. They replaced Brando’s old choices: JoAnn Corrales (his business manager and Christian’s guardian) and Alice Marchak (his closest friend for over 50 years). The new executors’ lawyers say the change was legit—Brando had already let Corrales go and thought Marchak was too old for the legal mess his death would cause.
RE: Fact #24 (Beethoven’s Deafness & Conversation Notebooks) – Crazy how they can get his chats down pat, but we’re still guessing what he looked like.
RE: Fact #39 (Mozart Outsold Beyoncé in 2016) – I read somewhere that if Mozart got paid for all his music, he could’ve bought the whole country of Austria! Everything!
RE: Fact #37 (North Face Founder’s Fatal Kayaking) – The North Face founder died doing adventurous stuff outdoors. That makes me respect the brand even more.
RE: Fact #40 (Crazy Crab: Baseball’s Anti-Mascot) – Why do people at events always have so many batteries?
RE: Fact #11 (Alan Turing’s Olympic-Level Running) – Our elite runners are way faster now—like, ten minutes faster than the Boston Marathon qualifying time for guys aged 18-34.
RE: Fact #30 (Thomas Jefferson’s Stuffed Moose Shipment) – Were the French already pretty set up in America and Canada? Quebec City’s older than Lincoln by two centuries – lots of moose and bears back then too! It sounds like he was just bragging.
RE: Fact #42 (Subway Co-Founder Donates $5B Stake) – They’re the biggest fast food chain in the US, so that’s a ton of money for charity. Subway and Dollar General keep rural America fed.
RE: Fact #25 (Toy Guns, Tunnels, and $20M Heist) – Fernando Araujo, the mastermind, wanted to dodge the Ramallo disaster mess, so he hatched a crazy plan: tunnel under a bank and make a clean getaway.
Seven hours in, the police lost it and busted in. All the hostages were okay, surprisingly. But the robbers? Gone. A sealed basement hole, and $20 million from 140+ safety deposit boxes vanished.
The crew watched the police raid on TV – their heist was picture perfect. Almost. Five weeks later, Rubén Alberto de la Torre’s wife ratted him out because she found out about his affair. This led to the arrests of Araujo, Bolster, Vitette, and Zalloecheverría. But “Doc” and “Luis the Uruguayan” are still out there.
Bolster got off easy – just 25 months. Vitette got four years, then got kicked out of Argentina.
Even though they got caught, nobody did more than five years. Why? Toy guns, not real ones.