1Springsteen's Tax Payment Journey
Bruce Springsteen did not settle his taxes until he appeared on the cover of Time magazine in 1975. He then spent the subsequent years paying off his taxes, which left him with only $20,000 on his 30th birthday despite achieving multiple best-selling records and successful tours.
2. When registering for the Screen Actors Guild, actress Emma Stone found that her real name, "Emily Stone," was already taken. Consequently, she chose the name "Emma" in honor of Emma Bunton, a.k.a. Baby Spice of the Spice Girls.
3. Laurence Fishburne was only 14 years old when filming "Apocalypse Now," having lied about his age to secure the role. Due to the extended production period, he was 18 by the time the film was released.
4. The woman in the iconic Great Depression photograph, "Migrant Mother," was only 32 years old when the photo was taken.
5. After being killed during John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry, the body of Brown's son Watson was severely mutilated and exhibited in a nearby medical college by pro-slavery secessionists. Union soldiers subsequently burned down the college in 1862.
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6Heimlich's First Real-life Maneuver
Henry Heimlich had the opportunity to perform the Heimlich maneuver in 2016, over 40 years after inventing it, when a fellow resident in his senior living community was choking. Despite having demonstrated it countless times, he had never used it in a real-life situation until then. He was 96 years old at the time.
7. The US implemented permanent daylight saving time in 1973. However, public support for it plummeted following the subsequent winter, leading to its repeal within a year.
8. A Ugandan woman named Mariam Nabatanzi Babirye has given birth to 51 children, 44 of whom are still alive. As of April 2023, her eldest child is 31 years old, and the youngest is six years old. Her husband abandoned her in 2015, leaving her a single mother.
9. When Larry Ellison divorced his wife Nancy in 1978, she relinquished any claim on his new company for $500. That company, Oracle (the database company), propelled Ellison to become the world's eighth-richest person ($130 billion as of today).
10. Former South Dakota politician George McGovern was an air force pilot during World War II and once inadvertently bombed an Austrian farm. He was haunted for 40 years until, after a TV interview, the farmer called the station to reassure him that he and his family evacuated in time, and if it contributed to toppling Hitler in any way, it was worth it.
11A.A. Milne's Pooh Series End
A. A. Milne ceased writing Winnie the Pooh books, partly due to concerns about the fame it brought his son, Christopher Robin Milne. They later became estranged because his son resented the books and the fame they brought him.
12. Roald Dahl penned a sequel to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, wherein Willy Wonka ventures into space, battles aliens, and overdoses Charlie's parents on age-rejuvenating pills.
13. The Advertising Standards Authority banned a Land Rover commercial for featuring beeping parking sensors as the vehicle backs up toward a cliff's edge. Two viewers lodged complaints because the SUV's rear parking sensors were incapable of detecting cliff edges.
14. Royal Caribbean's Labadee, a private beach resort in Haiti, effectively isolates itself from the rest of the country with a 30-foot wall and armed guards on each side. Tourists arrive at a port linked to the resort and typically remain within its confines.
15. Michael Jackson composed an entire soundtrack for the 2005 adaptation of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory but opted not to release it after being denied the role of Willy Wonka.
16Sanguillen's Brave Memorial Absence
When baseball player Roberto Clemente perished in a plane crash, his teammate Manny Sanguillen was the only one of his teammates who did not attend the memorial service, as he chose to dive into the shark-infested crash site in an attempt to retrieve the body.
17. During the production of the reality show "Teach," Tony Danza refused to allow producers to manufacture fake drama between himself and the students. Consequently, the show was canceled after seven episodes.
18. Walt Disney fired the creator of Goofy due to his attempt to initiate a union.
19. Phil Collins spontaneously sang the lyrics to "In the Air Tonight." They were entirely improvised, and he did not write them down until after performing them for the first time, on a piece of paper (which he still possesses) from his decorator.
20. Rapper Shyne, renowned for his association with Diddy's Posse as well as his songwriting for numerous famous artists, embraced Orthodox Judaism while in prison. He relocated to Jerusalem to dedicate up to 12 hours a day to Torah study, has since transitioned into politics, and is now the leader of the opposition party (as of March 2024) in Belize.
21Australian Teens' Crocodile Ordeal
In 2003, two Australian teenagers spent 22 hours on a tree above rising floodwaters after a crocodile killed their friend and flaunted his body to them. Before helicopters rescued them, the 13-foot crocodile stalked them in their tree throughout the night and most of the following morning.
22. Automobile manufacturer Fiat dispatched 50,000 anonymous love letters to women in Spain in 1994 as part of a marketing campaign for the Fiat 500. Upon receiving the letters, some women experienced confusion, anxiety, fear, and/or sought assistance to accompany them to work. Fiat subsequently faced lawsuits and fines.
23. Peter Mayhew, known for his portrayal of Chewbacca, had dialogue in the original trilogy and would communicate with Harrison Ford (Han Solo) and other cast members on set in English to cue them for their lines. The distinctive Wookiee 'voice' was added during post-editing.
24. Amy Bishop fatally shot three professors during a University of Alabama biology department meeting in 2010. Later, it came to light that she had also shot and killed her brother in 1986, a crime for which she never faced charges.
25. King Charles earns $34 million annually in rental income.
