Skip To Content
{title}

20 Downright Fascinating Things I Learned This Week, From Details About John Lennon's Death To The Fact That Wine That Sunk With The Titanic Might Still Be Drinkable

It comes as no surprise to me that Dolly Parton is so talented that she can use her nails as an instrument. During a 2019 appearance on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, Parton revealed that a sound effect on her hit song "9 to 5" was achieved by tapping her signature acrylic nails together. "They make noise that kind of sounds like a typewriter," she told Fallon.

Madison McGee Madison McGee

21 Shocking, Surprising, And Downright Unforgettable Things I Learned This Week

If you've ever heard that the fast food chain Wendy's is named after founder Dave Thomas' daughter, then you'd be right. But you also might be shocked to find that his daughter's name isn't even Wendy! Thomas' daughter's actual name is Melinda Lou Thomas. Her siblings allegedly had a difficult time pronouncing her name, so they called her "Wenda" instead, thus leading to the name "Wendy" for the restaurant.

Madison McGee Madison McGee

I Guarantee That These 61 Facts That I Learned In November Are So Fascinating, You'll Never Be Able To Forget Them

While working on The Lion King, animators were given special permission to observe hyenas. The visit was granted under one condition: the hyenas could not be portrayed in a negative light. When the movie came out in 1994, the biologists were allegedly furious when they saw that hyenas were villains in the movie, and attempted to sue Disney for defamation of character on the animals' behalf.

Madison McGee Madison McGee

These 21 Facts From Presidential History Might Have You Seeing The White House In A Whole New Light

When George Washington was elected president in 1789, his teeth were in such bad shape that he only had one real tooth left in his entire mouth. He had a long history of dental issues and normally wore dentures, which were comprised of his own teeth that had been pulled, teeth he took from the slaves he owned, and animals. In 1796, he had his final tooth pulled and gave it to his dentist as a gift.

Madison McGee Madison McGee

Jack Nicholson Believed His Mother Was His Sister Until He Was 37 Years Old, And 19 More Facts That Made My Jaw Drop This Week

The Brady Bunch never revealed what happened to Carol Brady's first husband. While the show's creator said that Carol and her husband were divorced, he was hesitant to portray this on the show, as divorce was seen as taboo at the time. Florence Henderson, who played Carol, decided to devise her own backstory, and told the press that she believed her character killed her husband.

Madison McGee Madison McGee

"Piano Man," "Dirty Diana," And 14 More Songs That Have Some Pretty Fascinating Behind-The-Scenes Stories

In July 1988, Michael Jackson allegedly decided to remove the song "Dirty Diana" from his setlist out of respect for Princess Diana, who would be attending the show. In a 1997 interview with Barbara Walters, Jackson said that when he met Diana before the show, she asked him if he was going to play the song. He told her that he cut it from the setlist out of respect for her, but she told him that she loved the song and wanted to hear him perform it.

Madison McGee Madison McGee

21 Facts That Really Threw Me For A Loop This Week

Steve Irwin, who charmed audiences as the Crocodile Hunter until he was killed by a stingray in 2006, said the only animal he was scared of working with were parrots. "For some reason parrots have to bite me," he told Scientific American in 2001. "That's their job. I don't know why that is. They've nearly torn my nose off. I've had some really bad parrot bites."

Madison McGee Madison McGee

81 Downright Unforgettable Facts I Learned In October 2022

Millvina Dean was only 9 weeks old when the Titanic sunk in 1912, making her the youngest survivor of the tragedy. When the story about Dean's survival broke, she became a pint-sized celebrity. Although she made several public appearances related to the Titanic throughout her life, she refused to ever watch James Cameron's 1997 movie. Despite this, Cameron and Titanic stars Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio all contributed to a fund to cover Dean's healthcare near the end of her life.

Madison McGee Madison McGee

20 Facts That Shocked, Surprised, And Spooked Me This Week

While recording "Monster Mash," Bobby Pickett and Lenny Capizzi used household items to make the spooky sound effects: the cauldron sound was achieved by blowing bubbles into a glass of water, and they replicated the sound of a coffin opening by scraping a rusty nail. Despite the song's success in America, it wasn't as well received in England. The BBC elected not to play the song because they thought it was "too morbid."

Madison McGee Madison McGee