Fun facts about people in history and other weird celebrity facts!
Mondadori publishing puts out a weekly, 68-page magazine dedicated to Pope Francis called Il Mio Papa. Each issue comes with a pullout centerfold of the Pope along with a quote. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: A New Magazine for Fans of the Vatican’s Biggest Star – The New York Times (nytimes.com)
The world record for the highest vehicle mileage on a personal car belongs to the late Irving Gordon and his 1966 Volvo 1800S, which has over 3,200,000 miles on it. The original clutch on the car lasted 450,000 miles. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: Remembering the “Three Million Mile Volvo Man” – Wyant Group
Einstein once gave a note in lieu of a tip to a courier in Tokyo. The note said, “a quiet and modest life brings more joy than a pursuit of success bound with constant unrest”. In 2017, it sold for $1.56 million at auction. – WTF Fun Facts
In 1976, a Japanese porn star named Mitsuyasu Maeno was so mad at a corrupt politician for accepting a bribe and violating ancient samurai code that he kamikazed a plane into his house.–WTF Fun Facts
Source:Mitsuyasu Maeno – Wikipedia
The late Datta Phuge gained fame when he ordered a custom gold shirt worth ~$240,000 at the time. It was made up of 14,000 pieces of 22-carat gold, weighed over 7 pounds and was put together by 15 craftsmen over 16 days. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: Indian businessman famed for $240,000 gold shirt ‘beaten to death’ | India | The Guardian
Bob Marley gave a songwriter credit on “No Woman, No Cry” to his friend Vincent Ford, who ran a soup kitchen in his hometown of Trenchtown, to ensure the royalty checks would keep it open. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: Bob Marley Shared His Royalties With a Soup Kitchen | LedgerNote
Christopher Havens, a high school drop out and convicted murderer, taught himself advanced mathematics and solved a decades old math puzzle involving “continued fractions” while in prison. He then published his findings in an international advanced math journal in January 2020. – WTF Fun Facts
Pythagoras, of Pythagorean Theorem fame, ran a commune that was forbidden to wear wool, forced to put their right sandal on before their left, and believed that beans could contain the souls of the dead – so even crushing a bean was considered murder. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: Pythagoras’ Belief That Beans Are Human May Have Killed Him | IFLScience
It took Frank Lloyd Wright 15 years, 700 sketches, and six sets of working drawings to create the Guggenheim Museum in New York. – WTF Fun Facts
LeBron James decision to leave Cleveland to join the Miami Heat was so shocking, that even Osama Bin Laden’s translator, who was being held at Guantanamo Bay prison, wrote to his lawyers saying “LeBron James is very bad man. He should apologize to the city of Cleveland.” – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/osama-bin-ladens-translator-wanted-lebron-james-to-apologize-to-cleveland/
Journalist John Richards founded The Apostrophe Protection Society in 2001 to enforce the proper use of the apostrophe in written English. It was brought to a “full stop” in 2019 as Richards stated that “the ignorance and laziness present in modern times have won!” – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apostrophe
At age 19, Shi Jianqiao became an assassin after her warlord father was defeated and executed by a rival, Sun Chuanfang. Shi spent her 20s tracking Sun down, eventually killing him ~10 years later. Chinese society was so moved by her act of filial revenge that the government eventually pardoned her. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: Shi Jianqiao – Wikipedia
James William “Jimi” Heselde purchased the Segway Company in 2009. Nine months later he died after falling off a cliff while riding a segway. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: Segway boss Jimi Heselden dies in scooter cliff fall – BBC News
Tootsie Roll Industries is a publicly traded company on the NYSE with a ~$2 billion market cap. It’s been run by the now 89-year-old Ellen Gordon for the last 50+ years. – WTF Fun Facts
King Farouk, Egypt’s last king, stole a pocket watch from Winston Churchill and also stole a ceremonial sword from the coffin of the Shah of Persia.–WTF Fun Facts
President Jimmy Carter’s son James Earl “Chip” Carter III smoked weed with Willie Nelson on the roof of the White House during his father’s presidency. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: Willie Nelson’s Weed Empire | GQ
In 2012, Patrick “Deep Dish” Bertoletti set a new world record by peeling and eating 8 bananas in 60 seconds. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: Most bananas peeled and eaten in one minute | Guinness World Records
Despite dying in 1994, Kim Il-sung remains president of North Korea. The constitution was revised in 1998, declaring him ‘Eternal President of the Republic’. As a result, North Korea became the only necrocracy in the world – a government operating under the rules of a deceased former leader. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: Kim Il-Sung | Biography, Facts, Leadership of North Korea, Significance, & Death | Britannica