# Best known accidentally-famous person **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 13, 2017, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-known-accidentally-famous-person/786547 "2017-05-13T18:15:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![up\_the\_junction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f1d935/32.png) [@up\_the\_junction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/up_the_junction)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2017, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-known-accidentally-famous-person/786547/121 "2017-05-19T17:55:16Z")
No, it was sparks of genius, revelatory moments: you don’t work hard expecting to twig weird stuff like gravity or the 4th dimension. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2017, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-known-accidentally-famous-person/786547/122 "2017-05-19T19:43:56Z")
> [@up\_the\_junction](#): > > No, it was sparks of genius, revelatory moments: you don’t work hard expecting to twig weird stuff like gravity or the 4th dimension. Obviously this is just a semantic dispute, but I don’t agree with this at all. My father is a scientist. He’s reasonably successful in his chosen field, and has a few times in his career shown up on TV and on newspapers discussing discoveries he (or projects he has worked on) have made. I suppose it’s possible that he might be involved in some research which ended up leading to the rare scientific discovery that really catches the public eye, and he might become well known because of that. He’s certainly not seeking that or angling for that, but one can imagine it happening. And if that did happen, it would be ridiculous and insulting to say that he had become well known “by accident”. And sure, there’s en element of right-place-right-time in just about any important scientific discovery. But the same is true of just about anything. Do we claim that J K Rowling is only famous “by accident” because she happened to be lucky enough to hit the zeitgeist in accidentally the perfect moment for the Harry Potter books to be runaway successes? Do we say that Bill Gates is only rich “by accident” because he happened to be lucky enough to be at the right time and place to make a deal with IBM to write the OS for their new PC? Of course not. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2017, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-known-accidentally-famous-person/786547/123 "2017-05-19T20:21:34Z")
> [@MaxTheVool](#): > > I suppose it’s possible that he might be involved in some research which ended up leading to the rare scientific discovery that really catches the public eye, and he might become well known because of that. He’s certainly not seeking that or angling for that, but one can imagine it happening. And if that did happen, it would be ridiculous and insulting to say that he had become well known “by accident”. Well, not really, though. I mean, look at [this guy](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_R%C3%B6ntgen). Started out as a major fuck-up, kind of coasted through college, then, by accident, he discovered one of the most useful tools in history, and almost everybody has heard of him, whether or not they can spell his name right. Some non-trivial fraction of scientific and technological advancements have an unexpected point of inflection. Probably even fire. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2017, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-known-accidentally-famous-person/786547/124 "2017-05-19T20:52:56Z")
What guy? Your link doesn’t work. Why not just post his damned name? Sent from my XT1635-02 using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2017, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-known-accidentally-famous-person/786547/125 "2017-05-19T21:38:44Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > What guy? Your link doesn’t work. > > Why not just post his damned name? Works for me. Name: Wilhelm Röntgen. (And if that doesn’t display right for you, you need to get some better software. In particular, something that doesn’t have that inane tapatalk signature.) ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2017, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-known-accidentally-famous-person/786547/126 "2017-05-19T23:16:23Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > Some non-trivial fraction of scientific and technological advancements have an unexpected point of inflection. Probably even fire. Sure. And I think we’re getting into agree-to-disagree territory here, but I still see a MASSIVE gulf between Abraham Zapruder, and the extent to which it was a total accident that he ended up recording one of the most viewed bits of film in American history, and any of dozens or hundreds of scientists whose discoveries or adventures were to some extent due to a fluke. The guy who invented the microwave oven may have just gotten lucky to notice that a chocolate bar near some experimental apparatus was melting, but it still took an enormous amount of imagination and engineering know-how to turn that into a functional consumer product. Alexander Fleming may have gotten “lucky” to discover penicillin, but it still took plenty of work and expertise to go from “hey, this mold from my fruit seems to do something” to a practical medicine that can be administered to human beings. ---
**Author:** ![Cugel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cugel/32/1199_2.png) [@Cugel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cugel)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2017, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-known-accidentally-famous-person/786547/127 "2017-05-20T00:40:00Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > [Jessica McClure](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessica_McClure)was very accidentally famous for awhile. . The Australian version of this, [Stuart Diver](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuart_Diver) ---
**Author:** ![purplehearingaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@purplehearingaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehearingaid)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2017, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-known-accidentally-famous-person/786547/128 "2017-05-20T00:49:39Z")
> **[Lost tourist finds fame after Iceland GPS mishap](https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-35482537)** > > Satellite navigation takes American to wrong part of the country and local fame. Noel Santillan , the guy who got lost b/c of his confused GPS ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2017, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-known-accidentally-famous-person/786547/129 "2017-05-20T03:46:33Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > There are very few artists who became famous posthumously by name and who weren’t trying to become recognized humously. [Henry Darger](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Darger)? ---
**Author:** ![Desert\_Nomad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desert_nomad/32/177_2.png) [@Desert\_Nomad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desert_Nomad)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2017, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-known-accidentally-famous-person/786547/130 "2017-05-20T04:21:02Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > Why? Because Christopher Columbus was trying to find India and accidentally bumped into a few islands in the Caribbean. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2017, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-known-accidentally-famous-person/786547/131 "2017-05-20T14:49:28Z")
If I could bring back the person in history who would probably be most amazed at their level of fame, Anne Frank would be second on the list First place would go to Vincent Van Gough (and I’d take him to a Don McLean concert!). Third would be William Shakespeare, who would be jaw dropping astonished that his plays are still being performed. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2017, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-known-accidentally-famous-person/786547/132 "2017-05-20T16:52:33Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > What guy? Your link doesn’t work. That is actually nerdily hilarious. Tapatalk is escaping the escape code, making the url invalid. What a piece of junk. Even a blah browser is handier for forums than that thing. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2017, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-known-accidentally-famous-person/786547/133 "2017-05-20T17:24:33Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > That is actually nerdily hilarious. Tapatalk is escaping the escape code, making the url invalid. What a piece of junk. Even a blah browser is handier for forums than that thing. And that is why I keep the shitty Tapatalk signature at the bottom of my Tapatalk posts. My spelling, grammar and punctuation (editing) can be problematic on a phone. As can linkage to other sites, as I find out now apparently. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2017, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-known-accidentally-famous-person/786547/134 "2017-05-21T02:17:54Z")
How about Saint Valentine? From what little I know about him, I think he’d be astonished at what happens every February 14. ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2017, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-known-accidentally-famous-person/786547/135 "2017-05-21T14:44:35Z")
Pontius Pilate. Here’s some random civil servant just doing his job for the state. Fast forward 2000+ years and everyone still knows who he is. Heck, he’s in the Nicene Creed, spoken by billions of people throughout the ages. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2017, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-known-accidentally-famous-person/786547/136 "2017-05-21T15:21:40Z")
> [@astro](#): > > I think I would win if it was head to head polling of people selected purely at random and you asked how many people who tell you who Stars Wars Kid was vs Anne Frank. I really, really do not think so. Not a chance in hell. I bet the majority of my friends and none of my older relatives know who that is. I only have the vaguest memory of him. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2017, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-known-accidentally-famous-person/786547/137 "2017-05-21T15:23:03Z")
> [@PunditLisa](#): > > Pontius Pilate. Here’s some random civil servant just doing his job for the state. Fast forward 2000+ years and everyone still knows who he is. Heck, he’s in the Nicene Creed, spoken by billions of people throughout the ages. I dunno. I feel like he’s in a somewhat different category. He was the prefect of Judea, which I assume is approximately similar to being a governor. So it’s not like he just just joe sixpack in his day. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2017, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-known-accidentally-famous-person/786547/138 "2017-05-21T16:46:03Z")
> [@Desert\_Nomad](#): > > Because Christopher Columbus was trying to find India and accidentally bumped into a few islands in the Caribbean. I don’t think this really satisfies the OP’s intent. CC set out to become famous for reaching one continent, and through an inadequate appreciation of global geography became famous for reaching another. We might equally well argue that Hitler qualifies (Godwin!) because he set out to become famous for winning the Second World War, but ended up being famous for losing it. ---
**Author:** ![Mallard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Mallard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mallard)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2017, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-known-accidentally-famous-person/786547/139 "2017-05-22T00:44:14Z")
Lorne Grabher He supposedly had an “offensive” personalized licence plate. > **['GRABHER' licence plate controversy will likely be decided in court](https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/grabher-licence-plate-controversy-will-likely-be-decided-in-court-1.3356618)** > > Nova Scotia’s transportation minister is standing behind a decision to rescind Lorne Grabher’s namesake licence plate, even if the province is forced to defend their actions in court. ---
**Author:** ![glowacks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/glowacks/32/5548_2.png) [@glowacks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glowacks)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2017, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-known-accidentally-famous-person/786547/140 "2017-05-22T01:36:41Z")
Ignoring your restrictions on “waking up and suddenly becoming famous”, the best accidentally-famous people are almost all hereditary royalty. They did not seek the fame associated with their posts; they had it thrust on them as an accident of birth. They didn’t, in general, suddenly become famous unless it was something they actively sought though. As for an actual contribution: [Alfred Dreyfus - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Dreyfus) - this was a pretty big deal, and the guy did nothing to deserve all the attention. Famous for Emile Zola’s “J’accuse” headline at the least. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-known-accidentally-famous-person/786547.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-known-accidentally-famous-person/786547.md?page=8)