# Tell us an interesting random fact you stumbled across (Part 1) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 13, 2020, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674 "2020-04-13T03:19:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 348
**Author:** ![Common\_Tater](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/common_tater/32/13846_2.png) [@Common\_Tater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Common_Tater)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2023, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6951 "2023-07-13T02:02:56Z")
Redd Foxx played Fred on the Sanford and Son sitcom, whose character was often clutching his chest and feigning a heart attack, it was a meme at the time, he was famous for that. You’ll never guess what happened. Yep. When he really did have a heart attack, and collapsed, everyone initially thought he was joking around. Both C.S. Lewis and Aldous Huxley happened to die on the same day, they were both pretty famous authors in their time. But they died on 22 November 1963, where other news overshadowed their deaths. Huxley notably instructed his wife to inject him with several hundred micrograms of L.S.D. intravenously, apparently intending to make a special trip out of it. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2023, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6952 "2023-07-13T11:52:58Z")
> [@Terminus\_Est](#): > > #### Did Stanley Kubrick curse movie musicals and the Oscars? > > The 1968 movie musical _Oliver!_ won the Academy Award for Best Picture. Stanley Kubrick’s film _2001: A Space Odyssey_ was released the same year but wasn’t even nominated. Stanley Kubrick was nominated for Best Director, but lost to Carol Reed who directed _Oliver!_. A movie musical would not win Best Picture again until _Chicago_, released in 2002. Well, that was about the time Hollywood stopped making musicals because too many of them were expensive flops. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2023, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6953 "2023-07-13T13:11:33Z")
[In _My Cousin Vinny_, the title character was originally supposed to be a huge dyslexic guy. The screenwriter was thinking of Robert DiNero for the title character.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OB4oPgsvsk&t=672s) ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2023, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6954 "2023-07-13T13:52:20Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Well, that was about the time Hollywood stopped making musicals because too many of them were expensive flops I dunno. If you look at the Wikipedia’s [list of movie musicals by year](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_musical_films_by_year), Hollywood was still producing a steady stream of musicals after 1968, including such well-regarded Broadway adaptations like _Fiddler on the Roof_, _Cabaret_, _Man of La Mancha_, and _Jesus Christ Superstar_. Were none of those really in contention? ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2023, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6955 "2023-07-13T14:09:00Z")
> [@alovem](#): > > Wow, some story. You know, when the subject of death comes up, I often tell friends about something I’ve read about a Greek philosopher or something like that who, in his old age, drew a caricature of an ugly old woman and laughed at it so hard that he died. So, I tell my friends that that’s how I’d like to die. But that story sounds like an even better way to go. Happened with a British TV show in the '70s. > **[Kung Fu Kapers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kung_Fu_Kapers)** > > "Kung Fu Kapers" (sometimes stylised as "Kung Fu Kapers!") is an episode of the British comedy television series The Goodies. It caused a viewer to die from laughing. > This episode is also known as "Ecky Thump". It was written by The Goodies, with songs and music by Bill Oddie. > In January 2020, "Kung Fu Kapers" was announced as the fans' favourite episode of The Goodies, during the celebration of the show's 50th anniversary at Bristol's Slapstick Festival. > [@](#): > > The episode is infamous for the documented example of a man [laughing to death](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_from_laughter). Fifty-year-old Alex Mitchell could not stop laughing for a continuous 25-minute period—almost the entire length of the show—and suffered a fatal [heart attack](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myocardial_infarction) as a result of the strain placed on his heart. Alex’s widow later sent the Goodies a letter thanking them for making his final moments so pleasant.[[2]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kung_Fu_Kapers#cite_note-2)[[3]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kung_Fu_Kapers#cite_note-3)[[4]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kung_Fu_Kapers#cite_note-4) > > In May 2012, Alex’s granddaughter, Lisa Corke, suffered a heart attack at the age of 23. She was diagnosed with [long QT syndrome](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_QT_syndrome) and the doctors caring for her believe it is likely that Mitchell suffered from the same hereditary condition.[[5]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kung_Fu_Kapers#cite_note-5) ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2023, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6956 "2023-07-13T16:00:00Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Alex’s widow later sent the Goodies a letter thanking them for making his final moments so pleasant.[[2]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kung_Fu_Kapers#cite_note-2)[[3]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kung_Fu_Kapers#cite_note-3)[[4]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kung_Fu_Kapers#cite_note-4) See, that’s the different between the UK and America. An American widow surely would have sued the show instead. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2023, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6957 "2023-07-13T20:20:11Z")
America has more governors that have worn blackface, than actual black governors. ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2023, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6958 "2023-07-14T09:48:04Z")
This is such a striking assertion (at least, for someone not from the US) that it deserves a cite. In fact, it’s surprisingly easy to find one. > **[Does America Have More Governors Who Have Worn Blackface Than Black Governors?](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/blackface-governors-vs-blacks/)** > > The question gets at the heart of whether an African American currently leads the executive branch of any state in the United States. j ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2023, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6959 "2023-07-14T19:11:52Z")
TIL that James Chadwick, the discoverer of the neutron was a student of Ernest Rutherford, the discoverer of the proton, who was a student of J. J. Thomson, the discoverer of the electron. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2023, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6960 "2023-07-14T22:35:06Z")
Chadwick’s students? What a bunch of slackers! ---
**Author:** ![JacobSwan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@JacobSwan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JacobSwan)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2023, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6961 "2023-07-14T22:38:41Z")
J J Thomson won the Nobel prize for showing electrons were particles. His son George Thomson won the Nobel prize for showing that electrons were waves. Kids always rebel against their parents! ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2023, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6962 "2023-07-15T00:33:33Z")
Today I learned that kangaroos have three vaginas. > **[Did you know kangaroos have three vaginas?](https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/news/2022/12/did-you-know-kangaroos-have-three-vaginas/)** > > Don’t believe me? Read on. ---
**Author:** ![Wallaby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/dc4da7/32.png) [@Wallaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallaby)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2023, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6963 "2023-07-15T01:20:09Z")
And echidnas have 4-headed penises. ---
**Author:** ![Common\_Tater](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/common_tater/32/13846_2.png) [@Common\_Tater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Common_Tater)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2023, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6964 "2023-07-15T02:20:20Z")
'Strya. Always weird stuff trying to kill you. And - Wombat poop is square. Cubes. Really. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2023, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6965 "2023-07-15T03:02:51Z")
And male pigs have a corkscrew shaped wanker. It was that article by Cecil that introduced me to the Straight Dope. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2023, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6966 "2023-07-15T03:08:30Z")
There is a very dirty poem about a man with such a penis. I shall refrain, but it is easily googled. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2023, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6967 "2023-07-15T03:52:56Z")
I did start Googling and it took less than three minutes to find four poems. there are probably a lot more. ---
**Author:** ![JaneDoe42](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/janedoe42/32/14104_2.png) [@JaneDoe42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JaneDoe42)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2023, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6968 "2023-07-15T05:32:56Z")
Ducks are right up there with the weird penis thing. It’s a sex war sort of thing. The males rape the females who evolve kinks in their stuff so the males evolve kinks in their stuff which makes the females evolve even more kinks. > **[How the battle of the sexes left the duck with an awkwardly long,...](https://www.sciencefocus.com/nature/duck-penis-corkscrew/)** > > Both male and female ducks have evolved bizarre genitals. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2023, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6969 "2023-07-15T15:01:38Z")
When Frank Tashlin was hired to direct at Warner Brothers, Leon Schlesinger assigned him two assistants who didn’t get along with the other directors at the studio: Chuck Jones and Tex Avery ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2023, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6970 "2023-07-15T23:43:48Z")
[At least 4 people have been killed trimming palm trees.](https://blogs.cdc.gov/niosh-science-blog/2015/08/24/tree-trimming/) Not by falling. By being suffocated at the top. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=347) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=349)