The Bronte sisters originally wrote under the pseudonyms Currier, Ellis, and Acton Bell.
Contrary to popular belief, officials at Ellis Island did not randomly assign new names to immigrants. Instead, they tried to retain the original spelling of immigrants’ last names.
On July 30, 1916, the Statue of Liberty was seriously damaged when German saboteurs detonated an ammunition depot on Black Tom Island, nearly half a mile away from Liberty Island where the Statue of Liberty stands. Prior to the explosion, the torch arm was open to the public; damage forced the closing of the arm stair access to the torch, and it has remained closed to the public ever since.
The Statue of Liberty is made of copper 3/32 inches thick, the same as two American pennies placed together. The internal structure is comprised of cast iron and stainless steel.
The Statue of Zeus at Olympia was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. No one is sure how it was destroyed, bu the historian Suetonius blamed it on the emperor Caligula.
Zeus slept with Mnemosyne for nine straight nights, and when she finally gave birth it was not to just one child, but to the nine Muses.
According to Greek mythology, the Titan god Prometheus stole fire for human use, greatly helping the progress of their civilization. Zeus punished him by tying him to a rock and having an eagle eat his liver every day.
While performing his hit song “Fire” on stage, Arthur Brown used to wear a helmet that he set on fire.
His band, the Crazy World of Arthur Brown, featured Carl Palmer on drums.
Only three states in the USA have no motorcycle helmet law at all: Illinois, Iowa, and New Hampshire.
27 other states have partial laws, typically requiring motocycle riders under a certain age to wear a helmet.
20 states, and Washington, DC, require all motorcycle riders to wear helmets.
Daredevil motorcyclist Evel Kinevel suffered 433 broken bones during his career, earning him an entry in the Guiness Book of World Records for “most bones broken in a lifetime”.
(The Internet failed me on how close Jackie Chan is to that record.)
Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, who had an extensive background in TV Westerns, originally gave Dr. McCoy the nickname “Bones” because, in the Old West, a doctor was often called a “Sawbones.”
In the most recent*** Star Trek*** movie reboot, a different explanation is given- McCoy jokes that his ex-wife took him to the cleaners in their divorce, and left him with nothing but his bones.
Of the 79 episodes in Star Trek (the original series), Captain Kirk had 31 different women (or otherwise female aliens) that he had the, umm, “opportunity” to dock with. Evidence supports that he successfully docked with exactly two women: Deela (Wink of an Eye), and Miramanee (The Paradise Syndrome) who he was married to for a few months.
ETA: Hmm, and I thought it was more - a LOT more.
Dock Ellis pitched a no-hitter while under the influence of LSD.
LSD, an effeminate hippie played by Dick Shawn, turned the musical ***Springtime for Hitler ***into an unexpected hit, in Mel Brooks’ movie The Producers.
L.S.D. was the abbreviation for pounds, shillings, and pence before Great Britain went to the decimal monetary system.
The British gold coin known as the guinea was originally worth 20 shillings, or one pound sterling. Later, its value was officially pegged as 21 shillings.
The secret bunker to which the Prime Minister and other top British officials would go in the event of nuclear war was codenamed TURNSTILE. According to political scientist Peter Hennessy, the Queen was to go aboard the royal yacht Brittannia, remaining in touch with the government by radio while the yacht hid along the western Scottish coast.
The name “Raymond Luxury Yacht” is actually pronounced “Throatwarbler Mangrove.”
Tony “Iron Man” Stark owned a luxury yacht that he named the Throatwarbler Mangrove.
The Russian luxury yacht, Eclipse, sells for a cool $485M.