Get Smarter. Be Amazed: A Compendium of Tantalizing Trivia and Obscure Facts

By Ted Curtin

Powerful Fuel for Igniting Interesting Conversations

Are you a lifelong learner? 

Would you like to add to your knowledge of music, cinema, sports and many other subjects? 

This entertaining book will provide you with fascinating information that you will eagerly share with your friends at your next gathering. 

The stories in this compendium contain an abundance of information from general trivia to obscure historical events and characters. The short easily digestible chapters are not only intended to enlighten but also to entertain. Readers of Ted’s anecdotes constantly react with “I never knew that!”. You will go to your next weekend get-together, prepared to elucidate and amuse your friends. 

You’ll discover:

Why Prohibition was the worst idea in American history.

Which women were members of the original Hollywood Rat Pack.

The statistically proven toughest categories on “Jeopardy!”

The only Beatles song that featured a Moog synthesizer.

Why there is a huge uptick of French Bulldogs in urban neighborhoods.

The only two cities that have faced each other in the major four sports’ championships.

The actors who were turned down for “The Godfather” and “The Graduate”. 

People across the globe look forward to Ted’s entertaining and informative Friday blogs to get their weekend off to a great start. “Stories for the Weekend” provides a wealth of information across a broad array of subjects. You will appreciate the author’s keen wit and look forward to bringing up his stories at your next gathering.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Outskirts Press
• Release date: Apr 24, 2024
• ISBN: 9781977274441

Ted Curtin

Ted Curtin is a tireless blogger, dedicated mentor to Boston high school students and enthusiastic world traveler. Prior to spending thirty five years in high tech communications, he was a bartender, bouncer, women’s’ shoe salesman and teacher. A retired rugby player, Ted struggles with golf because he is not allowed to tackle opponents or blame others when things go badly.  

Book preview

Get Smarter. Be Amazed

A Compendium of Tantalizing Trivia and Obscure Facts

All Rights Reserved.

Copyright © 2024 Ted Curtin

v3.0

This is a work of fiction. The events and characters described herein are imaginary and are not intended to refer to specific places or living persons. The opinions expressed in this manuscript are solely the opinions of the author and do not represent the opinions or thoughts of the publisher. The author has represented and warranted full ownership and/or legal right to publish all the materials in this book.

This book may not be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in whole or in part by any means, including graphic, electronic, or mechanical without the express written consent of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Outskirts Press, Inc.

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Outskirts Press and the OP logo are trademarks belonging to Outskirts Press, Inc.

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Introduction

Five years ago, I began sending out a Friday blog that was intended to engage potential corporate customers with my dazzling insights into marketing and sales issues. Soon, I realized my profound insights were not that much different than those of the ten million other marketing blogs floating in cyberspace. Thus, I decided to write weekly stories about fun things that would help get a reader’s weekend off to a good start. Reactions from subscribers have been overwhelmingly positive. The initial hundreds of weekly recipients have turned into thousands of faithful readers. 

You will love this book if :

You are a trivia aficionado.

You are a lifelong learner.

You enjoy reading and sharing interesting stories.

So what’s in these pages?

Students of history will enjoy chapters on Nostradamus, Napoleon’s disastrous invasion of Russia, and Captain Bligh’s incredible journey after being set adrift from The Bounty.

Movie buffs will learn about what went on behind the scenes of The Godfather, The Graduate and Blazing Saddles Oh, and you will also read about Sean Connery’s debilitating phobia.

Classic Television aficionados will read about the tumultuous life of Jackie Coogan (Uncle Fester) and the ground-breaking innovations of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnez. In addition, there are humorous anecdotes about non-human show-biz stars including Rin Tin Tin and Tarzan’s favorite chimp, Cheetah.

Musical chapters include a statistical analysis of one-hit wonders and tributes to the prolific song writers, Smokey Robinson and Carole King. And we answer the question: Who is the only rock group to perform on all seven continents?

Sports fans will want to check out chapters on Roberto Clemente, Satchel Paige, Heavyweight Champion Jack Johnson and The Harlem Globetrotters. And you’ll discover why customers of Bronko Nagurski’s gas station could not patronize other garages.

If you are looking for laughs, we have included observations from Dorothy Parker, Henny Youngman. Steven Wright and George Carlin – Not to mention witticisms from Winston Churchill, Will Rogers and even the Dalai Lama.

Readers of my weekly blog constantly react with I never knew that!. I am confident that you will be engaged by these stories and look forward to sharing them with your friends.

Thanks to all of my loyal readers and a special thanks to my wonderful wife, Terry, who is an attentive proof-reader and has provided me with valuable advice on content and design.

Table of Contents

Chapter One: General Trivia

1. Name That Phobia

2. Absolutely Useless Word Trivia

3. Mother’s Day Ramblings

4. Weird Science

5. Celebrities’ Hidden Talents

6. Food for Thought

7. That’s Some Dog

8. Totally Useless Trivia

9. Hot Dogs, Mustard, and Cracker Jack

10. What’s in a Name?

11. Cleopatra, Niels Bohr, and Martha Washington Walk into a Bar

12. Observations on Wedding Costs

13. Exotic Honeymoons

14. Irreconcilable Differences

15. The Intrepid Tootsie Roll

Chapter Two: History

1. George Washington’s Christmas Surprise

2. Beware the Ides of March

3. Whatever Happened to The Roman Empire?

4. Vinci’s Favorite Son

5. Crazy Rich Royals

6. Isaac Newton, Galileo, and John Maynard Keynes Walk into a Bar

7. Mutiny

8. Nostradamus, Louis Pasteur, and Babe Ruth Walk into a Bar

9. Midnight Rider

10. One Talented Dude

11. Note to Dictators – Don’t Try Invading Moscow

12. Celebrating the Black Ghost

13. Walking the Walk

14. The Remarkable Life of James Garfi eld

15. The Agonizing Death of James Garfi eld

16. E=mc2

17. The Boring Twenties

18. Hedy Lamarr and Your Cell Phone

19. In Appreciation of Queen Elizabeth II

20. Genius

Chapter Three: The Movies

1. A Movie I Can’t Refuse

2. Keep Your Friends Close

3. Bond—James Bond

4. Celebrating Dracula

5. A Tale of Two Epics

6. Casablanca and the Birth of The Rat Pack

7. And Here’s to You

8. Mutiny at the Movies

9. The Real Butch Cassidy

10. The Walk of Fame

11. Quite a Joker

12. One Funny Movie

Chapter Four: Classic Television

1. Whatever Happened to Lumpy Rutherford?

2. Remembering Jackie

3. Potpourri for $1,000

4. Moose and Squirrel

5. Viva Signor Arnaz

6. Nonhuman Showbiz Stars

7. The Germans

8. Just Awful

9. A Show about Nothing

Chapter Five: Music

1. Here’s to Elvis

2. Mozart and The Cultured Cow

3. Origins of Beatles Songs

4. A Singular Sensation

5. She Wrote That?

6. Guitar Heroes

7. Top-Selling Singles

8. The Pompitous of Terrible Songs

9. Covering the Beatles

10. The One and Only Ella

11. Freewheeling Thoughts on Bob Dylan

12. Jingle Bell Hell

13. One-Hit Wonders

Chapter Six: Sports

1. The Heroic Roberto Clemente

2. Yogi: Man versus Myths

3. Random Baseball Trivia

4. Queen of the Waves

5. Unforgivable Blackness

6. Bronko Nagurski: Gronk’s Long-Lost Ancestor?

7. Random Hockey Trivia

8. Marathon Milestones

9. Satchel Paige versus Socrates

10. The Rodney Dangerfi eld of Baseball

11. The Babe

12. Hammering Hank

13. Global Icons

Chapter Seven: Books and Authors

1. J. K. Rowling’s Extraordinary Adventures

2. One Busy Bard

3. A Dickens of a Story

4. A Short but Productive Life

5. Spreading the Words

6. Totally Orwellian!

7. King of Horror

8. Mark Twain Never Said That

Chapter Eight: Humor and Inspiration

1. What Would Mandela Do?

2. Great Comeback Lines

3. Saluting Our Veterans

4. And Then There’s Mrs. King

5. Inspirational Quotes

6. The Amazing Life of Audie Murphy

7. Health Secrets of Centenarians

8. Time for a Laugh

9. Famous Last Words

10. More Inspirational Quotes

11. Take My Wife

Name That Phobia

A few years ago, I was reading about the passing of the original Bozo the Clown (Frank Avruch) when I came across a few articles about coulrophobia, the fear of clowns. According to Ranker, coulrophobia is the 13th most common phobia and its victims include Johnny Depp, Daniel Radcliffe, and Sean Diddy Combs. This led me to research other phobias and here are the ten most common:

Arachnophobia (fear of spiders) affects an estimated one third of women and one fourth of men. But try to get a grip! While there are an estimated 35,000 spider species, only a dozen pose a threat to humans.

Ophidiophobia (Fear of Snakes) – It’s OK. Indiana Jones fears them too.

Acrophobia – Fear of heights impacts an estimated twenty-three million adults and is the primary reason I will never be able to fulfill my lifelong dream of performing with the Flying Wallendas. My Uncle Joe had such an extreme case that when he encountered a bridge, he would flag down passing motorists and ask them to drive his car across. One historical figure who was petrified of heights was Gustave Eiffel (yes, the designer of the Eiffel Tower).

Agoraphobia – A complex condition where the sufferer worries about being in a situation that he cannot escape. Many times it’s a fear of open spaces, but it can also include crowded rooms from which there are limited exits. Many agoraphobes will not take public transportation. The American Psychiatric Association reports that two-thirds of agoraphobes are women.

Cynophobia – Fear of dogs generally arises from a specific dog-related incident, usually during childhood.

Astraphobia – The fear of thunder and lightning causes many sufferers to take shelter in a closet or bathroom. This phobia may lead to agoraphobia, resulting in a person having difficulty leaving his home.

Claustrophobia – Similar to agoraphobes, claustrophobics have a fear of being enclosed in a small space or room with no ability to escape. One study indicates that up to 7% of the world’s population is claustrophobic.

Mysophobia – The fear of germs and dirt can lead people to engage in extreme cleaning, compulsive handwashing, and can result in people avoiding physical contact with others.

Aerophobia – It is estimated that one out of every three people has some level of the fear of flying with eight million adults having an extreme fear. Ronald Reagan, Muhammad Ali, and Johnny Cash all overcame their extreme aerophobia, while John Madden still takes the bus.

Trypanophobia – It is estimated that 10% of Americans have an extreme fear of needles, causing them to avoid doctors and dentists.

And then you have these

Honorable mentions go to thanatophobia, an extreme fear of death, which lists at #11, and glossophobia (fear of public speaking), which weighs in at #15. Latrophobia (fear of doctors) lists at #57, placing it behind gynophobia (fear of women), globophobia (fear of balloons), and anatidaephobia (fear of ducks). Dentophobia (fear of dentists) is listed as high as #16 on some phobia rankings.

Famous people and their phobias

Oprah Winfrey is afflicted by the rare chiclephobia and bans gum chewing in her studio. Her fear of gum stems from her childhood days when Oprah’s grandmother stored used gum in kitchen and bathroom cabinets.

Ailurophobia, the fear of cats, has afflicted many of history’s most heralded leaders, including Julius Caesar, Napoleon Bonaparte, Alexander the Great, and Benito Mussolini.

Today’s 100th most common phobia was once a quite common condition. Taphophobia (fear of being buried alive) afflicted Hans Christian Andersen, Frederick Chopin, and George Washington. When he slept, Andersen posted a sign indicating he was not dead. Washington asked that his body be laid out for three days just in case he had not passed.

David Beckham is afflicted with ataxophobia, the fear of disorder. The contents in Beckham’s refrigerator must be color-coded and aligned perfectly in pairs. If Beckham opens the fridge and sees three sodas, he throws one away.

Which brings us to the great Rafael Nadal. Besides his on-court idiosyncrasies, Raffa suffers from numerous phobias including arachnophobia, astraphobia, cynophobia, thalassophobia (fear of the ocean), corcoranophobia (fear of helicopters), cyclophobia (fear of bicycles), and motorcyclophobia. Nadal also suffers from achluophobia (fear of the dark) and usually sleeps with the lights on.

Ahh, but what I would give to have his backhand for one day—not to mention, his bank account.

Absolutely Useless Word Trivia

Literary scholars credit William Shakespeare with the invention of over 1,700 words. Most of the new words were not totally original but were combinations of words such as bedroom, birthplace, or lackluster. In many cases he turned nouns into verbs (for example, elbow), and in other cases he turned verbs into nouns (such as hint). Still, his list of original English words that are used today is quite impressive. The Bard took the Italian words promittere (promise) and com (to come together) to invent compromise. Some of the many words invented by Shakespeare include excitement, addiction, swagger, dwindle, and anchovy (from the Spanish anchova).

Non-Shakespearian Word Trivia

Goodbye originally comes from an Old-English phrase meaning God be with you.

The words moose, opossum, pecan, raccoon, skunk, and squash originated from the now-extinct language of the Algonquian tribe.

Month, orange, silver, and purple do not rhyme with any other word.

Try this after three cold ones: the hardest tongue twister – sixth sick sheik’s sixth sheep’s sick.

If you think English is an easy language to learn, know that He believed Caesar could see people seizing the seas demonstrates seven different spellings of the ‘ee’ sound.

The opposite of sparkle is darkle.

Poecilonym is a synonym for synonym.

Euouae (a type of cadence in medieval music) is the longest all-vowels word.

Startling is the only nine-letter word where you can remove one letter at a time and still create a word: Startling -> Starting -> Staring -> String -> Sting -> Sing -> Sin -> In -> I.

Strengths is the longest word containing just one vowel.

Rhythms is the longest word without any of the five regular vowels.

Stressed is desserts spelled backwards.

Therein contains thirteen words spelled using consecutive letters: the, he, her, er, here, I, there, ere, rein, re, in, therein, herein.

Skiing is the only word with a double ‘i’—although there is also Hawaii.

Eighteen words in the English language contain all five main vowels in alphabetical order. The most common of these are facetious and abstemious. Facetiously is the shortest word that contains all six vowels in alphabetical order.

Subcontinental is the only word that uses each vowel only once and in reverse alphabetical order.

Queueing is the only word with five vowels in a row.

Somebody with too much time on his/her hands discovered that if you shift each letter of the word yes back ten places in the alphabet, it will spell oui—French for yes.

Cimicid (a type of bedbug) and cimicic (belonging to bugs of the genus Cimex) are the longest words that are exclusively made up of Roman numerals.

Words to use this weekend

Dysania is the inability to get out of bed in the morning.

Rhinorrhea is the medical term for runny nose.

Overmorrow is the day after tomorrow.

A zarf is the cardboard sleeve that protects your hand from the heat of a coffee cup.

Callomaniacs are people who think they are more beautiful than they really are.

Scurryfunge is an Old-English term for the time you spend frantically cleaning up before guests arrive. For unknown reasons, most men are immune to this condition.

Barm is the foam on your beer.

The bottom of a wine bottle is the punt.

The graffe is the wired cage that holds the cork in a bottle of champagne.

The head of an asparagus is called the squib.

Phloem bundles are the long stringy things inside a banana.

Glabella is the space between your eyebrows. If you have a unibrow you can ignore this word.

The philtrum is the groove located below the nose and above your lips.

Gynecomastia is the correct and polite term for man-boobs.

A tittle is the dot on top of the ‘i’ or ‘j.’

Hopefully, this information helps you break the ice at your next cocktail party or just as usefully, helps rid yourself of unwanted company.

Mother’s Day Ramblings

In honor of all the wonderful moms out there, here is some Mother’s Day food for thought.

The roots of the holiday trace back to the Civil War. Julia Ward Howe, who wrote the lyrics to The Battle Hymn of the Republic, started a campaign in Boston for a mother’s day that celebrated peace and protested war. Meanwhile in West Virginia, Ann Jarvis, who had spent years helping poor mothers, formed a committee to foster friendship between mothers from the North and the South. After Ann’s death, her daughter Anna Jarvis decided to continue her quest for a national day for moms.

Anna’s efforts were rewarded in 1914 when President Woodrow Wilson set aside the second Sunday in May as a nationwide holiday. Businesses immediately seized the opportunity to sell flowers, candies, and cards. Anna Jarvis felt the commercialization was detracting from the spirit of Mother’s Day and began staging boycotts of the holiday she created. Jarvis eventually used her last dollar in the unsuccessful fight. She died broke and blind at the age of eighty-four in a sanitarium. Evidence indicates that persons connected with the floral and greeting card industries paid the bills to keep her in the sanitarium.

Trivia

Because one of the first utterances babies make is a ma sound, most languages around the world use that sound as the basis for their word for mother. The Mandarin word for mom is mama, the Icelandic word is mamma, and the Vietnamese word is me."

Most countries set aside an annual mother’s day and some have unique traditions. For example, mothers in Serbia are tied up with rope or ribbon until they give sweets and gifts to their children.

Forty-seven percent of moms think that fathers should buy the mother of their kids a gift, while only 6% of dads agree.

Cheating websites such as Ashley claim that on the day after Mother’s Day, there is a dramatic increase in mothers signing up. Could it be because of the gift disconnect?

On average, people spend $196 on Mother’s Day compared to $133 on Father’s Day. When landline telephones were the norm, Mother’s Day was the busiest day of the year for long-distance calls. Father’s Day set the record each year for the number of collect calls.

Each of those sweaters that helped make Mr. Rogers famous was hand-knit by his mother.

Hugh Hefner went to his father for a loan to finance a magazine that would become Playboy. His public accountant father refused because he thought it was a bad investment. Hefner’s mother grabbed Hugh before he left the house and gave him $1,000 to kick off his venture.

Some Bad Muthas

Most mothers I know are wonderful women and perform feats I cannot even imagine. However, history and fiction are rife with examples of horrible moms. A list of real-life worst mothers includes murderers, Kardashians, or even worse—the mother of Honey Boo Boo. Here are my awards for the worst fictional moms (apologies to Mrs. Robinson, who missed the cut):

Bronze Medal: Betty Draper from Mad Men. Betty is also winner of the coveted Worst Mom with Whom to Spend a Pandemic award. The ultra-self-centered housewife, brilliantly played by January Jones, perpetually ignores her children. When her son complained that he was bored, Betty responded, Go bang your head against a wall. Only boring people are bored. Betty gets a mulligan for being married to a serial cheater, but she is still a dreadful human being.

Silver Medal: Livia Soprano of The Sopranos. One of the most miserable characters in TV history, played superbly by Nancy Marchand. I’m sure many moms have thought about putting out hits on their sons, but Livia actually ordered one.

Gold Medal: Eleanor Shaw Iselin from The Manchurian Candidate (1962). Angela Lansbury plays the sadistic, creepy puppet master of both her politician husband and her tragic war-hero son.

Special Lifetime Achievement Citation: Norma Bates from Psycho. She certainly did a number on her cross-dressing serial killer son.

Weird Science

I’m boning up on my weakest Jeopardy! subjects since recently I’m not only losing to my wife but also to my daughter Sara, who has become a formidable Jeopardy! player. So, this week I’m studying science, which is my weakest subject next to Geography, Fashion, Mythology, Opera, The Bible, Math, Art, and Popular Culture Since Ted Turned 50. Excluding those categories, I am an opponent to be feared.

You might already know these weird science facts, but they were news to me:

All planets spin counterclockwise except for Uranus and Venus. Uranus spins on its side, while Venus defiantly spins clockwise.

If the Sun were the size of a beach ball, then Jupiter would be the size of a golf ball and the Earth would be as small as a pea.

There are eight times as many atoms in a teaspoonful of water as there are teaspoonfuls of water in the Atlantic Ocean.

The human brain takes in eleven million bits of information every second but is aware of only forty.

If laid end to end, the length of blood vessels in an average-sized adult human body would circle our planet 2.5 times!

That’s nothing if you compare it to the DNA in our bodies. If the DNA in your body was fully unraveled, it would stretch from Pluto to the Sun 17 times.

That’s because scientists estimate there are more than three billion base pairs of DNA in human genes and more than 25,000 genes in the human genome. An entire copy of that genome exists in each of the 30 to 40 trillion cells in the human body.

Human babies have up to one hundred more bones than adults. As babies develop, various bones fuse such as those of the cranium.

Skip this section if you are a germophobe

There are more living organisms on the skin of each human than there are humans on the surface of the earth.

In just one teaspoon of soil, there are more microorganisms than people on the planet. This includes millions of species and billions of