World’s Strangest

What do actors, musicians, and writers say when they die? I consulted the reference Last Words of Notable People by Bill Brahms to collect eleven examples. Read on, and get a hanky ready. 1. Bob Hope (1903-2003) The words: “Surprise me.” The story: “Bob” Hope’s full name was Leslie Townes Hope. As an actor [...]

Harpo Marx, the “silent” Marx brother, was a phenomenal self-taught harpist — hence the nickname. (His given name was Adolph, later Americanized to Arthur.) Today I saw a clip of Harpo playing “Blue Moon” quite brilliantly, and thought I’d dig in to find some other performances — and I was really pleased by [...]

Neatorama presents a guest post from actor, comedian, and voiceover artist Eddie Deezen. Visit Eddie at his website. Was there ever a stranger, more unique, or more lovable movie star than Harpo Marx? Adolph Arthur Marx (later Harpo) was born in New York City in 1888. He got his famous nickname in a casual poker game [...]

Let’s get ready for Father’s Day by taking a look at some dads who gave famous people a giant gift: their names. Here are the seniors behind a slew of well-known Juniors. 1. Martin Luther King, Sr. probably didn’t know his name would become so famous when he changed it. The civil [...]

The following article is reprinted from The Annals of Improbable Research. by David L. Dickinson, Dept. of Economics, Appalachian State University, and Todd McElroy, Dept. of Psychology, Appalachian State University People differ in their diurnal (time of day) preferences: some are morning-types and others are evening-types. These differences are explored in a unique experiment design in which [...]

Chris Allen, a professional yo-yoist, made an enormous yo-yo out of two dog pools. It’s 35 inches across, 18 inches wide, and weighs 5.4 pounds. Allen tested it while standing on the roof of parking garage of the National Yo-Yo Museum in Chico, California. At the link, you can watch a video of Allen building [...]