Fun Facts That Are

In 2014, Morgan Freeman converted his 124-acre Mississippi ranch into a bee sanctuary. He imported 26 hives from Arkansas, planted acres of clover and lavender, and became a beekeeper himself — all to fight Colony Collapse Disorder. He never wears a protective suit. The bees have never stung him.

Australian Today show host Karl Stefanovic wore the exact same blue suit on air every single day for a year. Not a single viewer, colleague, or critic said a word. Meanwhile, his female co-host Lisa Wilkinson was criticized for her outfits daily. When he finally revealed the experiment, Stefanovic said: "I'm judged on my interviews. Women are judged on what they're wearing."

Old Billy was a barge horse in 18th-century England who hauled canal boats for a living. He was born in 1760 and died in 1822 — at 62 years old. The average horse lives 25 to 30. His taxidermied head is still on display at the Manchester Museum.

Al Pacino didn't sign his own checks. His accountant did. By his 70s, his $50 million fortune was gone. He was unknowingly paying for 16 cars, 23 cellphones, and a $400,000-per-year landscaper at a house he never lived in. The accountant got seven and a half years in prison. Pacino had to take roles in movies he openly disliked — including Jack and Jill — just to pay the bills.

In 1996, Richard Branson's Virgin Cola took out full-page newspaper ads warning customers about a new "blue-detecting" technology — their cans would turn bright blue when the drink expired. The public safety message? "Do not buy any blue cans." Pepsi had just launched its bold new blue can design the same week. It was a masterclass in corporate trolling disguised as consumer protection.

In 1999, David Phillips spotted a Healthy Choice promotion: 1,000 airline miles for every 10 barcodes. During the bonus window, that doubled. He found pudding cups at 25 cents each, bought 12,150 of them for $3,140, and donated them all to the Salvation Army — earning an $815 tax deduction. Total haul: 1,253,000 frequent flyer miles and lifetime Gold status. His story inspired the Adam Sandler film Punch-Drunk Love.

In 1999, a Swedish radiologist named Anna Bågenholm fell through ice while skiing in Norway and spent 80 minutes trapped under a frozen stream. Her body temperature dropped to 56.7°F — the lowest ever recorded in a surviving hypothermia patient. When rescuers pulled her out, she had no heartbeat and no breathing. Clinically dead. Doctors at Tromsø University Hospital spent 9 hours bringing her back using a cardiopulmonary bypass machine. She survived. And later became a radiologist at the very hospital that saved her life.

Pharrell Williams was fired from three different McDonald's locations. His reason: "I was eating the chicken nuggets." Years later, McDonald's hired him to produce "I'm Lovin' It" — the most successful fast food jingle in history.

In 1990, the cockpit windshield of British Airways Flight 5390 blew out at 17,400 feet. Captain Tim Lancaster was sucked halfway out of the aircraft. Flight attendant Nigel Ogden grabbed his legs and held on for 20 minutes while co-pilot Alastair Atchison made an emergency landing. Lancaster survived with frostbite and fractures. The cause? 84 of the 90 windshield bolts were the wrong size — installed by a shift manager who'd done it by eye instead of checking the manual.

Michael Larson was an unemployed ice cream truck driver who recorded episodes of Press Your Luck on his VCR and played them back frame by frame. He discovered the "random" game board only had 5 repeating patterns. He memorized them all. On the show, he hit 45 consecutive winning spins without a single Whammy and walked away with $110,237. CBS investigated and couldn't do a thing.

A memorial tree was planted in Los Angeles' Griffith Park in honor of Beatles guitarist George Harrison. It was killed by an infestation of beetles.

During an Easter egg hunt in Surrey in 2016, about 30 kids spotted two men sprinting across a field with a police helicopter circling overhead. Without being told, the children lay down in the dirt and formed a giant human arrow pointing the helicopter straight at the fleeing suspects. Both men were caught. The helicopter crew landed and handed out chocolate to every kid.