His contributions to the film industry were acknowledged with a knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II of England at the turn of the millennium. He'd picked up an Academy Award in 1988 for Best Supporting Actor in The Untouchables, but as the wise old acting professor once observed, you can't eat awards.
Read MoreIt was his natural skill and sheer love of baseball that propelled him forward. He was named the MVP for 1998. He surpassed the former MLB champion Roger Maris's home run record. With Sosa's record, he ought to be in the Baseball Hall of Fame by now. That hasn't happened -- and perhaps never will.
Read MoreConnery was 18 when he first started the sport. After a couple of years he saved up enough to train with a professional named Ellington, a former gym instructor with the British Army. After two years of professional guidance, Connery stepped into the world of bodybuilding competitions.
Read MoreSome suggest that Connery's knighthood -- finally bestowed by Queen Elizabeth II in 2000 -- was delayed because of his political views. BBC America reports that he was blocked twice for the honor by England's Labor Party, in 1997 and 1998, because of his outspoken opinions regarding Scotland.
Read MoreWhen Eddie Van Halen died at 65 on October 6, 2020, after a long battle with cancer, Roth was one of the people expressing grief over the rock world's loss. According to Today, Roth posted a photo of the two of them, with the words, "What a long great trip it's been.."
Read MoreIn the early 1980s, Seagal became involved with Never Say Never Again, the not-entirely-official James Bond film which saw Sean Connery return to the role of Bond. Seagal was supposed to help Connery with martial arts moves for the film.
Read MoreOnce humans started eating more grain, "bacteria in the human mouth flourished, pouring out acids that eat away at the teeth." The Sudanese skeletons belonged to farmers, so why were their teeth in such great shape?
Read MoreBritain destroyed and withheld evidence of crimes in Africa with the explicit purpose of being kept out of the hands of post-independence governments.
Read MoreWhen Billboard interviewed Todd Rundgren in 2017 about the experience of producing Meat Loaf's album Bat Out of Hell and asked him for his fondest memory from that time, Rundgren told an amazing story about Meat Loaf's proposal and subsequent marriage to his first wife, Leslie.
Read MoreFred Rogers was known primarily as Mister Rogers of the long-running PBS television show Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. He gently reached out to generations of preschool children, encouraging emotional and social growth while assuring his television neighbors that he loves them just the way they are.
Read MoreAmerican football has been around since the 19th century. Even though soccer fans make fun of American football, the two are closely tied. Football evolved from a hybrid of rugby and soccer that colleges in the 19th century were playing. This hybrid style of the sport was called the "Boston Game."
Read MoreGaius Julius Caesar is known for having been a statesman who changed the course of history. Per Britannica, he was a general who overthrew the long reign of Roman nobility and replaced it with a dictatorship. (He came, he saw, he conquered, or in his words, Veni, vedi, vici.) July is his namesake.
Read MoreJordan's mouth was legendary among the ballers who played both against and with him during his 15 seasons in the NBA. And it appears as though his trash talk game was as vicious as his physical one. According to Viral Hoops, Jordan ruined several players' careers with words alone.
Read MoreThe ark of the covenant is of great importance for many religions, and even more so for the Israelites who escaped Egypt. They carried the ark with them during the Exodus, and, because of its importance, they constructed a place to shelter it, called a tabernacle, to keep it safe while they rested.
Read MoreHeadon and the others continued to drift apart in terms of lifestyles, with Headon acting the stereotypical rock star, constantly consuming alcohol and drugs. For the rest of The Clash, their "punk roots gave way to musicianship," only occasionally partying with their ever-partying drummer.
Read MoreEach year humans consume around 50 billion tonnes of sand (that's metric tons, which come out to a little more than a tenth larger than U.S. tons) to carry out the oh-so-important work of being humans. Sooner or later, even a resource is as plentiful as sand is going to run out.
Read MoreWhile her album, Songbird, sold more than five million copies worldwide -- reaching platinum status six times in England and becoming certified platinum in the United States in 2008, according to Grunge News -- Eva Cassidy never knew of her success. She died of cancer in 1996, age 33.
Read MoreOne man wrote of Boone, "He never liked to take life and always avoided it when he could." An historically accurate depiction of Boone reveals that he would have rather negotiated peace than engage in violence, and this attitude would put him into a bit of trouble with the military in 1778.
Read MoreJeopardy! viewers haven't seen someone truly dominate the game show since Ken Jennings' infamous run of 74 games. But James Holzhauer changed all that. Here's the untold truth of James Holzhauer.
Read More"Old Town Road" by Lil Nas X was the talk of the town since it came out in December of 2018, and he fanned the flames even more by releasing a remix version featuring a very familiar face and voice, Mr. "Achy Breaky Heart" himself, Billy Ray Cyrus.
Read MorePer Mother Jones, birth control was often difficult to obtain in the first half of the 20th century. It was expensive, hard to access, and required the intervention of doctors who often didn't want to provide contraceptives to their patients. This left people to devise their own methods.
Read MoreBilirubin is sent from the liver to the bile ducts and lastly the intestines before being excreted with the body's food waste. If this process is disrupted for one of a number of reasons, the bilirubin accumulates within the body, causing the skin and the whites of the eyes to turn yellow.
Read MoreAncient Greeks took the cosmetic use of dangerous lead a step further, favoring a white lead face cream that was meant to clear up blemishes and even the tone and texture of skin. Unfortunately, lead causes health problems ranging from infertility to dementia.
Read MoreThe U.S. Army deployed around 600 carrier pigeons, according to the World War I Centennial Commission, and one stood out as heroic. The pigeon's name was Cher Ami -- French for "dear friend."
Read MorePrior to joining the show, Shoaf ran his own company, called Tappen Business, which rebuilt heavy machinery. In 2018, he opened up his own rural restoration shop and restored cars on his own. Unfortunately, the business never took off. Shoaf turned his career aspirations toward reality TV instead.
Read MoreRobinson remembered Gordy introducing himself and asking where their songs had come from. Said, Robinson, "I wrote 'em," and when Gordy asked if he had more, Robinson mentioned he had "a loose-leaf notebook with about 100 songs in it."
Read MoreVentura gained a name for himself as a controversial voice, a straight-shooter who called it like he saw it and didn't care about political correctness. There is probably no other wrestler who made better use of his post-career fame than The Body. But why exactly did Jesse Ventura call it quits?
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