Celebrities and Notable People

Walter Cavanaugh, “Mr. Plastic Fantastic“, has 1,497 different valid credit cards.

In 1988, Michael Jackson earned an estimated $60 million dollars.

Over 450 million copies of author Barbara Cartland’s books have been sold-a record.

When he died, Elvis Presley’s estate was valued at $10 million dollars.

Former Yippie Jerry Rubin declared in 1980 that “My goal is at the age of 35 to act like I’m 15.” Within a few years, he was running a “networking” service and talking about how wonderful it was to make money.

Ivan the Terrible built the Kremlin-then gouged the architect’s eyes out to prevent him from ever designing another structure like it.

J. Paul Getty-at one time, the richest man in the world-had a pay phone in his mansion.

Julius Caesar’s autograph is worth $2 million dollars.

Mother Jones was Mary Harris Jones, a crusader for the rights of laborers.

The Ringling Brothers was originally a family orchestra, not a circus.

James Smith, founder of the Smithsonian Institution, never visited the U.S.

Norman Rockwell started painting Saturday Evening Post covers at the age of 21.

It took Noah Webster 20 years to write his dictionary.

Jack Nicholson was paid $61 million to appear in Batman.

Ringo Starr once claimed he wanted to get rich in order to open a chain of hair dressing salons.

Money

In 1986, the TV show “Wheel of Fortune” earned over $100 million dollars.

In 1984, a Canadian farmer began renting ad space on his cows.

Each $1,000 raise in a wife’s salary increases the chances for divorce or separation by 1%.

The average bank teller loses about $250 every year.

Laid end-to-end around the equator, it would take 257,588,120-dollar bills to circle the earth.

Until 1857, foreign coins were considered U.S. money if they were made of a precious metal.

In Italy, a whole year’s salary is the proper amount to pay for an engagement ring.

In 1936, a cabin on the Hindenburg airship cost $750 for a trans-Atlantic flight.

China employed over 6 million people to work on their 1990 census.

The British pound got its name because it was originally equal to the value of a pound of silver.

In 1991, General Motors was no. 1 on the Fortune 500 list-but 485th in profitability.

Nearly all psychiatrists have been attacked by one of their patients.

The average dollar bill has a life span of 18 months.

Your wedding ring is the one thing that creditors cannot seize if you go bankrupt.

Supermarket tabloids spend about $4 million a year buying celebrity gossip from informants.

During Desert Storm, one ribbon-maker shipped 30 million yards of yellow ribbon in a month.

Nearly 13% of lawyers admit to having six or more drinks a day.

In 1977, there were over 15,000 discos in the U.S.

Until 1967, LSD was legal in California.

Miscellaneous

The first stewardesses were on United Airlines in 1930; they had to be registered nurses.

One in ten truck drivers is a woman.

Canada owns more U.S. real estate than Japan.

The average person spends over 9 hours preparing their taxes.

On average, the French take twice as long on their business lunches than we do.

According to a recent study, housewives feel more stressed than working women.

It costs parents about $5,800 dollars to care for a newborn in its first year.

Garbage collectors and warehouse workers suffer the most on-the-job back injuries.

“When two men in business always agree, one of them is unnecessary.”-William Wrigley, Jr.

Japan recycles more than half its household and commercial waste.

A company in Australia makes coffins out of recycled newspapers.

Source: “Uncle John’s 4-Ply Bathroom Reader” by The Bathroom Readers’ Institute, 2003