Arts and Literature Facts
Italian artist Piero Manzoni pooped into 90 tin cans as an artwork, each containing 30g of poop. Each is worth 100k € today. Source
"The Mouse Trap," by Agatha Christie is the longest running play in history.
All of the roles in Shakespeare's plays were originally acted by men and boys. In England at that time, it wasn't proper for females to appear on stage.
In 1863, Jules Verne wrote “Paris in the 20th Century,” a manuscript which predicted everything from glass skyscrapers to feminism to a statistical rise in illegitimate births; his publisher advised him against publishing it as it “broke no new ground” and was “unbelievable”. Source
All the proceeds earned from James M. Barrie's book "Peter Pan" were bequeathed to the Great Ormond Street Hospital for the Sick Children in London.
Barbara Bush's book about her English Springer Spaniel, Millie's book, was on the bestseller list for 29 weeks. Millie was the most popular "First Dog" in history.
Bilbo Baggins was born on September 22 1290.
Brabara Cartland is the world's top-selling author with over 750 million copies sold. Source
Aldous Huxley author of “Brave New World”, was so influenced by the power of LSD that he requested his wife to inject him 100 µg of LSD on his death bed. Source
Cinderella's slippers were originally made out of fur. The story was changed in the 1600s by a translator. It was the left shoe that Aschenputtel (Cinderella) lost at the stairway, when the prince tried to follow her.
Dr. Seuss wrote "Green Eggs and Ham" after his editor dared him to write a book using fewer than 50 different words.
Edgar Allan Poe introduced mystery fiction's first fictional detective, Auguste C. Dupin, in his 1841 story, "The Murders in the Rue Morgue."
Frank Baum named "Oz" after a file cabinet in his office. One cabinet was labeled "A to N," and the second was labeled "O to Z."
During a lecture, an Oxford philosopher made the claim that although a double negative in English implies a positive meaning, there is no language in which a double positive implies a negative. To which Philosopher Sidney Morgenbesser responded with a dismissive tone, “Yeah, yeah.” Source
Ghosts appear in 4 Shakespearian plays; Julius Caesar, Richard III, Hamlet and Macbeth.
Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin" was published March 20, 1852. It was the first American novel to sell one million copies.
John Milton used 8,000 different words in his poem, "Paradise Lost."
Robert Louis Stevenson wrote Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in three days. His wife found it too gruesome, so he promptly burned the manuscript. He re-wrote it, once again in three days. Source
Margaret Mitchell wrote Gone with the Wind between 1926 and 1929. In her early drafts, the main character was named "Pansy O'Hara" and the O'Hara plantation we know as Tara was called "Fountenoy Hall."
Of the 2200 persons quoted in the current edition of "Bartlett's Familiar Quotations," only 164 are women.
Professor Moriarity was Sherlock Holmes' archenemy.
Sherlock Holmes never said 'Elementary, my dear Watson.'
Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's brilliant detective, arrived on the mystery scene in the late nineteenth century in "A Study in Scarlet" (1887).
A man was castaway on an uninhabited island for 4 years and 4 months and survived (Alexander Selkirk - the Real Robinson Crusoe). Source
The occupations of the three men in a tub were butcher, baker, and candlestick maker.
The original story from Tales of 1001 Arabian Nights begins, 'Aladdin was a little Chinese boy.'
The Three Musketeers names are Porthos, Athos, and Aramis (D'Artagnan joins them later.)
The sentence "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." Uses every letter in the alphabet. (developed by Western Union to test telex/twx communications)
The only 15 letter word that can be spelled without repeating a letter is uncopyrightable.
Mark_TwainMark Twain told an interviewer that he was not actually Mark Twain, but Mark Twain’s twin brother, but since his parents couldn’t tell which one drowned in the bath tub when they were babies, the parents decided that the one who lived must have been Mark. Source
The Main Library at Indiana University sinks over an inch every year because when it was built, engineers failed to take into account the weight of all the books that would occupy the building.
The name Wendy was made up for the book "Peter Pan." Is False, the name can be traced backed to the early 1800's. The name was very rare and only became popular after the book was written.
"I am." is the shortest complete sentence in the English language with out an implied meaning. The shortest English sentence is probably "Go." "Go" is an action verb and can be used in imperative mood, which means that it can be used with good, old "You Understood." So "Go" actually means "You go." Below is an example of "go" used in a sentence.
"How to Steal 2nd Base" Get ready to go from 1st base to 2nd base. Wait until the pitcher's not looking. Go.
Pacing yourself with your finger allows you to read faster.
No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver, or purple.
"Dreamt" is the only English word that ends in the letters "mt".
Maine is the only state (in USA) whose name is just one syllable.
There are only four words in the English language which end in "dous": tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous.
The word "racecar," "kayak," and "radar" are the same whether they are read left to right or right to left.
No word in the English language rhymes with "month."
Rhythm and "syzygy" are the longest English words without vowels.
In England, in the 1880's, "Pants" was considered a dirty word.
Isaac Asimov is the only author to have a book in every Dewey-decimal category.
Ernest Hemingway took a urinal from his favorite bar and moved it into his Key West home, arguing that he had “pissed away” so much of his money into the urinal that he owned it. Source
In ancient Japan, public contests were held to see who could fart the loudest and longest!
The Harry Potter books are the most banned books in America. Source