DID YOU KNOW …? Who was the producer’s first choice to host the original “The Price is Right”?

Five hundred columns down, and an infinity of columns yet to go!

After last week’s party for the 500th collection of silly trivia, you’d think I would be ready to give up, right? Heck no.  I’m just getting started. In fact, I plan to be around until we hit 1,000 columns and then some!

So while you settle back and enjoy your favorite beverage appropriate for the time of day in which you read this, I’ll be working on future columns to enlighten and entertain you.

Enjoy!

Did you know …

… sharks have more to fear from humans than the other way around? Humans kill around 70,000,000 sharks annually. The killing is done for various reasons, some as silly as making shark-fin soup. But the reverse – sharks killing humans – is a very low-chance scenario. You are actually more likely to be hit by lightning or bitten by a dog than to be attacked by a shark. (Or even bitten by a dog being hit by lightning.)

… children learn to lie as early as six months old? No, they don’t tell gollywhopper fibs because they can’t yet talk. But researchers tell us that kids that young can – and do – deceive their parents to get attention, by pretending to be upset or by laughing for no reason. (Heck, that works for me today!)

… who the first choice to host the original version of The Price is Right was? The original version of the game show premiered in 1956, and was hosted by Bill Cullen (1920-1990). Cullen got the job because the man who was originally offered the hosting slot by the producers, actor Dick Van Dyke (born 1925), turned it down. Van Dyke said he felt a show where contestants had to guess the prices of prizes would fail. Cullen went on to host the show through its entire run until 1965. The show was revived in 1972 with host Bob Barker (1923-2023) and has been on the air ever since. (Hey, even Dick Van Dyke can be wrong once in a while.)

… popcorn was the first dry breakfast cereal? Okay, bear with me a moment. The first manufactured dry breakfast cereal was Kellogg’s Corn Flakes, after Will Kellogg (1860-1951) created them for his sanatorium in Battle Creek, Michigan. But the first-ever was popcorn and it was enjoyed by the Pilgrims on the morning after the first Thanksgiving at Plymouth Rock. Someone (nobody is certain who) thought that having popcorn with milk on it for breakfast was a great idea, and apparently it was. (Thanks to David for the tip!)

… you may suffer from hellenologophobia? If you do, it means you have a fear of complex scientific terminology. Either that or Greek words or terms. (Or both.)

… snow is actually colorless? It’s also translucent. So you ask, why does it appear white? Because sunlight is reflected off the snowflake’s faceted surface, thus appearing white to us. (Can the song be changed to “I’m dreaming of a translucent Christmas:?)

… a nation sued a grocery company over the use of its name? A British supermarket company called Iceland Foods opened stores in 2002, and was almost immediately sued by the government of the nation of Iceland. Through the years, there have been several court challenges to the use of the name, almost all of which Iceland (the country) has won, trying to get the company’s trademarks invalidated. (Maybe change the name to Iceberg?)

… ancient astronomers had two different names for the same planet? Venus, second planet from the Sun, is arguably the most brilliant point of light in the night sky, surpassed only by the Moon. But back in ancient days, astronomers were not aware that the object they saw as the “morning star” was the same object seen later in the year as the “evening star.” So they called the morning star Phosphorous and the evening star Hesperus. Once it was determined that they were the same body, the point of light was named Venus, after the Roman goddess of love. (A rose by any other name …)

… the record-setting contract between Nike and a basketball superstar was based on several conditions? When the company formed a partnership with Michael Jordan (born 1963) for the 1984-85 basketball season, they had four conditions, at least one of which had to be met for the contract to be valid: Jordan had to be named NBA Rookie of the Year, average 20 points per game, be named to the All-Star team, or sell $4 million worth of shoes in a year. Ever the underachiever, Jordan not only became Rookie of the Year, he averaged 28.4 points per game, made the All-Star team, and sold $100 million worth of shoes. (Nothing like fulfilling the contract!)

… one U.S. president had fifteen children? John Tyler (1790-1862), the tenth President of the United States, had eight children with his first wife Letitia Christian (1790-1842) and another seven with his second wife Julia Gardiner (1820-1889). When his fifteenth and final child, a daughter named Pearl (1860-1947) was born, he was 70. Additional trivia note: Two of Tyler’s grandchildren survived into the 21st Century. Lyon Gardiner Tyler, Jr. (1925-2020) and Harrison Ruffin Tyler, Sr. (1928-2025) were sons of Tyler’s twelfth child, Lyon Gardiner Tyler (1853-1935).

… some creative geniuses had very odd habits? Cases in point: author Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) would only write when his pen held black ink. Composer Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) would pour ice water over his head when he was creating music, because he felt that it stimulated his brain. Author Charles Dickens (1812-1870) would only write or sleep while facing north. Composer Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868) covered himself with blankets when he was writing music. And novelist Marcel Proust (1871-1922) worked in bed, and only in a soundproof room. (And people have the nerve to call me strange!)

Now … you know!