Gene Autry was more than America’s favorite singing cowboy. He battled underground robots, flew military planes, helped make Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer a Christmas institution, owned the Los Angeles Angels, and had a horse that enjoyed afternoon tea at London’s Savoy Hotel. Somehow, he also found time to make 93 movies.
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Celebrate 12 years of Commonplace Fun Facts with a behind-the-scenes look at how to write with curiosity, skepticism, research, and rabbit trails.
William Painter invented the modern bottle cap in 1892. Explore the crown cork, his unusual patents, and the strange myth of a train ejection seat.
The 1980s very special episode turned sitcoms into public-service announcements about drugs, abuse, AIDS, grief, and refrigerator danger.
In 1896, James C. Boyle patented an automatic hat-tipping device that tipped, spun, and reset itself—and he even planned to put advertising on it.
Benjamin Franklin’s 1750 satire explains how to become a truly disagreeable companion—and why his advice remains painfully relevant today.
Florenz Ziegfeld loved elaborate notes. Eddie Cantor preferred brevity. Their clash produced one of Broadway’s funniest lessons in overcommunication.
Discover the surprising stories behind unusual patron saints associated with television, pilots, dentists, taxi drivers, the Internet, and more.
Discover the London Necropolis Railway, the Victorian funeral train that carried coffins, mourners, and even first-class dead passengers to Brookwood.
Before he was 16, Martin Van Buren was already arguing cases in court—and once had to stand on a table so the jury could see him.
Discover how Dagen H switched Sweden from left- to right-hand traffic in ten minutes—after voters overwhelmingly rejected the idea.
How much of Helen Keller’s writing and success was really her own? Explore Anne Sullivan’s role, Keller’s talent, and the truth behind the legend.
What was the purpose of the Roman dodecahedron? Explore the leading theories behind these mysterious 12-sided artifacts and why 134 examples still have no certain explanation.
The Pitch Drop Experiment has been running since 1927, producing only nine drops while generations of scientists wait—and occasionally miss the action.
What is the longest sentence in English literature? Meet the 13,955-word monster that shattered James Joyce’s record—and the authors who went even further.
P.K. Clover’s 1878 coffin torpedo was designed to stop grave robbers with an explosive surprise buried alongside the deceased.
