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Walt Disney didn’t draw Mickey Mouse.

  • “Steamboat Willie,” 1928
"Steamboat Willie," 1928
Credit: RGR Collection/ Alamy Stock Photo
Author Michael Nordine
February 22, 2024

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Despite essentially being synonymous with his most famous character, Walt Disney didn’t draw Mickey Mouse. The iconic cartoon rodent was actually designed by Disney’s best friend, animator Ub Iwerks, in 1928. Indeed, A Mouse Divided: How Ub Iwerks Became Forgotten, and Walt Disney Became Uncle Walt author Jeff Ryan described Mickey as “basically the child of two dads.” The pair worked together for decades, and Iwerks created effects for such Disney classics as Mary Poppins and Sleeping Beauty, in addition to helping develop theme park attractions such as “It’s a Small World.” But he rarely received much credit for his contributions to the company, especially in comparison to its namesake. That began to change when his granddaughter Leslie Iwerks directed the 2000 documentary The Hand Behind the Mouse: The Ub Iwerks Story, but even today, Iwerks remains relatively unknown.

For the first 20 years of Mickey Mouse’s existence, Disney voiced the character himself. The world was introduced to Mickey in the 1928 animated short Steamboat Willie, though Disney produced two previous shorts featuring Mickey that same year, Plane Crazy and The Gallopin’ Gaucho, which weren’t picked up by distributors. Steamboat Willie was the first of these to feature sound, though Mickey didn’t utter his first actual words (“Hot dog!”) until the following year’s The Karnival Kid. Disney last lent his vocal talents to The Mickey Mouse Club between 1955 and 1958, though 2013’s Get a Horse! patched together previous recordings to once again feature him as the voice of the famous cartoon mouse.

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Walt Disney received a custom-made Oscar statuette for "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs."

Walt Disney is an Oscar legend, but he never won the Academy Award most often associated with animation over the last 20 years. Since there was no award for Best Animated Feature until 2001 (when Shrek won the inaugural prize), Disney received an Honorary Oscar for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1939, for “significant screen innovation which has charmed millions and pioneered a great new entertainment field for the motion picture cartoon.” The award included a unique custom design that paid homage to the movie’s beloved characters: one regular Oscar statuette and seven miniature ones placed along a stepped base. It was presented to Disney by Shirley Temple, who was 11 years old at the time and didn’t totally understand the significance of the design. She later said, “I thought that the big statue was for Walt and that the Seven Dwarfs were the little ones going down the side and that Snow White herself hadn’t gotten anything.” 

Liechtenstein’s army once returned from war with more men than it left with.

  • Battle of Königgrätz, 1866
Battle of Königgrätz, 1866
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Author Michael Nordine
July 15, 2025

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With a population of 40,000 people living in an area of just 62 square miles, the doubly landlocked microstate of Liechtenstein isn’t exactly a global superpower. It hasn’t had an army since 1868, though the formal disbandment of its armed forces was preceded by an impressive feat: returning home from war with more people than it left with. 

The conflict in question was the Austro-Prussian War, also known as the Seven Weeks’ War, which began in June 1866. Liechtenstein sent 80 soldiers to support the Austrian side, dispatching them to the Brenner Pass between Austria and Italy, where they essentially served as guards and saw no real action.

All 80 people returned, as did an 81st. His identity remains a matter of debate more than 150 years later, with some suggesting he was “a new Italian ‘friend’” and others believing he was an Austrian liaison officer. In any case, Liechtenstein dissolved its armed forces shortly after, perhaps because it knew there was no way of topping its recent victory, and the country has maintained neutrality ever since.

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Switzerland once accidentally invaded Liechtenstein.

Liechtenstein enjoys friendly relations with Austria and Switzerland, the two countries that surround it, even after the Swiss accidentally invaded the microstate. The incident occurred in 2007, when about 170 infantry troops wandered more than a mile past the unmarked border without realizing it — an error that likely would have caused more issues at a less friendly border. The soldiers were armed with assault rifles but no ammunition, and turned back upon realizing their mistake. Liechtenstein was understanding, and decided not to retaliate with its famous military might against its neutral neighbors.

In 1835, “The New York Sun” claimed life had been discovered on the moon.

  • Great Moon Hoax of 1835
Great Moon Hoax of 1835
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Author Sarah Anne Lloyd
February 22, 2024

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When The New York Sun started publishing in 1833, the paper was just a penny per edition, making it popular with New York’s less affluent residents. Just a year later, it had the highest circulation of any newspaper in the United States. Unfortunately for its many readers, it had a tumultuous relationship with the truth. The most notorious incident was 1835’s “Great Moon Hoax,” a six-part series, supposedly written by someone named Andrew Grant with the Edinburgh Journal of Science, that claimed that life had been found on the moon.

The first article, published on August 25 that year, reported that the famous astronomer John Herschel had made a number of startling discoveries about the moon and distant planets after hauling a 7-ton telescope from England to the Cape of Good Hope, the southern tip of Africa. Herschel had actually set up a telescope in South Africa (though it was not quite that large), which both gave the story a sheen of truth and left the astronomer conveniently unavailable to deny the report. The next day, the Sun reported that Herschel had discovered stunning Earth-like landscapes; brown quadrupeds resembling small bison; a playful, single-horned, goatlike species; birds similar to cranes and pelicans; and some sort of spherical amphibian. The day after that, it was larger bison, more birds, and miniature zebras.

The descriptions only got more extravagant as the series stretched on, and the story started to lose credibility, although at one point a team of Yale scientists came to New York in search of the original Edinburgh Journal articles. On day four, when the Sun described short, hairy humanoid bipeds with batlike wings engaged in animated conversations, more readers and newspapers started to cry hoax. The paper acknowledged the fabrication in mid-September, admitting that the Edinburgh Journal had ceased publication already and Grant was a fictional character. Perhaps surprisingly, the incident didn’t hurt the paper — readership skyrocketed during the moon hoax week and the Sun continued publishing until 1950.

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A fake proto-human skull fooled scientists for decades.

In 1912, an amateur archaeologist claimed to have found a 500,000-year-old link between apes and human beings: a humanlike skull in Sussex, England. When more advanced dating technology emerged in 1949, a geologist at London’s Natural History Museum tested the skull and found that it was from only 50,000 years ago — and it wasn’t one animal’s skull, but a mixture of human and likely orangutan remains. This wasn’t just a case of mistaken identity: Closer inspection under a microscope revealed that the skull had been stained to match the gravel where it was supposedly found, and the teeth had been filed down to make the ape jawbone more human-looking. 

There were three U.S. presidents in one year — twice.

  • (from left): Martin Van Buren; William Henry Harrison; John Tyler
(from left): Martin Van Buren; William Henry Harrison; John Tyler
Credit: (from left) Archive Pics/ Alamy Stock Photo; PAINTING/ Alamy Stock Photo; Archive Pics/ Alamy Stock Photo
Author Michael Nordine
July 9, 2025

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Given that presidential elections are quadrennial in the United States, most calendar years feature only one commander in chief. But exceptions occur when one administration leaves and another enters, of course, and on two occasions there were even three presidents in a single year. 

The first time was in 1841. That year, outgoing President Martin Van Buren’s term ended on March 4. He was succeeded by William Henry Harrison, who holds the unfortunate distinction of having the shortest presidency in American history. He served for just 31 days, as he fell ill shortly after his inauguration and died on April 4, making him the first president to die in office. His vice president, John Tyler, then served the remainder of his term.

A similar confluence of events occurred exactly 40 years later. In keeping with his pledge not to seek a second term, Rutherford B. Hayes left the White House on March 4, 1881. James A. Garfield then became the 20th president, though his was not to be a long tenure. He was shot on July 2 and succumbed to his injuries on September 19, making him the second president to be assassinated, after which Vice President Chester A. Arthur took the oath of office. All six presidents involved in these incidents have something else in common: None of them served more than a single term. 

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English wasn’t Martin Van Buren’s first language.

Exactly one U.S. president didn’t speak English as their first language: Martin Van Buren, whose native tongue was Dutch. He was born in Kinderhook, New York, where most of the population was of Dutch stock. Van Buren was the sixth generation of a pioneer family who emigrated from the village of Buurmalsen in the Netherlands to the colony of New Netherland (modern-day New York) in 1631. He was also the first president born after the American Revolution, was a primary founder of the Democratic Party, and blocked the annexation of Texas because he opposed the expansion of slavery and feared it would cause Mexico to retaliate. He was right: Following Texas’ admission to the United States as the 28th state on February 19, 1846, the Mexican–American War began within two months.

The Bluetooth symbol was inspired by Old Norse runes.

  • Harald Blauzahn Gormsson
Harald Blauzahn Gormsson
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Author Michael Nordine
July 9, 2025

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Unless you’re well versed in Scandinavian history, you’ve probably never heard of Harald “Bluetooth” Gormsson, who ruled Denmark and Norway in the 10th century. His moniker is likely familiar, however, as it inspired the wireless technology of the same name. Despite “Bluetooth” being intended as only a temporary code name before the technology was unveiled in 1998, according to the official Bluetooth website, the name “caught on fast and before it could be changed, it spread throughout the industry, becoming synonymous with short-range wireless technology.” (The temporary name was originally supposed to be replaced with either RadioWire or PAN, short for Personal Area Networking, both far less distinct.)

The iconic symbol, meanwhile, is a combination of the two runes that form Bluetooth’s initials: Hagall (ᚼ) and Bjarkan (ᛒ). He received his nickname from a dead tooth that appeared a dark gray-blue color. In addition to his unique dental feature, the Viking king is best remembered for converting Danes to Christianity and unifying the tribes of Denmark in the 10th century. His name is written as Harald Blåtand Gormsen in Danish and inscribed as ᚼᛅᚱᛅᛚᛏᚱ ᛬ ᚴᚢᚾᚢᚴᛦ in the Jelling stones, two runic stones that have been called “Denmark’s birth certificate” and are considered a national symbol.

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Four days of the week are named after Norse gods.

The names Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday all have etymological origins in Norse mythology. Tuesday is named after Týr, the god of war and justice; Wednesday honors Odin, the “allfather” of the entire pantheon; Thursday received its name from Thor, the hammer-wielding god of thunder; and Friday is named after Frigg, the goddess of love and fertility. In Old Norse, these would be spelled Tysdagr, Óðinsdagr, Þórsdagr, and Frjádagr, respectively. The other three days of the week are named after Saturn (Saturday), the sun (Sunday), and the moon (Monday).

Caesar salad isn’t named after Julius Caesar.

  • Chicken Caesar Salad
Chicken Caesar Salad
Credit: Ezume Images/ Adobe Stock
Author Bennett Kleinman
February 22, 2024

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It would be easy to assume that the Caesar salad got its moniker from the famous Roman statesman of the same name, but the classic appetizer actually has no connection to Julius Caesar. Instead, it was named after an Italian American restaurateur and chef named Caesar Cardini. Cardini opened his first restaurant in California in 1919, one year before the onset of Prohibition. In the 1920s, he expanded across the border so that he could legally serve alcohol, opening a new eatery called Caesar’s in Tijuana, Mexico. It was at this restaurant that the recipe for Caesar salad was invented, and while the exact origin of the dish is debated, what’s certain is that Cardini claimed responsibility and marketed the salad under his name. 

According to Cardini’s daughter, Rosa, the original Caesar salad was improvised on a busy Fourth of July weekend in 1924. After running out of other ingredients, the story goes, Cardini gathered anything available — romaine lettuce, olive oil, egg, croutons, Worcestershire sauce, and Parmesan — and instructed his chefs to mix it together tableside for added showmanship. Others say the salad was created by Cardini’s brother, Alessandro, in an effort to impress a group of airmen dining at Caesar’s. And some argue that it was actually a restaurant employee named Livio Santini who came up with the salad, basing it on his mother’s recipe. Whatever the truth may be, Cardini moved back to Los Angeles and opened a shop in 1938 to sell bottles of his popular namesake salad dressing. 

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Popsicles were invented by accident.

In 1905, an 11-year-old boy named Frank Epperson absentmindedly left his cup of soda with a stirring stick in it on the porch overnight. Temperatures dipped below freezing that evening, which was a rarity where Epperson lived in Oakland, California. This unusual frigidity proved to be a blessing in disguise. The next morning, Epperson discovered his drink had frozen over and transformed into a delicious icy concoction, which he dubbed the “Epsicle.” Epperson showed the creation to his classmates, who loved it as well, and after becoming a parent, he introduced it to his own children. His kids referred to the refreshing treat as “Pop’s ’sicle,” and the name stuck. In 1923, he began selling the dessert at Neptune Beach near San Francisco, and the Popsicle went on to achieve popularity worldwide.

The U.S. once had a political party called the “Know-Nothings.”

  • Sheet music for a Know-Nothings song
Sheet music for a Know-Nothings song
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Author Timothy Ott
July 9, 2025

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Of all the political parties that have surfaced over the years, the Know-Nothings would seemingly rank somewhere between the Polish Beer-Lovers’ Party and the Canadian Extreme Wrestling Party as a tongue-in-cheek entity with a silly name. But there was nothing funny about this organization, which tapped into xenophobic fears en route to emerging as a major American political force in the 1850s. 

The Know-Nothings sprung from the nativist groups that organized in the United States in response to a rising tide of Catholic immigrants in the early 19th century. Officially working under the banner of the American Party, the Know-Nothings got their nickname from a membership-wide refusal to answer questions about the organization’s secret meetings. 

Publicly, the American Party espoused a platform that included a 21-year naturalization period for immigrants, the deportation of foreign-born criminals, the purging of Catholics from public office, and mandatory reading of Protestant versions of the Bible in schools. Coming of age at a time when the Whig Party was splintering over the combustible issue of slavery, the Know-Nothings rapidly gained adherents among those drawn to their populist messaging. The party swelled to an estimated 1 million members by the mid-1850s, with eight governors and as many as 53 members of Congress among its ranks. In 1856, the party even had its own presidential candidate in the form of ex-Oval Office resident Millard Fillmore. 

But that (losing) presidential campaign turned out to be the swan song for the Know-Nothings, as the relentless focus on immigration took a back seat among a populace that literally was coming to blows over the issue of slavery. Those in favor of maintaining the practice began drifting toward the Democrats, while many of those opposed found their way to another newly formed party, the Republicans. By 1860, the remaining Know-Nothings had coalesced with former Whigs under the Constitutional Union Party, another political faction doomed to a short life with the Civil War looming.

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Comedian Gracie Allen ran for president as the "Surprise Party" candidate.

As one-half of a popular comedy team with husband George Burns, Gracie Allen used their radio show on February 7, 1940, to announce her intentions to run for president of the United States. The candidacy was meant as a joke from the very beginning: Allen said she was a member of the “Surprise Party,” as she was a surprise baby born to her Republican father and Democrat mother, while her mascot was a kangaroo in honor of the leap year.  Yet the favorable response from fans prompted the duo to keep running with the gag, leading to a whistle-stop train tour across nearly three dozen cities and the publication of Allen's How To Become President. Although she suspended her campaign shortly after holding a Surprise Party convention in May, Allen still wound up stealing a few thousand write-in votes from candidates Franklin D. Roosevelt and Wendell Willkie that November, perhaps a signal that Americans were ready to embrace something other than politics as usual following the years of the Great Depression.

The shortest term for a U.S. president was only one month.

  • William Henry Harrison
William Henry Harrison
Credit: GL Archive/ Alamy Stock Photo
Author Michael Nordine
February 21, 2024

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William Henry Harrison didn’t accomplish much during his time in the White House, but there’s a good reason for that: He died after just one month in office. The ninth president of the United States caught a cold after getting stuck in a rainstorm on March 24, 1841, just 20 days after his inauguration, and made the fateful decision not to change his wet clothes upon returning to the White House. He developed a “severe chill” the next day, complained of “fatigue and mental anxiety,” and underwent bloodletting before being diagnosed with pneumonia on March 29. His illness was kept from the public, which began to worry — and speculate — about the newly elected commander in chief.

Harrison’s condition worsened, and on April 3 he spoke his last words, directed at Vice President John Tyler: “Sir, I wish you to understand the true principles of the government. I wish them carried out. I ask nothing more.” He succumbed to the illness at 12:30 in the morning on April 4, the first president to die in office, setting off a brief constitutional crisis, as presidential succession had yet to be clearly defined. Harrison’s wife, Anna, who was still in Ohio, never moved into the White House. Tyler was sworn into office two days later once the confusion was resolved, earning the unfortunate nickname of “His Accidency.”

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John Tyler had a living grandson until 2025.

Tyler, born in 1790, had 15 children, including a son named Lyon Gardiner Tyler in 1853, when the former POTUS was 63. (His second wife, whom he married in 1844, while president, was 30 years his junior.) Lyon then had three sons of his own in his 70s (also with a younger second wife), one of whom — Harrison Ruffin Tyler, born in 1928 — lived to the age of 96. He passed away in May 2025.

A little-known Mongol general conquered 32 nations.

  • Mongol General Subutai
Mongol General Subutai
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Author Michael Nordine
July 7, 2025

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The Mongol Empire was the largest contiguous land empire in human history. It encompassed 9 million square miles at its peak, with some estimates placing its population as high as 100 million people — about 25% of the world at the time. And while Genghis Khan tends to receive most of the credit for that, he didn’t do it alone. There was also Subutai, a Mongol general who conquered 32 nations. Indeed, many sources claim Subutai conquered more land than anyone else in history, including such famed generals as Alexander the Great, Napoleon Bonaparte, and Julius Caesar. 

Believed to have been born in 1175, Subutai was notable for being a commoner with no blood relation to Genghis Khan (birth name Temujin), whose army he joined at the age of 14. “Like the felt blanket that protects your tent from the wind,” he reportedly said during his oath of allegiance, “I will gather great armies to shelter your tent.”

Subutai quickly rose through the ranks and was promoted to general in 1204. In the following decades, he led successful campaigns against the Khwarazmian Empire, Turks, Chinese, Russians, Circassians, Cumans, Alans, and several other groups that no longer exist — in part due to his military prowess. He won a total of 65 battles as part of 20 different wars, helping expand Mongol territory into parts of present-day China, Russia, Georgia, Poland, and Hungary. One such victory was the legendary Great Raid of 1220-1223, during which Mongol forces traveled 5,500 miles through modern-day Iran, Azerbaijan, Georgia, the Caucasuses, and around the Caspian Sea, before returning to Iran, fighting and conquering along the way. Subutai retired in 1247, at which point he was in his early 70s, and he died the following year.

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One of Genghis Khan’s most trusted generals nearly killed him in battle.

Much of Genghis Khan’s success was predicated on his belief in meritocracy, promoting people to positions of great power solely because they’d earned it. That was true of Subutai, and it was also true of one of his other “dogs of war,” Jebe, whom the khan (ruler) first met on the battlefield. Born to the Besud clan under the name Zurgudai, he was part of the Taichuud tribe that went against the Mongols during a battle in 1201 — a conflict that saw him injure Genghis’ horse, and possibly the khan himself, with an arrow. The Mongols won the battle, and their leader asked the prisoners they'd captured who was responsible for the arrow that killed his horse. Zurgudai admitted to it, and the khan was so impressed that he took him on as an officer and nicknamed him Jebe, which means “arrow.”

Tennis balls changed from white to yellow to be easier to see on TV.

  • Live tennis broadcast
Live tennis broadcast
Credit: gorodenkoff/ iStock
Author Nicole Villeneuve
February 21, 2024

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By the early 1970s, many television networks had made the transition from broadcasting in black and white to color, and an increasing number of households were upgrading their TV sets to take advantage. The new technology offered a more immersive and entertaining experience; it also, in one case, presented an opportunity for innovation in sports. In 1972, neon-yellow tennis balls as we know them today were introduced to the sport in order to be more visible on color TV sets. The vibrant hue was selected after a study conducted by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) found that the bright shade of yellow — known officially as “optic yellow” — made it easier for viewers at home to follow the action on their screens. 

Historically, tennis balls had been either white or black (depending on the color of the courts), but when broadcast in color, white balls were more difficult to track. Even after the introduction of yellow balls, however, white balls were still allowed, and Wimbledon, the oldest tennis tournament in the world, didn’t make the switch. This was despite the fact that the prestigious sporting event had been broadcast in color since 1967, when legendary BBC broadcaster David Attenborough oversaw the company’s switch from black and white. It took another 14 years until the tournament got with the times, and in 1986, Wimbledon finally adopted optic yellow tennis balls.

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Golf was the first sport played on the moon.

In 1971, two years after Neil Armstrong became the first person to step onto the surface of the moon, astronaut Alan Shepard took a different leap for mankind. During the Apollo 14 mission, he brought along the head of a 6-iron golf club. He attached it to the handle of a collapsible lunar excavation tool, and used the makeshift golf club to hit two golf balls — making golf the first sport played on the moon. At the time, Shepard claimed his second ball traveled for “miles and miles and miles,” but recently remastered images show that it traveled about 40 yards, and the first ball traveled roughly 24 yards. Astronaut Edgar Mitchell also got in on the sporting fun, using a pole from a solar wind experiment as a javelin. His throw landed near Shepard’s first golf ball.

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