Fun Facts That Are

Tom Cruise earned $2 million for the original Top Gun in 1986. For Top Gun: Maverick 36 years later, he negotiated backend points on a film that made $1.5 billion. His total payout exceeded $100 million. His salary for the sequel was more than six times the entire budget of the original movie.

Six robbers attacked a jewelry store in Northampton, England, with sledgehammers. Ann Timson, 71, had severe arthritis. She'd bandaged her legs that morning just to get to dance class. She charged all six swinging her handbag and knocked one off his motorbike. Five were caught and sentenced to 26 years combined. Six men brought sledgehammers. She brought a purse.

In 1986, Cleveland released 1.5 million balloons to set a world record. A storm pushed them back down. They clogged Lake Erie, shut down a Coast Guard search for two missing boaters who drowned, caused a horse stampede, and triggered so many 911 calls about UFOs that the system crashed. The city was sued for years. The record was never officially recognised.

When a family in Newton, Massachusetts had a daughter born deaf, about 40 of their neighbours signed up for ASL classes. Two weekly classes. Dozens of adults learning a new language so a toddler named Samantha would have people to talk to outside her own home. One neighbour said: "Since she couldn't learn our language, we thought we wanted to learn hers."

The US military spent $2.7 billion developing JLENS, a giant radar blimp tethered over Maryland to detect cruise missiles. On its second day of active duty, it broke free of its cable, dragged 6,700 feet of tether across Pennsylvania, knocked out power to 30,000 people, and was shot down by state police in a field. The program was quietly shelved.

In 2016, a beech marten jumped into a transformer at CERN at 5:30 in the morning and caused a short circuit that shut down the Large Hadron Collider. The most expensive scientific instrument ever built, worth $13.25 billion, was taken offline by a small mammal. CERN confirmed the animal did not survive.

Quaker Oats bought Snapple for $1.7 billion in 1994. They had no idea how to run it. Within 27 months they sold it for $300 million and took a $1.4 billion loss. The acquisition lasted less time than most car loans.

In 2009, thieves arrived by helicopter on a cash depot roof in Stockholm. They had placed a fake bomb at the police helicopter hangar. Scattered caltrops on every access road. Stole $5.3 million and escaped clean. Police caught them months later through DNA on a piece of duct tape someone had licked.

In 1814, a giant vat of beer ruptured at a London brewery, unleashing 135,000 gallons of porter through the streets. It demolished two homes, collapsed a pub wall, and killed eight people. The brewery went to court. The jury ruled it an Act of God. Nobody paid a penny.

In 1989, the Soviet Union traded Pepsi 17 submarines, a cruiser, a frigate, and a destroyer in exchange for Pepsi products. For a brief moment, PepsiCo had the 6th largest submarine fleet in the world. Pepsi's CEO told the National Security Advisor: "We're disarming the Soviet Union faster than you are."

In 1998, the town of Rabbit Hash, Kentucky, population 315, elected a dog named Goofy as mayor as a fundraiser joke. It worked so well they kept doing it. Every mayor since has been a dog. They have collectively raised over $100,000 for the town. No human has run for mayor since 1998.

Burt Reynolds was the #1 box office star in the world for five straight years. He turned down Han Solo. He turned down James Bond. He turned down Pretty Woman. He said no to One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. He invested his fortune in a restaurant chain called Po' Folks. He filed for bankruptcy in 1996 and died in 2018 worth roughly $3 million.