Elizabeth Taylor was seriously considered for the lead role of Nurse Nellie Forbush in the 1958 film version of Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical South Pacific. Taylor auditioned for composer Richard Rodgers, but she was so nervous that her normally sweet voice turned raspy -- she lost the part

A strict feast is observed for 24 hours before Christmas Eve, and is followed by a celebration meal, in which a light Milanese cake called panetoni features as well as chocolate. Presents and empty boxes, are drawn from the Urn of Fate - lucky dip, which always contains one gift per person. By twilight, candles are lighted around the family ...Read more

That was the year the famous slogan, "The milk chocolate melts in your mouth, not in your hand" debuted with M&M's first TV commercials.

The weight of the Sun is two billion billion billion tons, about 333,420 times that of the Earth.

Before 1850, golf balls were made of leather and were stuffed with feathers.

Mount Horeb, Wisconsin, is home to the largest mustard museum in the world, housing 1,493 different varieties from Argentina to Switzerland and 48 of the U.S. states. Of yellow mustard alone, the museum has about 200 varieties.

William Henry Harrison (1773-1841) was the first U.S. president to die while in office. At 32 days, he also had the shortest term in office.

Pigs, dogs, and some other animals can taste water, but people cannot. Humans don't actually taste the water, they taste the chemicals and impurities in the water.

When Orville and Wilbur Wright were children, their father brought them a rubber-band-powered flying toy called a "bat." The brothers credited this toy with getting them interested in flight.

Scientists at Oxford University's Imperial Cancer Research Fund found that people who eat fresh fruit daily had 24 percent fewer heart attacks and 32 percent fewer strokes.

An organization called SCROOGE was formed in 1979 in Charlottesville, Virginia. The acronym stands for the "Society to Curtail Ridiculous, Outrageous and Ostentatious Gift Exchanges."

The jellyfish known as a Portuguese man-of-war is actually not a single animal. Rather, it's a colony of animals--made up of several hundred individuals of the same species. The members of the colony are adapted to perform different functions. One animal may form a float, while others provide the tentacles for fishing, and yet others digest the ...Read more

The average male adult can bench-press 88 percent of his body weight, having 70 to 80 pounds of muscle.

One billion cans of Spam had been sold by 1959. The two billion mark was hit in 1970, followed by three billion in 1980, four billion in 1986, and five billion cans in 1993.

Native Hawaiians call a newcomer to Hawaii a "malihini".

Per "Longevity" magazine, a number of plastic surgeons now require their prospective patients to undergo a series of psychological tests to determine if they will become emotionally unstable, excessively anxious, or threatening to the doctor following their cosmetic surgery.

Muppets creator Jim Henson first created Kermit in 1955 -- as a lizard. He was made from Henson's mother's coat and two halfs of a Ping-Pong ball (no flipper feet or eleven-point collar). He didn't become a frog until 1968.

The rare metal gallium melts at 86 degrees Fahrenheit. It is safe to touch; if you hold a piece of it in your hand and wait, it will melt.

The average life span of London residents in the middle of the 19th century was 27 years. For members of the working class, that number dropped to 22 years.

The temperature of Earth increases about 36 degrees Fahrenheit (20 degrees Celsius) for every kilometer (about 0.62 miles) you go down. Near the center, its thought to be at least 7,000 degrees Fahrenheit (3,870 Celsius).