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Biography & Personal Stories

A collection of 210 issues

The Million-Dollar Jog: How Tom Hanks Personally Financed Forrest Gump's Iconic Run

When Paramount Pictures refused to pay for Forrest Gump's famous cross-country run, the entire sequence was nearly scrapped. Believing it was essential, Tom Hanks and director Robert Zemeckis made a high-stakes deal, funding the iconic scene themselves.

Entertainment & Media Biography & Personal Stories Business & Economics

The Big Unit's Home Security: A 100-MPH Fastball for Intruders

Hall of Fame pitcher Randy Johnson famously kept a bag of baseballs by his bed for home security. Confident in his legendary arm, he reasoned that if he heard a noise, he wouldn't be throwing pillows—he'd be throwing 'some kind of leather.'

Biography & Personal Stories Sports & Games Oddities & Curiosities

How a Pound of Cocaine and an Informant Deal Created a Comedy Icon

Before he was America's favorite tool-grunting dad, Tim Allen faced a mandatory life sentence for trafficking cocaine. To escape it, he made a deal that erased his past and paved the way for a comedy empire: he gave up the names of other dealers.

Biography & Personal Stories Law, Crime & Justice Entertainment & Media

The Reluctant Scoundrel: Harrison Ford's Unintentional Audition for Star Wars

Hired as a simple line-reader for Star Wars auditions, a cynical Harrison Ford had no intention of being cast. But his world-weary delivery, born from his own frustrations with acting, inadvertently became the perfect, unintentional audition for Han Solo.

Entertainment & Media Biography & Personal Stories History

The Blade That Slept: How a Man Lived Eight Years with a Knife in His Chest

When a 44-year-old man sought help for a mysterious, foul-smelling leak from his chest, an X-ray revealed the shocking cause: a knife blade that had been lodged inside him for eight years. The discovery unearthed a forgotten trauma and a medical marvel.

Medicine, Psychology & Health Biography & Personal Stories Oddities & Curiosities

The Logician Who Starved to Death on a Flaw of Reason

He was the logician who proved the limits of mathematics itself. Yet, Kurt Gödel's brilliant mind constructed one system it couldn't escape: a paranoid fear of being poisoned that led him to starve to death when his only trusted protector fell ill.

Biography & Personal Stories Science & Nature Medicine, Psychology & Health

Licensed to Flinch: The Real Reason James Bond Actor Roger Moore Hated Guns

For over a decade, he was the world's most famous spy, but actor Roger Moore harbored a profound hatred for firearms. Stemming from childhood trauma, his aversion was so strong that he physically flinched at every on-screen gunshot, a secret struggle hidden behind the suave facade of 007.

Entertainment & Media Biography & Personal Stories Psychology & Health

The Accountant Who Played 14 Minutes of Perfect Hockey

On an unbelievable night in March 2018, 36-year-old accountant Scott Foster was pulled from the stands to play goalie for the Chicago Blackhawks. In 14 minutes of flawless play, the unpaid amateur stopped every shot he faced and became a legend.

Biography & Personal Stories Sports & Games Work & Labor

The Desperate Sketch That Became a Global Empire

Faced with losing ownership of his beloved comic strip 'Life in Hell,' cartoonist Matt Groening made a split-second decision in a producer's lobby. In just 15 minutes, he sketched a new, dysfunctional family to pitch instead—and The Simpsons were born.

Entertainment & Media Art, Culture & Design Biography & Personal Stories

The Pentagon's Time Traveler: A Career Bookended by Decades

One man holds the strange distinction of running the Pentagon in two different centuries, first as its youngest-ever secretary and then, a generation later, as its oldest. His career, bookended by the Cold War and the War on Terror, charts a unique course through American power.

Biography & Personal Stories Politics & Power History

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