Fans of Tom Waits will know that his biggest collaborator and creative inspiration is his wife Kathleen. For the longest time, he only wrote songs with her, but he saw something in Keith Richards that made him want to break that trend. "There's nobody in the world like him," Waits told NPR.
Read MoreAncient Rome has became known as the seat of opulence and luxury. It was the place where people gave up on stretchy pants and went right to togas, and those expanding waistlines might have had something to do with their love of feasting. This is what it was like to feast in Ancient Rome.
Read MoreWhen do you think gift card first appeared? 1950? 1970? Actually, these plastic presents entered the gift-giving industry relatively recently -- in 1994, initially from retailer Neiman Marcus as the NM Express card, and later by Blockbuster Video, the onetime king of video, DVD and game rentals.
Read MoreGary Cooper will be remembered as the all-American movie cowboy. This is the untold truth of Gary Cooper.
Read MoreNow 73 years old, King is still writing -- he published If It Bleeds and The Institute just last year. While his literary output is indeed impressive, he's as mortal as the rest of us. And back in 1999, King suffered a near-fatal accident that almost deprived the world of his extraordinary mind.
Read MoreThe holidays offer a time to enjoy family, celebrate the beauty of the season, and engage in festive traditions like tree-trimming, drinking eggnog, and singing carols. While the British Royal Family also does such yearly rituals, their Christmastime is also filled with certain obligations.
Read MoreYou'd think a group of talented comedic minds would work well together while they ushered in one of the greatest and longest-lived television shows in history, and it probably looked that way from the viewer's side of the TV screen. Behind the scenes, SNL was a totally different beast.
Read MoreSir John Macdonald wasn't worried about murderers, trespassers, or even infighting between the Natives and the large influx of new settlers. The Mounties were first formed to deal with the problem of the illegal whiskey trade.
Read MoreDeer meat, or venison, was highly desirable, but rarely offered for sale. The rich people who had access to it on their lands simply kept it for their families' personal use. When it was sold, it was still only accessible to the rich people who could afford to buy it.
Read MoreOn the day of Eddie's death, a New York City street artist was also among those who paid tribute to him. Spin reported on October 12 that artist Adrian Wilson took credit for changing a sign at the Van Siclen Avenue subway station to read "Van Halen Ave" in homage to Eddie.
Read MoreThe Haitian Revolution not only led to independence, but it set off a ripple effect of uprisings by enslaved people across the Caribbean and South America.
Read MoreThe British Royal Family is steeped in tradition, from how they dress to how they interact with people. Celebrating the holidays is no different, even though they are also just a family who wants to be together for Christmas and eat the food that comforts them.
Read MoreFew activities are as synonymous with winter as sledding. In colder regions around the world, children excitedly wait for the next snow day so they can go out sledding with their friends. Adults, too, enjoy the thrill of speeding down a hill on a wooden sled -- but they may prefer not to admit it
Read MorePart of the intrigue surrounding blonde hair has to do with its rarity. According to author Christie Davis, just 5 percent of adult European and North American women have naturally blond hair, while Fact Retriever reports that just 2 percent of the world's population can claim natural blondness.
Read MoreSome rare and surprising allergy cases are especially debilitating. As strange as it might seem, allergies to sunlight are reportedly on the rise, as are allergies to cold temperatures. Though that might seem odd at first reading, such allergies can in fact be deadly.
Read MoreFrom arsenic-infused fabric to socks that would burn their patterns into your skin, clothing of this era presented a real hazard.
Read MoreEventually, the Medici won the altercation and regained control of their city. That meant Michelangelo, the once-beloved protégé of the Medici family, needed to get out of Dodge -- well, Florence -- and he needed to do it fast.
Read MoreIt's taken quite some time to go from Gregor Mendel's 1860s original work to these current results. After all, people used to believe that children's eye color sort of blended from their parents, like paint on a palette. It took quite some time, however, for the first blue-eyed human to even exist.
Read MoreThe one episode that Waters truly wanted to do was supposed to be part of the now-lost seventh season. The theme was to be Teacher's Appreciation, and the narrators talked about their favorite teachers before launching into an historical education story.
Read MoreFrom bird calls to squeaks and barks, communication can be found across the animal kingdom, around the globe -- including the ocean.
Read MoreDuring television's celebrated golden age, Ernie Kovacs was to comedy what Rod Serling was to drama. Although his name may not be as familiar some 1950s legends, his impact is immeasurable. Yet, much of his life was anything but mirth and merriment. Here are the tragic details of his life.
Read MorePresident Kennedy was laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery on November 25. The funeral was watched on television by millions more around the world. There was one person who not only never grieved the president's loss, she never heard the news of his assassination: his maternal grandmother.
Read MoreJohnson became interested in photography while growing up in Livermore, California, where he would take photos at Day on the Green, a local music festival. He continued to shoot photos in college, working as a staff photographer for the school paper of the University of Southern California
Read MoreFinding mold on a piece of fruit or a loaf of bread is always a disappointing and gross experience, but what happens to your body if you eat the mold growing on your food? It really depends on the type. To begin with, there are over 100,000 varieties of mold. Some are healthful; some are not.
Read MoreMuch of the land where the palace was built was a swampy marsh that drew water from the Tyburn river. The village of Eye Cross was nearby. Living in Eye Cross was a woman named Margarie Gourdemaine (sometimes spelled Margery Jourdemayne), who would later become known as "The Witch of Eye."
Read MoreIt's widely believed that medieval peasants, for instance, glugged their way through entire barrels of beer for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, but this isn't actually true. They couldn't afford it. Homebrewing was a thing, yes, but uncommon.
Read MoreOne constant in the history of Russia is the phrase "unintended consequences." Russian history is filled with tragedy on a national scale. It has always been a hot mess. To understand why a country so big is so messy, here's a look at the various moments in Russian history that went horribly wrong.
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