20th Century facts

While investigating facts about 20th Century, I found out little known, but curios details like:

The star wars theme was written purposely on the same key as the 20th Century Fox fanfare (that used to appear before the movie started) so that there will be a continuous feeling and a smooth entry to the film for the viewers.

48 hours before Deadpool was green lit by 20th Century Fox, the studio cut the film's budget by $7-8 million down to $58 million. Numerous changes were made as a result, such as having Deadpool forget his bag of guns before the final battle sequence to avoid a costly gun fight in the third act.

In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across. Here are 50 of the best facts about 20th Century I managed to collect.

20th Century Fox, convinced that Star Wars was going to flop, agreed to George Lucas’s proposition to forgo an additional $500K directing fee in return to keep licensing and merchandising rights for himself. This decision cost Fox billions and made George Lucas a Billionaire.
The most prolific mathematician of the 20th century (Paul Erdos) used amphetamines to fuel 20 hour number benders. When a friend bet him $500 that he couldn't quit for a month, he won, but complained "You've set mathematics back a month"
Instant ramen was invented by Momofuku Ando in 1958 and. in 2000, voted Japan's greatest invention of the 20th century by the Japanese themselves.
In 1915, scam artist Charles Hatfield convinced the town of San Diego that he could create rainfall using a secret mix of chemicals. The city offered to pay him $10,000 if he could end their drought, and the 'result,' a few days later, was the town's worst flood of the 20th century.
In the early 20th century the term "Muggles" meant someone who smoked marijuana. Louis Armstrong and some bandmates would get high before recording sessions and even recorded a song called "Muggles".
Braveheart has been described as one of the most historically inaccurate modern films. One historian took particular exception to the costumes and compared it to, "a film about Colonial America showing the colonial men wearing 20th century business suits, but with the jackets worn back-to-front"
2016 had also taken Dr Donald Henderson. He led the effort to eradicate smallpox, which killed 500 million in the 20th century alone.
Home Alone was originally financed/produced by Warner Bros. When the budget grew from $13 million to $18 million and no confidence of success, WB dropped the film, which was then picked up by 20th Century Fox. The film grossed $476.7 million worldwide (of which $285.8 million were from America).
76% of all known serial killers in the 20th century were from the United States.
When the Prussians forbade the Danes from displaying their flag in the early 20th century, the Danes responded by creating a new breed of pig that resembled the Danish flag and displayed it instead

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20th Century data charts

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20th century fact data chart about Homes built in Detroit during the 20th century, organized by — Homes built in Detroit during the 20th century, organized by year and exterior material material type

20th century fact data chart about Deaths Due to Pregnancy and Childbirth in Australia in the 2 — Deaths Due to Pregnancy and Childbirth in Australia in the 20th Century

What is true about 20th century?

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Lyme disease was not as common in the past as it is now, and its prevalence is actually due to an explosion in the white-footed mouse population at the turn of the 20th century. This in turn coincides with the extinction of the mouse's primary ecological competitor: the passenger pigeon.

The the first deodorant for men was launched in 1935 (decades after the introduction of deodorants for women) because, at the beginning of the 20th century, body odour was not considered a problem for men; it was a part of being masculine. - source

In the early 20th century, several American condom manufacturers tested their condoms for defects and sold the rejects under cheaper brand names rather than discarding them - source

20th Century Fox made so much off of Return of the Jedi that they were looking for a tax write-off, so they paid for the entirety of a film with little faith behind it: Revenge of the Nerds.

According to a poll in the year 2000, the Japanese believe that their best invention of the 20th century was instant noodles. - source

20th Century Fox gave up merchandising and sequel rights to Star Wars in exchange for Lucas accepting a $150,000 salary instead of $500,000. George Lucas made over $7 billion from Star Wars.

A 20th century biologist discovered so many species of moths that he simply named them E. bobana, E. cocana, E. dodana, E. fofana, E. hohana, E. kokana, E. lolana and E. momana.

Deadpool (2016) is the highest grossing R-rated film of all time, the highest grossing X-Men film, and the highest grossing 20th Century Fox film not directed by James Cameron or George Lucas.

Pistol dueling with wax bullets was a popular pastime in the early 20th century and even featured as a sport in the 1908 Summer Olympics

In the early 20th century, trains in the US were destroyed in staged head-on collisions in front of live audiences for entertainment. This ended in the 1930s as it was seen to be wasteful of old but otherwise useful locomotives at the height of the Great Depression.

The filming of Leonardo DiCaprio's "The Beach" permanently damaged the ecosystem of the island where it was film, prompting Thailand's Supreme Court to get involved in the legal case against 20th Century Fox

20th century infographics

Beautiful visual representation of 20th Century numbers and stats to get perspecive of the whole story.

20th century fact infographic about This map contain every nation/countries formation from 2000 — This map contain every nation/countries formation from 2000 B.C. to the 20th century

20th century fact infographic about Population of Poland throughout the 20th century — Population of Poland throughout the 20th century

Interesting facts about 20th century

The film Titan A.E had an estimated budget of $90 Million. In the end the film only grossed $36.8 million. According to the supervisor of the film, Titan A.E. lost $100 million for 20th Century Fox. After the film's failure, Fox Animation Studios was shut down.

The US purple Skittles taste different from those elsewhere due to the ban of blackcurrent in the 20th century which is the flavour of the sweets outside of the US

The "tradition" of spending several months salary on an engagement ring was a marketing campaign created by De Beers in the 1930's. Before WWII, only 10% of engagement rings contained diamonds. By the end of the 20th Century, 80% did.

The leading cause of non-natural death in the 20th Century was Democide, the murder of a person by their government, which surpasses war.

The Confederate Battle Flag, the modern day symbol associated with the Civil War, was never formally adopted by the Confederate congress nor flew at any state capitols. It became popular due to its use by the KKK and Southern Dixiecrats during the mid 20th century.

The Deadpool film was only given the green light after test footage shot by the directors two years earlier was mysteriously leaked online. At first Ryan Reynolds thought one of the directors had released the footage but whoever leaked the footage at 20th Century Fox still remains anonymous.

2,000 Japanese were asked to name the best invention of the 20th Century. Their top two answers were Ramen noodles and Karaoke.

When 20th-century archaeologist Leonard Woolley excavated the temple at Ur, he found rows of neatly arranged artifacts of varying ages accompanied by inscriptions describing them: a 2500-year-old archaeological museum

Medieval Norse fabrics were so exquisitely preserved in Greenland that a 20th century woman would retrieve them from archaeological sites and reuse them for childrens clothes

In 1900, a German mathematician outlined a list of 23 unsolved problems in mathematics that he hoped would be solved in the 20th century. As of 2015, only 10 have been answered.

Blackcurrant flavour is almost unknown in America because blackcurrant can spread disease to pine trees so was banned for most of the 20th century

In 1925 a conman "sold" the Eiffel Tower to a businessman wanting it for scrap metal. The con would go down as one of the greatest scams of the 20th century.

Edith Garrud, a 20th century suffragette who knew Jujitsu and was one of the first female martial arts instructors in the West. She taught the "Suffragettes Self-Defence Club”, and was an instructor for “the Bodyguard” a 30-women unit that defended fugitive suffragettes and fought the police.

The leading manufacturers of incandescent light bulbs in the early 20th century, conspired to keep the lifetime of their bulbs far below their real technological capabilities. This way, they ensure the continuous demand for more bulbs and hence, long-term profit for themselves.

The box office flop "Idiocracy" (2006) was released in as few theaters as possible by 20th Century Fox so as to not offend the negatively portrayed advertisers in the movie. Fox then planned, and succeeded, in recuperating its budget by purposefully making the movie garner a cult following

Originally, the classic banker's lamp had a green shade to lessen one's eyestrain due to early incandescent lights. The green eye visor commonly worn by accountants, telegraphers, and copy editors in the late-19th and mid-20th century were worn for similar reasons.

Gunsmoke, the longest running television series of the 20th century, was cancelled so abruptly that CBS didn't even bother to tell the cast and crew. They read about it in trade publications the next day.

There are as few as 3200 tigers left in the wild, down from 100000 at the beginning of the 20th Century.

This is our collection of basic interesting facts about 20th Century. The fact lists are intended for research in school, for college students or just to feed your brain with new realities. Possible use cases are in quizzes, differences, riddles, homework facts legend, cover facts, and many more. Whatever your case, learn the truth of the matter why is 20th Century so important!

20th Century facts

20th Century data charts

What is true about 20th century?

20th century infographics

This map contain every nation/countries formation from 2000 B.C. to the 20th century

Population of Poland throughout the 20th century

Interesting facts about 20th century

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