Celebrity Facts

Richard Branson bought an Island for $180,000 that is worth upwards of $200 million today!

Richard Branson has become one of the richest people in the world, with an estimated net worth of over $4.6 billion. This incredible wealth was mostly accumulated from the founding of Virgin Records, which eventually became the Virgin Group composed of over 400 companies.

To become so successful, a keen business mind is essential, and Richard Branson has that in spades. One of the best examples of this was the island he bought in 1970, which is also one of the most legendary business deals of all time!

When looking for an island to buy, Branson set his sights of Necker Island, which is part of the British Virgin Islands and was owned by Lord Cobham. Branson hadn’t yet made it to the billions and Cobham demanded a minimum of $5 million for the island, money which Branson was not willing to pay.

He made an offer of $100,000 and was pretty much completely ignored. He kept shopping around the Caribbean for an island, while slowly raising his bid on Necker Island to keep Lord Cobham’s attention. As luck would have it, Cobham was in desperate need for money, and accepted Branson’s offer of $180,000, which was over $4 million under the asking price! Today, the value has shot up exponentially and is worth over $200,000 million!

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Bill Gates bought a Leonardo da Vinci notebook for $30m and made it available for free!

In 1994, Bill Gates bought the Codex Leicester, one of the notebooks left by Leonardo da Vinci. The price? $30.8 million. Gates explained that he bought it because he has always been amazed by Leonardo and how he worked out so much science on his own and understood things that other scientists didn't at the time.

When Windows Vista was launched, the British Library launched a website that let people browse through virtual versions of two Leonardo da Vinci notebooks. One of them was the one that Gates bought.

Seems like a good use of your personal wealth to make humanity better and promote your products at the same time!

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The Automaton from the movie Hugo was real and actually worked!

If you saw the movie Hugo, you know that one of the movie's best and most moving scenes is when Hugo finally manages to turn on the mysterious automaton he found in his dad's apartment.

You might've thought that the machine was all CGI, or at least parts of it were. However, it was an actual working machine that was able to draw in real time. It was created by Dick George Creatives and they made a video talking about how the Automaton was made. Check it out:

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Lex Luthor from Smallville also voiced the Flash in Justice League Unlimited!

In 2001, Rosenbaum received a Saturn Award for his portrayal of Lex Luthor on Smallville. Continuing in the comic book genre, he played Wally West (a.k.a. The Flash) in the DC Comics animated series Justice League, Static Shock, and Justice League Unlimited as well as portraying a younger Wally West as Kid Flash in Teen Titans.

In the third season Justice League episode "Great Brain Robbery", Rosenbaum reprised his role as Lex Luthor when his character was trapped in Clancy Brown's Lex Luthor's body. In February 2007, Rosenbaum confirmed that he would be leaving Smallville after season seven of the show, but later returned to the show's final episode.

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The harsh punishments found in Alfred Hitchcock films stem from his childhood!

Alfred Hitchcock is admired by movie buffs around the world because of his ability to create early techniques of suspense and is seen as the man who paved the way for psychological thrillers. Hitchcock also introduced 'first person' shooting to movies, an effect which makes the film seem more realistic by shooting part of the movie as if from one of the character's eyes.

Hitchcock had no fear when it came to movie making, and often put his characters in extreme forms of punishment to make the audience cringe and feel as if the movie was authentic. In fact, many scholars have argued that the punishments in Hitchcock films actually stems from several incidents throughout his childhood in which he was punished by his father.

One example of such cruel punishment, is when Hitchcock's father sent him to the police station with a note asking to put him in jail for five minutes because of bad behavior. His dad hoped this would teach Alfred a lesson, little did he know it would help shape elements in 50 Alfred Hitchcock films.

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