Celebrity Facts

There were technically 6 Backstreet Boys!

Lou Pearlman was the successful impresario behind some of the biggest bands in the 1990s. He was responsible for both the Backstreet Boys and 'N Sync. Turns out, he was also the Backstreet Boy. Well, technically at least.

Pearlman was technically the sixth member of the Backstreet Boys so that he could get paid as a member. He was triple dipping in the BSB venture: As a manager, producer and band member. The 5 members filed a suit when they found out that they had only received $300,000 for their work when Pearlman had made millions.

'NSync, Aaron Carter, LFO, Take 5, Aaron Carter, Natural US5, Smilez and Southstar and others were also represented by him. They all sued him. Pearlman was eventually convicted of perpetrating one of the largest and longest-runnning Ponzi schemes. He was convicted in 2008 and sentenced to up to 25 years in prison.

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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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