Wendy’s Founder Dave Thomas started out helping with franchises at Kentucky Fried Chicken. His ideas really helped grow the company.

Founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken, Col. Harland Sanders, was trying to expand KFC into different areas when he met Dave Thomas. Dave Thomas was a head cook with a restaurant owned by the Clauss family at the time. Col. Sanders was trying to convince the Clauss family, and other successful restaurant owners in Fort Wayne to franchise with KFC. 

Dave Thomas came up with some ideas that were essential to KFC as a business. For example, Thomas came up with the crispy chicken bucket. The bucket became a symbol of KFC and immediately recognizable to consumers. It also had the added bonus of keeping the chicken crispy and less soggy. Thomas also developed the trademark sign, simplified the menu, and recommended that the Colonel star in his own commercials. 

Thomas was so effective he was sent to save 4 failing restaurants in Columbus, where he greatly increased sales. Dave Thomas would take what he learned working with KFC to develop his own restaurant: Wendy’s. He named the restaurant after his daughter Melinda, who had the nickname Wenda. He was successful and Wendy’s would be the 3rd most popular fast food restaurant. 

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Anesthesia developer Horace Wells killed himself with a razor. He used chloroform to dull the pain!

Horace Wells was a dentist by trade, born in Vermont and practicing in Connecticut. He was known for his introduction of anesthesia into dental work, particularly by using nitrous oxide (laughing gas). He was introduced to chloroform by having it given to him as part of a demonstration by a circus performer. 

He later used chloroform to have his own tooth extracted, as well as on his patients for pain. Wells never patented his use for chloroform because he wanted it to be available to as many people as possible. 

He didn’t think anyone should have to feel unnecessary pain. He also tried to demonstrate his technique to medical students. Unfortunately, the chloroform was improperly given to a patient and the patient cried out. Wells was jeered off the stage. Wells gave up dentistry and worked as a traveling salesman. 

Meanwhile, he got addicted to chloroform, especially when he experimented with it on himself. He went crazy and ended up in prison after throwing sulfuric acid on some prostitutes. 

Wells, now off chloroform, felt guilty for what he’d done. He asked to be taken home from prison to get his shaving kit. He then committed suicide by slitting an artery in his leg and self-administering chloroform for the pain. 

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Liz Taylor’s jewelry collection was auctioned for more than £74 million.

It was an auction that broke several records. The highest selling piece was the Pink Graff at £28.9 million. It broke the record for the most expensive diamond and jewel ever sold at an auction. It is pink diamond and is 24.78 carats. It got its name from the second person to purchase it, Laurence Gaff who bought it from Harry Winston. 

Another big sell was the Wittelsbach-Graff Diamond, which sold for about £16.4 million. Like the Pink Graff, the Wittelsbach-Graff Diamond also carries the name of Laurence Gaff, who bought it at an auction in 2008. Graff had the diamond cut to remove all the impurities from it, a controversial move because it reduced the size, even if it left a purer diamond. 

La Peregrina, an elaborate necklace from Spain, sold for £7.6 million. The necklace contains diamonds, rubies, and a 500-year-old pearl. Its history originates back to being a part of the royal jewels of Spain. Later on, it was owned by Mary Tudor. Richard Burton bought it for Liz Taylor as a Valentine’s Day gift. It cost him $37,000 at an auction. 

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Robert Downey Jr. could have lost his career as an actor to drug problems. Mel Gibson’s help gave Downey a second chance.

Robert Downey Jr. got into some trouble for drug and weapon possession. He was caught with cocaine, heroin, marijuana, and guns over the course of about 5 years from 1996-2001. He was first arrested in ’96. He was on parole a month later and again on drugs. 

He was caught when he wandered into a neighbor’s house and fell asleep in one of their beds. His troubles continued when he missed required drug tests over the next few years. He was found with drugs again in 2001. 

Mel Gibson would help Downey’s career when he paid the insurance bond for Downey in 2003, so that he could act in The Singing Detective. The Singing Detective was his first big screen movie since rehabbing from his drug issues. In his contract for the movie was that he would receive 40% of his pay after completion of the movie to ensure that he didn’t relapse into addictive behaviors. 

That clause, receiving 40% of his pay after the movies were done, would be present in later contracts for other movies. As you probably know, he's kept out of trouble and has had a major revival and starred in popular movies such as Iron Man, Sherlock Holmes, and the Avengers. 

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Bob Marley’s last words were ‘Money can’t buy life.’

Bob Marley’s last concert was on September 23rd in 1980. Marley was dying of cancer and his tour after that date had to be cancelled. Marley was treated in Josef Issels’ Bavarian clinic. His treatment was an atypical treatment that simply involved avoiding eating certain foods and drinks. 

The treatment was unsuccessful, so Marley flew to Jamaica to spend his last days at home. Marley never made it to Jamaica, instead stopping in Florida in serious condition. He was admitted to the Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in Miami. The melanoma had spread to his lungs and brain. His son, Ziggy, was with Marley at the hospital. 

Marley’s last words were to his son, telling him that ‘money can’t buy life.’ Marley died May 11th, 1981 at only 36 years of age. He did accomplish a lot in his 36 years. He popularized reggae music, and rose out of a third world country to be a star! 

Bob Marley’s Exodus was named the best album of the 20th century by Time’s Magazine. Despite his short life, he is globally recognizable and his music remains as a reminder of his life and talent.

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