‘I’ll Be Home for Christmas’ Is the Shortest, Saddest and Best Christmas Song of All Time
The 1943 Bing Crosby hit is still playing (and paying off) over 70 years later.
Yearly Archive: 2014
Lost Rossetti Portrait For Sale
A drawing by Pre-Raphaelite painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti that was lost for 150 years is going up for auction.
Everyone is Altered
A fine article by Josh Dickey called Everyone is Altered has been making the rounds. News flash: movie stars use fakery to look good!
General Grant and the Jews
On 17 December 1862, General Ulysses S. Grant issued Order No. 11, expelling all Jews from his military district — parts of Tennessee, Kentucky and Mississippi.
Is This the Saddest Presidential Dog Photo Ever?
The story of Feller, the unwanted White House dog.
P.D. James is Dead at Age 94
The celebrated mystery author has died “peacefully at her home in Oxford.”
Grandmothers, Pies and a Happy Thanksgiving
Another look at a Thanksgiving story of grandmothers and what they baked.
Loretta Lynch Biography: New!
Meet President Barack Obama’s nominee to be the next U.S. Attorney General.
Mitch McConnell Says Thank You for Voting
The longtime Kentucky senator and Republican chief will be the new Senate majority leader.
Don’t Vote Today!
Heed this helpful advice from some successful leaders of the past.
Let’s Harsh On Jeff Koons!
Last year, a piece of art by Jeffrey Koons sold for more than $58 million. Yes, it sucks, but that doesn’t mean it’s not important. Read why from The New York Review of Books.
Martin Short Tells All
The comedian reminisces about his beginnings and his breakthrough years in Toronto with Gilda Radner and Godspell.
Did Edgar Allan Poe Die of Rabies?
His death was long blamed on liquor or sheer craziness, but the famous author may actually have fallen victim to “an unrecorded animal exposure.”
Could Bill Belichick Be TRYING to Get Tom Brady Killed?
A modest little conspiracy theory about what’s *really* going on with the New England Patriots this year.
Here Comes The World’s Longest Movie
Set your calendars to 2020, when Anders Weberg’s 720-hour movie makes its one and only screen appearance.
Kei Nishikori Biography: New!
He’s the first Japanese man in the modern era ever to reach a major tournament final. Good for him!
Richard III’s Rib Shows He Loved a Good Roast Egret
Scientists analyzing King Richard III’s bones say he had a steady diet of wild birds and fish.
Rory McIlroy Biography: New!
The popular golfer from Northern Ireland is on a tear this year.
The Story of “In God We Trust”
On July 30th of 1956, President Eisenhower made “In God We Trust” the national motto. By 1957, it was on all U.S. paper currency.
David Hockney on the iPad
English artist David Hockney has a show in Los Angeles called The Arrival of Spring. Drawings he did on an iPad.
Gillian Flynn Biography — New!
If you haven’t heard of her yet, you will. Her novel Gone Girl is being filmed by David Fincher and stars Ben Affleck.
Tony Gwynn, Hitter Extraordinaire
An inside look at one of baseball’s great craftsmen.
Neymar Biography: New!
The Brazilian superstar already has two goals in the first game of the 2014 World Cup.
‘You’re Not Wearing Mink Knickers, Are You?’
For Prince Philip’s 93rd birthday, The Daily Mirror rounds up 93 of the royal consort’s most awkward quotes.
Walter Hagen, The Golfer in the Tuxedo
Remembering the sharp-dressed, wild-driving “golfing bon vivant” Walter Hagen.
King Juan Carlos Abdicates, on Twitter
The King of Spain hands in a letter announcing that he plans to abdicate the throne, and the royal family publishes it on Twitter.
California Chrome Biography: New!
The big hoss has won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness. Can he win the Triple Crown?
Thomas Piketty Biography: New!
Who’s the most talked about French economist in your social circle? It’s Thomas Piketty, of course!
FDR’s Four Freedoms Were Meant For the Entire World, It Turns Out
A visit to the Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park in the middle of the East River in New York City.
Peaches Geldof Photos: No More the Wild Child?
She looked great in appearances over the last few months before her death.
Mickey Rooney Biography: Hollywood Star With a 90-Year Career is Dead at 93
The child star, adult star and elder star has passed on to the great backyard show in the sky.
Manolo Blahnik Does Not Believe in Love
The fashion designer talks about life, heavy breathing, and why he can’t test out women’s shoes himself any more.
Why Does Who2 Look So Strange?
We’re testing some new web layouts, courtesy of the web startup Ezoic.
Joaquin Guzman Biography: Meet the Drug Kingpin Who’s as Powerful as John Boehner
Meet the drug lord who’s #67 on the Forbes list of the world’s most powerful people, right next to the Speaker of the House.
Inside the Brain of a Jeopardy! Contestant
A chat between three veteran Jeopardy! players about what you think while you’re on the game.
Harry Styles Biography: New!
He’s one-fifth of the boy band One Direction, and Harry Styles is in our files.
Bill Watterson Returns Briefly (So To Speak)
The brilliant and reclusive creator of Calvin and Hobbes has done the poster for a new documentary.
Jeopardy! Flashback: ‘Single… and Available’
What you learn when you tell a national television audience that you live alone in a studio apartment.
Maria von Trapp Has Died, But Not *That* Maria von Trapp
She was one of the daughters of Captain von Trapp, not his second wife.
Weekend Music Break: Pomplamoose Does Pharrell Williams
The video-happy band dropped a great one this week.
Facts About the Presidents
Presidents Day is the day we honor our former chief executives by closing banks, pruning roses and selling towels. Find out more with the Who2 grab bag of presidential biographies and facts.
Barkhad Abdi Biography: New!
The first-time actor stunned the film world with his Oscar nomination for Captain Phillips.
So Long to Shirley Temple, the Original LOL Cat
She was THE feel-good distraction of her day, even if that day was 80 years ago.
Olympic Luger Crashes and Then Un-Crashes in One Impressive Sequence
Being an Olympian means wiping out at 70 MPH and then just casually flopping back onto your sled.
Bruce Dern Biography: New!
Bruce Dern has just earned his second Oscar nomination, 35 years after his first.
Russell Wilson Biography: New!
The kid who was “too short” for the NFL is now the winning quarterback of Super Bowl 48.
Philip Seymour Hoffman is Dead at Age 46
The Oscar-winning actor has died in Greenwich Village, possibly of a drug overdose.
Punxsutawney Phil to Earth: Drop Dead
Punxsutawney Phil decides to sock it to the decent citizens of the world with six more weeks of ice-cold misery.
Weekend Music Break: The Civil Wars Do Michael Jackson
They may be a broke-up band, but they’re still winning Grammys. Here’s a song from happier times.
Pete Seeger Is Dead at 94. Did You Sing His Songs at Church Camp?
Pete Seeger packed plenty into 94 years, from riding the rails to folk stardom to cleaning up the Hudson River.
An Oral History of ‘Swingers’
On the 18th anniversary of the cult favorite, the stars tell the tale.
Mikaela Shiffrin Biography: New!
Born in 1995, Mikaela Shiffrin is now the reigning world champion in slalom skiing. And what have you been doing with yourself for the last 18 years?
Great Fun for Book Lovers
Do you like looking at book collections? At creative gifs of old photos and miniature oddities?
No Robert Redford Oscar Nomination? C’mon!
Christian Bale’s fat gut and Leonardi DiCaprio’s power suits over the quiet dignity of Robert Redford? You’ve got to be kidding us, Academy.
Macklemore on the City Bus
Before he performs it at the Grammy Awards on January 26th, watch Macklemore sing “Can’t Hold Us” on a New York City bus.
Marilyn Monroe and Her DiMaggio
Marilyn Monroe was an up-and-coming movie star when she married baseball hero Joe DiMaggio on 14 January, sixty years ago. It didn’t work out.
Ariel Sharon is Dead at 85
In a coma for the past eight years, the former prime minister of Israel finally succumbs to heart disease.
LBJ’s War on Poverty: It Worked!
Was the “war on poverty” a failure? Not hardly.
‘Not Quite All Spoonfuls of Sugar’
Tom Hanks and Emma Thompson share their insights into the tetchy Walt Disney-P.L. Travers relationship.