Dean Martin used to be a New York City taxi driver.

Xaviera Hollander (“The Happy Hooker”) spent the first three years of her life living in a Japanese concentration camp during World War II in Indonesia.

Insurance fraud is a crime in 49 states.

Almost half of American presidents from 1789 to 1974 suffered from a mental illness at some point in life, according to a recent study by the Duke University Medical Center. More than half of those presidents struggled with their symptoms – most often depression – while in office.

Emily Dickinson thought she was so ugly she would stay in another room whenever she had visitors and talk to them through an open door.

This article appears in March 24 • 2006.

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