99 Fun Facts About Dad

Homer Simpson works as a safety inspector at what kind of facility?

A nuclear power plant fired Homer for causing an accident, then hired him back as safety inspector to end the safety protests he had begun leading.

Homer Simpson's catchphrase 'D'oh!' was added to which reference work in 2001?

The Oxford English Dictionary was honouring an ad-lib: the script asked only for an annoyed grunt, and Dan Castellaneta clipped an old Laurel and Hardy groan when told to make it faster.

In The Empire Strikes Back, Darth Vader's famous line to Luke Skywalker begins with which two words?

'No, I am your father' was kept so secret that the actor in the Vader suit was given a decoy line on set; only the director, the producers and Mark Hamill knew the real one.

Which actor provided the voice of Darth Vader in the original Star Wars trilogy?

James Earl Jones turned down a screen credit for the first two films; his name first appeared on Return of the Jedi.

Atticus Finch of To Kill a Mockingbird is a lawyer in which fictional Alabama county?

Maycomb is a thin disguise for Monroeville, Harper Lee's hometown in the real Monroe County, whose old courthouse now hosts stagings of the story.

Which actor won an Academy Award for playing Atticus Finch in 1962?

Gregory Peck had been nominated four times in the 1940s without winning; Atticus Finch, his fifth and last nomination, finally brought him the Oscar.

In The Lion King, Mufasa is killed during a stampede of which animals?

Wildebeest for the stampede were built by computer rather than drawn by hand: a few models were multiplied into a herd of hundreds, each given its own path.

Modern Family's self-declared 'cool dad' Phil Dunphy has what job?

Real estate agent Phil proved so convincing that in 2016 the National Association of Realtors hired Ty Burrell to front its adverts in character.

Full House dad Danny Tanner is defined by an obsession with what?

Cleaning was Danny's thing, which made him the opposite of the man who played him: Bob Saget was known for stand-up far too raunchy for Full House.

On The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Uncle Phil goes from lawyer to which job?

Judge was a job Phil first lost at the polls: his rival beat him, died soon after, and the governor handed Phil the vacant seat.

Robin Williams disguises himself as an elderly nanny in which 1993 film?

Mrs. Doubtfire is a father's workaround: after his divorce, the out-of-work actor takes the nanny job in disguise to be near his own children.

What is the Griswolds' car called in National Lampoon's Vacation?

The Wagon Queen Family Truckster was built to be as ugly as possible for laughs: a real Ford wagon given eight headlights, pea-green paint and fake wood on almost every panel.

Which comedian voices Marlin, Nemo's anxious father, in Finding Nemo?

Albert Brooks plays the worrier; his forgetful sidekick Dory was written for Ellen DeGeneres after the director saw her change the subject five times in one sentence on her sitcom.

Bluey's dad Bandit Heeler works in which profession?

Archaeologist suits a dog, as the show's own site jokes: he loves to dig up bones. The job was borrowed from creator Joe Brumm's older brother.

How many touchdowns does Al Bundy claim he scored in one game for Polk High?

Four touchdowns in one game for Polk High was the high point of Al's life, and he brings it up constantly to set against the shoe-shop job he ended up in.

Fred Flintstone operates what kind of machine at the Slate Rock and Gravel Company?

A bronto crane made Fred a Stone Age working man on purpose: the show borrowed its blue-collar set-up from the 1950s sitcom The Honeymooners.

Cliff Huxtable, the sweater-wearing father on The Cosby Show, practised which branch of medicine?

Obstetrics was not the first idea: Bill Cosby originally pitched his character as a limousine driver, before the couple became a doctor and a lawyer.

In Game of Thrones, which character orders the execution of Ned Stark?

Joffrey had promised mercy: Ned confessed to treason on the understanding that he would be spared and sent to the Night's Watch, and Joffrey ordered the beheading anyway.

Robert Young played insurance agent Jim Anderson in which 1950s family sitcom?

Father Knows Best was dropped by CBS after one television season, only for NBC to pick it up within months; it went on to make 203 episodes.

Widowed architect Mike Brady brought how many sons to his marriage with Carol?

Three boys came with a widowed father, but Carol's past was never explained: the creator wanted her divorced and the network refused.

Bob's Burgers dad Bob Belcher is voiced by which actor?

H. Jon Benjamin nearly voiced a darker dad: in the original pitch the restaurant family were cannibals, until Fox asked the creator whether he really needed that.

Which comedian plays panicked father George Banks in the 1991 remake of Father of the Bride?

Steve Martin came back as George Banks for a 1995 sequel and again in 2020, when the cast reunited over video call for a charity short about a lockdown wedding.

In Mr. Mom (1983), Michael Keaton plays a laid-off engineer from which industry?

Automotive layoffs in the early-1980s recession set up the switch: Jack's wife finds a job before he does, leaving him to run the house and the children.

In The Pursuit of Happyness, Will Smith's on-screen son is played by whom?

His real son Jaden, making his film debut, is the boy who hears the title explained: the misspelling is copied from a mural outside his daycare, and his father points out the error.

Which twins shared the role of the adopted boy Julian in Adam Sandler's Big Daddy?

The Sprouse twins, Dylan and Cole, split the part for a practical reason: California limits how long a young child may work on set each day, so twins double the filming time.

In Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Peter Quill's biological father Ego is played by whom?

Kurt Russell's Ego turns out to be the villain, and it is Yondu, the outlaw who raised Quill, who dies saving him, telling him Ego "wasn't your daddy".

Retired CIA operative Bryan Mills rescues his kidnapped daughter in which city in the first Taken film?

Paris is where Kim is kidnapped within minutes of landing on holiday, which sends Bryan Mills across the Atlantic after her. The film's success launched two sequels, in 2012 and 2014.

Vito Corleone, the ultimate movie patriarch, was played in The Godfather by which actor?

Marlon Brando won the Best Actor Oscar for the role and refused it, sending Sacheen Littlefeather to the ceremony in protest at Hollywood's portrayal of Native Americans.

Papa Smurf is easy to spot because he wears clothing of which colour?

Red marks Papa Smurf out as the village leader. The Smurfs began in 1958 as minor characters in Peyo's medieval comic Johan and Peewit, and proved so popular that they won a series of their own.

Geppetto, Pinocchio's woodcarver father, has a name that is a pet form of which Italian name?

Giuseppe shortens to Geppetto. In Collodi's novel it is a monstrous shark, not a whale, that swallows the old man; Disney's 1940 film turned it into the whale Monstro.

In The Little Mermaid, where does Ariel come among King Triton's daughters?

The youngest of seven in Disney's film. In Andersen's tale she is the youngest of six, and because each sister may surface only on turning fifteen, she has the longest wait to see the human world.

Which founding father is popularly known as the 'Father of the Constitution'?

James Madison protested at the title himself, insisting the Constitution was not the offspring of a single brain but "the work of many heads and many hands".

Which US president, sworn in after William Henry Harrison died a month into office, fathered a record 15 children?

John Tyler had eight children with his first wife and seven with his second, fathering into his seventies. As a result, a president who left office in 1845 had a grandson who lived until 2025.

Boxer George Foreman famously gave all five of his sons what?

The same first name and more: all five are George Edward Foreman. He said he did it so that they would always have something in common, rising or falling together.

Which ancient Greek is traditionally called the 'Father of Medicine'?

Hippocrates gave his name to the oath that doctors still swear, yet modern scholars doubt he wrote it, along with most of the medical works that carry his name.

The 'father of modern genetics' worked out the laws of heredity by breeding which plants?

Peas made Gregor Mendel's name only after he died: the friar's results went largely unappreciated in his lifetime and were rediscovered by other botanists around 1900.

In which animal does the male become pregnant, carrying the eggs in a pouch until they hatch?

The seahorse female places her eggs in the male's brood pouch, and he carries the young to term, sometimes more than a thousand at once. Few of the newborns survive their first days.

Where does a male emperor penguin keep his egg through the Antarctic winter?

On his feet, under a fold of feathered skin, for about two months without eating. The female spends that time feeding at sea and returns with a belly full of food for the newly hatched chick.

In some species of which fish does the male carry the eggs in his mouth until they hatch?

The catfish, or at least the sea catfishes: the male takes the eggs into his mouth, and goes on sheltering the young there for a while after they hatch.

Merriam-Webster added 'dad joke' in 2019, defining its punchline as often an obvious or predictable what?

Pun or play on words, runs the entry, which adds that the joke is usually judged endearingly corny or unfunny. The phrase had been in print since 1987 before the dictionary took it in.

Who wrote the 2015 online article that set off the 'dad bod' craze?

A university student: Mackenzie Pearson, a 19-year-old Clemson sophomore. She said she had not invented the phrase, only heard it a few times in different circles.

George Stephen built the first Weber kettle grill in the early 1950s from two halves of what?

A buoy was what his Chicago metal shop made. Fed up with the open brazier he cooked on at home, Stephen joined two of its half-spheres to make a grill with a lid.

The necktie traces back to mercenaries from which country serving in France in the 1600s?

Croatia's soldiers wore knotted scarves at the neck, and the fashionable French copied them. Their word for a Croat, 'Cravate', became the name of the garment: the cravat.

Harry Chapin's 1974 hit 'Cat's in the Cradle' began as a poem written by whom?

His wife Sandy showed him the poem and Harry brushed it aside. About a year later, after their son Josh was born, he picked it up again and set it to music.

'Papa Was a Rollin' Stone', first recorded by The Undisputed Truth, became a 1972 number one for which Motown group?

The Temptations took it to number one. Norman Whitfield had first cut the song with The Undisputed Truth earlier in 1972, then had his bigger act record it, with far greater success.

Danny Aiello plays Madonna's single father in the 1986 video for which song?

Papa Don't Preach has her character break the news of a pregnancy to him. Aiello later earned an Oscar nomination as the pizzeria owner in Do the Right Thing.

Which president signed the law making Father's Day a permanent US national holiday in 1972?

Richard Nixon made it official 62 years after the first Father's Day. For decades many Americans had scoffed at the day as a commercial gimmick, a merchants' copy of Mother's Day.

In 1974, which country first replaced maternity leave with parental leave fathers could share?

Sweden made paid parental leave gender-neutral in 1974, a world first. In 1995 it added a first 'daddy month' to nudge fathers into taking a share of it.

In Thailand, Father's Day is celebrated on 5 December, the birthday of which figure?

A king: the date was the birthday of Bhumibol Adulyadej. The holiday kept its date after he died in 2016, and Mother's Day likewise falls on 12 August, the birthday of Queen Sirikit.

A 2003 genetic study suggested 16 million men descend in the male line from which conqueror?

Genghis Khan's male-line descendants are the likely carriers of a Y-chromosome lineage found in about 8% of men from northeast China to Uzbekistan.

Which inventor, once a railroad telegrapher, nicknamed his first two children 'Dot' and 'Dash'?

Thomas Edison gave the nicknames to daughter Marion and son Thomas Jr., echoing the dots and dashes he had tapped out as a young telegraph operator.

Paul McCartney wrote 'Hey Jude' to comfort the young son of which fellow musician?

John Lennon had separated from Julian's mother Cynthia, and McCartney began the song as 'Hey Jules' to cheer him up.

The '40' in the name of the garage staple WD-40 refers to what about its invention?

The 40th attempt was the keeper: the WD stands for Water Displacement, and the spray was first used to protect Atlas missiles from rust.

Papa John's founder bought his first pizza equipment, for his father's tavern, by selling what?

His Camaro, a 1971 Z28, paid for $1,600 of used equipment, which John Schnatter squeezed into a broom closet at Mick's Lounge in Indiana.

Which baseball team is named for the Franciscan friars who founded a California mission in 1769?

The San Diego Padres take a name that is Spanish for 'fathers', honouring the friars of Mission San Diego de Alcalá, and a bat-wielding Swinging Friar is the club mascot.

Which place marks Father's Day on 8 August because 'eight eight' sounds like 'dad' in Mandarin?

Taiwan nicknames the date 'Bābā Holiday', since eight is 'bā' in Mandarin and dad is 'bàba', though it is not an official public holiday.

When the breeding female in a clownfish group dies, the egg-guarding father responds by doing what?

The father changes sex and becomes the group's new breeding female, while the largest non-breeder steps up to take over his old role.

Earl Woods nicknamed his golfing son 'Tiger' after an officer he befriended during which war?

The Vietnam War brought Earl Woods together with Lieutenant Colonel Vuong Dang Phong, a South Vietnamese officer known as 'Tiger'.

LeBron James and son Bronny became the NBA's first father-son duo on court in 2024 with which team?

The Los Angeles Lakers drafted Bronny 55th overall that June, and father and son first played together in the season opener against Minnesota.

In Italy and Spain, Father's Day falls on 19 March, the Catholic feast day of whom?

St Joseph, husband of Mary and earthly father of Jesus, has been honoured on that date in Catholic Europe since the Middle Ages.

In Germany, Father's Day falls on which Christian feast, when groups of men hike with carts of beer?

Ascension Day, the Thursday forty days after Easter, is a national holiday there, and the hand-pulled carts are known as Bollerwagen.

An early Father's Day service in Fairmont, West Virginia, in 1908 mourned fathers killed in what?

A mining disaster at nearby Monongah, the deadliest in American history, had killed more than 360 men, and Grace Golden Clayton asked her pastor to honour the fathers among them.

Which trade group founded the Father's Day Council in the 1930s to promote the holiday commercially?

Menswear retailers from New York founded the council in 1938 to organise the holiday's promotion, decades before it gained official status.

Which Founding Father was the first US president whose son also won the presidency?

John Adams lived to see John Quincy Adams become the sixth president, then died on 4 July 1826, the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

George Washington became stepfather to Jacky and Patsy on marrying which wealthy young widow?

Martha Custis and George Washington had no children together, and they later raised two of Jacky's own children, Nelly and Washy, at Mount Vernon.

Which composer of the Brandenburg Concertos fathered twenty children, including several composers?

Johann Sebastian Bach had seven children with Maria Barbara and thirteen with Anna Magdalena, and sons such as Carl Philipp Emanuel won fame of their own.

Which composer toured Europe as a child prodigy in the 1760s with his violinist father Leopold?

Mozart performed alongside his older sister Nannerl, herself a gifted keyboard player, on tours that took in Munich, Vienna and London.

Which pharaoh, builder of Abu Simbel, reigned 66 years and is credited with roughly 100 children?

Ramesses II is credited with somewhere between 88 and 103 children, and he had processions of his sons and daughters carved on temple walls.

Which actor, President Bartlet on The West Wing, is the father of fellow actor Emilio Estevez?

Martin Sheen was born Ramón Estévez, and another of his sons, Carlos, followed him into acting under the stage name Charlie Sheen.

Which Midnight Cowboy star, an Oscar winner for Coming Home, is the father of Angelina Jolie?

Jon Voight later acted opposite his daughter, playing Lara Croft's long-missing father in the 2001 film Lara Croft: Tomb Raider.

Which 'Achy Breaky Heart' singer played his real daughter's on-screen dad in Hannah Montana?

Billy Ray Cyrus played Robby Ray Stewart from 2006 to 2011, with Miley Cyrus in the title role as his pop-star daughter.

Natalie Cole won a Record of the Year Grammy for which duet with her late father, Nat King Cole?

Unforgettable was built in 1991 by reworking her father's original 1951 recording, an idea that came from Elvis Presley's former musical director.

Which crooner and his daughter Nancy recorded the first father-daughter duet to top the US chart?

Frank Sinatra and Nancy took 'Somethin' Stupid' to number one in 1967 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and the UK singles chart.

Which Motown star wrote 'Isn't She Lovely' to celebrate the birth of his daughter Aisha?

Stevie Wonder opened the track with a newborn's first cry and later mixed in a recording of himself bathing Aisha as a toddler.

Which R&B singer's tribute 'Dance with My Father' won the 2004 Grammy for Song of the Year?

Luther Vandross drew the ballad from childhood memories of dancing with his dad, who died when the singer was eight years old.

Which rock musician named his children Moon Unit, Dweezil, Ahmet and Diva?

Frank Zappa's son Dweezil grew up to carry on his father's music, touring it with the tribute band Zappa Plays Zappa.

Which author named Winnie-the-Pooh after a teddy bear owned by his young son Christopher Robin?

A. A. Milne also played Poohsticks with his son on a wooden footbridge near their Sussex farm, a bridge since renamed after the game.

Which fantasy author spent two decades sending his children letters from Father Christmas?

J. R. R. Tolkien wrote and illustrated them from 1920 to 1943, recounting the misadventures of Father Christmas and his helper, the North Polar Bear.

Ken Griffey and his namesake son hit back-to-back home runs in 1990 as teammates for which club?

The Seattle Mariners made the Griffeys the first father and son to be MLB teammates, and the pair shared a dugout for 51 games.

Archie Manning, father of Peyton and Eli, spent most of his career as quarterback of which NFL team?

The New Orleans Saints took him second overall in the 1971 draft, and he earned two Pro Bowl selections during his long stay there.

Which hockey Hall of Famer came out of retirement to skate alongside his sons Mark and Marty?

Gordie Howe signed with the Houston Aeros of the WHA to join the pair, and he was still going at 51, when he appeared in all 80 games of a final NHL season.

Graham Hill and his son Damon were the first father and son to both win which world championship?

Formula One crowned Graham Hill twice in the 1960s and Damon in 1996, a feat later matched by Keke and Nico Rosberg.

At which city's Olympics did Jim Redmond run onto the track to help his injured son Derek finish?

Barcelona gave the British 400-metre runner a standing ovation after his hamstring tore and his dad barged past security to reach him.

Dick Hoyt pushed his son Rick's wheelchair through more than 30 runnings of which famous race?

The Boston Marathon saw Team Hoyt 32 times between 1980 and 2014, and father and son also completed Ironman triathlons together.

Golf's father-and-son Open champions of the 1860s, Old Tom and Young Tom, shared which surname?

Morris senior won his last Open at the age of 46, the year before his son took the first of his own titles as a 17-year-old.

Which recliner brand began in the 1920s when two cousins built a reclining wood-slat porch chair?

La-Z-Boy was the winning entry in a contest the founders held to name their chair, which they had first mocked up from orange crates.

Which carmaker, led by Lee Iacocca, popularised the minivan in 1984 with the Caravan and Voyager?

Chrysler paid for the project out of its federal loan guarantees and sold the vans under its Dodge and Plymouth badges.

Kingsford charcoal began when which carmaker turned wood scraps from his sawmill into briquettes?

Henry Ford first sold the briquettes through his car dealerships as Ford Charcoal; the Kingsford name came from the husband of a Ford cousin who had scouted the timberland.

Duct tape took off in the Second World War after a factory worker urged a better seal for what?

Ammunition boxes worried ordnance worker Vesta Stoudt so much that she wrote to President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1943 proposing a fabric tape.

Edwin Budding based which 1830 invention on a mill machine that trimmed the nap from woollen cloth?

The lawn mower won Budding a British patent in 1830 and was meant mainly for sports grounds and large gardens.

The male Darwin's frog of Chile and Argentina broods his tadpoles in which unusual place?

In his vocal sac the tadpoles feed on their yolk and on secretions from the sac wall until they have turned into froglets.

Expectant fathers who share their partner's pregnancy symptoms are said to have which syndrome?

Couvade is also known as sympathetic pregnancy, and studies show expectant dads go through hormonal shifts of their own, including a drop in testosterone.

Which spider lookalikes, nicknamed daddy longlegs, form their own arachnid order, the Opiliones?

Harvestmen have a single fused body instead of a spider's two sections, and they possess neither venom glands nor silk glands.

Which senator and future president introduced the phrase 'Founding Fathers' in a 1916 speech?

Warren G. Harding repeated the phrase at his 1921 inauguration, becoming the first president to say 'Founding Fathers' in office.

Moulay Ismail, a sultan credited with fathering more than 800 children, ruled which country?

Morocco's warrior sultan reigned from 1672 to 1727 and kept a harem of more than 500 women.

Father and son William and Lawrence Bragg shared a 1915 Nobel Prize in which field?

Physics honoured the pair for using X-rays to analyse crystal structure, and Lawrence was only 25 when he received the award.

Cesare Maldini and his son Paolo each lifted the European Cup as captain of which Italian club?

AC Milan won the 2003 final with Paolo as captain, 40 years after Cesare had lifted the same trophy, both times in England.

Which composer titled his 1941 autobiography Father of the Blues, the nickname he gave himself?

W. C. Handy did not invent the blues, but by publishing hits such as 'Memphis Blues' and 'Beale Street Blues' he took a regional style to a far wider audience.

The bearded figure Father Time is traditionally shown carrying an hourglass and which farm tool?

A scythe ties him to the Grim Reaper, whose companion he became, while his wings were only added by artists of the early Renaissance.