50 Fun Facts About Famous Daves and Davids

Which fast-food chain did Dave Thomas open in Columbus, Ohio, in 1969?

Wendy's took its name from the nickname of eight-year-old Melinda Lou Thomas, and her father later wrote that he regretted costing her some of her privacy.

David Bowie, born David Jones, changed his surname in the 1960s to avoid confusion with a singer in which band?

The Monkees already had a Davy Jones, so the future star borrowed the surname of American pioneer James Bowie, the man behind the Bowie knife.

Dave Grohl, who started Foo Fighters as a one-man project, first became famous as the drummer of which grunge band?

Nirvana ended after Kurt Cobain's death in 1994, and Grohl then recorded the first Foo Fighters album almost alone, playing nearly every instrument himself.

Which artist carved the 17-foot marble David that has stood in Florence's Accademia Gallery since 1873?

Michelangelo was 26 when he won the commission, and his David stood outdoors in a Florence square for more than three centuries before it was moved inside.

A 2016 public poll to name the polar ship later christened RRS Sir David Attenborough was won by which name?

Boaty McBoatface, a radio presenter's joke entry, won with 124,109 votes, but officials overruled the poll and gave the name to one of the ship's robot submarines.

In the 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey, which ship's computer refuses to let astronaut Dave Bowman back aboard?

HAL 9000 was voiced by actor Douglas Rain, and it sings the old song Daisy Bell as Bowman disconnects its memory.

Dave Matthews, whose band formed in Virginia in 1991, was born in which country?

South Africa is where he was born, in Johannesburg, and his family moved between there, Britain and the United States while he was growing up.

Illusionist David Copperfield, born David Kotkin, made which American landmark seem to vanish on television in 1983?

The Statue of Liberty seemed to disappear behind a giant curtain raised in front of a seated audience on Liberty Island, then reappeared when it was lowered again.

Dave Seville is the human father of Alvin, Simon and Theodore, a singing cartoon trio of which animals?

Chipmunks Alvin, Simon and Theodore were each named after an executive at Liberty Records, the label that released their 1958 Christmas hit.

Former WWE champion Dave Bautista plays which hero in Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy films?

Drax made Bautista a film star in 2014, after a wrestling career in which his first World Heavyweight Championship reign lasted a record 282 days.

David Beckham left Manchester United in 2003, after a deal with Barcelona fell through, to join which Spanish team?

Real Madrid's number 7 shirt already belonged to captain Raúl, so Beckham took 23, the number worn by his basketball hero Michael Jordan.

David Schwimmer directed ten episodes of the sitcom Friends while playing which character?

Ross Geller was written with Schwimmer's voice in mind, which made him the first of the six leads to be cast.

In the 1980s series Knight Rider, David Hasselhoff's hero drove which artificially intelligent Pontiac Trans Am?

KITT stood for Knight Industries Two Thousand, and the car's voice belonged to actor William Daniels.

Dave Chappelle's hit sketch show, which he quit while making its third season, aired on which cable channel?

Comedy Central's parent company had offered him a contract worth tens of millions of dollars for two more years, but he quit and left the third season unfinished.

In the Bible, young shepherd David turns down King Saul's armor and fells the giant Goliath with which weapon?

A sling, a staff and five stones picked from a brook were all David carried, and he then beheaded the fallen giant with the giant's own sword.

David Letterman retired in 2015 after 22 years hosting the Late Show on CBS; which comedian took over the desk?

Stephen Colbert was named a week after Letterman announced his retirement, which closed a run of 6,080 late-night episodes across NBC and CBS.

Famous Dave's, the restaurant chain Dave Anderson started in Hayward, Wisconsin, in 1994, specializes in which food?

Barbecue made a restaurateur of Dave Anderson, an Ojibwe-Choctaw businessman who later ran the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs.

David Cameron resigned as British prime minister in 2016 after voters chose to leave which organization?

The European Union referendum was Cameron's own initiative, and he campaigned to stay; when the Leave side won, Theresa May replaced him.

Larry David, the star of Curb Your Enthusiasm, created which hit NBC sitcom with a stand-up comedian friend?

Seinfeld drew on his own life: Kenny Kramer, his neighbor across the hall in Manhattan, inspired the character Cosmo Kramer.

Frontiersman Davy Crockett, born David Crockett, died in 1836 during the siege of which Texas mission?

The Alamo fell on March 6, 1836; before that he had represented Tennessee in Congress, where he opposed President Andrew Jackson's Indian Removal Act.

David Tennant starred from 2005 to 2010 as the tenth incarnation of the title hero in which BBC science-fiction series?

Doctor Who was his obsession from the age of three, and he acts under a stage name because another David McDonald was already registered as an actor.

In The X-Files, David Duchovny played which FBI agent driven by the unexplained disappearance of his sister?

Fox Mulder brought Duchovny a Golden Globe, and before acting he had earned English literature degrees from both Princeton and Yale.

David Harbour plays police chief Jim Hopper in which Netflix series set in 1980s Hawkins, Indiana?

Stranger Things made Harbour a global name and earned him two Emmy nominations, playing the lawman of a small town beside a secret government laboratory.

Director David Lynch co-created which 1990 television mystery about the murder of teenager Laura Palmer?

Twin Peaks sends FBI agent Dale Cooper to a small town in the Pacific Northwest, and Lynch created it with the writer Mark Frost.

David Fincher directed which 2010 film, written by Aaron Sorkin, about a Harvard student's billion-dollar website?

The Social Network cast Jesse Eisenberg as Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and was adapted from the book The Accidental Billionaires.

Dave Mustaine founded Megadeth after which metal band fired him in 1983 and put him on a bus home?

Metallica dropped him in New York just before recording their debut album, and he scribbled ideas for his next band on the Greyhound ride to Los Angeles.

Guitarist David Gilmour joined which British rock band shortly before its troubled founder Syd Barrett left?

Pink Floyd brought him in as a fifth member to cover for the erratic Barrett, and he later helped launch Kate Bush by paying for her early recordings.

David Byrne, who wore an absurdly oversized suit in the concert film Stop Making Sense, fronted which band?

Talking Heads formed in New York in 1975, though their frontman was born in Dumbarton, Scotland, and moved to America as a child.

Dave Brubeck, whose quartet recorded the 1959 jazz standard Take Five, played which instrument?

Piano was Brubeck's instrument, but Take Five was written by his saxophonist, Paul Desmond, after the group's drummer challenged him to compose in five-four time.

Dave Coulier played stand-up comic Joey Gladstone, who helps a widowed friend raise three daughters, on which sitcom?

Full House moved Joey into the San Francisco home of sports anchor Danny Tanner, his best friend since childhood.

David Ortiz, the slugger nicknamed Big Papi, helped which baseball team end an 86-year championship drought in 2004?

The Boston Red Sox got there by overturning a three-games-to-none deficit against the New York Yankees, then swept the St. Louis Cardinals in four games.

Basketball great David Robinson, a Naval Academy graduate, spent his whole career with the Spurs under which nickname?

The Admiral was drafted first overall in 1987 but did not play an NBA game until 1989, because he had to complete his active duty first.

Which New York Herald correspondent tracked down the missing explorer David Livingstone beside Lake Tanganyika in 1871?

Henry Stanley, born John Rowlands, turned the search into the book How I Found Livingstone and later went looking for the origins of the Nile and Congo rivers.

In the Bible, which son of Bathsheba succeeded his father, King David, on the throne in Jerusalem?

Solomon was crowned after Bathsheba and the prophet Nathan persuaded the aged David to name him, cutting off his older half-brother Adonijah, who had proclaimed himself king.

Camp David, the presidential retreat Dwight Eisenhower renamed in 1953 for his father and grandson, lies in which state?

Maryland's Catoctin Mountain Park holds the retreat, which Franklin Roosevelt had earlier named Shangri-La after a fictional Himalayan paradise.

David Lloyd George, Britain's prime minister when the First World War ended, was raised speaking which first language?

Welsh was his mother tongue because he was raised in the village of Llanystumdwy, although he was born in the English city of Manchester.

Apollo 15 commander David Scott dropped a hammer and which other object on the Moon to show they fall together?

A feather landed at the same moment as the hammer, a televised test of Galileo's idea that without air resistance all objects fall at the same rate.

The Victorian novel David Copperfield, narrated by its hero from infancy to maturity, was written by which author?

Charles Dickens called it his favorite of all his books, and he wove events from his own life into the story.

David Brent, manager of a Slough paper merchant in the BBC mockumentary The Office, was played by which comedian?

Ricky Gervais also co-wrote and co-directed the series, having come up with the basic idea of Brent years before it reached the screen in 2001.

British painter David Hockney moved to Los Angeles in 1964 and began a famous series of paintings of what?

Swimming pools made his name, and one of those canvases sold for $90.3 million in 2018, at the time an auction record for a living artist.

David Spade voiced Kuzco, an Incan emperor accidentally turned into which animal in Disney's The Emperor's New Groove?

A llama was never the plan: the scheming adviser Yzma meant to poison Kuzco, but her henchman Kronk picked up the wrong vial.

Bodybuilder David Prowse wore the costume of which Star Wars villain while James Earl Jones supplied the voice?

Darth Vader was dubbed because George Lucas wanted a darker voice than Prowse's West Country accent; British children knew Prowse as the road-safety hero Green Cross Man.

David Lean directed which 1962 desert epic that introduced Peter O'Toole and won seven Academy Awards?

Lawrence of Arabia took Best Picture and Best Director among its seven Oscars, with Alec Guinness playing Prince Faisal.

French painter Jacques-Louis David made five versions of an equestrian portrait of which leader crossing the Alps?

Napoleon rides a rearing horse in the picture, but the actual crossing was made in fine weather on a mule led by a guide.

Dave Franco plays one of a team of magicians who rob banks during their stage shows in which 2013 film?

Now You See Me teamed him with Woody Harrelson and Isla Fisher as tricksters who hand their loot to the audience while the FBI and Interpol give chase.

Physicist David Brewster invented which optical toy around 1815, only to see it copied before his patent was granted?

The kaleidoscope was in great demand in Britain, France and the United States, and Brewster himself coined its name.

David Foster Wallace's sprawling 1996 novel, set partly at the Enfield Tennis Academy, has which title?

Infinite Jest takes its title from Hamlet, from the scene in which the prince holds the skull of the court jester Yorick.

David Packard founded an electronics company in his garage in 1939 with which friend from Stanford University?

Bill Hewlett got top billing by luck: a coin flip decided that the firm would be called Hewlett-Packard rather than Packard-Hewlett.

The Star of David is known in Hebrew as the Magen David, a name that literally means David's what?

Shield is the literal meaning of magen, and the emblem itself is a hexagram made of two overlapping equilateral triangles.

Dave Gahan co-founded which English electronic band in 1980 and became its lead singer?

Depeche Mode entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2020; Gahan grew up in Basildon, Essex, where he landed in juvenile court three times as a teenager.