50 Fun Facts About Famous Nicks

Saint Nicholas, the bishop who inspired Santa Claus, served in the city of Myra in which modern country?

Turkey is home to Demre, the town that grew up over ancient Myra. Sailors from Bari carried off most of the saint's bones in 1087, and they are still enshrined in that Italian city.

English speakers have used the nickname Old Nick since the 1600s as a jocular name for which figure?

The Devil has been called Old Nick since the 17th century. The origin is uncertain: it may be a joking use of the name Nicholas, or come from nicor, an Old English word for a water demon.

Which actor has played S.H.I.E.L.D. director Nick Fury in Marvel films since 2008's Iron Man?

Marvel drew him before it cast him. Samuel L. Jackson was the model for a redrawn Nick Fury in the 2002 comic The Ultimates, years before he took the part.

Stevie Nicks and her then-boyfriend Lindsey Buckingham joined which British-American band together in 1975?

Fleetwood Mac earned Stevie Nicks her first Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction in 1998. A solo induction in 2019 made her the first woman to enter twice.

Nick Carraway, a Yale graduate who moves to Long Island to sell bonds, narrates which 1925 American novel?

The Great Gatsby is told entirely by Nick Carraway, a World War I veteran from the Midwest who finds himself living next door to the mysterious millionaire of the title.

Nicolas Cage plays a terrorist and John Travolta the FBI agent hunting him in which 1997 John Woo film?

Face/Off has its two stars trade looks through experimental surgery, so each spends most of the film playing the other man's character.

Nick Jonas married which Indian film star and former Miss World at a palace in Jodhpur in 2018?

Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas married in both Hindu and Christian ceremonies at Umaid Bhawan Palace. They had started dating only seven months earlier.

Nick Saban won one national title at LSU, then six more as head football coach at which university?

Alabama gave Nick Saban six national titles in 17 seasons. Added to his LSU crown, that made seven, one more than the school's own legend Bear Bryant.

Nearly Headless Nick, properly Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington, is the resident ghost of which Hogwarts house?

Gryffindor's house ghost was played on screen by John Cleese of Monty Python fame, who appears in the first two Harry Potter films.

Nick Offerman, a keen woodworker off screen, played which deadpan, government-hating boss on Parks and Recreation?

Ron Swanson shares his carpentry habit with Nick Offerman, who taught himself the craft from books and periodicals and now runs his own woodshop in Los Angeles.

Dr. Nick Riviera, an inept physician voiced by Hank Azaria, treats patients in which long-running animated series?

The Simpsons gives Dr. Nick a running gag: he greets every room with the same cheery hello, and everyone present answers him by name.

Nick Wilde, the con artist voiced by Jason Bateman in Disney's Zootopia, is which kind of animal?

A fox like Nick Wilde is distrusted on sight in the film's city of mammals, yet he ends the story as its first fox police officer.

Nick Carter, older brother of the late pop singer Aaron Carter, is the youngest member of which boy band?

Backstreet Boys are often called the best-selling boy band in history. Nick Carter was only 12 when he auditioned for the group.

Nick Lachey, lead singer of the boy band 98 Degrees, starred with his then-wife in which MTV reality series?

Newlyweds won a People's Choice Award for Favorite Reality Show in 2005, then wrapped shortly afterwards with three seasons on air.

Drummer Nick Mason is the only member to appear on every album by which British rock band?

Pink Floyd grew out of a band Nick Mason formed while studying architecture in London. Away from the drum kit he collects classic cars and races them.

Keyboardist Nick Rhodes co-founded which Birmingham band, named after a character in the 1968 film Barbarella?

Duran Duran borrowed the name of Dr. Durand Durand the day after the BBC showed Barbarella in October 1978, when Nick Rhodes was sixteen and had just left school.

Nick Cannon, who got his start on Nickelodeon's All That, married which pop superstar in the Bahamas in 2008?

Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon wed at her private estate on Windermere Island. He went on to host America's Got Talent and The Masked Singer.

Backup quarterback Nick Foles was named MVP of Super Bowl LII after his Eagles upset which team?

The New England Patriots lost 41–33 as Nick Foles became the first player to both throw and catch a touchdown pass in a Super Bowl.

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds' most successful single, Where the Wild Roses Grow, is a duet with which singer?

Kylie Minogue sings the victim's side of a dialogue with her killer. Cave wrote the murder ballad after hearing the traditional song Down in the Willow Garden.

Nick Frost met which future Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz co-star while working as a waiter in London?

Simon Pegg became Nick Frost's flatmate after they met at a Chiquito restaurant, and he later co-wrote the part of Mike in the sitcom Spaced for him.

English golfer Nick Faldo won six majors: three Open Championships and three titles at which other tournament?

The Masters is where it began for Nick Faldo: having never picked up a club, he watched Jack Nicklaus play the 1971 tournament on his parents' new colour television and was hooked.

Nick Kyrgios, unseeded, reached the 2022 Wimbledon singles final but lost in four sets to which defending champion?

Novak Djokovic dropped the first set before winning the next three. Nick Kyrgios had been the first unseeded man in a Grand Slam final since Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in 2008.

Nick Nolte plays a cop who teams up with a convict, played by Eddie Murphy, in which 1982 action comedy?

48 Hrs. was Eddie Murphy's first film, and it is often credited with starting the buddy cop genre that Lethal Weapon and Bad Boys later made a Hollywood staple.

Rogue trader Nick Leeson's unauthorised bets from a Singapore office caused the 1995 collapse of which British bank?

Barings was Britain's oldest merchant bank when it fell. Leeson fled, was arrested in Germany and sent back to Singapore, where a court gave him six and a half years in Changi Prison.

Nick Clegg served as Britain's deputy prime minister from 2010 to 2015 while leading which political party?

Liberal Democrats entered a coalition with David Cameron's Conservatives, who had fallen short of a majority. Clegg later moved to the United States as a senior executive at Facebook.

Nick Hornby's first novel follows a London record shop owner who ranks his worst break-ups in which 1995 book?

High Fidelity moved from London to Chicago for the 2000 film starring John Cusack. Hornby said he was surprised by how faithful the adaptation stayed to his book.

Nick Park's Wallace & Gromit films revived sales of which crumbly English cheese, the inventor Wallace's favourite?

Wensleydale production had slumped by the early 1990s. After Wallace named it a favourite in A Close Shave, its maker licensed a Wallace & Gromit brand that sold well.

Nick Kroll co-created and voices a boy named Nick in which Netflix cartoon about puberty and hormone monsters?

Big Mouth is based on Kroll's own upbringing in suburban New York with co-creator Andrew Goldberg, and Kroll voices a fictional version of his younger self.

Which actor played Nick Miller, the bartender roommate of Zooey Deschanel's Jess, on the sitcom New Girl?

Jake Johnson was sent the pilot script by the show's creator, who had enjoyed working with him on the film No Strings Attached and guided him through the audition.

Which actor plays Nick Dunne, the husband suspected when his wife vanishes, in David Fincher's Gone Girl?

Ben Affleck drew on his own experience of media scrutiny to play Nick Dunne, a writing teacher who becomes the prime suspect in his wife's disappearance in Missouri.

Nicholas II, the last emperor of Russia, abdicated in 1917 and ended the long rule of which dynasty?

Romanov rule had lasted 304 years when the February Revolution forced Nicholas II from the throne. He and his family were executed in Yekaterinburg the following year.

Astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus, who put the Sun at the centre of the planets, was born in which modern-day country?

Poland's city of Toruń was his birthplace, though his parents spoke German. His Sun-centred model appeared in print in 1543, just before he died at the age of 70.

Niccolò Machiavelli, the Florentine Nicholas whose name became a byword for cunning, wrote which treatise on power?

The Prince was written around 1513, after the Medici retook Florence and Machiavelli lost his post as a diplomat. It was not published until 1532, five years after his death.

Nicolas Sarkozy, while president of France, married which Italian-born singer and former model at the Élysée Palace?

Carla Bruni met Sarkozy at a dinner party, and they married in 2008, only months after his divorce from his previous wife was finalised.

Nicholas Winton, dubbed the British Schindler, helped rescue 669 children from which country just before World War II?

Czechoslovakia's rescued children went unaware of Winton for half a century. His work came to light in 1988, after his wife found a scrapbook listing them in the attic.

A Visit from St. Nicholas, the poem credited with giving Santa eight named reindeer, is better known by which title?

The Night Before Christmas first ran with no author's name in a newspaper in Troy, New York. Clement Clarke Moore was first named in print as its author in 1837.

Nick Cassavetes directed his own mother, Gena Rowlands, in which 2004 romance based on a Nicholas Sparks novel?

The Notebook cast Ryan Gosling because Cassavetes wanted an unknown actor for Noah rather than a conventionally handsome leading man.

Nicholas Braun earned three Emmy nominations as the bumbling Greg Hirsch in which HBO drama about a media dynasty?

Succession brings in Greg as the great-nephew of patriarch Logan Roy, an outsider who must learn the family's rough terrain to win a place at its company.

Nick Mohammed plays Nathan Shelley, a timid kit man promoted to assistant coach, in which comedy series?

Ted Lasso brought Nick Mohammed Emmy nominations as Nate in 2021 and 2022, and its first season alone drew 20 Emmy nominations.

Nick, the kids' channel formally called Nickelodeon, hands winners which orange trophy at its Kids' Choice Awards?

A blimp, hollow and orange, has been the prize since 1990. It echoes the airship outline of an old network logo and doubles as a working kaleidoscope.

Nick Nack, the manservant played by Hervé Villechaize, serves which James Bond villain known for his golden gun?

Scaramanga was played by Christopher Lee, while Villechaize went on to wider fame as Tattoo in the television series Fantasy Island.

CSI investigator Nick Stokes is buried alive in Grave Danger, a 2005 two-part finale directed by which filmmaker?

Quentin Tarantino also wrote the story, which seals Nick in a clear plastic coffin with a few glow sticks and his own loaded pistol.

Nick and Nora, a married pair of wisecracking sleuths, were introduced in which 1934 novel by Dashiell Hammett?

The Thin Man swapped Hammett's hardboiled style for a comedy of manners set in New York in the last days of Prohibition, and it spawned a series of films.

Linebacker Nick Buoniconti led the so-called No-Name Defense of which NFL team during its perfect 1972 season?

The Miami Dolphins' defense was given the label by Dallas coach Tom Landry for its lack of star names. Buoniconti reached the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2001.

Nick Lowe wrote (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding, made famous by which singer's cover version?

Elvis Costello and the Attractions cut it as the B-side of one of Lowe's own singles, and it then landed on the American edition of the album Armed Forces.

In L. Frank Baum's Oz books, Nick Chopper is the original name of which of Dorothy's companions?

The Tin Woodman was an ordinary woodcutter until a witch enchanted his axe to stop his marriage, and it cut off his limbs. Each was replaced with tin until only tin remained.

Nick Adams, who spends boyhood summers in northern Michigan, recurs in two dozen stories by which American author?

Ernest Hemingway drew on his own Michigan summers and wartime ambulance service for Nick Adams, who first appears as a small child in the story Indian Camp.

Nick Nurse, in his first season as an NBA head coach, led which team to its first championship in 2019?

The Toronto Raptors beat the two-time defending champions in six games, a year after promoting Nurse to the top job.

Nick Bosa, the younger brother of fellow NFL pass rusher Joey Bosa, was drafted second overall in 2019 by which team?

The San Francisco 49ers got an instant return: Bosa was named NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year and helped the team reach the Super Bowl that season.

In Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, Puck gives the weaver Nick Bottom the head of which animal?

A donkey's head does not put off the fairy queen Titania. Dosed with a love potion, she wakes, sees the transformed Bottom first and falls for him at once.