50 Fun Facts About Famous Toms and Thomases

Thomas Jefferson died on 4 July 1826, the Declaration's 50th anniversary, hours before which fellow Founding Father?

John Adams died that evening, and his last words were about Jefferson, the old rival he did not know had gone a few hours before him.

Which former Beatle narrated the first two series of Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends from 1984?

Ringo Starr was hired because producer Britt Allcroft found his voice perfect for narration, not because of his fame. George Carlin replaced him in the American version.

Which quarterback, only the 199th pick of the 2000 NFL Draft, went on to win seven Super Bowls?

Tom Brady was the seventh quarterback chosen that year, taken with a compensatory pick the Patriots were given for losing a punter.

Which Victorian plumber, wrongly credited with inventing the flush toilet, opened the world's first bathroom showroom?

Thomas Crapper held nine patents, none of them for the toilet itself. Manhole covers bearing his company's name in Westminster Abbey are a minor London tourist attraction.

Which actor, the voice of Woody in Toy Story, won the Best Actor Oscar two years running in the 1990s?

Tom Hanks won for Philadelphia and Forrest Gump, making him only the second man to take the award in consecutive years, after Spencer Tracy.

In a later twist to an English legend, the original Peeping Tom spied on which noblewoman's naked ride through Coventry?

Lady Godiva rode, the legend says, to win relief from the heavy taxes of her husband Leofric. The tailor who peeked was only added in later versions of the tale.

Astronaut Major Tom first appeared in which David Bowie single, rush-released days before Apollo 11 launched?

Space Oddity was dropped from BBC playlists until the Apollo 11 crew were safely home, once the broadcaster realised how darkly the song ends.

Which inventor, nicknamed the Wizard of Menlo Park, first won wide fame by unveiling the phonograph in 1877?

Thomas Edison went on to register 1,093 US patents, an average of one every 10 to 12 days of his adult life.

Archbishop Thomas Becket was killed in 1170 by four knights loyal to King Henry II inside which church?

Canterbury Cathedral drew so many pilgrims to his shrine afterwards that Chaucer made a company of them the cast of The Canterbury Tales.

Which actor, born Thomas Mapother IV, climbed the outside of Dubai's Burj Khalifa for a Mission: Impossible film?

Tom Cruise really did the climb for Ghost Protocol, held by safety cables that were digitally erased from the finished film.

Which English-born writer rallied the American colonies to independence with the 1776 pamphlet Common Sense?

Thomas Paine published it anonymously, and for the size of the population it had the largest sale of any book in American history.

Which Tudor statesman, the author of Utopia, was beheaded for refusing to accept Henry VIII as head of the Church?

Thomas More is now a Catholic saint, and in 2000 Pope John Paul II named him the patron of statesmen and politicians.

In the Harry Potter books, Tom Marvolo Riddle is the birth name of which dark wizard?

Lord Voldemort built his new title as an anagram of his old name, a trick translators had to recreate by renaming him in other languages.

In Mark Twain's novel, which punishment from Aunt Polly does Tom Sawyer trick other children into doing for him?

Whitewashing a fence turns into a privilege once Tom pretends to enjoy it, and the neighbourhood children hand over their trinkets for a turn.

Tom Hardy, who later played both Kray twins in Legend, wore a mask as which villain in The Dark Knight Rises?

Bane's mask was built from a digital map of Hardy's own face and skull, and the actor put on 30 pounds for the part.

Tom Hiddleston first auditioned to play Thor before director Kenneth Branagh cast him as which Marvel character instead?

Loki suited him better as the antagonist, Branagh decided, having already worked with Hiddleston on stage in Ivanov and on television in Wallander.

Which Florida-born rocker led the Heartbreakers and joined Bob Dylan and Roy Orbison in the Traveling Wilburys?

Tom Petty traced his love of rock and roll to the age of ten, when he got the chance to meet Elvis Presley.

Which Welsh singer of It's Not Unusual took his stage name from an Oscar-winning 1963 film?

Tom Jones was born Thomas Woodward, a coal miner's son, and his manager renamed him to cash in on the hit film of Henry Fielding's novel.

Which US president, a former head of Princeton University, was born Thomas but went by his middle name?

Woodrow Wilson shared the habit with Grover Cleveland, born Stephen, Calvin Coolidge, born John, and Ulysses S. Grant, born Hiram.

Thomas Jefferson sold his 6,487 books to restart which institution after British troops burned Washington in 1814?

The Library of Congress lost nearly two-thirds of Jefferson's books in an 1851 fire, and its librarians have spent years buying matching editions to rebuild his collection.

Hilary Mantel's novel Wolf Hall follows which Putney-born adviser's rapid rise to power at the court of Henry VIII?

Thomas Cromwell was beheaded in 1540 on the orders of the king he had served as chief minister, a loss Henry is said to have regretted.

Which Dominican friar, nicknamed the Dumb Ox as a student, wrote the Summa Theologica with its five proofs of God?

Thomas Aquinas was defended by his teacher Albertus Magnus, who predicted that the quiet student's bellowing would one day be heard throughout the world.

Which English philosopher argued in Leviathan that life without government would be a war of all against all?

Thomas Hobbes was born early when his mother took fright at news of the Spanish Armada, and he later said she had given birth to twins, himself and fear.

Which English economist warned in 1798 that population growth would always outrun the food supply?

Thomas Malthus was read closely by Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace, the two pioneers of evolution by natural selection.

Thom Yorke formed which band with schoolmates at Abingdon School in Oxfordshire, later recording OK Computer?

Radiohead's singer was born with a paralysed left eye and had five operations on it before he turned six.

Guitarist Tom DeLonge formed which rock band while still in high school with bassist Mark Hoppus?

Blink-182 made DeLonge famous, yet he has left it twice, and he also co-founded To the Stars, a company that promotes the study of UFOs and fringe science.

Tom Holland, the future Spider-Man, got his start on the London stage playing the lead in which musical?

Billy Elliot the Musical found him after a choreographer saw his hip-hop class perform at a dance festival, and he trained for two years before taking the title role.

Which make of sports car did Tom Selleck's private eye Thomas Magnum drive around Hawaii in Magnum, P.I.?

Ferrari's open-top 308 GTS became as much a trademark of the show as Selleck's moustache, Hawaiian shirt and Detroit Tigers baseball cap.

Which duo created the cat-and-mouse cartoon Tom and Jerry at MGM in 1940, a series that won seven Oscars?

Hanna and Barbera were left off the credits of the first short, Puss Gets the Boot, which named producer Rudolf Ising instead.

Which Irish actor played Birmingham gang boss Thomas Shelby in the BBC period drama Peaky Blinders?

Cillian Murphy won the part over Jason Statham after texting the show's creator a reminder that he was an actor.

Thomas Hardy set Tess of the d'Urbervilles and most of his other novels in which semi-fictional English region?

Wessex took its name from an Anglo-Saxon kingdom, and Hardy disguised real places inside it: his home town of Dorchester became Casterbridge.

Which Missouri-born poet wrote the light verse about cats that Andrew Lloyd Webber turned into a hit musical?

T. S. Eliot, born Thomas Stearns Eliot, called the 1939 collection Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, Old Possum being Ezra Pound's nickname for him.

Which Nobel-winning novelist of The Magic Mountain fled to Switzerland when Hitler took power in 1933?

Thomas Mann had won the 1929 prize mainly for Buddenbrooks, the only one of his books that the Nobel citation discussed at any length.

Which Thomas Gainsborough portrait drew 90,000 farewell visitors in London before leaving for California in 1922?

The Blue Boy had been sold to the railway magnate Henry Huntington, and it came back to London on loan a century to the day after it left.

Which travel pioneer began with an 1841 railway excursion taking temperance campaigners from Leicester to Loughborough?

Thomas Cook had trained as a cabinet-maker and worked as a Baptist preacher before that trip, and by 1855 he was leading tours across the Continent.

Which British Olympic champion was often filmed knitting in the stands during the Tokyo Games?

Tom Daley took up knitting during the pandemic lockdown, then won synchronised 10-metre platform gold in Tokyo with his diving partner Matty Lee.

Which American golfer beat Jack Nicklaus by one stroke in the 1977 Open at Turnberry, the Duel in the Sun?

Tom Watson won five Opens in all, and at the age of 59 he came agonisingly close to a sixth, finishing runner-up in 2009.

Tom Landry, famous for his sideline fedora, was the first head coach of which NFL team for 29 seasons?

The Dallas Cowboys wore a patch showing his trademark hat on their uniforms in the 2000 season. Landry had been a bomber pilot in World War II.

Pitcher Tom Seaver, nicknamed Tom Terrific, led which baseball team to its 1969 Miracle World Series title?

The New York Mets beat the Baltimore Orioles in that series, and Seaver won three Cy Young awards during his 12 seasons with the club.

Confederate general Thomas Jackson got which lasting nickname from a fellow general's remark at First Bull Run?

Stonewall Jackson was accidentally shot by his own side's pickets in May 1863 and died eight days later.

Designer Tom Ford, later the director of A Single Man, revived which Italian fashion house from 1994?

Gucci was so far out of fashion when Ford joined that a colleague there said no one would dream of wearing it.

Which former insurance agent launched the Jack Ryan thrillers with The Hunt for Red October, written in spare hours?

Tom Clancy sold the submarine thriller to the Naval Institute Press for just $5,000, and it became his debut novel in 1984.

Which Czech-born playwright wrote Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead and later shared an Oscar for a screenplay?

Tom Stoppard was born Tomáš Sträussler and left Czechoslovakia as a Jewish child refugee, fleeing the imminent Nazi occupation.

Which actor, once a teenage novice monk, played the Fourth Doctor in Doctor Who in a floppy hat and long scarf?

Tom Baker was working part-time on a building site when he won the part, and he went on to play the Doctor for seven consecutive seasons.

Philosopher Thomas Kuhn popularised which now-everyday phrase in his 1962 book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions?

Paradigm shift was his name for the upheaval when one scientific worldview replaces another, instead of knowledge simply growing in a straight line.

By tradition, the apostle known as Doubting Thomas sailed east to preach and was martyred in which country?

India's Saint Thomas Christians trace their church to his landing on the coast of Kerala, which their tradition dates to AD 52.

Which reclusive author of Gravity's Rainbow voiced himself on The Simpsons, drawn with a paper bag over his head?

Thomas Pynchon's two cartoon cameos in 2004 are among the very few times his voice has ever been broadcast.

Which cartoonist gave America its modern image of Santa Claus and first drew the Republican Party as an elephant?

Thomas Nast's first Santa, drawn in 1863 in the midst of the Civil War, sided with the Union, and his cartoons were instrumental in the downfall of Boss Tweed.

German forward Thomas Müller joined which club's youth system at age 10 and stayed until 2025?

Bayern Munich was a 50-kilometre trip from his village club, TSV Pähl. Müller also won the Golden Boot at his first World Cup, in South Africa.

Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo performed in robot helmets as which French electronic duo?

Daft Punk broke up in 2021, and Bangalter has since said that a robot is the last thing he would want to be in the age of AI.