50 Fun Facts About Famous Trios

Which Star Trek actor directed the 1987 comedy Three Men and a Baby, starring Tom Selleck and Ted Danson?

Leonard Nimoy, far better known as Spock, steered it to become the first Walt Disney Studios production to gross more than $100 million in the US.

Which of Christopher Columbus's three ships ran aground off Hispaniola on Christmas Day 1492 and never sailed home?

Santa María was the largest of the three, and Columbus had her timbers stripped to build a fort he named La Navidad, Spanish for Christmas.

Before Goldilocks was invented, which intruder ate the porridge in Robert Southey's version of The Three Bears?

An old woman, described as insolent, ugly and dirty, was the first intruder, and the bears were three bachelors rather than a father, mother and baby.

Which country shares the island of Great Britain with England and Scotland yet has no symbol on the Union Jack?

Wales is missing because it counted as part of the Kingdom of England when the first union flag was created in 1606. In 2007 an MP proposed adding the Welsh dragon to it.

Which Kellogg's cereal is promoted by the elf mascots Snap, Crackle and Pop, named for its noise in milk?

Rice Krispies went on sale in 1928, and illustrator Vernon Grant began drawing its elf mascots in 1933, long before they starred in television commercials.

Which Italian joined Plácido Domingo and José Carreras as the Three Tenors on the eve of the 1990 World Cup final?

Luciano Pavarotti sang with them at Rome's ancient Baths of Caracalla before a television audience of around 800 million. The recording became the best-selling classical album ever.

Which sport coined the term hat-trick in 1858, when fans bought H. H. Stephenson a hat for his feat?

Cricket bowler H. H. Stephenson took three wickets with three consecutive deliveries, so fans held a collection and gave him a hat. Ice hockey crowds later took to throwing hats onto the rink.

In Greek mythology, which trio of sisters spin, measure and cut the thread of every mortal life?

The Fates were Clotho, who spun the thread, Lachesis, who measured it with her rod, and Atropos, who cut it. Norse myth has a matching trio, the Norns.

Which member of the Three Stooges, born Jerome Horwitz, left the act in 1946 after a stroke ended his career?

Curly Howard was the youngest of the brothers in the act, and his elder brother Shemp, the original third Stooge, came back to take his place.

Which ice cream, first recorded in Prussia in 1839, sets vanilla, chocolate and strawberry side by side?

Neapolitan is linked with Naples, and early versions were green pistachio, white vanilla and red cherry, the colours of the Italian flag.

In Alexandre Dumas's novel, which young Gascon befriends the three musketeers Athos, Porthos and Aramis?

The real D'Artagnan was Charles de Batz de Castelmore, a soldier who took his mother's family name and rose to captain the Musketeers of the Guard under Louis XIV.

Which singer stayed with Beyoncé in Destiny's Child from the original quartet to the final trio with Michelle Williams?

Kelly Rowland and Beyoncé began in a Houston act called Girl's Tyme, which rehearsed in back gardens and at the hair salon owned by Beyoncé's mother, Tina Knowles.

Which trio of Gibb brothers, born on the Isle of Man, powered the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack?

Bee Gees Barry, Robin and Maurice grew up in Manchester and then Queensland, Australia, where they scored their first chart hits before returning to Britain in 1967.

Which embalming oil, seen as a symbol of death, did the wise men bring Jesus alongside gold and frankincense?

Myrrh and the other two gifts are the only reason the wise men are counted as three: the Gospel of Matthew never gives their number, and Syriac Christians often count twelve.

Which cartoon character is uncle to the triplets Huey, Dewey and Louie, who wear red, blue and green caps?

Donald Duck's nephews made their debut in a 1937 comic strip. Their cap colours were left to each colourist's whim until the 1980s fixed Huey in red, Dewey in blue and Louie in green.

Which New York race is the third and final leg of the US Triple Crown, after the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness?

Belmont Stakes is nicknamed the Test of the Champion because it is traditionally the longest of the three. Between 1979 and 2014, thirteen horses won the first two legs but not this one.

Which mysterious substance did Professor Utonium accidentally spill into the mixture that made the Powerpuff Girls?

Chemical X also splashed the Professor's chimpanzee lab assistant in the same accident, which turned him into the girls' big-brained nemesis Mojo Jojo.

Which Hogwarts student becomes best friends with Harry Potter and Ron Weasley after they rescue her from a troll?

Hermione Granger is so thankful that she lies to protect the boys from punishment, which wins their friendship. J. K. Rowling said she resisted her editor's requests to cut the troll scene.

Which Apollo 11 astronaut stayed in lunar orbit alone while Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the Moon?

Michael Collins lost radio contact with Earth for 48 minutes of every orbit as he passed behind the Moon, yet he said he never felt lonely.

Which Soviet leader hosted Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt at the Yalta Conference of the Big Three in 1945?

Joseph Stalin insisted that his doctors opposed any long trips, and he was afraid of flying, so the other two leaders travelled to him at a Black Sea resort in Crimea.

Which Texas blues-rock trio, famed for two chest-length beards, kept the same three members for five decades?

ZZ Top won a Guinness World Record in 2018 as the longest-running group with no line-up changes. The beards belonged to Billy Gibbons and Dusty Hill, while the drummer was named Frank Beard.

Which trio of Sting, Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland split at the height of its fame after the album Synchronicity?

The Police got their trademark bleached-blond hair by accident: short of money in 1978, they dyed it to play a punk band in a chewing gum commercial that never aired.

Which Motown trio of Diana Ross, Mary Wilson and Florence Ballard began as a sister act called the Primettes?

The Supremes started out as the sister act to the Primes, two of whom went on to form the Temptations, and they scored twelve number one singles in the United States.

Which Atlanta trio of T-Boz, Left Eye and Chilli earned a diamond certification for the 1994 album CrazySexyCool?

TLC took its name from the members' initials. After Left Eye died in a car crash in Honduras in 2002, the other two chose to continue as a duo instead of replacing her.

Which Nirvana drummer started Foo Fighters as a one-man project after the trio came to an end in 1994?

Dave Grohl had joined Nirvana only in 1990, after his punk band Scream broke up. He is the one constant member of the group he founded next.

Which guitarist formed Cream, often called rock's first supergroup, with bassist Jack Bruce and drummer Ginger Baker?

Eric Clapton agreed to join only if Ginger Baker hired Jack Bruce as the bassist, a suggestion that surprised Baker so much he almost crashed the car.

Which original Charlie's Angels star left after a single season, with Cheryl Ladd stepping in for the second?

Farrah Fawcett was cast as Jill Munroe without even auditioning. The trio took its orders over a speakerphone from Charlie, a boss whose face is never shown.

Which actor played Jack Tripper, the culinary student sharing a flat with Janet and Chrissy in Three's Company?

John Ritter's producers considered recasting him at the last minute before the pilot taped. The show was an American version of the British sitcom Man About the House.

Which Roman joined Julius Caesar and Pompey in the First Triumvirate, then died on a failed invasion of Parthia?

Crassus was killed with much of his army at the Battle of Carrhae in 53 BC. Four years later his two surviving partners were fighting each other in a civil war.

Which singer and actress played Winifred, leader of the three Sanderson sisters, in the 1993 film Hocus Pocus?

Bette Midler got the stalled film moving when she showed interest in the script in 1992, taking a part first written for Cloris Leachman.

Which guardian of the Greek underworld, usually shown with three heads, did Heracles capture as his final labour?

Cerberus is put to sleep in Virgil's Aeneid with a loaf laced with honey and herbs, which lets the hero Aeneas slip past him.

Which Caribbean island is usually given as the third corner of the Bermuda Triangle, along with Florida and Bermuda?

Puerto Rico's capital, San Juan, was named as one of the three corners in The Deadly Bermuda Triangle, a 1964 magazine article by Vincent Gaddis that tied the region's lost ships and planes into a pattern.

Which stirrup-shaped bone, the smallest in the human body, sits beside the malleus and incus in the middle ear?

Stapes means stirrup in Medieval Latin. Classical Latin had no word for one, because stirrups did not exist in the ancient world.

Which pharaoh's pyramid is the smallest of the three main pyramids at Giza, beside those of Khufu and Khafre?

Menkaure's pyramid was the first target when Saladin's son set out to demolish the pyramids in 1196. His workmen kept at it for eight months, but the job proved slow and expensive.

Which constellation's belt is the line of three bright stars Alnitak, Alnilam and Mintaka, also called the Three Kings?

Orion's three belt stars only look alike: Alnilam is a single star, while Alnitak is really a triple star system and Mintaka a system of five.

Which of the three Baltic states has a Finnic official language, unlike its neighbours Latvia and Lithuania?

Estonia's kinship with its northern neighbour mattered in Soviet times: from the 1960s, Estonians in the north covertly watched Finnish television for a view of life beyond the Iron Curtain.

Which grand duchy formed the Benelux union with Belgium and the Netherlands?

Luxembourg supplied the lux: the name stitches together the first syllable of each country, and the union grew out of a customs agreement signed in 1944.

Which science fiction author introduced the Three Laws of Robotics in the 1942 short story Runaround?

Isaac Asimov later added a fourth rule, the Zeroth Law, which puts the safety of humanity as a whole ahead of the original three.

Which Hindu god is the destroyer in the Trimurti, alongside Brahma the creator and Vishnu the preserver?

Shiva and Vishnu each have vast followings, but the trio's creator is rarely worshipped as a primary deity: very few temples in India are dedicated to Brahma.

In A Christmas Carol, which dead business partner warns Ebenezer Scrooge that three spirits will visit him?

Jacob Marley has been dead for seven years when the story opens, and his ghost drags heavy chains and money boxes forged by a lifetime of greed.

Which sister of Charlotte and Anne published Wuthering Heights, her only novel, under the pen name Ellis Bell?

Emily Brontë and her two sisters all hid behind the surname Bell and kept their own initials: Charlotte wrote as Currer and Anne as Acton.

Which actor played Tuco, the Ugly of the title, opposite Clint Eastwood and Lee Van Cleef in a Sergio Leone western?

Eli Wallach was picked on the strength of one scene in How the West Was Won. He doubted the part until the director screened him the opening credits of For a Few Dollars More.

Which baseball team's double-play trio of Tinker, Evers and Chance was lamented by a rival fan in a 1910 poem?

Chicago Cubs infielders Tinker, Evers and Chance had snuffed out a late New York Giants rally the day before the poem appeared, and it is written from a rueful Giants fan's point of view.

Which 1805 victory of Napoleon over Russia and Austria is also known as the Battle of the Three Emperors?

Austerlitz earned the name because three monarchs were present on the field: Napoleon, Tsar Alexander I of Russia and the Austrian ruler, Holy Roman Emperor Francis II.

Which Roman completed the Second Triumvirate with Octavian and Mark Antony before being forced out of it in 36 BC?

Lepidus lost his place when Octavian walked into his camp almost unaccompanied and won over his soldiers. He kept his life, his property and the title of pontifex maximus.

Which Australian range holds the Three Sisters, a trio of sandstone pillars near the town of Katoomba?

Blue Mountains lore says the sisters were turned to stone to protect them in a battle. The tale as commonly told may trace back to a schoolgirl, Patricia Stone, who gave the pillars their names.

Which crop shades the soil beneath maize and beans in the Three Sisters planting used by Indigenous North Americans?

Squash keeps the soil moist and the weeds down with its wide leaves, while the maize stalk gives the beans a trellis and the beans fix nitrogen in return.

Which French flavour base of diced onion, carrot and celery takes its name from an 18th-century duke?

Mirepoix honours the Duke of Lévis-Mirepoix, whose cook is credited with establishing it. The traditional ratio is two parts onion to one part each of the other two vegetables.

Which river do three friends and a dog travel up in Jerome K. Jerome's comic novel Three Men in a Boat?

Thames history was meant to be the point: the book was planned as a serious travel guide to the route from Kingston to Oxford, until the humour took over.

Which Shakespeare tragedy features three witches, known as the Weird Sisters, who hail its hero as a future king?

Macbeth takes its three witches from Holinshed's Chronicles of 1587, and Orson Welles later restaged them as voodoo priestesses.