50 Fun Facts About Ladies Night

Which funk band followed its 1979 hit 'Ladies' Night' with the party anthem 'Celebration'?

Kool & the Gang took 'Ladies' Night' to No. 8 in the US, then re-recorded it in 2003 with the English girl group Atomic Kitten.

Which British queen's 1840 wedding is credited with making white the fashionable colour for brides?

Victoria wore white satin and lace when royal brides usually chose heavy brocade stitched with silver thread, and as reports of her wedding spread, brides across Europe and America followed her lead.

Which kitchen icon was invented by a flour company in 1921 and never existed as a real person?

Betty Crocker was created to sign replies to customers' questions: 'Betty' sounded cheery and all-American, and 'Crocker' honoured a company director.

Which pop star wore a dress made entirely of raw beef to the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards?

Lady Gaga called the meat dress a protest against the US military's 'don't ask, don't tell' policy, and it later entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Which pop superstar spent her childhood holiday seasons on a Christmas tree farm in Pennsylvania?

Taylor Swift spent winters on the family farm and summers at Stone Harbor on the New Jersey shore, where she played acoustic songs at a local coffee shop.

Which English novelist's first published book appeared in 1811 credited only to 'A Lady'?

Jane Austen published anonymously all her life, and readers first saw her named as the author in a note her brother Henry wrote months after her death in 1817.

Which Pretty Woman star's laugh was unscripted when Richard Gere snapped a jewellery case shut?

Julia Roberts was caught off guard by the improvised gag, and the film went on to sell more US tickets than any romantic comedy before it.

Which best-selling romance novel began life as Twilight fan fiction posted online in episodes?

Fifty Shades of Grey first appeared as a serial called Master of the Universe, which E. L. James posted under the pen name Snowqueens Icedragon.

Which country star wrote 'I Will Always Love You' as a farewell to her mentor Porter Wagoner?

Dolly Parton wrote it in 1973 as she left Wagoner's act, and she turned down an Elvis Presley cover when his manager asked for half the publishing rights.

Which talk show host gave every member of a 2004 studio audience a brand-new Pontiac G6?

Oprah Winfrey opened her 2004 season with the giveaway, handing out cars donated by General Motors and worth about $8 million in total.

Which 1991 road movie gave Brad Pitt his breakthrough as a charming cowboy hitchhiker?

Thelma & Louise cast Pitt as the drifter J.D. only after William Baldwin and his replacement dropped out; director Ridley Scott had first thought Pitt too young.

Which rom-com's deli scene ends with director Rob Reiner's mother ordering 'what she's having'?

When Harry Met Sally shot the scene at Katz's Delicatessen in Manhattan, and the famous punchline was suggested by co-star Billy Crystal.

Which 1987 film has a dance instructor declare, 'Nobody puts Baby in a corner'?

Dirty Dancing gives the line to Johnny Castle as he pulls Baby from her chair, and it ranks No. 98 on the American Film Institute's list of great movie quotes.

Which university's law school admits sorority president Elle Woods in the comedy Legally Blonde?

Harvard receives a video essay from Elle, and the real law school has screened the clip at orientation to stress that admissions do not work that way.

Which actress played icy magazine editor Miranda Priestly in The Devil Wears Prada?

Meryl Streep earned her 14th Oscar nomination as the boss of Runway magazine, a character widely believed to be modelled on Vogue editor Anna Wintour.

Which Saturday Night Live writer scripted Mean Girls and also played maths teacher Ms. Norbury?

Tina Fey got the idea from Rosalind Wiseman's self-help book Queen Bees and Wannabes and pitched it to producer Lorne Michaels as a film.

Whose 2023 comedy Barbie became the first billion-dollar film directed solely by a woman?

Greta Gerwig co-wrote the script with Noah Baumbach, and the film crossed the billion mark less than three weeks after its July 2023 release.

Who plays Anne Yum, a shy woman obsessed with a TV game show, in the 2023 comedy Quiz Lady?

Awkwafina plays the trivia whiz while Sandra Oh plays her chaotic older sister Jenny, and Will Ferrell turns up as the host of the game show.

Which Golden Girls star played Sophia despite being a year younger than her on-screen daughter?

Estelle Getty was aged with make-up and a wig to play mother to Bea Arthur's Dorothy, even though Arthur was born more than a year before her.

Which sitcom star's layered haircut became a 1990s salon craze known as 'The Rachel'?

Jennifer Aniston's stylist Chris McMillan created the cut to repair her damaged hair and grow out her bangs, and it took its name from her Friends character, Rachel Green.

Which scientist is the only person to win Nobel Prizes in two different sciences?

Marie Curie's notebooks from the 1890s are still so radioactive that they are kept in lead-lined boxes and consulted only in protective clothing.

Which pilot ended the first solo transatlantic flight by a woman in a pasture in Northern Ireland?

Amelia Earhart battled strong winds, ice and mechanical trouble for nearly fifteen hours in 1932, and Congress awarded her the Distinguished Flying Cross.

Which queen was the first ruler of her Greek-speaking dynasty known to have learned Egyptian?

Cleopatra grew up speaking Greek like the Ptolemies before her, who had governed Egypt for generations while refusing to learn its native language.

Which race's manager grabbed at Kathrine Switzer's bib in 1967, before women could officially enter?

Boston Marathon officials had registered her as 'K.V. Switzer'; she finished anyway, and the same manager handed her a trophy when women were admitted in 1972.

Which former textile worker became the first woman in space, orbiting Earth alone aboard Vostok 6?

Valentina Tereshkova circled the planet 48 times in almost three days, and she remains the only woman ever to fly a solo space mission.

Which politician was dubbed 'the Iron Lady' by a Soviet army newspaper after a fiery 1976 speech?

Margaret Thatcher got the label from the journal Red Star three years before taking office, and was reportedly prouder of being Britain's first prime minister with a science degree than its first woman.

Which teenage peasant girl rallied French troops to lift the English siege of Orléans in 1429?

Joan of Arc then stood beside Charles VII at his coronation in Reims, but she was later captured, tried and burned at the stake at about nineteen.

Which royal's black gown became the 'revenge dress' after her husband admitted adultery on TV?

Princess Diana had owned the Christina Stambolian gown for three years but feared it was too daring, and she had planned to wear Valentino that evening.

Which noblewoman of legend rode naked through Coventry to protest against her husband's taxes?

Lady Godiva's tale also gave English the phrase 'Peeping Tom', after the tailor said to be the only townsman who watched her pass.

Which crime novelist vanished in 1926 and was found eleven days later at a Yorkshire spa hotel?

Agatha Christie was found 184 miles from home, registered as 'Mrs Tressa Neele', a name borrowed from the surname of her husband's lover.

Which singer turned Otis Redding's 'Respect' into a 1967 anthem by adding its spelled-out chorus?

Aretha Franklin worked out the 'sock it to me' backing line with her sister Carolyn, and in 1987 she became the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Which singer, born Anna Mae Bullock, celebrated her Tennessee hometown in 'Nutbush City Limits'?

Tina Turner grew up in the farming community, attending Flagg Grove School and singing in the choir at Nutbush's Spring Hill Baptist Church.

Which British singer has titled her albums after her age, beginning with '19' and '21'?

Adele said 25 would be her last age-titled record and the end of a trilogy, then returned six years later with an album called 30.

Which singer introduced her bold onstage alter ego, Sasha Fierce, in the title of a 2008 album?

Beyoncé split the album in two: ballads on a disc called I Am..., and up-tempo tracks credited to a persona she said existed strictly for the stage.

Which 1987 romantic comedy won Cher the Best Actress Oscar as a widowed Brooklyn bookkeeper?

Moonstruck also won Olympia Dukakis the supporting actress Oscar for playing Cher's mother, plus a third award for its screenplay.

Which pop star wore Jean Paul Gaultier's cone bra on her 1990 Blond Ambition World Tour?

Madonna picked Gaultier for his irreverence and sense of humour, and the two spent nearly three months refining the costumes in New York and Paris.

Which Canadian singer kicks off 'Man! I Feel Like a Woman!' by exclaiming 'Let's go, girls'?

Shania Twain's video flips Robert Palmer's 'Addicted to Love' clip, surrounding her with blank-eyed male models instead of female ones.

Which singer's 1983 hit 'Girls Just Want to Have Fun' was first written from a man's point of view?

Cyndi Lauper rewrote some of the lyrics after producer Rick Chertoff brought her the song, which Philadelphia rocker Robert Hazard had written in 1979.

Which British group's 1996 debut single 'Wannabe' carried the slogan 'girl power' around the world?

Spice Girls did not invent the phrase: it is credited to the American punk band Bikini Kill, who used it as the subtitle of a 1991 zine.

Which group first took 'Lady Marmalade' to number one, decades before the Moulin Rouge! cover?

Labelle popularised the song in 1974, and its famous French chorus was the work of two male songwriters, Bob Crewe and Kenny Nolan.

Which 1940s Hollywood star co-invented a frequency-hopping radio system later echoed in Bluetooth?

Hedy Lamarr devised it with composer George Antheil at the start of World War II, hoping to stop the Axis powers from jamming Allied torpedoes.

Which champagne house did Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin, an early French businesswoman, run from 1805?

Veuve Clicquot takes its first word from the French for widow: she took over the firm at 27 when her husband died, and in 1816 she invented the riddling table that clears champagne of its sediment.

Which hair-care pioneer is recorded by Guinness as America's first self-made woman millionaire?

Madam C.J. Walker was the first child in her family born into freedom, and she sold her products door to door while teaching Black women to style their hair.

Which office product did the mother of Monkees guitarist Michael Nesmith invent in her kitchen?

Liquid Paper began in 1956 as the first correction fluid for typing mistakes, and Bette Nesmith Graham sold the business to Gillette in 1979.

Which jazz great won a Grammy for a live 'Mack the Knife' where she forgot the lyrics?

Ella Fitzgerald, nicknamed the First Lady of Song, improvised new lines on stage in Berlin, and the live album became one of her best sellers.

Which gymnast's first Olympic perfect 10 showed as 1.00 because the scoreboard could not display it?

Nadia Comăneci earned six more perfect scores at the 1976 Montreal Games; Omega had not programmed its scoreboard for a 10, believing nobody could get one.

Which superhero was created in 1941 by William Moulton Marston, who helped develop the lie detector?

Wonder Woman's arsenal includes the Lasso of Truth, a fitting weapon from a psychologist whose blood-pressure test fed into the polygraph.

Which shoe designer's signature red soles began with a coat of his assistant's nail polish?

Christian Louboutin painted a black-soled pair in the early 1990s, and in 2014 his brand came full circle by launching a nail lacquer in the same red.

Which vodka cocktail was the regular order on nights out with the girls in Sex and the City?

Cosmopolitan has a disputed origin: bartender Neal Murray said he added cranberry juice to a Kamikaze and the first taster declared, 'How cosmopolitan.'

Which tennis champion won the 2017 Australian Open while roughly eight weeks pregnant?

Serena Williams claimed her 23rd major singles title there, passing Steffi Graf's Open Era record, and revealed the pregnancy that April.