118 Fun Facts About Mandela Effect

Who coined the shared-false-memory term after recalling a South African leader dying in prison?

Fiona Broome learned at a 2009 fan convention that others shared her memory, then set up a website where hundreds of strangers described the same death that never happened.

Which office did Nelson Mandela hold after his 1990 release?

President from 1994 to 1999, he died in 2013 aged 95. In a 2022 YouGov poll only 13% of Americans 'remembered' the prison death that gave the effect its name.

The woman who named the Mandela effect described herself as what kind of researcher?

Paranormal was her own label, and she has rejected the explanation psychologists give, writing that these shared recollections 'aren't simple errors in memory'.

What did the woman who named the Mandela effect speculate the shared false memory might be evidence of?

Parallel realities that people somehow slide between was her favoured idea. Psychologists point instead to memories rebuilt from fragments each time, with other people reinforcing the same wrong detail.

Which anti-apartheid activist who died in police custody in 1977 may be conflated with Mandela in the false memory?

Steve Biko died of brain injuries after police beat him in detention. His friend Donald Woods told the story in a book that became the 1987 film Cry Freedom.

Nelson Mandela served how many years in prison before his release?

27 years, the first 18 of them on Robben Island, where he did hard labour in a lime quarry by day and studied law by correspondence at night.

Which sci-fi series spoofed the Mandela effect in its 2018 episode 'The Lost Art of Forehead Sweat'?

The X-Files had Mulder explain the effect to Scully after she fails to find a jelly dessert she loved as a child, which everyone else insists never existed.

Loftus and Palmer changed people's memory of a car crash by swapping which single word in a question?

The verb did it: asked how fast the cars were going when they 'smashed' rather than 'hit', viewers gave higher speeds, and a week later more of them 'remembered' broken glass.

In Loftus's 1978 study, misled participants who had seen a stop sign recalled which sign instead?

Yield was mentioned only after the slides had been shown, yet misled viewers were then likelier to say they had seen that sign: one planted word had altered the memory.

Recalling something imagined as something seen is what kind of memory error?

Source-monitoring errors help explain 'imagination inflation': in a 1996 study, simply picturing a childhood event left people more confident that it had really happened to them.

In Brewer and Treyens's 1981 study, people 'remembered' objects that were never in the room because they fit what?

The office schema filled the gaps: volunteers thought they were only waiting for a study to begin, yet when tested on the room some 'remembered' books it never held.

Which pair of psychology pioneers were early investigators of false memories?

Janet and Freud both sought their patients' buried memories. Freud first held that his patients had been abused as children, then decided in 1897 that such scenes could be fantasies.

Which is the actual spelling of the bear family in the long-running children's book series?

Berenstain Bears, with an A: son Mike says the mix-up dates to his father's school days, when a teacher refused the spelling and insisted there was no such name.

Which famous children's author edited the first bear book by Stan and Jan, published in 1962?

Dr. Seuss, working as editor Theodor Geisel, launched the bears; the couple were well into a book about penguins when he phoned to say the bear book was selling too well to leave alone.

Which accessory do people wrongly remember the Monopoly mascot wearing?

A monocle matches what people expect a rich old gentleman in a top hat to wear, psychologists suggest, so memory quietly adds one to a face that never had it.

Before Hasbro renamed him Mr. Monopoly, the board game's mascot was officially called what?

Rich Uncle Pennybags went viral in 2017, when an activist dressed as him sat in camera shot behind Equifax's Richard Smith at a US Senate hearing on its data breach.

Many 'remember' Cinderella's castle at California's Disneyland, but which Disney heroine's castle really stands there?

Sleeping Beauty Castle opened with the park in July 1955, more than three years before the film it is named after reached cinemas; Cinderella's castle stands in Florida.

Which object do many people wrongly remember sitting behind the fruit in the Fruit of the Loom logo?

A cornucopia has never been part of it, the company insists: just an apple, grapes and leaves. Even so, more than half of Americans polled in 2022 said the logo had one.

What is Darth Vader's actual reveal line to Luke in The Empire Strikes Back?

'No. I am your father.' answers Luke's charge that Vader killed his father, hence the 'No'; in a 2022 YouGov poll only 17% of Americans picked the real line.

To protect the twist in The Empire Strikes Back, which actor in Vader's suit was fed a decoy line on set?

David Prowse, known on set for leaks, spoke a decoy; the real line was dubbed in later by James Earl Jones and reportedly shocked Prowse as much as anyone when he saw the film.

In Disney's 1937 Snow White, how does the Evil Queen really address her enchanted glass?

'Magic Mirror on the wall' is the film's wording. The doubled version echoes the Grimms' original, 'Spieglein, Spieglein an der Wand', which English storybooks render as 'Mirror, mirror'.

Which children's book character, often 'remembered' with a tail that was never drawn, left Paris by bicycle as a manuscript in 1940?

Curious George has no tail in any of the books. Hans and Margret Rey fled Paris in June 1940 on bicycles he had built from spare parts, with the manuscript in their luggage.

Fans swear Pikachu's tail ends in black, but which body part officially has the black tips?

Its ears carry the black tips; the tail has none. Designer Atsuko Nishida based the 'mouse' on squirrels, which gave her the idea of cheek pouches that store electricity.

Which punctuation mark do many wrongly remember in the name Kit Kat?

A hyphen is not part of the name. The bar was not even Kit Kat at first: Rowntree's of York launched it in 1935 as Chocolate Crisp and added the Kit Kat name two years later.

Which company makes Kit Kat bars in the United States, under a licence dating from 1970?

Hershey won the American rights from Rowntree's in 1970, so when Nestlé bought the British firm in 1988 it gained Kit Kat everywhere except the United States.

Which is the real spelling of Procter & Gamble's odour-eliminating spray?

Febreze flopped at first: people in smelly homes had stopped noticing the odours it removed. Sales took off once it was sold as a fresh-scented finishing touch to cleaning.

The name 'Looney Tunes', often misremembered as 'Toons', was a play on which rival cartoon series?

Silly Symphonies was Walt Disney's musical series; Warner's answer was made to show off songs from its own music catalogue, which is why the name says 'Tunes'.

Whose newspaper column inspired HBO's 'Sex and the City', a title often misquoted as 'Sex in the City'?

Candace Bushnell began the column in The New York Observer in 1994 and modelled Mr. Big on Ron Galotti, a magazine publisher she was dating at the time.

Which word does Forrest Gump actually say in 'My mama always said life ___ like a box of chocolates'?

'Was' is right because Forrest is reporting what his mother used to tell him: 'My mama always said life was like a box of chocolates.' Quoted on its own, the saying slips into the present tense.

One popular theory says the false 'Jiffy' memory blends Jif with which rival peanut butter brand?

Skippy plus Jif makes 'Jiffy', the theory goes, helped along by Jiffy Pop popcorn and Jiffy baking mix; the jar has read plain Jif since its national launch in 1958.

In which country was Oscar F. Mayer, founder of the meat brand often misspelled 'Meyer', born?

Germany: he came to America as a teenager, and in 1883 he and his brother Gottfried leased a Chicago meat market, selling sausages to the German neighbourhood around it.

Which word completes the real first line of Mister Rogers' theme song, 'It's a beautiful day in ___ neighborhood'?

'This' is the word he sang while zipping up a cardigan. Until his mother died, every sweater he wore on the show was one she had knitted; one now hangs in the Smithsonian.

What is the real title of Anne Rice's 1976 debut, often misremembered with the wrong article?

Interview with the Vampire grew out of grief: Rice wrote it after her five-year-old daughter died of leukaemia, a loss that she said made her want to 'write and write and write'.

Which real 1996 genie movie do people who recall Sinbad in 'Shazaam' likely have in mind?

Kazaam is the leading suspect: no footage, review or listing of 'Shazaam' has ever surfaced, and Sinbad himself says he never made such a film.

Which basketball star played a 5,000-year-old genie in a 1996 comedy often confused with the imaginary 'Shazaam'?

Shaquille O'Neal's genie lives in a boombox, not a lamp, and raps; critic Roger Ebert complained that the soundtrack sounded like a trial run for a Shaq album.

Chartreuse, which many people 'remember' as a pinkish red, is really a shade of which colour?

Green, with a yellow tinge: the colour takes its name from the liqueur Carthusian monks make in the French Alps, whose finest variety has that pale apple-green hue.

Which website posted a fake 'Shazaam' trailer starring Sinbad as an April Fools' prank in 2017?

CollegeHumor's spoof came after Sinbad denied ever making the film; he pointed instead to 1994, when he hosted an afternoon of Sinbad the Sailor films on TNT.

Which colour was one of C-3PO's lower legs in the original Star Wars trilogy, though many remember him as all gold?

Silver covers one shin in the original films. The actor inside the suit says it mirrored the gold of his other leg and of the desert sand, so on screen it often looked gold too.

Which is the correct spelling of the footwear brand Robert Greenberg founded in 1992?

Skechers was Robert Greenberg's comeback: forced out of L.A. Gear, the company he had founded, he began afresh by distributing Doc Martens boots and then making his own.

Which is the correct spelling of the chicken sandwich chain founded by S. Truett Cathy?

Chick-fil-A has closed on Sundays since Truett Cathy's first restaurant in 1946: having worked seven-day weeks himself, he wanted his staff to have a day for rest and worship.

What is Henry VIII actually holding in Holbein's famous portrait, rather than a turkey leg?

The original was lost when Whitehall Palace burned in 1698; the image survives only through copies.

Which Star Trek actor titled his 1996 autobiography 'Beam Me Up, Scotty', a line never spoken in those exact words?

James Doohan played Scotty, and the misquote followed him to the end: his own Associated Press obituary said he 'responded to the command Beam me up, Scotty'.

Casablanca's Ilsa says 'Play it, Sam', so which word does the famous misquote add to her line?

'Again' is never spoken: Ilsa's line is 'Play it, Sam', followed by the song's title. The misquote still grew famous enough for Woody Allen to call a 1972 film Play It Again, Sam.

Hannibal Lecter's greeting in The Silence of the Lambs, 'Good evening, Clarice', is widely misquoted as which line?

'Hello, Clarice' is never said in the 1991 film. The line stuck anyway, and in the 2001 sequel Hannibal he finally comes close, greeting her by phone with 'Well, hello, Clarice'.

Many Bond fans 'remember' Dolly, Jaws's girlfriend in Moonraker, smiling back at him with which feature?

Braces would have matched his metal teeth, a joke the scene seems to invite; yet no home-video release of the film shows her wearing any.

Which is the real spelling of Kellogg's ring-shaped cereal fronted by Toucan Sam?

Froot Loops all taste the same: Kellogg's has confirmed that every colour of loop shares one blended fruit flavour, whatever the rainbow suggests.

What is the official name of the bear in the US Forest Service's 'Only you can prevent wildfires' campaign?

Smokey Bear has never had a 'the': two songwriters slipped it into a 1952 hit to keep the rhythm, and the longer name caught on from there.

Which is the real US spelling of Oreo's cookie with extra creme?

Double Stuf has one F on American packs. Oreo itself arrived in 1912, four years after Hydrox, the lookalike rival that had the idea first.

What really completes the warning on US passenger-side car mirrors, 'Objects in mirror ___ closer than they appear'?

'Are' is the wording US safety rules require on the curved passenger mirror, which widens the view but shrinks the image, so a car behind looks farther away than it is.

Coca-Cola's script logo was penned by the bookkeeper of which Atlanta pharmacist, the drink's inventor?

John Pemberton's bookkeeper, Frank Robinson, also named the drink, liking the alliteration of the two Cs, then wrote it out in the flowing script still used today.

Some 'remember' 52 US states, but which really joined 50th and last?

Hawaii joined in August 1959, months after Alaska, so the 49-star flag made for Alaska was official for only a year before the 50-star design replaced it in July 1960.

What did Apollo 13's Jim Lovell actually radio to Mission Control in 1970?

'Houston, we've had a problem' was Lovell repeating what crewmate Jack Swigert had just reported; the 1995 film Apollo 13 switched it to the present tense that everyone now quotes.

Which 1939 film gave the American Film Institute its fourth-ranked movie quote, a line spoken to a dog and usually misquoted?

The Wizard of Oz line is 'Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore', not 'I don't think'. Toto was a female terrier named Terry, paid $125 a week, more than many of the human cast.

Which word completes the whispered promise in Field of Dreams, 'If you build it, ___ will come', often misquoted with 'they'?

'He' turns out to be Ray's late father, who steps out of the corn as a young ballplayer and stays for a game of catch with the son he never made peace with.

Which actor said 'Elementary, my dear Watson' in the 1939 film The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes?

Basil Rathbone made the line famous on screen, yet Conan Doyle's Holmes never says 'Elementary, my dear Watson' in any of the original stories.

At which railway station did a study find people wrongly recalling a bombed clock as stopped ever since 1980?

Bologna Centrale's clock was repaired soon after the 1980 bombing and kept time for years; only in 1996 was it stopped for good at 10:25, the minute of the blast, as a memorial.

In the classic word-list test of false memory, what is the never-presented word that people 'recall' called?

The critical lure is the one word a list is built around but never contains; people recall it about as often as words they really heard, and many say they are sure it was read out.

In a 1998 word-list test, what happened to false memories when people were warned about the trick first?

They persisted: McDermott and Roediger found that a warning beforehand reduced the false memories but did not stop people 'remembering' words that were never on their lists.

In a 2008 word-list memory test, what made people likelier to 'recognise' words they were never shown?

Sleep deprivation left volunteers likelier to 'recognise' theme words missing from their lists; a later study found a sleepless night also made people absorb more false details about events they then saw.

Elizabeth Loftus convinced some adults they had been lost as children in what kind of place?

A shopping mall. Her student Jim Coan first tried the story on his 14-year-old brother, who within days was 'remembering' the flannel shirt of the old man who rescued him.

An Elizabeth Loftus study planted which false belief about students' childhood visits to Disneyland?

Being licked on the ear by Pluto. Some students fed a fake story about a rogue Pluto came to believe it had happened to them, and afterwards said they would pay less for a Pluto souvenir.

Which M*A*S*H star did Elizabeth Loftus try to persuade that hard-boiled eggs once made him sick?

Alan Alda, hosting Scientific American Frontiers, said he was pretty sure it never happened, yet nudged his answer one notch on her questionnaire, which Loftus counted as the effect at work.

Which 1994 book set out Elizabeth Loftus's case against memories of abuse 'recovered' in therapy?

The Myth of Repressed Memory made Loftus a hate figure to believers in recovered memories, and for a time security guards watched over her lectures.

Which TV personality do many Americans falsely remember handing out Publishers Clearing House prize cheques?

Ed McMahon never worked for Publishers Clearing House: he fronted its rival, American Family Publishers, whose envelopes carried a drawing of his face.

What do psychologists call unknowingly filling gaps in memory with invented details?

Confabulation, sometimes called 'honest lying', is one explanation offered for the Mandela effect: the mind plugs a gap with the likeliest story, then sincerely remembers it.

Wernicke–Korsakoff syndrome, which leaves some heavy drinkers inventing memories, stems from lacking which vitamin?

Vitamin B1, or thiamine, runs low in many heavy drinkers; the damaged brain loses recent memories and covers the blanks with made-up stories it fully believes.

In a 2008 study, what made people better at resisting false details planted after an event?

A placebo 'memory drug' did it: told that a fake drug called R273 would sharpen their minds, people checked their memories more strictly at test and let fewer planted details through.

In a 1980 car-crash memory study, people rejected misleading details when told they came from whom?

The driver's lawyer had a side to argue, so people discounted him; the same false details with nobody named behind them slipped straight into their memories of the crash slides.

Which actor, as police chief Brody in Jaws, says 'You're gonna need a bigger boat', often misquoted with 'We're'?

Roy Scheider's one-liner was drowned out by screaming audiences, so the filmmakers raised its volume and lengthened Brody's reaction. It ranks 35th among the American Film Institute's movie quotes.

In the King James Bible's First Epistle to Timothy, what exactly is called 'the root of all evil'?

The love of money is the culprit in 1 Timothy 6:10, a qualifier the popular misquote drops. Some modern translations soften it further, to 'a root of all kinds of evil'.

Which word, missing from the misquote 'blood, sweat and tears', did Winston Churchill offer MPs in May 1940?

Toil came second in Churchill's real list, 'blood, toil, tears and sweat', in his first speech as prime minister. He had tried out similar versions of the phrase in 1931 and 1939.

Which American wrote 'The report of my death was an exaggeration', usually misquoted as 'greatly exaggerated'?

Mark Twain wrote it in 1897 after a cousin who had been seriously ill in London was confused with him. 'The report of my illness grew out of his illness,' he explained.

The puzzle often misspelled 'Rubix Cube' is named after an architecture professor from which country?

Hungary's Ernő Rubik invented it in 1974 as a sculptor and architecture teacher. Test batches reached Budapest toy shops in 1977, three years before it went worldwide under his name.

Which is the real spelling of the children's modelling compound first made in Cincinnati as a wallpaper cleaner?

Play-Doh began in the 1930s as a putty for lifting coal soot off wallpaper. It became a toy in the 1950s after a nursery school teacher saw it could be used for art projects.

Which 1967 film's hero says 'Mrs. Robinson, you're trying to seduce me', a statement usually misquoted as a question?

The Graduate has Dustin Hoffman's Benjamin blurt it out as a nervous accusation, then add 'Aren't you?' The American Film Institute ranks the line 63rd among movie quotes.

Where off Cape Town did Nelson Mandela spend the first 18 years of his sentence, working in a lime quarry?

Robben Island's prisoners ran what they called a 'university', lecturing one another on their own areas of expertise. Mandela was moved to Pollsmoor Prison on the mainland in 1982.

Which NBC news anchor was suspended in 2015 after wrongly recalling that his helicopter was hit by a rocket in Iraq?

Brian Williams had really been in a helicopter about half an hour behind the one that was hit; his landed because of a sandstorm. NBC took him off the air for six months.

Which word really ends Bette Davis's warning in All About Eve that 'it's going to be a bumpy ___'?

A bumpy night is what Margo Channing promises her party guests, not a ride. Bette Davis got the part only after Claudette Colbert, first cast as Margo, injured her back.

Which word did Hardy really use when telling Stan Laurel 'Well, here's another ___ mess you've gotten me into'?

A nice mess was Hardy's lament every time. The 'fine' version was never spoken by him: it crept in from the title of the duo's film Another Fine Mess.

Which word begins Gandalf's last cry to the Fellowship as he falls from the bridge in Moria, '___, you fools!'?

Fly is Tolkien's word, shouted as the falling Balrog's whip wraps around Gandalf's legs and drags him over the edge.

Which Dickens orphan's plea 'Please, sir, I want some more' is usually misquoted as 'Can I have some more?'

Oliver Twist did not volunteer: the starving workhouse boys drew lots, and the loser had to ask for another helping of gruel.

Which Clint Eastwood film contains the question 'Do I feel lucky?', widely misquoted as 'Do you feel lucky, punk?'

Dirty Harry's inspector puts the question to a surrendering bank robber, then pulls the trigger on an empty gun. 'Go ahead, make my day' comes from Sudden Impact, twelve years later.

Which 1987 film gave us 'Greed, for lack of a better word, is good', usually shortened to three words?

Wall Street's Gordon Gekko says the full line to a shareholders' meeting. It echoes financier Ivan Boesky, who told Berkeley business graduates in 1986, 'Greed is all right, by the way.'

Which star does Faye Dunaway play in Mommie Dearest, whose 'No wire hangers, ever!' is usually misquoted with 'more'?

Joan Crawford's outburst became the film's advertising line within a month, once Paramount saw audiences treating the drama as an unintentional comedy.

Which Mel Brooks comedy repeats the misquote 'We don't need no stinking badges!' from The Treasure of the Sierra Madre?

Blazing Saddles borrowed a wording already aired on The Monkees. In the 1948 original the bandit says 'I don't have to show you any stinkin' badges!'

Which star tells Cary Grant 'Why don't you come up sometime and see me?' in a 1933 comedy, a line usually misquoted?

Mae West reworded her She Done Him Wrong line herself as 'Come up and see me sometime' in her next film, I'm No Angel, released the same year. That is the version people remember.

Which 1950 film closes on 'All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up', usually misquoted with his name last?

Sunset Boulevard's faded star Norma Desmond says it to newsreel crews she mistakes for a film unit, in a mansion overrun with police and reporters.

Which word did Paul Revere really use for the king's troops on his midnight ride, rather than 'British'?

The Regulars are coming out was his warning, and he did not shout it: the countryside was full of patrols, and most Massachusetts colonists still considered themselves British.

Which pope declared Mother Teresa a saint in 2016, far later than many people 'remember' it happening?

Francis canonised her in St Peter's Square in September 2016, nineteen years after her death. John Paul II had beatified her in 2003, the second of three steps towards sainthood.

Which carpenter was executed for the Lindbergh baby kidnapping, a crime many people 'remember' as never being solved?

Bruno Hauptmann was traced through a ransom gold certificate with a licence plate number pencilled in its margin. He went to the electric chair in 1936, still protesting his innocence.

Which Texas governor was wounded in JFK's limousine in Dallas, a car often 'remembered' as carrying only four people?

John Connally and his wife Nellie sat just forward of the Kennedys, with two Secret Service agents in the front seats, so the car held six. He recovered from his wounds.

What did psychologists Roger Brown and James Kulik name the vivid recollections people form on hearing shocking news?

Flashbulb memories are held with great confidence but are not especially accurate: people retested nearly three years after the Challenger shuttle explosion were sure of accounts that had drifted.

Which Swiss child psychologist kept a vivid memory of a kidnap attempt that his nanny later admitted inventing?

Jean Piaget was 15 when the nanny wrote to confess there had never been a kidnapper at his pram. The memory stayed vivid even after he knew it was false, which fascinated him.

One false-memory study used a manipulated photo to convince half its volunteers they had once taken which kind of trip?

A hot air balloon ride that never happened came back in detail to 50% of the people Wade and colleagues tested. A single faked picture of the event was enough to plant it.

What do psychologists call the way details met after an event, such as a leading question, distort a witness's memory?

The misinformation effect is a form of retroactive interference: what is learned later disrupts what was stored first. Young children are especially open to it for peripheral details.

Which ex-Beatle did a court find had 'subconsciously' copied 'He's So Fine', a textbook case of cryptomnesia?

Harrison admitted knowing the Chiffons' hit, and the court ruled 'My Sweet Lord' an infringement 'even though subconsciously accomplished'. Lennon doubted it: 'He must have known.'

Which Founding Father did a 2016 study find Americans naming as a past head of state more often than several real ones?

Alexander Hamilton outscored several genuine office-holders in the recognition test, while Franklin Pierce and Chester Arthur were picked less than 60% of the time. The researchers put it down to false fame.

Which Native American tale did Frederic Bartlett have English readers retell, showing how memory reshapes stories?

The War of the Ghosts came back less accurate with every retelling: details that made no sense to Bartlett's Edwardian readers were dropped or turned into something more familiar.

Which is the real brand name of the cheese cracker first sold by a Dayton, Ohio, bakery in 1921?

Cheez-It is singular on the box, though most people add an s. The cracker came from a Dayton company that also baked gingersnaps and, during the First World War, hardtack.

Which is the real spelling of the fur-mad villain's name in Dodie Smith's The Hundred and One Dalmatians?

Cruella de Vil is a pun on 'cruel' and 'devil', underlined by her country house's nickname, Hell Hall. Translators keep the trick: in Polish she is Cruella De Mon.

Which is the real name of the Quaker Oats cereal, sold since 1963, that is fronted by a cartoon naval officer?

Cap'n Crunch has long been out of uniform: he was drawn for decades with the one, two or three sleeve bars of an ensign, lieutenant or commander, while a real US Navy captain wears four.

Which soft drink, created by a pharmacist in Waco, Texas, has had no full stop in its name since 1950?

Dr Pepper dropped the dot in 1950 for style and legibility, after using it on and off in logos for decades. Early customers at the Waco soda fountain simply ordered 'a Waco'.

Which comedian, not Sarah Palin herself, said 'I can see Russia from my house' in a 2008 Saturday Night Live sketch?

Tina Fey delivered it in the season premiere, in a line written by SNL producer Mike Shoemaker. Her Palin impersonation went on to win an Emmy.

Which sculptor's The Thinker rests his chin on the back of his hand, not a fist on his forehead as many picture?

Auguste Rodin first called the figure The Poet and made it for a doorway named The Gates of Hell. Foundry workers gave it the name that stuck.

Which subtitle did the original Star Wars only gain in its 1981 re-release, four years after it reached cinemas?

A New Hope and the Episode IV label were both missing in 1977, when the film was simply Star Wars. George Lucas has backed many reissues since, including the 1997 Special Edition.

Which Bob Seger song does Tom Cruise dance to in Risky Business, wearing a pink shirt and no sunglasses?

Old Time Rock and Roll plays as Cruise slides across the floor in just a pink shirt, socks and briefs. The Ray-Bans from the poster belong to other scenes, such as Joel's turn as a businessman in a sport coat.

Which name completes Hamlet's graveyard line 'Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, ___', usually misquoted with 'well'?

Horatio is the friend Hamlet is speaking to as he studies the dead jester's skull. The prince goes on to call Yorick 'a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy'.

With which South African leader, who had ordered his release, did Nelson Mandela share the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize?

F. W. de Klerk had legalised the banned parties and announced Mandela's unconditional release in February 1990. The two men received the prize together in Norway.

Which American actor's stage Holmes said 'Oh, this is elementary, my dear fellow', seeding a famous misquote?

William Gillette's line was sharpened to the famous four words by Clive Brook, the first Holmes of the talkies. Conan Doyle's detective never says them in any of the sixty stories.

Which bestseller of 'recovered' memories, written by a psychiatrist with his patient, fed the 1980s Satanic panic?

Michelle Remembers grew out of more than 600 hours of hypnosis in Victoria, British Columbia. Psychiatrist Lawrence Pazder later married the patient, and investigators failed to corroborate any of its claims.

Which studio made Shazzan, the 1960s genie cartoon sometimes blamed for false memories of a Sinbad film, 'Shazaam'?

Hanna-Barbera aired Shazzan on CBS from 1967, with a genie summoned by joining two halves of a ring. Its near-identical title is one suggested ingredient of the phantom film.

Which actor's Western hero is called after with 'Shane. Shane. Come back!', usually misquoted as 'Come back, Shane'?

Alan Ladd rides away wounded as young Joey shouts after him. Jack Palance played the hired gun he faces, and the line ranks 47th on the American Film Institute's list of movie quotes.

Which philosopher's Confessions told the 'let them eat cake' story when Marie Antoinette was only nine years old?

Rousseau pinned the remark on an unnamed 'great princess' and may have invented the anecdote altogether. There is no evidence that the French queen ever said it.

Which gangster-film star told his 1974 AFI tribute audience that he had never said 'You dirty rat!' on screen?

James Cagney was teasing the impressionist Frank Gorshin from the stage. The closest he came on film was 'That dirty, double-crossin' rat!' in Blonde Crazy.

Which baseball manager's jibe about nice guys in seventh place did reporters condense into 'Nice guys finish last'?

Leo Durocher was talking about the 1946 New York Giants, then next to last in the National League. He adopted the tidier version and made it the title of his autobiography.

Which Godfather actor posed in a coffin holding the 1982 magazine that had mistakenly called him dead?

Abe Vigoda took People magazine's slip with good humour, and whether he was still alive became a running joke for decades, complete with a website that tracked the answer from 2001.

Which forensic technique has cleared hundreds of prisoners, most convicted on a mistaken eyewitness identification?

DNA testing has shown how often confident witnesses are wrong: the Innocence Project found inaccurate eyewitness testimony behind 75% of 239 DNA exoneration cases it reviewed.

In which city did Nelson Mandela actually die, at home in the suburb of Houghton, in December 2013?

Johannesburg was where he died, surrounded by his family after a prolonged respiratory infection. He had first arrived in the city in 1941 and found work as a watchman at a mine.