BEYOND THE SPOTLIGHT

Quirky Collectors: Did you know these 10 strange Celebrity Hobbies?

Image: Karen Vardazaryan

Have you ever wondered what celebrities do in their free time? Most stars are used to being the center of attention, but beyond the luxuries, fancy dresses, and red carpets, they are people with different interests, tastes, and passions, just like us. However, they sprinkle a bit of stardust and extravagance on everything they do, including their hobbies.

It's time to lift the veil and explore the lesser-known side of fame. Let's peek behind the velvet curtain and discover the hobbies of these 10 world-famous celebrities; you won't believe number 10!

Image: Takafumi Yamashita

We all know Angelina Jolie is a tough woman, and it's not just because of her roles in action movies. Beyond her martial arts prowess and stunt work, she has a touch of Mrs. Smith in her real life too.

While many people collect coins or stamps, Angelina's hobby is a bit more exciting: she is into knives. The actress stated that she has a thing for daggers and blades, finding them utterly fascinating. And this is nothing new, since Angelina began her collection at the tender age of 11, hand in hand with her mother.

Image: Sean Bernstein

With iconic roles like Jack Sparrow and Willy Wonka, it's no surprise that Johnny Depp's off-screen hobbies are as eccentric as his characters. While perhaps not as intense as Angelina Jolie's knives, Depp's hobby is certainly unexpected: he collects dolls.

The actor revealed that his fascination with dolls began during his daughter's childhood when he would join her in playing with Barbies. Even as his daughter grew older, Depp continued to accumulate dolls, accessories, special editions, and even celebrity dolls to his extensive collection. Sounds fun, right?

Image: Nathan Dumlao

Behind legendary boxer Mike Tyson's tough exterior lies a remarkable soft spot for an unexpected creature. While many remember Tyson's famous tiger pet, it's his affinity for pigeons that really shows his tender side.

From a young age, Tyson has felt a deep connection with pigeons, and this bond has grown stronger over the years. He has dedicated himself to raising, protecting, and loving these feathered friends, taking his adoration to the next level by housing hundreds of them in his huge mansion.

Image: Zdeněk Macháček

Who could've ever imagined that Paris Hilton and frogs would be in the same sentence? Truth is indeed stranger than fiction!

Despite her stance against hunting and her deep respect for all creatures, big and small, Hilton has a peculiar predilection for hunting frogs.

Although it may sound bizarre, the actress stated that she finds immense joy in chasing and catching these slippery amphibians. Of course, she does it with care and compassion. Once caught, she releases her amphibious targets back into their natural habitat.

Image: Rich Smith

In the world of celebrities, it is no secret that their closets are often full to the brim with an array of designer dresses, suits, and coats. But when it comes to hangers, few stars can boast a collection as quirky and extensive as Penelope Cruz.

The Spanish actress has let slip her peculiar penchant for collecting hangers. Perhaps a little less fun than Johnny Depp's collection, Cruz has more than 500 hangers of different materials, colors, and sizes. So, if one day you find yourself face to face with the radiant Penelope Cruz, you'll know just the unique gift to bring her way.

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Okay, let's be real; there's nothing unusual about this hobby, but we couldn't resist putting the iconic Meryl Streep in the spotlight. In a world where eccentricity reigns supreme, Meryl shines with her simplicity.

The renowned actress, known for her breathtaking performances on the silver screen, has an ordinary hobby: knitting. That's right, she dedicates her free time to making cozy garments, and she has even knitted pieces that she used in some of her films. Admit it, who wouldn't jump at the chance to wrap themselves in a sweater made by Meryl Streep herself?

Image: Samuel Ramos

Collecting coins, spoons, buttons, or even dolls and knives may require little space, but Tom Hanks' passion ventures into a realm that demands a bit more room: typewriters.

The beloved actor has compiled a collection of these mechanical marvels at his home, a habit that traces its origins back to his youthful days at 17.

His devotion to typewriters has even led him to write a book containing 17 captivating stories.

Image: Erik Mclean

When it comes to passions, some transcend mere collections. Take the case of Nicolas Cage, for example. He's not just a casual comic book fan; he elevates his love for comics to another level, infusing it into every aspect of his life.

In fact, it is said that his own stage name pays homage to a Marvel comic book hero, Luke Cage (the actor's real last name is Coppola).

And it doesn't stop there; Cage also created a comic book with his son, and dabbled in various acting roles related to heroes and other comic book characters. He is what we would call a true fan.

Image: Courtney Cook

When the topic of beauty arises, it's almost impossible not to conjure up thoughts of Brad Pitt. But beyond his striking looks, this actor has a talent for creating beauty in more ways than one.

In a revelation that may surprise many, Brad stated that he delved into the art of pottery during the 2020 lockdown. Since then, he has been in love with the activity, even though he may not indulge in it as frequently as before.

Imagine drinking a cup of delicious coffee from a mug made by the hands of Brad Pitt himself. That elevates the entire experience to new heights.

Image: Sonika Agarwal

When we encounter an insect, there's only one thing most of us can do: jump and scream. But for the beautiful and talented Claudia Schiffer, these little friends are not a threat at all. Quite the contrary, they're a source of fascination and wonder.

The renowned model and actress has shared her deep connection with the insect kingdom. It all began with spiders, but her curiosity soon spread to butterflies, beetles, and beyond.

Surprising, right? But also a testament to the diverse passions that lie beneath the surface of even the most glamorous.

The creators behind timeless verses

Who said Humpty Dumpty was an egg? Stories of 10 ageless nursery rhymes

Image: Sven Brandsma

We have been singing the same nursery rhymes to little kids for years and years, often without considering the words we are repeating. Some of these songs, narrating the adventures of farm animals, stars, and itsy bitsy spiders, have very cryptic lyrics that we learned as infants and never again questioned. Who wrote these rhymes? How long have humans been singing them to one another? In this article, we unveil the stories behind 10 timeless verses.

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Do you know the five stanzas of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star?" Very few people do. The ultimate lullaby belongs to the opening verses of "The Star", a poem written in 1806 by English author Jane Taylor. The poem was originally published in Rhymes for the Nursery, a collection by her and her sister Ann.

The couplets are set to the very famous French melody officially called "Ah! vous dirai-je, maman" ("Ah, will I tell you, mom"). It’s a universal classic from 1761; Mozart himself had composed a set of variations based on the melody. However, it wasn’t until thirty years after the Taylor sisters’ publication that another book proposed singing their poem to the catchy music. The nursery rhyme "Baa, Baa, Black Sheep" uses a variant of the same tune.

Image: nikles5

Nowhere in the poem is it mentioned that Humpty Dumpty is an anthropomorphic egg. The lyrics are enigmatic and many attempts have been made to link them to historical figures, like kings or battle heroes. The first version of the rhyme appeared in writing in 1797 in Juvenile Amusements, a music collection by English composer Samuel Arnold. It is believed that "Humpty Dumpty" was 18th-century slang for a clumsy person.

Why an egg, then? Some believed the poem was a riddle to which the answer was that Humpty Dumpty was not a human, but some fragile thing. It was none other than Lewis Carrol, author of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, who first depicted Humpty Dumpty explicitly as looking like an egg. The character appears on a wall in the popular book’s 1871 sequel, Through the Looking-Glass, where Alice meets him and points out how much like an egg he looks.

Image: Rod Long

"Mary Had a Little Lamb" is based on a true story. It was first published in 1830 by American writer Sarah Josepha Hale. She was a teacher who schooled girls and boys in her hometown, Newport, New Hampshire. One day, a student named Mary showed up accompanied by her pet lamb. This incident, the children’s reactions, and the obvious affection between Mary and her lamb —who "followed her everywhere she went"—, eventually inspired Hale to write a three-stanza poem called Mary’s Lamb.

In the same year, a composer from Boston, Lowell Mason, rearranged the poem and set it to music to have a singable version. We still use the words Mason wrote, but the melody we sing today is not the one he composed. We usually sing it to an 1867 tune known as "Merrily We Roll Along."

Image: Patrick Baum

For context about how old this song is, Mozart wouldn’t be born until 50 years after its earliest known version. "Old MacDonald Had a Farm" appears in a 1706 opera by English writer and composer Thomas d'Urfey. The play, The Kingdom of the Birds, included a song called "In the Fields in Frost and Snow", which was a very near version of the song we know today, down to the iconic "Here a Boo, there a Boo, every-where a Boo".

It is unknown whether this was already a popular song that d’Urfey quoted in his play. What we know, though, is that after his opera the song became very widespread, and eventually became a folk song with varying versions in Britain, Ireland, and North America.

Image: Nils Söderman

This one was conceived from the start as a song. The rhyme has only four lines. The first printing of the song is dated 1852 and attributed to author and teacher Eliphalet Oram Lyte. The melody, however, was very different from the one that was later popularized. It wasn’t until 1881 that the tune as we know it today was attached to the words.

The current version of Row, Row, Row Your Boat is intended to be sung as a four-part round canon. That means that the melody of each line can be combined to harmonize with any of the others. That’s why it’s usually taught to children and popularly used to teach choir singing.

Image: Mert Toker

Children from as far back as the Late Middle Ages might have already been singing this song. The earliest printed version of nursery rhymes about the London Bridge falling appeared in England in 1744 in Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book, though the rhyme may have been sung long before this.

There are many myths behind the lyrics of this song, from claiming that the bridge falls because of Viking attacks, to stating that the "fair Lady" mentioned is Virgin Mary.

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This beloved nursery folk song was only born in 1938 when it was published as "The Bus" in the American Childhood magazine. Verna Hills, born in 1898 in Boston, conceived this tune to distract the little ones during long bus rides. That’s why the repetitive yet catchy lyrics enlist parts of the moving bus while adding some mimic or sound to go with it. "The Bus" eventually became a folk song also popular in Canada, the UK, and Australia.

The song is believed to be based on "Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush", an old English nursery rhyme about a group of young ones going about everyday chores. This one had been set to music from an opera published in mid-1700s London. Its melody and rhythm are very similar to the one we know today.

Image: ErikSmit

Also known as the "Spider Song," this rhyme has received different names throughout English-speaking countries. Its earliest appearance seems to have been in Arthur Walbridge North’s 1910 book Camp and Camino in Lower California, except that it mentions a "blooming, bloody spider" instead.

In varying versions and regions, the spider has also been called "eency weency" and "teeny weeny." Other countries added further variations to one of the most famous nursery rhymes ever. In France, it’s a gypsy spider; in the Netherlands, it’s a beetle; and in Norway, the spider is called Peter.

Image: Juan Pablo Serrano

The timeless finger-counting nursery rhyme was designed to teach children coordination and dexterity. Famously, the words match the narration of the fates of 5 pigs while folding the fingers on a child’s hand one by one.

The first time the poem appeared in writing was in 1728, in a medley called The Nurses Song. Since then, over the decades, varying versions have been written. Some say it may have been inspired by "To Market, To Market," also known as "To Market, To Market, to Buy a Fat Pig," another folk nursery rhyme with a first version that dates back as far as 1598.

Image: Element5 Digital

You probably have noticed that the iconic ABC song uses the same melody as the aforementioned "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star"; Ah! vous dirai-je, maman. However, the lyrics were not applied to the melody until 1835, when Boston publisher Charles Bradlee decided to borrow the familiar tune to sing the alphabet to it, as a strategy to help children learn letters through a catchy and well-known melody. It became a preschool classic, and it has been adapted to be used in many languages other than English.