Hi I'm Josh Sundquist, from this channel, hopping in for John this week to host Mental
Floss on YouTube.
Did you know that actor Robert David Hall, famous as CSI lead Dr. Albert Robbins, is
missing both of his legs due to a car accident? Interestingly, he’s only 5 feet 8 inches
tall, and you have to respect his restraint because if I had two fake legs, which means
you can basically choose to be any height you want, I would make myself at least a foot
taller.
And that’s the first of many famous people who are missing body parts that I’m going
to tell you about today in honor of April being Amputee Awareness Month.
I'm going to broadly define "amputee" in this video to include not only limbs, but also
appendages, like fingers and ears, mostly because I want to mention that painter Vincent
van Gogh cut off his own ear. He then wrapped it up and gave it to a prostitute.
If only the doctor could've changed his timeline.
Adventurer Aron Ralston cut his own arm off with a dull pocket knife after being trapped
for 127 hours under a rock. Fortunately for Hollywood, he looks exactly like James Franco
and he happened to have a video camera with him.
Speaking of traumatic amputation stories that have been made into inspirational movies,
soul surfer Bethany Hamilton returned to competitive surfing after losing her arm in a shark attack.
Da na na na na na na na. That’s probably copyrighted music.
Due to an unfortunate accident involving a roast beef slicer at Arby’s, Former White
House Chief of Staff and Current Mayor of Chicago Rahm Emanuel is missing his right
middle finger.
Speaking of people who were unable to give the bird, legendary outlaw Jesse James lost
his middle finger while cleaning his gun. After his death, his body was positively identified
by that missing finger.
Also missing part of his finger, in this case due to an unfortunate door-slamming accident:
Actor Matthew Perry. Now you have an excuse to watch that re-run of Friends for the tenth
time. You’re welcome.
Ted Kennedy Jr, son of the late Senator Ted Kennedy, had his leg amputated due to childhood
cancer.
Actor Eric Stolhankse, best known for playing Rabbit in the movie Super Troopers, was born
without his right leg from the knee down. He also played Todd in Beerfest which kind
of makes you wonder if “Das Boot” was actually just his prosthesis filled up with
beer.
Turns out there a lot of amputee musicians, including jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald, who
lost both legs below the knee to diabetes,
and Rick Allen, the drummer for Def Leppard who lost an arm in a car accident.
The lead guitarists of both Black Sabbath and the Grateful Dead were missing fingers.
Respectively, they were
Tony Iommi, who lost two fingers in an industrial accident and
Jerry Garcia whose brother chopped off his finger with an ax, but that didn’t stop
him from inventing a delicious Ben and Jerry’s ice cream flavor.
Although she wasn’t a musician, she married one, I’m talking about Super Model Heather
Mills, who lost her leg in a collision with a London Police Officer on a Motorcycle.
Confederate General Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson got his nickname for standing stoically like
a stonewall in the face of battle, but he ended up losing a part of that wall, specifically
an arm, after he was shot by friendly fire.
Actor James Doohan lost a finger at D-Day before portraying Montgomery “Scotty”
Scott on Star Trek—hey look these guys were on Star Trek too
And finally we return to the salon and not a moment too soon, my hands are getting very
cold. Ahh, so much better. To tell you about Galileo. He lost three of his fingers after
his death, after which time they changed hands (no pun intended) for several centuries before
two of them disappeared for over one hundred years. But in 2009 they were discovered in
a jar and they now orbit the sun together from a museum in Italy.
Thanks for watching Mental Floss on YouTube, which is made with the help of all these very
nice people. Also, I’m Josh Sundquist. Please check out my channel for more amputee-related
humor.
Every week we endeavor to answer one of your mind-blowing questions. This week’s question
comes from KongLor who asks, “Why do fingernails grow so much faster than toenails? Or so it
seems.”
Well, KongLor, you’re right. Fingernails actually grow three times faster than toenails,
but nobody knows why. Here’s what we do know: your fingernails will grow fastest in
your teens and twenties and they also grow faster in the summer.
Thanks for asking that mind-blowing question and leave more mind-blowing questions in the
comments below.
Once again, I’m Josh Sundquist, and as they say in John’s hometown, don’t forget to
be awesome.