What does Fanshawe College president Howard Rundle, popcorn mogul Orville Redenbacher and hollywood actor Don Knotts have in common? If you answered DNA you just might be right.

The popular Arts and Entertainment Network series Biography which was first hosted by veteran actor Peter Graves, and later by Jack Perkins, has profiled the lives of notable figures in the history of entertainment, sports, arts, science, politics and warfare. The show is notable for its in-depth research, which often provides viewers with little-known information about well-known people. How Rundle, Redenbacher and Knotts became linked is the stuff that has made this program legendary.

Several years ago a chance meeting between Rundle and Knotts at a conference Rundle was attending and Knotts was speaking at uncovered some strange coincidences between the two after they had struck up a conversation in the hotel bar. A&E uncovered what drew the duo to each other was their drink, both were sipping on Shirley Temple's.

Even more uncanny was the revelation that both listed Temple's The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer as one of their favourite movies of all time, and both conceded they had major crushes on Temple in their younger days, and sipping on a Shirley Temple was one way they paid homage to their youthful days.

Even more bizarre was while the two spent hours at the bar chatting many people commented to them that they looked like Redenbacher brothers. A strange coincidence to them, but the conference in Brazil, Indiana, is also the birthplace to Orville Redenbacher. The comments got the pair thinking, “Could we be related in some way, distant cousins perhaps, or even more?” Upon returning to Hollywood Knotts contacted a friend at A&E and they picked up on the story.

“We were really intrigued by the possibilities,” said Timothy Fabler, a producer and researcher at A&E. “We liked the possibilities so we began to do research on all three men. I don't want to give too much away because I want you to tune in, but this is where it gets weird. Did you know all three men had the same tattoo of the sun on their left buttock in approximately the same position? The truth is stranger than fiction.”

A DNA test was performed on all three men, even though Redenbacher and Knotts have since passed away. The results will come to light on this Thursday's episode of Biography airing at 9p.m., and the shows producers are promising some startling revelations you won't want to miss.

Disclaimer: Stories printed in the Fanshawe Distorter are in fact fictious. Any resemblance to persons real or dead is intentional and entirely hilarious. Proudly distorting the truth since 2005.