Brain Snacks: Tasty Tidbits of Knowledge
Samuel Johnson compiled and wrote the first modern English dictionary, A Dictionary of the English Language (also known as "Johnson's Dictionary"). And he did it in only nine years. It was published in 1755. (Source.)
Johnson had Tourette's Syndrome. (It's a genetic disease which is characterized by uncontrolled movement and vocalization.) Unfortunately it caused a lot of trouble for poor Samuel Johnson. After all, people didn't know what "Tourette's Syndrome" was back in the day. (Source.)
Johnson was the subject, not the author, of another famous book: James Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson. It's considered one of the most important biographies in the English language. (Source.)