re: Was it known that anakyi would be darth Vader?

I can remember watching the phantom menace as a teenager and recognizing certain things Palpatine would say, and his facial features when talking, being very similar to the emperor from the OT.
went home and googled the guy portraying Palpatine from Phantom Menace on dial up internet, took half an hour, and realized the same actor also played the emperor in the OT. mystery solved.