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TIL: In 1963, an East German soldier named Wolfgang Engels stole a tank and drove it through the Berlin Wall at top speed to try and escape.

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rRdEW TIL of Terence Kirk, an American soldier who was captured by the Japanese on Pearl Harbor day and spent the entire war at a brutal prison camp. While there, he built a camera out of scrap, and took many pictures. After the war, he was put under a gag order, and only told his story 38 years later.
QNJjE TiL jazz musician Lester Young is said to have popularized the use of the word "cool" to mean something fashionable. He also coined the term "bread" as slang for money, often asking "How does the bread smell?" when asking how much a gig was going to pay.
KOMDB TIL after his friend's eyes froze over from removing fogged goggles during a test flight, John Macready began working with Bausch & Lomb to create goggles better suited for flights into the upper atmosphere. Using his original shape, tint and fit, the design would become the Ray-Ban Aviators.
pnPA TIL that there is a full contact Jousting World Championship title that is fought for every year, often resulting in serious injury
KOjYE TIL to avoid being targets of violence, reporters notebooks took on a smaller format in the Civil Rights Movement and it stuck