› added 9 years ago

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TIL the nickname ‘Skip’ identifies someone who has the same first name as their grandparent but not their parent, essentially 'skipping’ a generation.

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lo5mN TIL that British Prime Minister Gordon Brown was forced to apologize to the mother of a dead serviceman in 2009 after he sent her a handwritten letter of condolence that misspelled her name. The Sun tabloid then attacked Brown for making the mistake, & in doing so managed to make the same mistake.
NggN TIL that until 1966 the Catholic Church had a list of forbidden books which aimed to protect the faith of followers by preventing the reading of “immoral” books of authors such as Voltaire, Victor Hugo, Immanuel Kant, Descartes, Galilei and Pascal. Darwin’s works were never included in the list.
Oo1vX TIL Spade Cooley, country music star, was sentenced to life in prison for beating his wife to death in front of their daughter. He later received a 72-hour furlough from the prison hospital unit to play a benefit concert. After receiving a standing ovation he suffered a fatal heart attack backstage.
Eg4Qw TIL: The term "Tory" comes from the Middle Irish word "tóraí," which means "outlaw" or "robber." The name "Tory" was originally intended to be an insult, but it was eventually embraced by the party and its members.
W45X TIL that some Cuban cigar factories employed a “Lector” who would read newspapers, political treatises and classical literature aloud to help break the monotony of the cigar-rollers’ work, thus even illiterate cigar-rollers would be well-informed and familiar with great literature.