› added 9 years ago

63

TIL in the aftermath of the Iranian Embassy Siege in London an SAS trooper tried to take the only surviving gunman, Fowzi Nejad, back into the building to shoot him, but changed his mind when he realised the raid was being broadcast on live television.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

ADB44 TIL the coelacanth, a prehistoric lobed-finned fish, was believed to have become extinct in the Late Cretaceous Era 66 millions years ago, until they were rediscovered extant off the coast of South Africa in 1938.
4XdDJ TIL about James Barry (born Margaret Bulkley), an esteemed military surgeon who reformed medical standards across the British Empire. He performed one of the 1st C-sections where both mother & child survived. After Barry's death in 1865, it was discovered his assigned sex at birth was female.
NXdgb TIL that in 546 BCE Argos and Sparta had an all-star "Battle of the 300 Champions," where both sides picked their best hoplites and agreed to fight to the death. The two surviving Argives thought they'd won and left, leaving behind a single injured Spartan on the field. He also claimed victory.
w05J TIL that Ugandan dictator Idi Amin’s official title was “His Excellency, President for Life, Field Marshal Al Hadji Doctor Idi Amin Dada, VC, DSO, MC, Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Seas and Conqueror of the British Empire in Africa in General and Uganda in Particular.”
Y7geG TIL: The recommendation to walk 10,000 steps per day isn't based on science or medicine but was likely made up to help sell pedometers in the 1960's