› added 1 year ago

42

TIL about Mehmet Ali Ağca. Dude murdered a journalist and shot Pope John Paul II, got released from prison, then went to the Vatican and asked to meet Pope Francis and write a book with Dan Brown.

JYQZ8 TIL that boxer Jimmy Doyle, who died fighting Sugar Ray Robinson for the Welterweight title in 1947, challenged Robinson to the fight in order to buy his mother a house. After Doyle's death, Robinson gave the earnings from his next four fights to Doyle's mother so she could buy that house.
xV850 TIL that after Part 1 of "Who Shot Mr. Burns" aired, someone on Usenet correctly guessed the identity of Mr. Burns' killer the same night. However, the producers were unable to contact this person after Part 2 aired, because the person used a college email address that was defunct by that time.
GEDN TIL in 1806 Mary Bateman convinced hundreds of people her hen could predict the world’s end. Bateman sold protective wards for a shilling, but was exposed after a doctor caught her shoving handwritten eggs into her hen. Bateman then practiced medicine and was executed for poisoning her patients.
neOx7 TIL about Edward St John, an Australian politician who threw away his political career in his maiden speech in 1967 when he took the opportunity to criticise his own party in order to restore the honour of a Naval Officer wrongly censured after a collision at sea.
BvWd TIL that there is a strong correlation between the display of middle initials and positive evaluation of intellectual capacity and social status.