› added 9 years ago

131

TIL Billiards tables are sometimes referred to as pool tables because back in the 1800’s men used to pool together bets for horse races. These “pools” were in special rooms called poolrooms where owners placed billiard tables to pass the time.

dGwB TIL that students at Oxford University are required to wear academic dress for all of their examinations - including a suit, gown, bowtie, and colour coded carnation. Students wear different gowns depending on their grades. Cambridge no longer has such dress for exams.
pY548 TIL There's a School in Washington State in which their school bus has to cut through Canada twice a day every day to take kids to and from school
KYwEw TIL About the British Cycling team, mediocre until 2003, when new performance director implemented “aggregation of marginal gains,” leading to 178 world championships, 66 Olympic or Paralympic gold medals, and 5 Tour de France victories over 10 years
no97 TIL an 11 year old boy was elected mayor of Crabb, Texas on the platform that he would work to incorporate the town even though it meant he would lose his seat. He was quoted as saying that “the mayor isn’t there to sit and worry about keeping his job. He’s there to do what’s best for the people.”
a8vny Today I Learned of the Lost Battalion in WW1, an American unit who was surrounded for 6 days after pushing too far forward into German lines, subject to friendly artillery fire and their only contact was via carrier pigeon