› added 7 years ago

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TIL Ian McKellen was offered the role of Dumbledore after the death of Richard Harris. He turned it down because Harris once described McKellen as "technically brilliant, but passionless".

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v1xXD TIL the expression 'to lick into shape' originated in the ancient belief that bear cubs are born as formless lumps and need to be licked into their proper shape by their mothers
9rKm TIL Dr Pepper is the oldest soda that’s still selling in the US, and is a year older than Coke
9YB56 TIL that before Ian Fleming used "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" for his book about a magic car, the original phrase referred to the permission slip soldiers needed to leave the barracks to visit local brothels during WWI.
GYN0G TIL Rats have empathy. When offered the choice of a tempting chocolate treat, or rescuing a drowning rat, they chose to rescue the drowning rat.
N4Vb TIL … The Beatles literally stopped touring because their music could not be amplified loud enough to compete with screaming crowd noise, even with custom, purpose-built amplifiers.