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TIL France will veto any candidate for UN Secretary General that cannot speak French. Kofi Annan was selected because he was the only French speaking candidate from an English speaking country. Ban Ki Moon took evening French classes to avoid a potential veto.

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wyM8 TIL that there is a correlation between losing a parent and achieving eminence in a profession, nearly 1/3 of US Presidents lost their father at a young age.
b970E TIL Heath Ledger was first choice to play in 2002's Spider-Man, but turned it down as he didn't want to take someone else's dream away of playing Spider-Man. Eventually the role went to Tobey Magurie.
w6W8 TIL that in 1978 a lone pilot flying in Australia reported to air traffic control that he was being accompanied by an aircraft above him. Asked to identify the aircraft, he radioed “It isn’t an aircraft”. His plane disappeared and has never been found.
5Y9jn TIL a Nazi party member that directed experiments on prisoners in Auschwitz, became president of Bayer after his release from prison.
w8r7 TIL Roald Dahl (author of ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’)was a real life James Bond who seduced women to gain intelligence during WWII.