› added 10 years ago

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TIL Quaker Oats bought the film rights to “Charlie & the Chocolate Factory”, financed its production, and changed the movie version’s name to “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory” in order to promote a new candy bar- the Wonka Bar.

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4kLPR TIL that Bob the Builder was originally British. When they decided to bring it to the US, they simply dubbed it into American English, I guess so that it would be more relatable for American kids.
0wm11 TIL an 11-yr-old girl in Zimbabwe rescued her 9-yr-old friend from a crocodile. Rebecca Munkombwe saw her friend being pulled under when swimming in a stream; she swam over, jumped on top of the croc & poked its eyes till it released its grip on her friend's leg. The 9-yr-old got only mild injuries.
a8Mey TIL that gunfights were still legal in the US less than 90 years ago
wLVD1 TIL Gwen Stacy was killed off in the Spider-Man comics because Stan Lee was in a rush to get to a meeting in Europe; Wanting to get his writers out of his office, he told them, "If that's what you wanna do, okay," without realizing what he'd just agreed to. He came back to find Gwen dead.
x6O55 TIL that in 1950, the Italian town of Colobraro declared itself “the town of the living dead” after a local curse and started wearing white sheets at night to protect themselves from misfortune.