› added 6 years ago

78

TIL that Gayla Peevey (the ten year old who became famous from singing "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas"), was actually given a hippopotamus for Christmas, which she donated to the local zoo.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

kJ4wE TIL the "metals of antiquity" are gold, silver, copper, tin, lead, iron, and mercury.
rjj4 TIL of Ewen Cameron, who in the the 50s ran experiments on humans which involved giving several electric shocks a week, taping blacked out football helmets to their heads and playing repetitive messages in their ears for months at a time. Some patients apparently forgot who they were and how to talk
yVk1M TIL that in 1999 there was a TV show called The Chimp Channel starring chimpanzees and orangutans that spoofed popular culture
8alBG TIL That while Pattie Boyd was married to George Harrison and sleeping with Eric Clapton, the two musicians fought for her love with a formal guitar duel that lasted over 2 hours. Clapton won.
wKW TIL tennis players’ grunts offer the grunter an advantage. Not because the noise is distracting, but because it covers up the sound the racket makes when it hits the ball, making it difficult to judge how hard it’s hit and with what spin the ball has.