› added 12 years ago

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TIL that William Shakespeare is the originator of knock knock jokes. The oldest written knock knock joke is found in his play, The Tragedy of Macbeth.

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pYApQ TIL Top Gear's international popularity was due largely to early episodes being shared illegally on the FinalGear forum when the show was only available in the UK. When the forum's founder passed away, Jeremy Clarkson posted a tweet acknowledging how important he had been to the show's success.
yQlW8 TIL that the proverb “curiosity killed the cat” was originally “care killed the cat”. In this instance, “care” meant “worry” or “sorrow for others”. The earliest mention of this proverb was in Shakespeare and it went unchanged for around 300 years. It suddenly changed in the early 20th century.
1Vm7 TIL In the ‘80s, a Welsh farmer grew so fed up with RAF flying so low over his house that he painted “Piss Off Biggles” in giant letters on the roof of his barn. This prompted the RAF to use the barn as a navigational landmark although flying higher to respect his wishes.
1oLX TIL Norwegian soldiers of the Telemark Battalion fighting in Afghanistan sometimes cried ‘To Valhalla, Oorah!’
mxgvx TIL that civil rights legend John Lewis once attended Comic-Con dressed as himself during the March on Selma. He led the children in a march around the convention center wearing the same kind of coat and backpack as he did at Selma.