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TIL that a stockbroker named Nicholas Winton brought 669 Czechoslovakian Jewish children to England, saving their lives. He refused to take credit for his deed until his wife found a scrapbook of the children that he saved and gave it to the BBC. He turns 104 this year.

Oxae TIL Big Bird was supposed to be launched into space to encourage kid’s interest in space/NASA. Instead they went with a teacher named Christa McAuliffe, who unfortunately died when the Challenger Space Shuttle exploded during take off.
9wkJQ TIL of Thomas Midgley, possible the unluckiest Genius ever. He developed FCKW (extremely ozone-depleting), developed leaded gasoline (very negative environmental impact) and invented a lift to help himself, weakened by polio, out of bed (he died being strangled by it).
6a17 TIL of Steve Leech, a milkman who was doing his rounds, when he saw a shop on fire. He used 320 pints of milk to put it out, and was credited with saving 7 other stores. He received the award for “Hero Milkman of the Millennium.”
NXYE1 TIL: That in 2014, a doctor in Wales was handed a suspended sentence for faking Viagra prescriptions because he said he was too embarrassed to see his GP. Staff became suspicious because the doctor worked in a trauma and orthopaedic unit, where patients would not normally need drugs for impotence.
BgpEd TIL the concept of contact lenses was conceived in 1823 and was realized in 1887. The original lenses weren't meant for sight correction. Instead they were used to protect diseased eyes.