Post * 7a6X — Curious Curator

› added 11 years ago

53

TIL that Gandalf hits his head by accident in The Fellowship of the Ring, in Bag End, but Ian Mckellen played it off so well that Peter Jackson kept it in the movie! (#41 in link)

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7daM TIL that after a 1946 plane crash, Howard Hughes decided he did not like the design of the hospital bed he was laying in. He called in his engineers and had them design a new bed that would allow someone with severe burns to move freely. It became the prototype for the modern hospital bed.

QNGX TIL that gunpowder was initially invented searching for an elixir of immortality

VBddm TIL in 1923, jockey Frank Hayes won a race at Belmont Park despite being dead. He had a heart attack mid-race but remained in the saddle as his horse crossed the finish line. He is the only dead man to win a race and it was the only win of his career.

ADgwd TIL that France won a war over China in 1885 resulting in the creation of French Indochina

W77Qd TIL that during the 1896 Olympics, nobody knew how to throw a discus because it was the first international discus competition ever. Greek competitors tried to imitate Myron's ancient greek discobolus statue, but the imitation was not required.