› added 7 years ago

139

TIL of Peter Conover Hains, who is the only Civil War veteran to also serve in World War I

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m0JP TIL Daniel Day-Lewis declined the role of Lincoln because he didn’t know if he could play such an iconic role. It was Leonardo DiCaprio who convinced him to take the role after Spielberg told him that Day-Lewis declined. It is unknown how DiCaprio convinced Day-Lewis to take the role.
69Law TIL 'Dr. Death' Harold Shipman, a GP in the UK, was convicted of murdering 15 patients and is suspected of killing over 250.
ebQJ TIL that the American gangster John Dillinger escaped from jail with a wooden pistol. After whittling it in his cell, in March 1934 he used the fake weapon to intimidate 33 people before getting a real machine gun. “Ha, ha, ha! And I did all this with a wooden gun!” he bragged while leaving.
vPXQj TIL the Nazis developed a spherical one-man tank called the "Kugelpanzer" meaning "ball tank." Its development and purpose are a mystery as the only surviving one was found with the Japanese in China by the Soviets and all other documentation lost.
6EMvZ TIL The Simpsons writer/producer Mike Reiss insists The Itchy & Scratchy Show is based on Herman and Katnip, which he calls a "cheap, ultra-violent knockoff" of Tom and Jerry. Director David Silverman supports this, stating Herman and Katnip "is hilarious because it's just bad."