› added 4 years ago

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TIL that during the 1956 Olympic torch relay, veterinary student Barry Larkin tricked onlookers by carrying a fake torch made of a chair leg, a pudding can, and flaming underpants. He managed to hand it over to the mayor of Sydney who gave a speech without realizing it was a hoax.

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R9G1 TIL that the Wright Brothers achieved flight in a plane that cost roughly $1,000 to build. In the race to fly, they beat Samuel Pierpont Langley, Secretary of the Smithsonian, who failed to achieve a successful flight, despite having $50,000 of government funding put toward his attempts.
gMdVL TIL that in 1956 the USAF used interceptors armed only with unguided rockets to try and shoot down a runaway target drone. All 208 rockets missed, starting bush fires as well as hitting buildings and cars in a nearby town. In total over 1,000 acres of land was burnt but there were no fatalities.
a8dkM TIL that Pizza Hut are ‘The Official Sponsor of Dominoes'
e0eb4 TIL the most generations in a family alive at once was 7, the youngest parent was only 15 years old when she had her child and the oldest generation was 109 years old
yQV7w TIL when Lord of the Rings cast members Orlando Bloom, Viggo Mortensen, Ian McKellen, Elijah Wood, Dominic Monaghan, Sean Astin, Billy Boyd, and Sean Bean got matching tattoos, John Rhys-Davies sent his stunt double to get the tattoo instead.