› added 9 years ago

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TIL The ampersand (&) was once the 27th letter of the alphabet.

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JYE64 TIL we don't know what Robert Hooke looked like because a pissed off Sir Isaac Newton "lost" Hooke's portrait after he died.
MeMwW TIL of Andrés Escobar, a Colombian footballer who scored an own goal, which eliminated their team from the tournament, and who was subsequently murdered for it. Each time he was shot the shooter shouted "Goal!"
6EXVQ TIL of Roland the Farter, court jester of Henry II. He was given a manor in exchange for having to perform 'One Jump, One Whistle, and One Fart' at each Christmas.
DmoP TIL that in order to prevent the Germans from taking control of Iceland during WWII, the British invaded Iceland and occupied it (with American assistance) for the duration of the war.
GAlNg TIL Author Morgan Robertson wrote a book called "The Wreck of the Titan" or "Futility" which, although written 14 years before, had an uncanny number of similarities to the wreck of the Titanic and now shares the names of the submarine that recently imploded.