› added 9 years ago

70

TIL that a man claimed the only unclaimed habitable area left on earth, Bir Tawil, so that his daughter could be a real princess.

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GYW54 TIL the ribbon that signified the opening of the Sydney Harbour bridge was slashed early by the sword of Captain Francis de Groot, who rode up on a horse and claimed the bridge in the name of “the decent and respectable people of New South Wales”.
b67jp TIL Jimi Hendrix joined the Army after he was caught Joyriding and given the choice between prison or service. He served in the 101st Airborne and was qualified as a Paratrooper. Due to his inability to function in an authority environment, he was given a general discharge under honorable condition.
d8jN9 TIL that following the Civil War Robert E Lee was stricken of his citizenship and had to apply for it back. Instead of the letter reaching the president it was given as a souvenir to a friend of the secretary of state.
xVJoD TIL that "Baby Huey" was a 400lbs Chicago soul singer who died in 1970 at age 26 after releasing a single album. The album later became hugely influential on early hip-hop artists, eventually being sampled on hundreds of tracks over the past ~40 years
5YlnD TIL: In 1209, a student of Oxford University apparently killed a woman and fled. In retaliation, the townspeople hanged three students. The school suspended operations and the faculty all feared the mob. Many of the facility then moved to Cambridge and founded a new university there.