› added 1 year ago

42

TIL of Ernest J. King, the American Chief of Naval Operations and one of the most disliked Allied leaders. Despite his capability, King had a short temper that made him many enemies. This led President Franklin D. Roosevelt to describe King as a man who "shaves every morning with a blow torch."

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

PJVw TIL World War II broke out before the VW Bug could go into production, so the Germans used Volkswagen parts to produce the Volkswagen Kübelwagen and the “Schwimmwagen” instead. The Schwimmwagen was basically an amphibious military version of the Beetle, and over 14,000 of them fought in WWII.
M7VeA TIL it's unknown for sure what William Shakespeare's life was like between the ages of 21-28 (1585-1592), from before he was a playwright in London. Speculation has ranged from him becoming a country schoolmaster, to becoming a soldier, to using London as an escape from punishment for poaching deer.
8aAQ4 TIL: Cats can recognize their owners voice and tone when they are calling for them from other voices and background noises. Their brain registers the sound, but the cat just can’t be bothered to respons.
yQNYw TIL that an escaped slave, Bass Reeves, was the phenomenal man who inspired The Lone Ranger!
AD5rg TIL the setting of the Chronicles of Narnia was based on a real Italian town now called Narni; C.S. Lewis got the idea for the place name after looking at an early 20th century atlas