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TIL that Jumbo the Elephant from PT Barnum's circus died while trying to save a midget from being run over by a train. Also, he wasn't called "Jumbo" because he was big but the other way around: big things are called "jumbo" because of him.

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p8aEA TIL in 1951, 650 British soldiers were being overwhelmed by 10,000 Chinese. When an American general asked for a status update, a brigadier responded "things are a bit sticky down there." No help was sent and almost all of the troops were killed because the general did not get the understatement.
KYQE9 TIL about Titian's Portrait of Cardinal Filippo Archinto (1558). 2 portraits were painted, one normal and one with the cardinal partially obscured behind an almost transparent curtain. The archbishop was appointed to office but was prevented from taking due to politics.
PYGjE TIL The Prime Minister of Canada doesn't have to be a member of parliament, but does need a seat to participate. In the 1925 election Liberal Party leader William Lyon Mackenzie King lost his seat while his party won and "governed from the hallway" before winning a by-election a few weeks later.
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KYo1R TIL there was a family with 7 generations alive at the same time