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TIL Paul McCartney, when writing Eleanor Rigby, named her after a costar and a store, only later to find a Grave of Eleanor Rigby near where John Lennon and Paul met.

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oRZaE TIL "Jingle Bells" was one of the first songs to broadcast from space, in a Christmas-themed prank by Gemini 6 astronauts Tom Stafford and Wally Schirra.
l9Y1 TIL when Darwin was studying a Madagascar orchid whose flower had a foot long nectar filled tube, he hypothesized it had an as yet unknown pollinating moth with a proboscis of the same length, a length unprecedented at the time. Not until 21 years after his death was the moth finally discovered.
d9AK TIL that in 1982 900 children from Mozambique went to East Germany to complete their secondary education and become the new socialist elite leaders of Mozambique. Problem was, when they returned in 1988, the Mozambique was no longer a socialist country
KOQgJ TIL that Retta, the actress who played Donna Meagle on Parks and Recreation, graduated from Duke University, worked as a chemist before doing stand-up and moving to LA, and is also the niece of former Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.
PYQVO TIL The Lord of the Rings trilogy recieved in total 475 film awards out of 800 nominations, making it the most awarded film series in cinematic history