› added 7 years ago

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TIL Mark Twain based the character Huckleberry Finn on a real person named Tom Blankenship. Tom was four years older than Twain, and they knew each other growing up in Hannibal, Missouri.

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OdER TIL that due to budget issues, the Lord of the Rings trilogy was briefly planned as one film. Helm’s Deep and Saruman were cut, Rohan and Gondor merged with Éowyn as Boromir’s sister, etc. Upset by the idea of “cutting out half the good stuff,” Peter Jackson left Miramax and went to New Line Cinema.
6EwEQ TIL the oldest-known land animal in the world is a tortoise named Jonathan. He lives in West Africa.
9YGmG TIL of the Order of Victory, the highest award in WWII for the Soviet Union. It has 19 recipients, with five non-Soviets awarded: Dwight D. Eisenhower (USA), Bernard Montgomery (UK), Michael I (Romania), Michał Rola-Żymierskim (Poland) and Josip Broz Tito (Yugoslavia)
e0BmD TIL Prince planned on having a female alter ego named Camille by recording his vocals at a slower speed, so when it was played back, his pitch would be higher. The plan was scrapped and most of the tunes resurfaced later as album tracks or B-sides.