› added 4 years ago

174

TIL Nigeria started a famine in 1968 that would kill 2-3 million people, prompting one of the largest humanitarian crises of all time. To which Nigeria responded "If the children must die first, then that is too bad, just too bad."

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

Z8xR4 TIL of Brian Spencer, a former NHL hockey player who's father, upon hearing his son was starting in his first game, held a Canadian TV station hostage and forced them to broadcast it, before being shot and killed. After his career, Brian too was shot & killed during a robbery after buying crack.
6ZdQ TIL that in 1998, Nestle trademarked the tubular packaging of Smarties. It later sued Masterfoods Denmark which marketed M&Ms in a similar package. The Supreme Court of Denmark later ruled that a basic geometrical shape couldn’t be trademarked, and ordered the trademark to be removed.
loWoA TIL: Charlie Chaplin was never an American citizen and was essentially exiled. During the McCarthy era, the FBI put him under surveillance, and a Mississippi congressman called for his deportation. The U.S. government then revoked his re-entry permit in 1952 as he traveled to England on vacation.
R70k8 TIL that as of 2017, 60 percent of pet cats and 56 percent of pet dogs in the US are overweight or obese
8ePg4 TIL about Watkin’s Tower, which was a tower almost identical to the Eiffel Tower being built in London, UK. The tower was never completed due to financial and construction problems, and was demolished. Wembley Stadium was then built on top of it.