› added 10 years ago

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TIL Agatha Christie’s books have sold 4 billion copies, making her the best selling novelist of all time, and her work ranks only behind Shakespeare’s and the Bible as the most widely published books in history

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78nQ7 TIL the Wicked Witch of the West was never given a name in L. Frank Baum's Wizard of Oz books, nor in the film. But in his 1995 novel Wicked, Gregory Maguire gave her the name Elphaba based on L. Frank Baum's initials (L.F.B. = El-pha-ba).
6yXW TIL that the cougar, mountain lion, puma, panther, and catamount are all actually the same cat, the puma concolor.
QJAQM TIL that Loofah sponges aren’t actually from a sea sponge but are from gourds and can be grown in gardens.
7rd9b TIL Cecil George Edwards, the man arrested while having a "succulent chinese meal", went on his now infamous tirade with hopes of arriving at a lunatic asylum for an easier escape.
R57m9 TIL Andorra has one person act as ambassador to the United States, Mexico, and Canada. Elisenda Vives Balmaña is the current ambassador to the three countries and was formerly the ambassador to Italy and Morocco.