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TIL the first Paddington Bear stuffed toy to be manufactured was created in 1972 by Gabrielle Designs, a small business run by Shirley and Eddie Clarkson, with the prototype made as a Christmas present for their children Joanna and Jeremy Clarkson (later known as a British TV presenter and writer).

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dDj1Z TIL Looney Tunes’ Porky Pig’s original voice actor, Joe Dougherty, had a stutter he couldn’t control. It caused production costs to became too high as his recording sessions took hours. Mel Blanc replaced him, allowing the stutter to be controlled and used comedically
oBXxL TIL in 1969 Johnny Carson made a lucky guess about the Oscar winners for Best Picture and Best Supporting Actor, that led to firings in PriceWaterhouse since they believed someone had leaked the information.
paw8 TIL Lincoln, NE was named after Abraham Lincoln as a ploy to keep Nebraska’s capital as Omaha. Many people in Nebraska had been sympathetic to the Confederate cause and it was assumed that the legislature would not change the capital if the new capital were named after Abraham Lincoln
kOAbE TIL James Avery (Uncle Phil) served in the US Navy in Vietnam from 1968-69. He then moved to San Diego to write poetry and TV scripts for PBS and won an Emmy for his effort. He got a scholarship from UC San Diego and graduated there with a Bachelor’s degree in Drama and Literature in 1976.
16ABV TIL that in the 16 years before the Berlin Wall was built, 3.5 million East Germans fled the country through West Berlin. In the 28 years after it was built, only 5,000 managed to escape.