› added 7 years ago

135

TIL Sergei Prokofiev died the same day as Stalin in 1953. Millions attended Stalin's funeral, but only 40 for Prokofiev's. A musical periodical noted his death on p. 116, with pages 1 to 115 devoted to Stalin. Flowers were so scarce in Moscow that Prokofiev's family used cuttings from house plants.

Read more houstonpress.com

via reddit.com

X0erD TIL in the 1970's the Ford Transit van, with car performance and space for 1.75 tonnes of loot, was used in 95% of bank robberies in the UK.
8eJBP TIL ; This Canadian man won a global art prize in 1876. When the judges found out he was Black, they tried to reverse it
aw6yN TIL in the late 1990s, a man studying the underground chambers of the Colosseum found patterns of holes, notches and grooves in the walls. By connecting the dots of the negative space, he discovered that a system of elevators had been used to transport wild animals and scenery to the main floor.
b6XZE TIL in 1996 snooker legend Jimmy White took his dead brother out on a drinking session the night before his funeral.
mxxNY TIL there are more horses than people in Mongolia.