› added 3 years ago

68

TIL hat-makers in the 19th century regularly used mercury in the manufacturing of felt hats, which caused a high rate of poisoning and led to neurological damage like slurred speech, memory loss, and tremors. This was the inspiration for the Mad Hatter character in Alice in Wonderland.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

od4r TIL Simpsons creator Matt Groening’s father was named Homer, Mother was Marge, and had sisters named Maggie and Lisa. Bonus: His mother’s maiden name was Wiggum.
pYEZN TIL Lynard Skynard was named after their high school gym coach, Leonard Skinner
loew7 TIL At the end of WW1 in 1918, when revolutionaries toppled the monarchy all across Germany, King Friedrich August III of Saxony was asked by phone if he would like to abdicate willingly. He just replied "Oh, well, I suppose I'd better" and thus Saxony became a republic.
vPj74 TIL that Underwater Hockey is a thing, has been since 1954, and is popular enough to have both Men's and Women's national championships.
LwBd TIL that the largest cavalry charge in history occurred during the 1684 Turkish siege of Vienna. 18,000 Holy league Polish and German knights charged the Ottoman line, completely routeing them. The battle marked the end of Turkish expansion into Europe.