› added 9 years ago

314

TIL that despite 3 different scientists returning a negative paternity test, Charlie Chaplin was forced to pay child support for 21 years because of a Jury decision of 11-1 that yes, he was the father.

Read more mentalfloss.com

via reddit.com

m1Mjy TIL that in 1915, when Cecil Chubb spent £6,600 to purchase Stonehenge, his wife was NOT happy - because she had actually sent him out to buy a dining room set. Chubb eventually gifted Stonehenge to the English people about three year later.
nWmQB TIL of US Secret Service special agent Jerry Parr, who helped save the life of Ronald Reagan after an assassination attempt. As a boy, Parr saw Reagan portray a Secret Service agent in 1939's "Code of the Secret Service" and was inspired to become an agent himself.
wLaoM TIL the $150 million fundraised by Band Aid in 1984 (where the famous song "Do They Know It's Christmas" comes from), which was meant to help famine-struck Ethiopia, actually lead to more deaths since it was given to the corrupt government who used the money to prolong the famine and civil war.
BrXwk TIL of the Silver Snoopy Award—a highly coveted pin awarded to employees of NASA that go above and beyond “to ensure flight safety and mission success.” The award is presented to the employee by an astronaut and no more than 1% of eligible recipients receive the award.
W7omX TIL Astronomer Edward Barnard discovered Amalthea, the fifth satellite of Jupiter, using an eyepiece that yielded 520x on the 36-inch Lick Observatory telescope. Barnard observed Saturn's moon at 2,600x at the highest but 1000x power is enough to show a disk