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TIL James Earl Jones was a functional mute for 8 years due to a stutter he had developed as a child. He credits his English teacher, Donald Crouch, with helping him end his silence. Crouch believed forced public speaking would help Jones gain confidence and insisted he recite a poem every day.

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b9aVN TIL A raccoon in Germany broke into a zoo exhibit housing 7 other raccoon's. Since the raccoon is considered an invasive species the zoo could not legally release the vagrant raccoon and had to let him stay in the zoo.
y6oe TIL a Manhattan driver recently set a record by hitting 240 consecutive green lights.
YpXJP TIL: Astronaut groupies in Florida were nicknamed "Cape Cookies". Infidelity was rife; wives had to maintain a perfect facade. Only 7/30 astro-marriages in the 60s survived. Alan Shepherd (first american in space), Pete Conrad (3rd man on the moon) and Dick Gordon (Apollo 12) formed the Go-Go crew.
6EnRX TIL that Japan has Imperial and National Shinto shrines in each prefecture. They are also ranked based on the amount of government support or association with the Imperial family. Some shrines are called "Ichinomiya", making them the highest-ranking shrines in their prefectures.
NXrr6 TIL in 1964, CBS aired a 90 minute special report of Walter Cronkite & Dwight D. Eisenhower returning to Normandy for the 20th Anniversary of D-Day