› added 8 years ago

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TIL In 1956 Britain, France, and Israel invaded Egypt to get back the Suez Canal. Despite being a military success and having minor losses, it had so much political fallout that most historians consider it the end of Britain as a superpower.

9wJlr TIL about the War of Jenkins' ear - a war between Spain and England that started when a British captain, Robert Jenkins, presented his severed ear to the British Parliament, claiming a Spanish officer had cut it off.
e0BgE TIL Vietnam is building its first 2 metro systems: one in Hanoi (capital) with Chinese funding/money and the other in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) with Japanese expertise. Hanoi's is progressing more quickly but has had multiple accidents, one deadly. HCM City's has had more delays but no accidents.
d8VDZ TIL A Tiger's roar is so loud that is can be heard from over 2 miles away and can reach up to 114 decibels, which is about as loud as a jet airplane taking off.
4XeoN TIL that a sewer worker accidentally discovered a drain that would lead right to the bank of England's gold vault. He then requested to meet the directors at any time of their choosing inside the vault, and appeared out of the floorboards at the specified time.
Dvov TIL Richard the Lionheart had 3,000 captured Muslim prisoners (including large numbers of women and children) taken to a hill. There, in full view of Saladin and his army, they were beheaded and disemboweled. Even in an age of atrocities, this was an act of exceptional and shocking barbarity.