› added 5 years ago

60

TIL that J.K. Rowling confused the layout of King’s Cross with that of London Euston Station when writing Harry Potter, and that Platforms 9 and 10 are actually two train lines next to each other, with no separating platform.

r0W4 TIL there is no longer any anti-venom available if you are bitten by a coral snake. Production of coral snake anti-venom ceased in 2008 because pharmaceutical companies found it to be unprofitable.
a9bo TIL that George Clooney was paid only 1$ for writing, directing, and acting in “Good Night, and Good Luck”, and even put his house on mortgage to pay for its production.
5VV0n TIL French artist, Yves Klein, sold a series of non-existent spaces in exchange for a weight of pure gold. Some accepted his offer. In 1959, almost 60 years after his death, a receipt he wrote to prove ownership of his invisible artworks sold for $1.16 million at Sotheby's auction house in Paris.
nW7Nb TIL that Alexandra of Denmark had such a strong influence on fashion that when a bad case of rheumatic fever left her with a permanent limp, it became trendy for wealthy women to walk around with a fake limp themselves. They even wore shoes with different sized heels for a more authentic limp.
Yprrx TIL 3 days before D-Day, a 21 year old Irish woman named Maureen Flavin took her hourly barometer reading and sent it to Dublin. She had no idea that this single data point would be sent directly to Eisenhower and averted disaster by delaying D-Day due to an incoming storm.