› added 4 years ago

45

TIL the Bee Gees song "Massachusetts" was originally written for The Seekers, but when they couldn't get the song to The Seekers, the Bee Gees recorded it themselves. Their version ended up charting at #1 in 13 countries and became one of the best selling singles in history.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

Y5Dd TIL that between 1900-1973, over 100 boys died at a Florida reform school for delinquents as a result of sexual and physical abuse, torture, beatings, and even outright murder from staff. The school only recently closed in 2011.
KODx4 TIL Bobby Leach, the 2nd person to go over Niagara falls in a barrel and survive, spent six months in the hospital recovering from his injuries. He traveled the world recounting his ordeal in vaudeville shows. Years later he slipped on an orange peel, injured his leg, and died from complications
VmyZ TIL That in World War I, the Germans tried to use a picture of Quentin Roosevelt’s body as propoganda to increase moral. This backfired, as soldiers wondered why the sons of American Presidents were fighting and dying at the front, while the Kaiser’s sons were not.
mxex TIL Toyota Altis ads featuring Brad Pitt were banned in Malaysia after the country’s deputy information minister ruled that Pitt’s handsome appearance may make Malaysian countrymen feel inferior.
ANM4a TIL that Admiral Spruance and Vice Admiral Mitscher were forbidden from attending the signing of the Japanese surrender at the end of WW2 because Nimitz was worried a spiteful final kamikaze might wipe out the entire Allied Pacific Command