› added 7 years ago

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TIL of RAF pilot Cyril Barton. During a raid over Germany, his plane was strafed repeatedly causing three of his crew to bail out. He dropped the bomb himself, flew the heavily damaged bomber home, crashed landed it and saved the lives of everyone onboard. He however would succumb to his injuries.

jNWWa TIL that Bill Hamilton developed modern jetboats since no existing boats could navigate the shallow, fast flowing rivers of New Zealand. He took his boats to the USA for demonstrations amidst criticism from the media. In 1960 his boats became the first and only boats to travel up the grand canyon.
4XejR TIL of Tom & Moll King, owners of 18th century London's infamous 'Tom King's Coffee House'. Est. 1720 by the aristocrat & his former prostitute wife, the all-night venue - famed also for its attractive Black barmaid - drew all classes for sex encounters. It features in artist William Hogarth's work.
loXQV TIL that older adults have a disproportionately good memory of events which occurred when they were 16 to 25 years of age. A phenomenon known as the reminiscence bump.
bm1a TIL Joseph Smith, founder of Mormonism, was convicted of fraud for glass-looking in 1826. He used one of the same seer stones that he used for glass-looking when he dictated the Book of Mormon.
wLdQY TIL of John Kissinger, who volunteered for the yellow fever experiments in 1900 and refused payment, stating that his actions "were solely in the interest of humanity and the cause of science"