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997

TIL Cleopatra once boasted to Mark Antony that she could spend ten million sesterces on one dinner. During dessert, Cleopatra called for a goblet of vinegar. She removed a valubale pearl earring and dropped it in. The priceless jewel dissolved, and then Cleopatra drank the mixture.

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l7n8K TIL that in 1962 there was a bill proposed to change the name of Philippines to Malaysia but the then newly independent neighbouring country took the name before the bill was passed.
RODa TIL of Julie D'Aubigny, a 17th Century swordswoman and opera singer who frequently cross-dressed, killed a man in an illegal duel and rescued her lesbian lover from a convent by burning it down
68gw TIL that Tsar Peter III of Russia court-martialed and hanged a rat which had chewed the heads off his toy soldiers.
9446 TIL: Hitchcock didn’t want music in Psycho’s shower scene. He practically doubled Herrmann’s salary after seeing the scene with music.
n8GW TIL that Joaquin Phoenix rolled his car, and a man tapped on his window & said “Just relax.” Phoenix replied “I’m fine. I am relaxed.” The man said “No you’re not,” & stopped Phoenix from lighting a cigarette while gas was leaking into the car. The man was famed German film director Werner Herzog.