› added 13 years ago

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TIL Silent reading is a recent phenomenon. Only the most skilled readers of the middle ages could read silently.

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kOamW TIL when King Louis XVI of France was executed via guillotine, it did not sever his neck. The blade went through the back of his skull and into his jaw.
BgnJW TIL that RAF pilot Douglas Bader became one of Britains top WWII flying aces despite losing both legs in a prewar crash.He flew Spitfires using prosthetic legs shot down over 20 German aircraft and was so respected by the enemy that Luftwaffe ace Galland personally arranged to drop him a prosthetic.
XEkyj TIL of the Flying Wedge, a popular football play in the early 1900's where the entire team would form a V and charge down the field, sweeping down the field like a tank. Teddy Roosevelt threatened to abolish the sport after 18 players died and 159 were badly injured during that season.
x60bk TIL that, in 1989, the short film Visions of Ecstasy became the only movie to have been refused certification by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) on the grounds of blasphemy
N8aJ TIL King Leonidas of Sparta was 60 years old at the Battle of Thermopylae.