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TIL that the first episode of 'The Ed Sullivan Show' - the show that gave America its first looks at Elvis, the Beatles, and the Doors, among other acts - is considered lost. What makes this extra tragic is that it is also the TV debut of the team of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis.

rQ40 TIL that in 1312, a few Cockchafer Beetles, which were a major pest for crop farmers, were brought into a courtroom in Avignon and ordered to withdraw to designated territory. When the beetles (obviously) didn’t comply, they were collected and killed.
4kB1N TIL Benjamin Bolger overcame dyslexia to eventually earn 17 degrees as of March 2022. After special education programs didn't help him, he began being home-schooled in 4th grade. He also left Yale Law at 19 when he struggled again, but enrolled at Oxford after additional training for his dyslexia.
naDb TIL… In 1977, a 23-year old graduate student stumbled upon a compound with effects similar to heroin. He made a bunch and shared it with his friends to get high, except the batch he made was contaminated with a toxic byproduct that left them all with debilitating Parkinson’s Disease within a week.
jaYp TIL there is a grocery store named “Thanksgiving” in Paris that sells U.S. “cuisine” like Pop-Tarts, Heinz ketchup, and Skippy peanut butter to homesick ex-pats.
W5DN TIL….while filming A New Hope, Lucas insisted that Vader’s TIE fighter spiral out into space instead of blowing up, leaving the question of a sequel. The other film members wanted to remove any questions if a sequel was happening, as sequels usually were regarded as inferior or flops.