› added 6 years ago

148

TIL that in the 1800s, one of the most popular sports in the world was distance walking which attracted huge crowds and gambling. Thousands of spectators would turn up to watch challenges such as walking 1,000 miles in 1,000 hours.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

9wNrG TIL Leonard Nimoy refused to join Star Trek the Animated Series without George Takai and Nichelle Nichols claiming they were proof of ethic diversity in the 23rd century.
OGPD7 TIL that fishermen in Belgium use horseback to catch shrimp.
b9V7N TIL about Miep Gies, the woman who hid Anne Frank and her family. She hid them in the Secret Annex for 25 months until they were found by the Gestapo. She survived because the officer who found her felt bad, but sent the others to the camps. She later gave Otto Frank Anne's diary and died in 2010.
ooBR TIL that the role of April Ludgate was specifically created for Aubrey Plaza, after the casting director met her and felt she was, “weirdest girl I’ve ever met in my life.”
QNDk9 TIL: Kazuo Taoka is known as the "Japanese Godfather". He was an orphan who acquired the nickname "Kuma" for his signature attack of clawing eyes. He realized back alley work was high risk low reward, so he founded a legitimate yakuza cargo hauling biz which grew his yakuza to 10,000 members.