› added 12 years ago

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TIL when Stanley Kubrick took over the production of Spartacus cinematographer Russell Metty complained to producers that Kubrick was taking over his job. Kubrick’s response was to tell him to sit there and do nothing. Metty complied, and was awarded the Academy Award for his cinematography.

nR1G TIL that the character who sings the famous opera song “I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General” was said to be modeled on the real-life Sir Garnet Wolseley. Rather than being offended by the caricature, Wolseley would sing the song to amuse his friends.
nenAG TIL undercover officers from two different precincts tried to arrest each other in a drug sting. Both precincts had undercover officers as drug dealers/buyers and didn't know about each other. When they tried to deal each other drugs, guns were drawn and a fight started as both claimed to be police.
ADAww TIL of Wilmer McLean, who’s house in Manassas, Virginia was in the 1st battle of Bull Run. He moved to Appomattox, Virginia, but 4 years later Robert E Lee surrendered to Ulysses S Grant in his living room. His properties had one of the first, and last encounters of the Civil War.
mx00O TIL that the second officer of the Titanic stayed onboard till the end and was trapped underwater until a boiler explosion set him free. Later, he volunteered in WW2 and helped evacuate over 120 men from Dunkirk
ANZ8l TIL that the Titanic was not the first ship of it's production line. With the Titanics sister ship, the Olympic (which was only 3 inches shorter and 1000 tons lighter than the Titanic), having already served as a successful cruise liner for a whole year before the Titanics fateful maiden voyage.