Post * O5m4 — Curious Curator

› added 11 years ago

98

TIL The ceremony of the keys at the Tower of London has gone on almost uninterrupted for 700 years. It was late once during WWII due to a number of bombs hitting the guard room, knocking the guards and Yeoman warder over. The officer in charge personally wrote a letter to the king to apologise.

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e0Pd6 TIL Native American actor Iron Eyes Cody fooled the world. After his death, it was revealed that he was of Sicilian parentage, and not Native American at all.

D1a7r TIL Richard Nixon once admitted he wanted to become a rapper. The confession was rediscovered by a Washington Post reporter in 1997 while listening to one of the presidential recordings.

6Zpm TIL rock&roll pioneer Ritchie Valens had a fear of flying due to a freak accident where two airplanes collided over his school’s playground, killing or injuring many of his friends. He got over this fear due to the demands of his career and subsequently died in a plane crash at the age of 17.

NXZ5e TIL: Amongst the debris recovered following the 2003 Space Shuttle Columbia disaster were containers holding worms carried as part of an experiment. The nematode worms were found to have survived the accident.

KOo44 TIL: Mountain stone wētā can survive being frozen solid over winter. They can survive up to 17 days in temperatures of about -10 °C. At temperatures below -10 °C, approximately 85% of their body water is crystallized, one of the highest ice contents known for any animal.