› added 9 years ago

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TIL in 1932 Oskar Speck was an unemployed contractor in Germany who left via kayak to seek work, but en route changed his plan & decided to see the world. By 1939 he kayaked all the way to Australia. Unbeknown to him, WW2 started & upon arrival, he was detained as an enemy foreigner until WW2 ended.

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nW5BY TIL before Saladin died in 1193, he had given away all his wealth to his poor subjects. His estate consisted of 1 piece of gold and 40 pieces of silver, not enough to pay for his funeral.
lJEK TIL Donkey Kong, Mario, and Princess Peach are based off of characters from Popeye. Nintendo created it after they failed to obtain a license to make a Popeye video game.
GY59N TIL comedian Greg Davies' parents lived in England around the time he was born, but when his mother went into labor, his Welsh father drove them all across the border, just so his son would be Welsh-born, and thus eligible to play rugby for the Welsh national team
yVvx8 TIL in 2000, Pope John Paul II gave his blessing to the Pokémon franchise, saying the games did not have "any harmful moral side effects" and were based on "ties of intense friendship".
N7OdE TIL that in Ancient Rome, the high priest of Jupiter was not permitted to touch a horse, sleep three nights outside his own bed or one night outside Rome, or look upon an army.