› added 10 years ago

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TIL that the creator of the Paddington Bear stuffed toy was Jeremy Clarkson’s mother

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XEKm8 TIL: For journalistic purposes, William Thomas Stead exposed child prostitution and abduction in 1885 by having a thirteen-year-old victim, Eliza Armstrong, "purchased" for £5 and taken to a brothel where she was drugged. He published this later in a series of exposés that shocked readers.
6wmX TIL “Snozzberry” was coined by Roald Dahl as a slang term for a penis. So in Willy Wonka, the kids are licking wallpaper that tastes like dicks.
Z8mlQ TIL about Caroline Shawk, the inventor of modern butter sculpture. She couldn't afford marble, so she started making butter sculptures to raise money at local fairs. Her butter sculpture became a runaway hit at Centennial exhibition, which allowed her to open her own studio and work with marble.
gr5EW TIL - In 1853, Elizabeth Jones built a 7,690sq-ft mansion (dubbed Wyndcliffe) in affluent Rhinebeck, NY, overlooking the Hudson River. The unusually impressive house prompted wealthy neighbors to expand & remodel their own homes, to "keep up with the Joneses” - giving birth to the common saying.
ygRJ TIL that when Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys died, he wished for a burial at sea. Only veterans of the US Navy and Coast Guard are allowed a burial at sea without being cremated, but President Reagan directly intervened and allowed Dennis to be buried at sea.