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TIL about The Wire of Death, a lethal electric fence created by the German military to control the Dutch-Belgian Frontier after the occupation of Belgium during the First World War. Somewhere between 2-3k people died as a result of trying to make it past the fence.

rwnx TIL that King George VI was appalled when the South African government instructed him to only shake hands with white people while on his visit there in 1947. He referred to his South African bodyguards as “the Gestapo”.
worY8 TIL the first food ever smuggled into space was a corned beef sandwich. It was smuggled onboard the Gemini III NASA mission on March 23, 1965 by Astronaut John Young to give to fellow astronaut Gus Grissom. Grissom was not scheduled to eat anything during the 4 hour 52 minute orbital mission.
X07kj TIL the Black Death contributed greatly to the rise of the British Pub and pub culture. Thanks to the plague, scarcity of labor greatly improved the standard of living for peasants, who in turn spent their extra money on beer.
R5jPj TIL: After shooting John Lennon outside of Lennon's home, his killer remained at the scene reading The Catcher in the Rye until he was arrested by the police.
69ROQ TIL George Lucas saved Walter Murch's job as director of Return to Oz (1985). After Disney fired Murch, Lucas flew to London to urge Disney to reinstall him by using himself as collateral. He said that if Murch failed to deliver, he'd finish the film himself which got Disney to rehire his friend.