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TIL that the Black Knight in Monty Python's Quest for the Holy Grail was inspired by two Roman wrestlers who were in a very intense and entangled fight. After one surrendered from pain of a broken rib an attendant picked up the winner, tapping him and saying "You won" to discover that he was dead.

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9wlK6 TIL that the Eiffel Tower was due to be dismantled, in 1910, but survived as it could (and still is) used as a giant radio antenna to transmit and receive radio broadcasts.
jN8rp TIL that Caligula once tricked a man into buying 13 gladiators for the high price of 9 million Roman sesterces. He had been selling off some gladiators to replenish the Roman treasury, when he saw a man fall asleep at the auction. He told the auctioneer to consider each of the mans nods as a bid.
neWn7 The most popular artificial material on Earth isn’t steel, plastic, or aluminum — it’s concrete. Thousands of years ago, we used it to build civilizations, but then our knowledge of how to make it was lost. Here’s how we discovered concrete, forgot it, and then finally cracked the mystery of what makes it so strong.
8dEa TIL that gay marriage is not legal in Germany, and gay couples are not allowed to adopt a child together.
woxB1 TIL artist Dean Cornwell submitted three entries for a competition to paint the rotunda of the Los Angeles Public Library, one under his real name and two under fake names. Cornwell won the competition with 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place.