› added 6 years ago

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TIL that a British soldier whose ship was sunk by a U-boat survived for 70 days at sea. After being rescued, he was sent back to England from the Bahamas on a cargo ship. It was hit by 2 torpedoes from a U-Boat as they were approaching the UK. There were no survivors.

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R7rg1 TIL King Richard the Lionheart of England forgave and freed his killer, a young French boy whose father and brothers had been killed by Richard; the boy said he shot Richard with a crossbow as revenge, and Richard was so impressed with his bravery that he sent him off with 100 shillings
6EBRJ TIL Robert Redford is the founder of Sundance film festival, and Avengers Endgame is the last time we will see him on screen
WKRB TIL: Health care in Mexico is described as very good to excellent while being highly affordable, with every medium city in Mexico having at least one first-rate hospital. Because of this, some California insurers sell insurance policies that require members to go to Mexico where costs are 40% lower
QNNrk TIL one of the unifiers of Japan, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, once built an entire castle in secret near a castle he had put under siege. After 80 days, he had the trees covering it cut down, making it seem like a castle had sprung up overnight. His enemies surrendered shortly thereafter.
AN0K4 TIL that in 2007, during the downturn of the California housing market, southern California seen a 276% rise in West Nile virus cases due to foreclosed home's abandoned swimming pools that turned into mosquito breeding grounds.