› added 7 years ago

134

TIL Gerald Blanchard, a sophisticated criminal mastermind, was facing a sentence of 164 years but reduced it to 8 by revealing where he kept the Star of Empress Sisi, a priceless ornament worn by Elisabeth of Bavaria which he stole a decade before from Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna, Austria

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

kyxd TIL that in development, the original Crash Bandicoot was codenamed ‘The Sonic’s Ass Game’ in reference to the fact the game was like a 2D platformer in 3D, thus requiring the player to look at the character’s rear the whole time.
oRwGR TIL the Olympic torch relay was first used in 1936 Berlin. Hitler saw the link with the ancient Games as a way to illustrate that classical Greece was an Aryan forerunner of the Third Reich. The torch relay idea was originally devised by Jewish archaeologist & sports official, Alfred Schiff.
woE9M TIL Bach wrote a number of pieces specifically for the lautenwerck, an instrument that no longer exists as none survived the 19th century. Their strings were made of sheep guts and Bach owned two
VBGaZ TIL about the Academy Juvenile award, an Oscar that was given until 1961 to performers under 18 years old for their contributions to film. The trophy was half the size of the standard Oscar trophy and had such honorees as Shirley Temple, Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney.
NoMP TIL in 1965 a young American tourist illegally crossed the Norwegian-Soviet border, walked up to a Soviet border post and demanded the guards stamp his passport. He was arrested, sentenced to a detention camp and died on the train there.