› added 4 years ago

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TIL that the first proposal for space travel in English history was made by Oliver Cromwell’s brother-in-law in the 17th century, who thought that we just needed to fly 20 miles above the Earth to be released from its magnetism and sail to other planets to trade with the inhabitants.

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0wmZM Today I learned Vanilla bean plants are actually orchids
j6REN TIL icelandic singer Björk had a stalker who tried to kill her by posting a bomb containing sulphuric acid to her address.
mxgyo TIL about Her Grand Ducal Highness Princess Elisabeth, who went from being Governor of Moscow under Tsar Alexander III, to an Orthodox nun, trading her riches away for a tiny monastery.
xwVb TIL: Cary Grant began experimenting with LSD in the late 1950s, using it in psychotherapy sessions. He had an estimated 100 sessions over several years
yQ4Zv TIL that when Samuel Fuller left Hollywood to fight in WW2, he refused offers for desk jobs and instead enlisted as an infantryman, saw heavy fighting, and even liberated a concentration camp. Returning home with a Silver Star, he became one of the most influential filmmakers of all time.