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TIL about William "Billy" Lee who was George Washington's slave and personal valet. He fought alongside Washington through the entire American Revolutionary War and was the only one of Washington's slaves emancipated immediately upon his death.

grld8 TIL Dust jackets for hard cover books were originally only meant to protect the book from dust and damage, and were not the main focus. As time went on, they shifted from protection to decoration; however you're still supposed to take them off while reading.
m11YE TIL that Mark Felt, who notoriously provided reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein with critical information about the Watergate scandal under the pseudonym "Deep Throat", was nearly nominated to serve as Acting Director of the FBI after the resignation of L. Patrick Gray in 1973.
OoKM6 TIL a producer on Family Ties felt Michael J. Fox was too short for the role and tried to have him replaced saying “this isn’t the face you'll see on a lunch-box." Fox later gave him a custom-made lunch-box with the inscription "this is for you to put your crow in. Love and Kisses, Michael J. Fox.”
vD9j TIL that Silbury Hill, a man-made structure almost as old as the Great Pyramid, but built in Britain, covers an enormous area equal to more than four football fields. But historians are still not sure about its purpose.
4XxlX TIL that it is not illegal to grow, possess and consume "magic mushrooms" (Psilocybe cubensis) here in Brazil (basically because we don't have a law against it) and there is even a web store selling them (alongside shitake, shiimeji and porcini mushrooms).