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TIL that a US Vice-President wrote a pop song

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d8Ed7 TIL: Pirates were generally considered by the English government to be reserve naval forces, and were sometimes given active encouragement such as knighthoods. Royal pardons were regularly issued and the public's opinion of pirates was often favorable, some considering them akin to patrons.
LkdYd TIL of Oleg Gordievsky, a KGB/MI6 double agent. If he required MI6 rescue, he was to stand on a street corner in Moscow at 730pm on a Tuesday holding a safeway bag, wearing a grey cap. MI6 would acknowledge by walking past him eating a chocolate bar. MI6 monitored this street corner for 10 years.
b9NKj TIL that despite Disney claiming that Steamboat Willie was the "first synchronized sound cartoon", the actual first cartoon to feature synchronized sound was the Fleischer Studios "My Old Kentucky Home" in 1926, 2 years before Steamboat Willie was released
epyv4 TIL Dealey Plaza in Dallas remains virtually unchanged since 1963. There is a proposal to make Elm Street into a pedestrian promenade since tourists often wander onto the painted X where Kennedy was shot as well as an amphitheater for visitors to contemplate the assassination site
9YjnD TIL about Gladys Bentley, a lesbian blues singer who wore men's clothing and added dirty lyrics to songs