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TIL of English lawyer Frederic Weatherly (1848–1929), who inadvertently created the coxless fours in rowing by jumping out of the boat at the start of the race to save weight. Oh, yeah, and he also wrote about 3,000 song lyrics, including "Danny Boy".

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b9Mo9 TIL erotic artist Toshio Maeda in the 80s started to feature tentacles in his intercourse scenes to avoid being censored by the Japanese government. His "a tentacle is not a penis" argument worked and started the trend of Japanese anime, manga, and video games featuring tentacles.
Ook1e TIL William Shakespeare purposely had a curse epitaph engraved on his burial tomb to ward off would-be grave robbers, Shakespeare's remains have yet to be disturbed.
e0O1k TIL in 1925 an all African-American baseball team, the Wichita Monrovians, played against a team sponsored by and made up of Ku Klux Klan members. The Monrovians won 10-8.
7rmnP TIL After the Battle of Blair Mountain (1921) striking miners feared jail and confiscation of their guns, many decided to hide their weapons in the woods before leaving Logan County. Collectors and researchers are still finding weapons and ammunition hidden around the site to this day.
9wZvm TIL that the British children's TV show 'Blue Peter' has many dogs, cats, and other animals that appear; viewers often name the pets. When George, a tortoise, was thought dead in 1988, a special tribute episode appeared, but he was merely missing and was found alive. George lived another 16 years.