› added 10 years ago

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TIL that the producers of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (filmed in 1971 in Munich, Germany) had trouble finding dwarfs–any adult dwarfs at all– for the roles of the Oompa-Loompas. This was because the Nazis had killed so many of them 25 years earlier.

m1EAo TIL Sri Lankan businessman Merrill J. Fernando introduced Dilmah Tea in 1988 by phrasing it as "single-origin tea" going against the industry trend at the time. He also became a cultural icon in New Zealand in 1990 after starring in the “Do Try It!” campaign directed by a New Zealand agency.
loERB TIL about David Bamberger, a former fried chicken tycoon turned rancher that bought and restored 5,500 acres of the most badly damaged, overgrazed land in all of Texas, restored it completely and transformed it into a showpiece for environmental restoration.
MLmb TIL of Central American Stingless Bees that have been cultivated by Mayans for thousands of years. The bees are regarded as pets and their hives hung in and around the home. Some hives have been recorded as lasting over 80 years, being passed down through generations.
mxedP TIL that during the prohibition in the 1920s, the United States government poisoned the alcohol in an attempt curtail enthusiasm for the drink, resulting in an estimated 10000 deaths. The move had little effect, and prohibition failed, ending in 1933.
VMED0 TIL that when James Robert Ringrose, one of FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, was arrested in 1966, he presented the FBI agents with a "Get out of jail free" card from Monopoly