› added 2 weeks ago

1

TIL In 1894 Hart Massey left Massey Hall to all the people of Toronto, asking that tickets would remain accessible for the poor. "Ideally, once all expenses were paid, Massey wanted tickets for a season of lectures to sell for $1."

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

0NvL TIL that Janissaries would place spoons on their hats in order to symbolize “The Brotherhood of the Spoon”. It was meant to further emphasize that Janissaries would live, eat, and fight together.
dDEmd TIL that the Eastern Front alone is enough to make WWII one of the, if not the single deadliest war of all time. Of the approximately 80 million deaths caused by WWII, about 40 million were on the eastern front.
7r9AZ TIL: The “Veuve” in Veuve Clicquot means widow. Madame Cliquot is considered the world’s first international businesswoman. Taking over her dead husband’s business at 27, she was only legally allowed to run it because she was a widow.
Kye9 TIL of the Gibbons twins. Both were published writers of genius intelligence that spoke to no one except each other in their own language. They were committed to an asylum after a crimespree where they made a pact that one should die so the other could live.
OGQ0X TIL the vocals for the Bonnie Raitt classic "I Can't Make You Love Me" were recorded in only one take. The song was so sad that when asked to record another take she responded "You know, this ain't going to happen."