› added 5 years ago

182

TIL After publishing his 1953 National Book Award winning debut novel Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison got to work on his second novel. In 1967 the manuscript of his already-overdue second novel was destroyed in a fire in his home. Ellison did not publish another novel before he died in 1994

Read more history.com

via reddit.com

4XdLg TIL in 1984 an 8 year old girl with sickle cell disease developed acute myeloid leukemia. To treat the cancer, the doctors gave her chemo and a stem cell transplant from her sibling. Not only did this cure her cancer, but it cured her SCD too. She remains disease free nearly three decades later.
ApKw TIL Star Wars production assistant Ian Bryce arrived on set to find a note from the Ewok actors saying they all had quit and were on their way to fly home. After panicking, he was relieved to see the Ewok bus pull up in the lot, with all the actors wearing ‘Revenge Of The Ewok’ t-shirts.
J17RV TIL about "Pimpernel" Smith, a 1941 movie about an adventuring archaeologist who freed concentration camp prisoners. The story inspired real-life rescue operations.
e4JE TIL “Suicide is Painless” is the M.A.S.H theme song, with words, written by the movie director’s 14 year old son, and that he has earned more than 1 million dollars while his dad only made 70K total.
vKQL TIL There is a hidden vault behind the carved heads at Mount Rushmore. It contains the text from the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. It is not accessible to the general public.