› added 5 years ago

75

TIL when the United States asked to buy the lease for their London embassy, the Duke of Westminster agreed to sell it on the condition that the United States return to his family the state of Virginia, which had been confiscated from them during the War of Independence. The United States declined.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

jNlBv TIL that Henry of Champagne, King of Jerusalem, once fell off a balcony of his castle. He would have survived though, if it wasn't for his servant, a dwarf named Scarlet, who jumped out to save him, but ended up landing on him instead.
YL4A TIL Wes Craven was able to blacklist Santa Rosa High School a once popular film setting location, because days before the filming of Scream, the school board denied filming. In the credits for Scream, Craven includes, “And no thanks whatsoever to the Santa Rosa City School District Governing Board.”
VMJvZ TIL the Vietnam War is the only war in American history in which US war dogs were not allowed to officially return home after the war. Classified as expendable equipment, around 3500 dogs who were not killed in action were either euthanised or left behind.
lbEB TIL that in the late 1980s, young punk rockers in Cuba, known as “los frikis,” chose to inject themselves with the AIDS virus so they could live in a sanitarium and be free from constant police-state harassment. And today, two survivors still live in the now-abandoned facility.
Z8mKG TIL that in order to stay hydrated, sea snakes drink a thin layer of fresh water that collects on the surface of the ocean, called a "lense", after rain storms and do not drink sea water as previously thought.