› added 6 years ago

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TIL that in 1971, a US man named Gerald Mayo filed a lawsuit in the District Court of Pennsylvania. He was suing Satan, for making him fall down. The judge rejected "Mayo v Satan", pointing out that Mayo did not provide appropriate directions for the US Marshals to serve the summons to Satan.

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NX8Ne TIL that the 1963 movie Charade starring Audrey Hepburn, immediately entered the public domain upon release because Universal failed to properly display the copyright notice. The film notice omitted the word 'Copyright', 'Copr.', and the symbol '©'.
vd9K TIL that despite fighting against Nazi troops, with 17,000 dying in combat, Colonial French (Black) troops were not allowed to liberate Paris because of their skin colour. To ensure that a French regiment was allowed to liberated Paris, De Gaulle was forced to use Spanish (white) soldiers
4XEkg TIL of "The Immortal Game", a casual match between chess grand masters in the interim of the first international chess tournament. Despite not being an official match, it is considered one of the most famous matches of all time.
5VmoP TIL of Richard Francis Burton, an 19th century British explorer and writer, who disguised himself as Muslim in order to get into both Mecca and Medina. While he was not the first European to go to either one of those cities, his pilgrimage is the most famous and best documented of the time.
8aYG TIL Peter Hinwood, the actor who played “Rocky” in the Rocky Horror Picture Show, permanently retired from acting after his role in the film and went on to become an antique dealer.