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TIL the British successfully destroyed a Nazi drydock by ramming a ship filled with six tons of explosives into it, leaving the ship wedged in the gates until the timers detonated the explosives.

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Br0r TIL upon its discovery by Marie and Pierre Curie in 1898, the element polonium was named after Poland (in latin Polonia) to shed light on the countries lack of independence. It may be the first element named to highlight a political controversy.
nPGB TIL that media sensationalizes the 24-48 hour waiting period to report a missing person. In real life this doesn’t exist and the missing person can be reported immediately.
91jQ TIL that when Theodore Roosevelt’s parents were unsatisfied with his and the other children’s command of German, they shipped them off to live in Dresden for 5 months with a German family
Y7PLB TIL Kinshasa (DRC) and Brazzaville (Congo), being only 7km across the Congo River from each other, are the second closest pair of capital cities in the world after the Vatican and Rome.
nWlWG TIL the Battle of Nechtansmere in 685 was one of the most significant in Britain, because it smashed the power of the Angles, allowing the Saxons to dominate to the south, and prevented what became Scotland from being absorbed by the rest of Britain