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TIL that writers die young, with poets tending to have the shortest lifespans compared to novelists, playwrights, and non-fiction writers; the phenomenon is cross-cultural.

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NX5ab TIL Much of Thespis (Gilbert and Sullivan's first opera) has been lost. The little music that has survived largely comes from Sullivan recycling his material, Climbing Over Rocky Mountain was later used in The Pirates of Penzance and the ballet was likely reused for the French The Mikado.
GGNg TIL that in the US, people under 18 can legally smoke cigarettes. However, they cannot purchase them.
e0dG4 TIL of Joey Deacon, a man with severe cerebral palsy who was introduced to the UK public in 1981 by tv show Blue Peter as part of the Year of the Disabled. His mannerisms started a craze of kids calling each other Joey Deacon when they’d done something stupid that lasted for years.
jNJgM TIL that in 1818 US began building a fort near the New York - Quebec border to defend against invasions from Canada.After 2 years of construction, they realized the fort was actually on the Canadian side.They abandoned it and nicknamed it Fort Blunder.
vPERL TIL that the U.S. Federal law enacted in July, 1984–which established the national minimum drinking age as 21 years old— allowed the government to withhold Federal aid to highways from States that did not quickly adapt.