› added 5 months ago

7

TIL the first woman to reach summit of Mt Everest (and all the Seven Summits) was Junko Tabei, who persevered through financial hardship and prejudice to achieve this goal.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

0d4W1 TIL During King Louis XIV reign he popularized pairing salt with pepper since he disliked dishes with overwhelming flavors, and pepper was the only spice that complemented salt and didn't dominate the taste.
gnB4 TIL Annie Taylor was the first person to successfully descend Niagara Falls. She used a custom barrel stuffed with a mattress. She tested it by sending a cat over the falls. It survived and 2 days later she made the journey…on her 63rd birthday.
kkZd TIL W.T. Stead, a Victorian investigative journalist writing about child prostitution, bought an underage sex slave to prove how easily it could be done. He was sent to prison.
x6K6o TIL that Fred Rogers, from Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, was a huge Tom Hanks fan, and watched Forrest Gump at least 40 times. Rogers however never met or crossed paths with Hanks.
X0RrR TIL about Jan Baalsrud. A Norwegian Commando who evaded German capture by swimming in arctic waters, was buried by an avalanche, hid in a cave, and amputated several of his own frostbitten toes with a knife, and was dragged on a stretcher to safety by villagers.