› added 5 years ago

77

TIL about Henry Lincoln Johnson, a member of the Harlem Hellfighters known as the Black Death. During an ambush in Argonne Forest in 1918, he injured or killed 24 German soldiers, without a working gun. He was the first American soldier to win a Croix du Guerre, France's highest award for bravery.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

9Yv46 TIL Teeth blackening, a custom of dyeing one's teeth black, is usually done during puberty. It was primarily done to preserve the teeth into old age, as it prevents tooth decay similar to the mechanism of modern dental sealants. It was seen as a sign of maturity, beauty, and of civilization.
OoLKa TIL: Michael Caine (born Maurice Micklewhite) first used the stage name Michael Scott in Sussex, before moving to London, where another Michael Scott was already on stage.
ADp8B TIL that uncooked spaghetti always break into more than two parts, a curious fact that already baffled Nobel-prize winning physicist Richard Feynman. The riddle was only solved last year by scientists who managed to make spaghetti snap into only two parts with a trick.
XErYR TIL Indians are relearning Sanskrit and reviving the ancient language, with 10,000 new speakers in 2010 alone
6E7Y7 TIL That Gert Fröbe, the actor who played Goldfinger in the eponymous Bond film, saved two Jews during World War 2. He was a former Nazi Party member, and Israel banned his films after this became known. But when one of the Jews he saved spoke up for him, they rescinded the ban.