› added 10 years ago

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TIL if you are granted “Freedom of the City” in the City of London, you have the right to a silken rope, if hanged, and if found drunk, a policeman will put you in a cab or escort you home. You also have the right to herd sheep over London Bridge, a right used as recently as 2013.

KWBG TIL president JFK refused to let Sammy Davis Jr perform at the white house because he was black and married a white woman
5Vlyk TIL that Richie Havens, after playing for almost 3 hours, made up the song "Freedom" on the spot at Woodstock. He was asked to go back on stage, after playing for almost 3 hours when the next performer had not shown up yet.
VBXEB TIL of William Rankin, one of only two people to ever survive falling all the way through a thunderstorm cloud. He would fall for almost 40 minutes while suffering frost bite, welts and other serious injuries
ZwMp TIL Devil’s Breath, scopolamine, is a drug that south American criminals blow into the face of victims to turn them into compliant ‘zombies’ who will empty their bank accounts & hand over their valuables when asked, then retain no memory of any of the events later, leaving the criminals unidentified
ADoDw TIL of Karl P. Schmidt, a herpetologist who documented his own death after he was bitten by a juvenile boomslang snake. He made detailed notes on the symptoms he experienced, almost right up to the end. He died 24 hours after the bite, bleeding in his lungs, kidneys, heart, and brain.