› added 5 years ago

102

TIL of the Berners Street hoax: In 1809, Theodore Hook bet his friend that he could make a random house the most famous house in London within a week. He did so by ordering chimney sweeps, piano deliveries, and priests to the address. The ensuing chaos brought London to a standstill.

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l7jbN TIL that Fakin It by Paul Simon was listed at 3'74 and not 4'14 so Radio DJs would play it
N7546 TIL about serial killer/rapist Pedro Lopez, aka "The Monster Of The Andes"; who was convicted of murdering 110 young girls. He was released from a Colombian psychiatric ward on $50 bail in 1998. His whereabouts are unknown.
xVKR0 TIL The most popular version of the Mexican song La Cucaracha is about a cockroach that can’t walk because it doesn’t have marijuana to smoke. This version was sung by Poncho Villa’s troops in battle during the Mexican Revolution.
7rPaX TIL that the Vatican has nominated St. Isidore of Seville to be the patron saint of the Internet, a seventh-century theologian and encyclopedist who tried to record everything ever known.
XRJD TIL H. G. Wells created a tabletop-esque war game, in 1913, called “Little Wars; a game for boys from twelve years of age to one hundred and fifty and for that more intelligent sort of girl who likes boys’ games and books.” which can be read and downloaded via Project Gutenberg.