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TIL that Elizabeth I inadvertently ruined the marriage of two of her nobles, George Talbot and Bess of Hardwick, by making them host the deposed Mary, Queen of Scots. The financial burden from hosting Mary and rumors of an affair between George and Mary eventually led to the couple’s estrangement

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Y7KYZ TIL about a 1986 arcade game called Chiller in which the player uses a light gun to activate torture devices to maim and kill restrained characters who are incapable of fighting back. It was a commercial failure in the United States because arcade owners refused to purchase it due to the content.
DwKj TIL there was a British magician named Jasper Maskelyne who joined the the fight in WW2. He used his illusions to fool the German army.
R5RdQ TIL that the famous “Halloween” theme by John Carpenter actually originated from an exercise his father taught him on the Bongos in 1961, the beating out of 5-4 time. He transposed the technique to piano, and thus the theme song was born. Three days later, Carpenter had the entire soundtrack done.
BgxJW TIL that one of Volkswagen's best-selling products is...sausage. Currywurst is sold at the factories and even has it's own product number.
P1Q1L TIL that the day before Mark David Chapman killed John Lennon, he accosted James Taylor in the Subway