› added 9 years ago

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TIL John Smith was a pirate, beheaded three Turks in jousting matches while fighting for the Holy Roman Army, and was enslaved in Russia until he escaped by killing his master. He did all this before he set sail for present day Virginia, United States.

nWK4G TIL that Nickelodeon was a slang term for early movie theaters in the early 1900s. It comes from Odeion meaning theater in Greek and they cost a Nickel to get in.
lomEB TIL Stalin loved Charlie Chaplin movies, and even cried at the last scene of City Lights, but he banned The Great Dictator from screening in the USSR. Stalin apparently was afraid that the image of the dictator Adenoid Hynkel would bring up an unwanted comparison – not to Hitler, but to himself.
nWE8b TIL: The Iran Blizzard of February 1972, recorded as the deadliest in history, took over 4,000 lives during a week-long storm burying southern Iran under 7.9 meters of snow. The catastrophe unfolded after four years of drought, leaving a profound impact on the region.
R7vY1 TIL that “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” was released as “Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles” in the UK because the word “ninja” was considered too violent.
E18YP TIL That at the premiere of the Good Omens TV series, a front row seat was left empty in tribute to Terry Pratchett. His trademark scarf and hat were placed on it, and there was a bag of popcorn- Neil Gaiman said that Terry wanted to sit next to him and eat popcorn if an Omens movie ever happened.