› added 4 years ago

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TIL that according to an MI5 agent who infiltrated the Provisional IRA, Irish Republican chiefs couldn’t bring themselves to attack targets in Scotland during the Troubles because they viewed them as “Celtic cousins”

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rAae TIL that before the advent of modern street-lighting, city planners in some cities erected huge “moonlight towers” that illuminated large swaths of area, mimicking the light of the moon. Some of these remaining towers are celebrated as landmarks in Austin, TX.
9ggp TIL that President Calvin Coolidge was known as “Silent Cal” for being a man of small words. An example of this is part of a story that says that a matron, seated next to him at a dinner, said to him, “I made a bet today that I could get more than two words out of you.” He replied, “You lose.”
XE4VR TIL British spymaster Sir Mansfield Smith-Cumming, the first head of the MI6 and the inspiration of James Bond's M, started the practice of using semen as invisible ink during WWI. It worked well, until they realised that the letters smelled awful when received.
R5lw1 TIL that John Lennon was not the only Beatle to suffer a violent attack. George Harrison was attacked by a mentally disturbed man at his house in 1999, suffering 40 stab wounds. He was saved when his wife incapacitated the attacker by striking him repeatedly with a fireplace poker.
X0vGD Today I learned that Alexander the Great, who conquered a good section of the world, was only 32 years old when died.