› added 7 years ago

183

TIL that Merlin the Wizard was possibly based on the legend of a real person, Myrddin Wyllt, a bard who went crazy watching the defeat and slaughter of his Celtic King Gwenddoleu and his army, and spent the rest of his life in the forest living among animals as a madman.

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VBOGm TIL During the reign of Charles II (AD 1660–1685), Pope-burning processions would walk the streets with burning effigies stuffed with live cats, whereby their cries were used to create a dramatic effect
L5yZ TIL that Eratosthenes, along with countless other achievements, calculated the size of the earth in 240 BC using a stick, the shadow of the sun, and the known distance between Alexandria and Syene. He was off… by only 66 km.
nW9Y TIL during Hurricane Katrina, police officers responding to reports of gunfire opened fire on an unarmed group killing one person immediately. Two brothers tried to run but were pursued and one, who was developmentally disabled, was gunned down with a shotgun.
E1QOx TIL that during World War One conditions on the Eastern Front got so bad that wolves would start attacking groups of soldiers leading to a temporary truce between Germans and Russians so they could deal with the wolves attacking them.
AN7Qo TIL Vincent Price's last film was Edward Scissorhands