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TIL that England was temporarily a vassal state under the Holy Roman Empire after the capture of Richard the Lionheart and subsequent ransom.

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a88nL TIL that the official Hitler sent to coerce fascist Spain into joining the Axis in WWII was secretly opposed to Nazism. Unsurprisingly, he did not convince Spain to join the war. After the war, the Spanish government gave his widow a pension in gratitude.
x6eQk TIL There are only two remaining Northern white rhinoceros alive today, both are female and in captivity, causing this subspecies to be functionally extinct
LQNvp TIL that method used to rob the banks in the movie The Place Beyond the Pines (2012) was the actual method "Friday Night Robber" Carl Gugasian successfully used for over thirty years.
E0yp TIL George Carlin hosted the very first episode of Saturday Night Live.
PYjOJ TIL the reason the marathon is 26.2 miles long is due to the British Royal Family. At the 1908 London Olympics the race was started from Windsor Castle to accommodate a younger member and an extra 385 yards was needed so as to finish at the Royal Box in the White City stadium.