› added 5 months ago

20

TIL about HENRY DARGER (1892-1973) a reclusive hospital janitor and dishwasher who led a secret life as a prolific visual artist and epic novelist. His vast collection of creative work was discovered in 1972 when his two-room apartment in Chicago was cleared out shortly before he died.

Read more officialhenrydarger.com

via reddit.com

wL0P8 TIL British abstract artist & architect Victor Pasmore designed the brutalist Apollo Pavilion for the Sunny Blunts housing estate. It became heavily vandalised & was so hated by the residents that they campaigned & nearly succeeded in having it demolished. It is now protected as a listed monument.
6kKw TIL of Melvin Milligan, who in 2000, used the regular mail to send in his winning jackpot ticket and claim a $46 million prize. He did not use certified or insured mail. When asked to comment on this decision at his news conference, he stated “I have faith in the postal service.”
6pdl TIL that while filming the Princess Bride, André the Giant would cover Robin Wright’s head with his hand to keep her warm. His hands were so large that one would entirely cover the top of her head.
dDK79 TIL about Sati, a medieval practice among some Indians by which a recently widowed woman either voluntarily or by use of force commited suicide as a result of her husband's death. It was considered the highest expression of wifely devotion to a dead husband and was said to purge her of all her sins.
9nPm TIL in Boston a wife and her unborn child were robbed and killed. The surviving husband gave the vague description of the assailant as “a black man with a husky voice” throwing the city into a police state of racial unrest. It later emerged the white husband killed them for the insurance money.