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TIL about the highest-paid performer in the world in the 1910s: Scottish singer and comedian Sir Harry Lauder. He rose from being a coal miner singing in occasional town concerts to commanding over £12,000 per night. He was the first British artist to sell a million records.

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1aydO TIL that, despite scathing reviews, every successive film in the Resident Evil franchise has made more money globally than the previous film (with the exception of Resident Evil: Retribution). The series has made more than $1 billion total and 4 out of 6 of the films opened at #1 in North America.
6PvY TIL Minnie Schönberg, the mother of the Marx brothers, upon hearing that farmers were exempt from being drafted, bought a farm and forced the brothers to work on it so they wouldn’t be called to fight during WWI.
Wrod TIL that in 1965 at age 90 and with no heirs Jeanne Calment sold her apartment to a lawyer on a contingency contract. The lawyer, aged 47, agreed to pay her a monthly sum of 2,500 francs until she died. She lived to 122, and he ended up paying her >$180,000; more than double the apartment’s value.
R7r19 TIL the world's oldest printed book is 'The Diamond Sutra' and it was created in 868 A.D. by a man named Wang Jie. At the bottom-right corner he printed: “Reverently made for universal free distribution by Wang Jie on behalf of his two parents.”
QNGKa TIL that in 2015, a tourist in Hong Kong was beaten to death when his tour group was forced to shop in a jewellery store