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TIL that Ben Franklin was involved in the first fraternal hazing death in America. In 1737 a man died after flaming liquid was thrown on him in a mock initiation at the Philadelphia Masonic Temple. Franklin, a Freemason, was a witness, and the perpetrator was found guilty of manslaughter and branded

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X6VD TIL that the script for Gladiator 2 had Russel Crowe’s Maximus meddling with Roman gods in the afterlife, being reincarnated, defending early Christians,ultimately living forever, leading tanks in the second world war and even mucking around in the modern-day Pentagon..(but, it was rejected)
aw57Z TIL cocktails originated from horses who had their tails docked. In the 1800's they docked tails of horses that were not thoroughbred - 'cocktailed horses'. It later referred to a vulgar, ill-bred person, and finally an 'acceptable diluted alcoholic drink, not purebred, and raised above its station'
gDM7 TIL the first female Athenian doctor had to dress as a man in order to get her education and practice medicine because being a female doctor was a capital crime, but when she became the most popular doctor in town among women in her male guise, the other doctors accused her of seducing her patients.
gMleb TIL in the 1988 box-office bomb "Mac and Me", the wheelchair-bound lead child character was played by a real wheelchair-bound actor with spina bifida. In real life, when people asked why he was in a wheelchair, the 12-year-old would reply, "Vietnam."
xpGb TIL Marc Bloch, a loyal Frenchman & historian, was captured by Nazis in Vichy France & lined up to be executed. Next to him during the execution a boy groaned, “This is going to hurt,” which then Bloch replied, “No, my boy, it doesn’t hurt.” He held the boy’s hand & shouted “Vive La France!”