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TIL When Queen Elizabeth delivers a speech in Parliament, a member of the House of Commons is kept hostage at Buckingham Palace. The hostage is released when the Queen safely returns.

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Yp16A TIL Ancient Veggies Were Small, Unpalatable. Ancient tomatoes were the size of berries; potatoes were no bigger than peanuts. Corn was a wild grass, its tooth-cracking kernels borne in clusters as small as pencil erasers
DQAne TIL When en route to prison following an arrest for witchcraft in 1619, Joan Flowers asked for bread as a substitute for the Eucharist. She claimed that something so blessed could not be consumed by a witch. She choked and died after the first bite.
OoJmg TIL Walt Disney's father, Elias, was born in Canada, but didn’t find out that he wasn’t actually a confirmed citizen of the U.S.A. until much later. It was discovered that Elias Disney was still considered an alien so he went through the process to become a naturalized American citizen in his 70s
W7Eg4 TIL of Wouter Basson, aka 'Dr Death', former head of the South Africa Secret Services’ biological and chemical program ‘Project Coast’ from 1981 to 1995, that introduced drugs into SA to chemically suppress the black population. Charged but acquitted of human rights violations, including murder.
6ggl TIL: The producer of the James Bond movies is a woman. She casts Bond, his girls and decides on the stories. Barbara Broccoli is in business for 30 years leading the most successful cinema franchise.