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TIL Czechoslovak runner Emil Zátopek decided to compete in the marathon in the 1952 Olympics, despite never having run that distance in his life. Zátopek asked fellow runner Jim Peters, who he was racing alongside, if the pace was fast enough. When Peters said “no”, Zátopek sped up and won the race

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6EaMZ TIL that the St. Stephen's Green public park in Dublin, Ireland has a section of garden for the blind, with scented plants that can withstand handling and signs written in Braille.
1B9d TIL before World War I, most people did not have or need an identity document.
Z80Bv TIL: The highest point (The peak of Mount Whitney at 14,494 feet / 4,418 meters) and lowest point (The Badwater Basin area of Death Valley at -282 feet / -86 meters) in the Contiguous United States are both in California, both in the same county in California, and only 88 miles apart.
p8pwp TIL about Dorothy Kilgallen, a journalist who claimed to have inside information about the death of JFK. She was drafting a chapter about JFK's death in her book when in 1965, she was found dead in her apartment under suspicious circumstances. All copies of Kilgallen's drafts were never found.
M7Mva TIL During the 50's and 60's, Dr. Chester M. Southam injected patients and prisoners with cancer cells (HeLa cells) for research without their consent. He was reported and suspended for a year despite a cover up attempt. He later became President of the American Association for Cancer Research.