› added 8 years ago

116

TIL in 1994, flying home from the U.S., Russian President Boris Yeltsin was scheduled to stop over in Ireland and meet the Taoiseach (prime minister). Yeltsin overslept, so his men claimed he was too unwell to leave the plane and they flew on to Moscow, leaving the Taoiseach standing on the tarmac.

Read more news.bbc.co.uk

via ift.tt

b9074 TIL Siskel and Ebert hated Jim Carrey and Ace Ventura when it was released, suggesting he retire immediately. Four years later they dedicated an entire episode of their show to him discussing his meteoric rise and admitting they were wrong.
O9LR TIL the Python programming language was named after Monty Python, not the animal.
kWGe TIL Several test pilots were once awarded astronaut wings despite not being in a space program. They managed to exceed 50 miles in altitude or more while attempting to break the world speed record in an X-15 test aircraft. They even managed to break Mach 4, 5, and 6…at up to 67 miles above earth.
7VjO TIL Google purchased the domain name Gmail.com from Garfield Comics.
8xLV TIL that Paul Pierce was stabbed 11 times in the face, neck and back in 2000, yet was the only player on the Celtics to start the entire 2000-2001 season.