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TIL that The Company of Merchant Adventurers to New Lands was an joint stock association, incorporated in 1553. It led to the commencement of English trade with Russia, Persia and elsewhere, and became known as the Muscovy Company

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6jRZ TIL The word “electrocute” is a combination of the words electro and execute, meaning you were killed by electricity. So if you don’t die, you were not electrocuted, you were shocked.
9YrZQ TIL Richard the Lionheart's mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine, was actually a rare female crusader who would march with her husband. However, their disagreements on battle plans eventually lead to the marriage being annulled, where she then after married a Norman and produced Richard.
Vag4 TIL Vatican once invited Stephen Hawking to a conference where he had an audience with the Pope. Pope John Paul had trouble understanding Hawking and knelt down beside his wheelchair to hear him better, prompting one scientist to comment that “things certainly have changed since Galileo.”
won5J TIL that the earliest form of sushi originated on the Mekong River (parts of Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam) between the 5th and 3rd centuries BC. To prevent the fish spoiling in the heat they were gutted packed with glutinous rice and stored in barrels. It spread to China and then Japan.
RYKQ TIL on September 2, 1666 a house caught fire in London. Mayor Thomas Bloodworth refused to permit pulling down surrounding buildings to prevent spread saying that, “a woman might piss it out,” and returned home to sleep. The fire then destroyed more than 75% of the city.