› added 9 years ago

1453

TIL of Klaatu, a mystery band so good they were thought to be a secret reunion of The Beatles. The rumors snowballed until they were selling 20,000 copies per day in the U.S. alone, reached the Top 40 Billboard worldwide, and were covered by the biggest artist of the time, until they were found out.

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5LRn TIL that Saladin, the fabled hero of the Islamic world who repelled the attacks of European invaders during the Crusades and left a monumental mark on the history of the Middle East was, in fact, a Kurd.
wGG8 TIL that in World War II, American soldier John R. Fox died when he deliberately called an artillery strike on himself. Realizing that German troops were overrunning his party’s position, the strike delayed the enemy long enough for other American units to organize a counter attack.
N788b TIL robbers in India robbed trains using 1 rupee coins. The coins were used to complete the signal circuit normally completed by train wheels to make the light go red and stop the train
kno7 TIL That in the first Pirates of The Caribbean movie, the director insisted on actually having 882 Aztec coins in the chest for “a sense of historical fantasy”. Johnny Depp also used a real pistol, made in 1760.
j6ElQ TIL Captain Charles McVay of the USS Indianapolis remains the only US Navy Captain to be court martialed for losing his ship in a time of war. Though his sentence was commuted, a lifetime of tragedy and guilt led him to take his own life in 1968