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TIL After a paranoid letter from a fan, J. Edgar Hoover opened up an FBI file on Frank Sinatra that lasted 5 decades. In the file, Sinatra was accused of being a traveller who strived for racial tolerance and consorted with Communists & a mob associate. The file closed when Sinatra died in 1998.

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xVM4D TIL The Twist was originally written and recorded by Hank Ballard and The Midnighters and went on to be a number one hit in 1960 but Dick Clark recommended to Cameo Records that a more wholesome Chubby Checker rerecord the song, which became a number one hit again in 1962.
rRYWd TIL Robert Henry Lawrence, Jr., was the first African American astronaut. The project he worked on would go on to become the International Space Station. He died in the backseat of his plane while teaching a cadet how to fly 50 years ago this past Friday (December 8, 1967). He was 32 years old.
eaBE TIL that Saddam Hussein was distrustful of al-Qaeda and viewed Islamic extremists as a threat to his regime, refusing all requests from al-Qaeda to provide material or operational support
0w74v TIL the largest sandwich ever made spanned 12ft by 12ft and was 0.44m (17.5 inches) thick, weighing 2467.5 kg (5440 lb). It contained 68 kg (150 lb) mustard, 468.1 kg (1,032 lb) corned beef, 117.9 kg (260 lb) cheese, 240.4 kg (530 lb) lettuce and 1,618.4 kg (3,568 lb) bread.
BgdyK TIL that due to The Beatles retiring from live performances in 1966, some of their most iconic albums, including Sgt Pepper and the White Album, were never played live