› added 5 years ago

387

TIL King George V was euthanized/killed when injected with fatal doses of morphine and cocaine in his deathbed, so that the announcement was ''in the morning papers rather than the less appropriate evening journals.''

Read more nytimes.com

via reddit.com

gkJW TIL that every military working dog is always one rank higher than its handler so that mistreatment of the dog is considered assault on an officer of higher rank.
8BNX TIL that Philippe Petit walked a tightrope between the World Towers for 45 minutes in 1974. He performed stunts and even lay down on the rope during this time. He was arrested afterward and, when asked why he did it, he said: “When I see three oranges, I juggle; when I see two towers, I walk.”
D10Lr TIL that in 19th-century England, green indicated homosexual affiliations. Victorian gay men would often pin a green carnation on their lapel as popularized by openly gay author Oscar Wilde, who often wore one on his lapel.
Y7keG TIL Paul McCartney agreed to join the board of organizers of the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival on the condition that the Jimi Hendrix Experience be invited to perform. They were invited and Jimi ended his performance by lighting his guitar on fire, immediately making him a rock legend.
JYBmj TIL that 98% of the marine fish found in the aquarium hobby cannot be bred on a commercial scale in captivity; they are instead stunned using cyanide poison to enable capture, a process which not only kills many of the fish caught this way, but also destroys a square yard of the worlds ailing reefs