› added 8 years ago

159

TIL the Chevalier d'Éon, French diplomat and spy, appeared publicly as male for 49 years but once infiltrated the court of Empress Elizabeth of Russia by posing as a woman. In 1777, d'Éon began dressing publicly as a woman and claimed to be female.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

VBlV4 TIL there are no less than 33 instances of cities and towns named Athens in the world.
E1Dm0 TIL in 1972 George Carlin was arrested in Milwaukee for a stand-up comedy bit about seven obscene words: Shit, piss, fuck, cunt, cocksucker, motherfucker and tits. The judge ruled in his favor, setting a precedent that ushered in the era of hardcore 1970s comedy.
neVX7 TIL a 1931 production of "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" used a practical effect of makeup invisible under red light and a pair of red/green lamps to transform the actor between Jekyll and Hyde.
lYPG TIL that the entire GoldenEye 007 game on N64 is only 12 MB.
WkNRX TIL In a dating experiment, when the subjects were told to agree with everything their date said, their dates found them less attractive than when the subject switched halfway through from disagreeing, to agreeing with everything: and the later they switched, the better.