› added 11 years ago

104

TIL Peter Francisco, known as the Virginia Giant, was a Goliath-like soldier in the American Revolutionary War. Because of his prowess, George Washongton once said the war might have been lost without his efforts.

Read more revolutionarywararchives.org

via reddit.com

p8Y6G TIL Robert Johnson, the co-founder of BET and America’s first African-American billionaire, paid out a massive $400 million to his wife Sheila in a 2002 divorce. The massive settlement was decided by Judge William Newman, Jr., who three years later married Johnson's ex-wife
4XpgX TIL that captive cheetah kittens are sometimes paired with rescue puppies to keep them calm and stress-free as they grow up.
VMbV8 TIL The origin of the word “guy” comes from Guy Fawkes of gunpowder plot fame
xVE15 TIL that Bill Millin, a soldier in WWII, walked onto Normandy Beach on D-Day without a gun and began playing the bagpipes. When ordered to do so beforehand, he had pointed out that it was against British regulations, and his commander told him "You and I are both Scottish, and that doesn’t apply".
9jVM TIL about Irish trial marriages where there was one day out of the year where young couples joined hands through a hole in a wooden door. The trial marriage lasted a year and a day, at which time the marriage could be made permanent or broken without consequences.