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40

TIL that in 1926, the Poltiburo of the Soviet Union was made up of seven men, Joseph Stalin, Nikolai Bukharin, Mikhail Tomsky, Grigory Zinoviev, Leon Trotsky, Lev Kamenev, and Alexei Rykov. By 1940, Stalin was the only one of them left alive, having killed all of the other members.

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9BJB TIL that in Singapore, during WWII, the Malayan Infantry noticed a troop of Punjabi soldiers marching in a line of four, instead of a line of three as how the soldiers of the British Army would and opened fire, killing several men. The Punjabi soldiers were actually Japanese soldiers in disguise.
ZpJwR TIL at the 1977 South African F1 Grand Prix, driver Tom Pryce struck a 19 year old race marshal at 170mph who had crossed the track without permission to deal with a broken down car. The fire extinguisher carried by the marshal struck Pryce in the head, also killing him instantly.
DQ4mY TIL that an aircraft crash resulting in the pilot's death or total destruction of the aircraft is called a "Class A Mishap" by the US Air Force.
4km4a TIL the biggest surrender in war history since WWII was on December 16 1971, when the chief of Pakistani forces, General AA Khan Niazi, along with 93,000 troops, surrendered unconditionally before the Indian military. India repatriated all of them by 1973.
VNDm TIL the avant-garde band The Residents recorded an album of 40 one-minute songs, then purchased 40 one-minute advertising slots on San Francisco’s most popular Top-40 radio station and had the station play each track over the course of three days