› added 3 years ago

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TIL about a disabled British pensioner called Kempton Bunton who stole Goya's Portrait of The Duke of Wellington in 1961, who would return it on condition of a donation made to charity. His case went to trial where he was found not guilty of stealing the painting but guilty of stealing the frame.

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DQoMe TIL that breakdancing is a new medal event to be introduced in Paris 2024
x4Dg TIL that 5.5 million people died in a famine under British rule in India. Around the same time, Lord Lytton, the Vice Roy of India was engaged in a fabulous celebration with over 60 000 guests to be wined and fed for the coronation of Queen Victoria as the Empress of India.
0dGoj TIL about Ken Saro Wiwa, an activist and writer who protested against environmental degradation of the land and waters of Ogoniland in Nigeria at the hands of the petroleum industry, especially the Royal Dutch Shell company. Shell is accused of being complicit in his arrest and subsequent execution.
yV8gw TIL Mary de Bohun was a 14th Century English heiress. To protect an inheritance, her brother-in-law tried to make her a nun. Instead, in a secret plot, she married the future King Henry IV at age 11 and gave birth to six children. She died in childbirth at age 26.
neLJb TIL that a scorpion can hold its breath for 6 days