› added 10 years ago

108

TIL Half Price Books was founded by two men who pooled 2,000 of their own books as the store’s first merchandise.

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0ADL TIL children born in Iceland to Icelandic women and American or British servicemen were often given the last name Hansson meaning “his son” as their fathers were either unknown or had left Iceland.
LkJx9 TIL that FBI director J. Edgar Hoover possessed one of the world's largest collection of pornography, both for blackmail and for personal titillation purposes
b97M0 TIL despite being poor, one of the most decorated war veterans, Audie Murphy, refused to appear in alcohol and tobacco commericals. He had won every possible US Army Award for combat in WWII.
GAxD5 TIL That an Irish woman attempted to murder Italian Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini in 1926, armed with a revolver, she aimed at Mussolini's head but a sudden head movement saved him at the last second, with the bullet only managing to wound his nose.
J1758 TIL Reese Witherspoon is a direct descendant of John Witherspoon, one of the 56 signers of the United States Declaration of Independence.