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TIL Doris Miller was a cook who saved lives and gunned down Japanese warplanes while serving on a ship during WW2. He had no previous training with an anti-aircraft gun and was awarded the Navy Cross and Purple Heart. Despite his heroism, he was assigned as a cook on Liscome Bay and died by torpedo.

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V61B TIL that Woody Allen’s Oscar-winning script, “Midnight in Paris,” began as just a title he liked for a film. So, rather than coming up with a title for a written film, he wrote the film only after coming up with the title; it took several months for the film’s idea to come to him and fit the title.
OoBG7 TIL of Henry Darger, he worked as a janitor to a hospital and after his death people discovered by coincidence two long illustrated fantasy novels and another book. He wrote more than 30,000 pages without telling anyone.
7rAkx TIL for the role of Fin Tutuola in the show Law and Order: SVU, when Ice-T asked Producer Dick Wolf how it was to be performed, he was told to "do what Ice-T would do if he were a cop."
j6ppE TIL that changes in hormonal concentration due to endocrinological diseases could cause changes in the heart rate and blood pressure
9YgPQ TIL up until 1991 there was a dedicated position in the British Armed Forces called 'The Keeper of the Apes'. Their job was solely to care for the monkeys of Gibraltar. The military even had a budget for ape-related expenses. Any sick or injured monkey was cared for in British hospitals.