› added 5 years ago

78

TIL that up to 1921, the winners of the previous year's Championship at Wimbledon were automatically granted byes into the final round. This led to many winners retaining their titles in successive years, as they were able to rest while their opponent competed from the start of the tournament.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

9a7p TIL in 2013 Europe was hit by a horse meat scandal, in which 300 tons of horse meat was found throughout the EU food supply labeled as beef. The source was traced to a Romanian slaughterhouse, who sold it as horse meat to a chain of Cyprus, Dutch, and Irish resellers who mislabeled it.
69YbY TIL that the “ninja killer” Temujin Kensu supposedly shot someone 400 miles away by scheduling a private plane at 2 am, flying to the murder scene, then flying back leaving no trace
J1o18 TIL John Quincy Adams was nearly assassinated when George P. Todsen walked up to the White House at night to kill him. He managed to talk him out of it, gave him a job, and remained in contact with him until he died.
oX9E TIL once Heavyweight Boxing Champion of the World Max Baer wore a Star of David during his title match against Hitler’s favorite fighter, Max Schmeling. Baer won the bout and continued wearing the Star of David throughout the remainder of his career.
awB1A TIL of the micromort, a unit of risk defined as one one-in-a-million chance of death. Travelling 10km on a bike, 400km in a car, and 10,000km via jet all expose you to 1 μmt of risk. Simply existing at age 90 exposes you to 300 μmt a day.