› added 1 year ago

190

TIL Henry VIII's doctors were too scared to tell him he was dying while he was on his deathbed because of the Treason Act forbidding anyone from speculating about the King's death. The Archbishop was the one who had to break the news.

Read more ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

via reddit.com

4Xem5 TIL that "a moron in a hurry" is a legal test for trademark infringement in which two trade marks are considered to be different enough from each other to coexist if only a moron in a hurry would confuse them. This test has been applied in cases in the United Kingdom, United States and Canada.
b9py7 TIL the longest piece of English literature ever created is a Super Smash Bros fan fiction. Started in 2008 this work in progress spans 222 chapters and is over 4.1 million words.
G9ME TIL in 1968, two boys playing in a deserted and rat-infested tenement found the body of a 31yo drug addict, surrounded by religious pamphlets and empty beer bottles. Not until 19 months later was the body identified as that of child actor Bobby Driscoll, Academy Award winner and voice of Peter Pan
vYe8 TIL there exists a painting in the dome of the US Capitol Building that depicts George Washington literally ascending to heaven and becoming divine.
QNxyd TIL when he was an Illinois state legislator, Abraham Lincoln was challenged to a duel by state auditor James Shields. Lincoln insisted on broadswords as the weapon rather than pistols prompting Shields to back out and call for a truce.