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TIL about Tarrare, an 18th-century Frenchman who could eat 15 people's worth of food, live animals, and even swallowed documents for military espionage.

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9Yy7 TIL a lone Tour De France rider rode clean and spoke out against doping, but was shunned by Lance Armstrong and the rest of the peloton.
dDZNr TIL about Manichaeism, a former major religion founded in the 3rd century by the Iranian prophet Mani. At its peak, it was one of the most widespread religions on Earth. Manichaean churches and scriptures existed as far as China to the Roman Empire. It was briefly a main rival to early Christianity.
Vj5Z TIL that in 1990 the Providence Journal tested five candidates for mayor with the city-management computer game SimCity. Buddy Cianci, the most successful, won election that year.
kOx9e TIL Marquette University bought the original manuscripts and multiple working drafts of "The Hobbit" and "Lord of the Rings" from J.R.R. Tolkien for only 1,500 pounds (less than $5,000) in 1956. At the time, no other institution had expressed an interest in Tolkien's literary manuscripts.
nebmb TIL that Anson Burlingame, USA's ambassador to Qing Empire China in the 1860's, grew to be so trusted and respected for his efforts to negotiate a fair treaty, that China then appointed him to be THEIR envoy back to America and to European countries, negotiating on their behalf.