› added 1 year ago

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TIL Soviet ballet prodigy Rudolf Nureyev was from a Muslim Tartar family and started dance in Bashkir folk performances. On tour in Paris, he escaped the KGB to socialize at gay bars and with foreigners. In retaliation for defecting to the West, he was banned from seeing his mother for 25 years.

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eQgb TIL that Finland reduced its infant mortality rate when the government gave out baby boxes to new parents after WW2, now it’s a thing
pYZeN TIL that to control the UK’s invasive grey squirrel population, a growing number of chefs and conservationists have a simple idea: eat them. One Scottish chef even made haggis from the North American rodent.
yQYw TIL that a group of german soldiers planned a coup against the Nazi regime in 1938 but were told by the French and the British ‘forget it’ because they approved of the present situation in Germany and hoped to make an alliance with it against Communism
JxPQ TIL Bill Gates Has Given Away $28 Billion Since 2007, Saving 6 Million Lives
nZdd TIL that attempts were made to create a Human-Chimpanzee hybrid through artificial insemination of female chimpanzees in 1960s China. The experiment reportedly achieved pregnancy but was cut short by the Cultural Revolution.