› added 9 years ago

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TIL in 1987, North Korea brought down a South Korean jet on its way to Seoul from Baghdad. NK’s agent was posing as a Japanese national, having been taught Japanese language and customs for 3 years by a Japanese woman who was abducted from her home in Northern Japan

xVaa1 TIL Juan García, deliberately became a double agent against the Nazi's during WWII. He was so good he was awarded medals by both sides in the war. He convinced the Nazi's the D-Day landing was a diversion for an attack in Pas de Calais, so they kept large forces there before and after the invasion.
vPmYK TIL soul music pioneer Curtis Mayfield was paralysed from the neck down during a live performance in 1990, and still managed to produce an album in 1996
EZ5p TIL Alec Guinness asked George Lucas to kill off Obi-Wan because he “couldn’t go on speaking those bloody awful, banal lines”, and that he once told a fan who wanted an autograph to never watch Star Wars again
JbpB TIL of Medal of Honor recipient Cpl. Maxam. When his compound in Vietnam began taking heavy fire, he manned a machine gun at the most vulnerable point to return fire. He was hit with bullets, an RPG, and grenades, but kept returning fire for an hour and a half before succumbing to his wounds.
EOdp TIL David Copperfield and two assistants were robbed at gunpoint in 2006. The renowned magician was able to employ sleight of hand to conceal his possessions when the thieves turned to him. He was quoted as calling his spontaneous illusion “…reverse pickpocketing.”