› added 4 years ago

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TIL that when practicing for the D-Day landings in "Exercise Tiger" at least 749 Americans were killed by friendly fire and a "wolf pack" of 6 German E-boats who stumbled on the LST ships in the dark. D-Day was nearly called off because 10 officers who knew the exact plans went missing.

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kOl8E TIL that in LA in the 40s Rachmaninoff got invited to a party at Stravinsky's house by Stravinsky's wife. When Stravinsky opened the door that night to let a guy in, Rach was standing there with a huge jar of honey and Stravinsky was really confused, but invited Rach inside and they became friends.
d8pME TIL Dymphna, patron saint of mental illness, fled from her "mad king" father to Geel, Belgium. She founded an sanctuary for the mentally ill. After her death, the afflicted continued to flock to Geel. Citizens began boarding and caring for them in their homes, a tradition that continues today.
nLQo TIL that Sherman Hemsley, who played George Jefferson on All In The Family & The Jeffersons, was a big progressive rock fan and recorded an unreleased album with Jon Anderson, the lead singer of Yes.
XEZN6 TIL that Gene Simmons of Kiss saw Van Halen at a club in 1976 and decided to produce a demo tape for them. However, when he took the demo tape to Kiss management he was told that "they had no chance of making it" and that they wouldn't take them, so he opted out of further involvement.
GYNG4 TIL that about 90-95% of infants in films are played by twins or triplets, due to child labour laws that restrict how long they can be on set.