› added 4 years ago

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TIL Telephone Party Lines Were Once High Entertainment - neighboring family's had to share 1 phone line in 20th century up in north country area due to telephone company's saying it was too expensive for individual installation. Each family had own 'ring tone' and could listen in on each other.

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4kXQg TIL that, on October 30, 1939, just under two months into World War II, a German U-boat submarine fired three torpedoes at the ship carrying soon-to-be Prime Minister Winston Churchill, but none of them exploded. Commander Wilhelm Zahn became known as "The Man Who Almost Killed Churchill".
v1QW7 TIL In 1976 an International Banana Club was founded and eventually grew to 35,000 members in 17 different countries. Members received nicknames such as "Top Banana" and could obtain a degree in "Bananistry". President Ronald Reagan was a member of the club.
dDQJK TIL State Dept considered lowering the fee to renounce US citizenship from $2350 to $450
GY1QN TIL a German Professor during WW1 recorded the voice of many Indian PoWs, a unique project at a PoW camp outside Berlin. In Tamil and Punjabi, Bengali, Urdu and more, these men speak and sing of home. Now available in the Humbolt archives.
rLx0 TIL in 2011 a Gurkha single-handedly held off 12 Taliban as they attacked his base. Alone on the roof, he fought ‘an onslaught of rocket-propelled grenades and AK-47s’. He fired over 400 rounds, launched 17 grenades and detonated a mine. After his gun failed, he threw his tripod to fend a man off.