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TIL the winner of the discuss throw in the first modern Olympics had never seen a proper discuss until he arrived in Athens. The version he commissioned to train with was 25 pounds heavier than the competition model because he based it solely on images from an ancient vase.

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0wKQp TIL that Christianity became the state religion of the Roman Empire in the 380s, when Emperor Theodosius banned Pagan rituals and holidays, disbanded the Vestal virgins, extinguished the Sacred Fire, destroyed the Temple of Apollo at Delphi and put an end to the Ancient Olympic Games
oBWM7 TIL That France had a king that only ruled for 5 days because that was his entire lifespan. He has the shortest reign of any French king and the only one to have become one upon birth
5Wwn TIL two Frenchmen dueled each other from hot air balloons after discovering they “shared, rather too closely, a mutual acquaintance.” When a height of roughly 900 yards was achieved, the two fired shots. The first one to fire missed and was, in turn, sent to his death in a matter of seconds.
6E60W TIL that more people die in the desert due to drowning than due to the heat. This is because people do not prepare for flash floods, which can be very extreme in the desert.
KOWWw TIL that John Allen Chau, an American missionary, was killed in 2018 by the Sentinelese, a self-isolated group of indigenous people who live on North Sentinel Island. When attempting to recover the body, authorities saw tribesmen with bows and arrows on the shore and turned their boat back.