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TIL from my wife’s Star Trek calendar that the actor James Doohan (Scotty) had a missing right middle finger, which he lost in the WWII invasion of Normandy. Careful camera work meant it was rarely visible in the TV series.

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Bg1gd TIL that it’s someone’s job to ride ahead of the Tour de France and erase all of the dick graffiti before the race arrives and gets shown on camera
b94LZ TIL During the Second World War, the Japanese army poisoned more than 1,000 water wells in Chinese villages to study cholera and typhus outbreaks. Japanese planes dropped plague-infested fleas over Chinese cities or distributed them by means of saboteurs in rice fields and along roads.
XE9pj TIL Johann Trollmann who was a gypsy boxing champion put in a labour camp in Nazi Germany, was forced to fight against a feared ex-criminal and prison guard and won despite being malnourished and exhausted. The still bitter prison guard sought revenge by murdering Johann with a shovel later.
XED4R TIL Douglas Adams, creator of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series, wanted Slartibartfast's name to sound very rude. He was originally called "Phartiphukborlz", and changed it gradually until the BBC accepted it for radio broadcast.
DQYNV TIL In 1930 the gangster Legs Diamond went to Europe. The American government warned Europe so Diamond was immediately arrested in Belgium and then deported to Germany where he was immediately arrested and deported back to the USA. Diamond was arrested in Philadelphia and banned from the city.