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TIL of the legend of Sir Francis Drake’s drum. On his deathbed he requested that the drum be returned to England, and if ever they came under attack, one was to beat the drum and he would return to protect the country.

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jGMn TIL that a gypsy boxer in Nazi Germany was threatened by the Nazis to throw his next match. He came into that match with his hair dyed blonde and with whiteface. He took blows for five rounds like he was asked before collapsing. The boxers name was Johann Trollmann
4xxN TIL National Geographic hires an archivist who has worked by himself in the magazine office basement for over 30 years. He has handled hundreds of thousands of photographs and is responsible for about eight million images in the vintage collection
NjY8 TIL the citizens of Nova Scotia, Canada gladly donate their largest Christmas tree to Boston every year as a token of their gratitude, since Boston was one of the first cities to help them after the big Halifax Explosion.
9YMyX TIL that the US had a lesbian First Lady in 1885-1886. She was Rose Cleveland--Grover Cleveland's youngest sister and Acting US First Lady before Grover married in 1886. She was also a lesbian & had a relationship with a wealthy widow, Evangeline Marrs Simpson, with explicitly erotic correspondence.
BL0k TIL that Bryan Henderson is so dedicated in removing the phrase “comprised of” off the entire Wikipedia up to the point that he has made 47,000 edits in the last 8 years and has written a 6,000 word essay in his user page explaining why he thinks it’s an egregious error.