› added 2 years ago

144

TIL many of London’s streets were paved with wood

Read more ianvisits.co.uk

via reddit.com

WkQR9 TIL John F. Kennedy’s Eternal Flame has only ever gone out twice since 1963. The first time was less than a month after it had been lit when a child accidentally extinguished it with holy water. Luckily one of the grave workers was a smoker and had a lighter on hand to relight it.
PYw5n TIL that “Golden Girl” Bea Arthur enlisted in the Marines in 1943 where she was one of the first members of the Women’s Reserve and spent time as a typist and a truck driver.
GYQl5 TIL that John Young smuggled an illegal corned beef sandwich on board the Gemini 3 spacecraft in 1965. For this delicious stunt, he was given the first reprimand in NASA space mission history and his snack remains the only contraband sandwich to ever make it into space.
X0ABX TIL King Louis XI plotted to kill a court astrologer who correctly predicted a death in his court fearing he'd done it himself. Before giving his guards the signal he asked if he knew when he'd die and the astrologer responded "I shall die just three days before your Majesty." He lived a full life.
kJ5km TIL second breakfast is an actual thing, not an invention of Tolkein. It's a traditional meal in parts of central Europe, namely Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, and Bavaria and typically consists of meats and pastries, with coffee to drink.