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TIL Charlie Bronson (The prisoner) demanded an inflatable doll, a helicopter and a cup of tea during one of his hostage situations, but then released the hostage after being disgusted when he farted in front of him.

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OokXX TIL that in the 70s, Stephen King published several books under a pseudonym, partly to test whether his fame was due to luck or talent: “Thinner did 28,000 copies when Bachman was the author . . . 280,000 when Steve King became the author . . . might tell you something, huh?
l7e77 TIL of Abraham Wald, who in WW2 proposed that the US Military focus on reinforcing sections of the returning planes showing the least concentration of bullet holes. Initially, the Military planned to reinforce sections containing the most bullet holes, disregarding the phenomenon of survival bias
WkQXB TIL in 1906, the U.S. Supreme Court conducted its only criminal trial following the lynching of Ed Johnson, a black man whose habeus corpus petition was pending before the Supreme Court. The Sheriff holding Johnson was charged and convicted of contempt.
mx5yx TIL in 1988, a US Senator invoked an obscure rule to allow the Sergeant-at-Arms to arrest absent Senators and bring them into the chamber for a vote. One Senator attempted to escape, but was caught and carried feet-first into the Senate chamber by three officers.
6Emrl TIL When Andrew Johnson tried to fire his Secretary of War Stanton, Stanton refused to leave and locked himself in his office for weeks, refusing to let his successor in.