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TIL that in 1978, a year after smallpox was eradicated worldwide, the virus escaped from the lab of professor Henry Bedson. It infected two last patients, including the last person to ever die of smallpox. Bedson, who had been working to rid the world of smallpox, killed himself the next day.

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jNENN TIL Ancient romans recycled their pee. They peed in pots and emptied them in a barrel which they left on the street when filled. A public service would pick it up to turn the pee into ammonia which they used as bleach, mouthwash and more
7r0rr TIL about 'holy anorexia' - Medieval Catholic saints "refused food, but drank the pus from the sores of the sick. Angela of Foligno is reported to have said it was as "sweet as the Eucharist", and also to have eaten the scabs and lice from those same patients"
N7vyJ TIL The First sporting event ever filmed was in 1894 James "Gentlemen Jim" Corbett fought Peter Courtney in 6 one-minute rounds at Thomas Edison's Black Maria studio. This small piece of Round 1 is all that remains and is the oldest surviving footage of a sport being filmed.
5Lrp TIL that David Niven was the only British star in Hollywood to enlist during World War 2. When suspicious American guards asked during the Battle of the Bulge who had won the World Series in 1943, he answered “Haven’t the foggiest idea … but I did co-star with Ginger Rogers in ‘Bachelor Mother’!”
p8JEp TIL of the 'Flogsta Scream'. Every evening at 10pm students in the town of Uppsala, Sweden, let out a collective scream as a response to the stress of university life.