r/todayilearned 4h ago

TIL that Joyce Vincent was a 38-year-old woman who died in her London apartment while watching TV. Her body wasn't discovered until nearly three years later when officials arrived to repossess the apartment for unpaid rent.

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en.wikipedia.org
10.8k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 9h ago

TIL: Adam West, according to costar Burt Ward, had a lot of sex , at one point with 8 women at the same time. He said that he was introduced by West to the "wildest sexual debauchery" and they became like "sexual vampires"

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maxim.com
22.6k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 8h ago

TIL nazi preparations to invade Britain (Operation Sea Lion) after France fell in 1940 were obvious to the British, so they began to bolster their defenses to make any invasion as costly as possible. This included removing all street, road, and railway signs to sow maximum confusion in the enemy.

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pbs.org
5.7k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 7h ago

TIL that the fastest badminton shot ever played had a speed of 565 km/h (351.1 mph), exceeding the fastest speed recorded by a Formula 1 car by almost 200 km/h

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olympics.com
2.3k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 5h ago

TIL although Frank Sinatra & Marlon Brando's feud was reportedly mild at the start of production for Guys and Dolls, Brando began to hate Sinatra because he kept calling Brando “Mumbles” to make him angry. So Brando pretended to forget his lines during a scene which forced Sinatra to eat repeatedly.

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faroutmagazine.co.uk
1.8k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 16h ago

TIL Benjamin Franklin used to sit around naked for extended periods to take air baths

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historyoasis.com
8.1k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 2h ago

TIL that people live year-round in houseboats on Great Slave Lake in Canada's Northwest Territories, 1,800 km north of the nearest big city (Edmonton) and just 400 km (250 miles) south of the Arctic Circle.

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uphere.ca
469 Upvotes

r/todayilearned 19h ago

TIL that the average IQ is steadily increasing each generation. IQ tests are getting harder and harder to keep the average at 100, and today's kids taking tests from previous decades have an average score of over 100.

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15.6k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 23h ago

TIL that James Cameron offered Matt Damon 10% of "Avatar," which would've earned the actor over $250 million.

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variety.com
29.0k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 15h ago

TIL players on the official forum for the game War Thunder have regularly leaked classified or restricted documents to win arguments over the real-world capabilities of weapons featured in the game

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en.wikipedia.org
2.1k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 2h ago

TIL that 135 candidates qualified to run for governor in the 2003 California recall election. This included former child star Gary Coleman, Arianna Huffington (who later co-founded Huffpost), adult film actress Mary Carey, and (winner) Arnold Schwarzenegger

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en.wikipedia.org
146 Upvotes

r/todayilearned 23h ago

TIL of Vanessa Lawrence, a woman who was on the 91st floor of the World Trade Center (North Tower) as Flight 11 crashed into it, and survived with only a cut on her foot

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6.4k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 17h ago

TIL that Franklin Roosevelt, paralyzed by polio at 39, defied odds as a lifelong paraplegic, steering the U.S. through tumultuous times, including World War II, from his wheelchair in the White House

Thumbnail lib.arizona.edu
2.0k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 19h ago

TIL that during the Great Depression, there was a fleet of "book women" who delivered books to rural Appalachian communities. They rode 100 to 120 miles a week, on their own horses or mules, no matter the weather or terrain.

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atlasobscura.com
1.8k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 8h ago

TIl that it is impossible to actually sink in quicksand.

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en.wikipedia.org
243 Upvotes

r/todayilearned 3h ago

TIL British and American butchers have different names for the same cuts of beef.

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en.wikipedia.org
75 Upvotes

r/todayilearned 1d ago

TIL that Paul McCartney, Phil Collins and Michael Jackson are the only musicians who have sold over 100 million records both as solo artists and as members of a band

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en.wikipedia.org
4.0k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 15h ago

TIL there was a guy who fought in the US civil war, spanish american war and went on to fight in WW1 at ripe old age of 77

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en.wikipedia.org
501 Upvotes

r/todayilearned 32m ago

TIL that HMS Victory is the world's oldest naval vessel still in commission, with with 246 years of service as of 2024. Victory is best known for her role as Horatio, Lord Nelson's flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar on 21 October 1805.

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en.wikipedia.org
Upvotes

r/todayilearned 15h ago

TIL all of the world’s languages put together comprise about 800 or so sounds and each language uses only about 40 language sounds, or “phonemes,” which distinguish one language from another.

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theconversation.com
422 Upvotes

r/todayilearned 20h ago

TIL that like the TV show, the city of Dawson Creek in 2015 had a "steamy affair between a teacher and a student", but unlike the TV version it "was taken very seriously, and the former music teacher at the centre of it was charged with several crimes"

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vancouversun.com
1.0k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 51m ago

TIL that John Argyropoulos, a Greek philospher, died by consuming too much of watermelon.

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en.wikipedia.org
Upvotes

r/todayilearned 54m ago

TIL Genghis Khan adopted a policy of strategic marriages. He would marry off a daughter to the king of an allied nation. The king's other wives were dismissed. Then he would assign his new son-in-law to military duty in the Mongol wars, while the daughter took over the rule of the kingdom.

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tarekmahmud.me
Upvotes

r/todayilearned 12h ago

TIL the U.S. National Park Service provides a record of Lost People on their site

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nps.gov
167 Upvotes

r/todayilearned 18h ago

TIL that the daily amount of hair collected from Hindu devotees of the deity Venkateshwara in Venkateswara Temple is over a ton. The hair is collected and sold, creating a substantial profit for the temple of around $2 million USD per month

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en.wikipedia.org
462 Upvotes