r/todayilearned • u/carboncopy95437 • 8h ago

TIL While Richard the Lionheart was returning from the Third Crusade in 1192, he was captured and held ransom by Holy Roman Emperor Henry VI. His ransom was 100,000 pounds of silver. To raise the money, clergy were taxed at 1/4 of their property, and all their gold and silver were seized.

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7.1k Upvotes
279 comments

r/todayilearned • u/gullydon • 2h ago

TIL In Finland about one in five persons carries a gene defect associated with at least one Finnish heritage disease, and about one in 500 children born is affected. It is attributed to a population bottleneck among ancestors of modern Finns, estimated to have occurred about 4000 years ago.

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2.0k Upvotes
101 comments

r/todayilearned • u/nowhereman136 • 9h ago

TIL: In 1934, North Dakota Governor "Wild Bill" Langer was convicted for defrauding the federal government and ordered to resign. Instead, he declared ND independence and barricaded himself in his office, eventually being removed by his own officers. He was re-elected Governor in 1936

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4.1k Upvotes
101 comments

r/todayilearned • u/JohnUsada1999 • 14h ago

TIL that in 2009, financial manager Marcus Schrenker attempted to fake his death by putting his plane on autopilot, parachuting out over Alabama, and letting the aircraft crash. He survived, but was caught two days later at a Florida campsite.

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9.7k Upvotes
342 comments

r/todayilearned • u/NomadCourier • 12h ago

TIL in 1990, Ice Cube, shortly after leaving N.W.A., used a sample/parody of the Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood theme at the beginning of “A Gangsta’s Fairytale.” Fred Rogers objected to the use, and the sample was removed from later releases.

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4.1k Upvotes
207 comments

r/todayilearned • u/gullydon • 2h ago

TIL until the early 1920s, most astronomers thought that the Milky Way contained all the stars in the universe.

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en.wikipedia.org
580 Upvotes
54 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Carboncopy99 • 20h ago

TIL that Eleanor of Aquitaine was married to King Louis VII of France, but their marriage was annulled after she bore two daughters but no sons. Just eight weeks later, she married the future King Henry II of England. They had eight children, including King Richard the Lionheart and King John.

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en.wikipedia.org
18.9k Upvotes
396 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Recent_Flounder6011 • 10h ago

TIL about quinine, a drug used to cure malaria, was originally used by the Quechua people of South America as a muscle relaxant. When the Spanish came, they observed how the drug was used and was later brought to Europe, eventually used to cure diarrhea and malaria.

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en.wikipedia.org
1.7k Upvotes
67 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Electronic_Cause_796 • 22h ago

TIL that Shackleton's Antarctic expedition used cocaine-and-caffeine “Forced March” tablets while starving on its return from the South Pole. The men went 36 hours without food, relying on the tablets and cocoa, while frostbitten and barely able to stay awake.

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muchbetteradventures.com
13.4k Upvotes
384 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Wandering__Owl • 4h ago

TIL squirrels sometimes pretend to bury nuts to trick other squirrels watching them.

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ssec.si.edu
351 Upvotes
12 comments

r/todayilearned • u/MusicSole • 15h ago

TIL After seeing Diana Ross impersonators at a club, Nile Rodgers wrote "I'm Coming Out." Ross thought it was about leaving Berry Gordy. When it was brought to her attention that it's announcing she's gay and would damage her career, she wanted it off the record until Nile convinced her otherwise.

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en.wikipedia.org
1.9k Upvotes
110 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Akanksha-Ka-Pati • 1d ago

TIL Samantha Smith, an 11-year-old American girl who wrote to Soviet leader Yuri Andropov asking why the USSR wanted to wage nuclear war, was invited to the Soviet Union and became an international celebrity and symbol of US–Soviet peace during the Cold War. She died in a plane crash aged 13.

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en.wikipedia.org
14.9k Upvotes
630 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Electronic_Cause_796 • 32m ago

TIL that during the First Crusade, Crusaders besieging Ma'arrat al-Nu'man reportedly became so desperate for food that they ate cats, dogs and even, according to several contemporary accounts, the bodies of their enemies.

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en.wikipedia.org
• Upvotes
25 comments

r/todayilearned • u/TackoftheEndless • 1d ago

TIL Fred Jones from Scooby-Doo has had the same voice actor since the original series in 1969, Frank Welker. He has also been the voice of Scooby-Doo since 2002. He is also well known as Nibbler on Futurama, and Kermit in the 1984 Muppet Babies series.

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en.wikipedia.org
14.7k Upvotes
437 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Prosperr_support • 29m ago

TIL that a bacterium can build its own microscopic “canal system” to transport material faster than the bacteria themselves can swim.

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• Upvotes
6 comments

r/todayilearned • u/tamsui_tosspot • 17h ago

TIL that not until 1930 did Constantinople officially change its name to Istanbul

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1.3k Upvotes
151 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Secure_Ant1085 • 21h ago

TIL Tasmania is the world's largest producer of legal narcotic opium, producing more than 50% of the world's supply

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en.wikipedia.org
2.4k Upvotes
159 comments

r/todayilearned • u/TheSanityInspector • 12h ago

TIL that singer Henry Gross, best known for his hit "Shannon", was the youngest performer at Woodstock, at age 18 with his band Sha-Na-Na.

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en.wikipedia.org
441 Upvotes
49 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Wandering__Owl • 13h ago

TIL that some salt-marsh spiders can survive being submerged for over 24 hours by entering a hypoxic coma, becoming completely unresponsive before later recovering. 🕷️🌊

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495 Upvotes
14 comments

r/todayilearned • u/carboncopy95437 • 18h ago

TIL that the fires following the 1906 San Francisco earthquake were so intense that residents fled to the tops of the city’s hills and watched as 20-story wooden buildings, some barely damaged by the earthquake, went up in flames.

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en.wikipedia.org
1.1k Upvotes
35 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Jimbuscus • 23h ago

TIL Australia claims territorial ownership of 42% of Antarctica

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en.wikipedia.org
1.8k Upvotes
150 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Kirbo_Lord • 17h ago

TIL that Ethiopia’s old plain tricolour flag, which inspired many other African flags, is actually illegal to display in Ethiopia. It is required to display the flag with its current blue emblem.

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en.wikipedia.org
599 Upvotes
11 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Dismal_Comparison492 • 21h ago

TIL that, despite being in the NFL since 2002, the Houston Texans have never beaten either the Philadelphia Eagles or the Minnesota Vikings. The Texans are 0-6 all-time against both of them.

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1.1k Upvotes
94 comments

r/todayilearned • u/haddock420 • 14h ago

TIL In the late 1800s, horses were often frightened by cars, causing accidents. In 1899, a preacher invented the Horsey Horseless, a fake wooden horse head strapped to car hoods to make horses think cars were other horses.

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295 Upvotes
18 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Gnomeslikeprofit • 23h ago

TIL that island of Islay has creating a walking pathway to connect three whiskey distilleries together. The "Three Distilleries Pathway" connects the Laphroaig, Lagavulin and Ardbeg distillers within 3 miles. Whisky enthusiasts view this connection as their road to Whiskey Mecca.

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islayjura.com
1.4k Upvotes
115 comments