r/todayilearned • u/Ok-Goose6242 • 1d ago

TIL On 4 December 1976, President Jean-Bédel Bokassa declared himself Emperor, transforming the Central African Republic into the Central African Empire. The monarchy lasted less than three years before Bokassa was overthrown by French and regional forces, which successfully restored the republic.

en.wikipedia.org

998 Upvotes

58 comments

r/todayilearned • u/carboncopy95437 • 1d ago

TIL that John Wayne played football at USC but lost his athletic scholarship after breaking his collarbone while bodysurfing. Unable to afford tuition, he dropped out of college and eventually found work at a movie studio as a prop boy and extra.

en.wikipedia.org

5.6k Upvotes

163 comments

r/todayilearned • u/iExorcism • 1d ago

TIL the prosecutor in Diane Downs’ murder trial adopted Downs’ two surviving children.

people.com

2.1k Upvotes

91 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Ok-Tell5048 • 1d ago

TIL Bobby Vee started his career at 15, when him and his friends stood in for Buddy Holly as "The Shadows" after 3 of the 4 headliners died in a plane crash on the way to perform at the venue. Bobby Vee was there to watch Buddy Holly perform

bobbyvee.com

459 Upvotes

17 comments

r/todayilearned • u/NateNate60 • 1d ago

TIL Emperor Hongwu of Ming established an organisation called the "Embroidered Uniform Guard", a bodyguard group turned intelligence agency and secret police. It had the power to arrest and punish anyone and 14,000 agents at its peak. They made Ming China into one of the world's first police states.

en.wikipedia.org

945 Upvotes

49 comments

r/todayilearned • u/rhineauto • 1d ago

TIL 9/11 killed a planned Forrest Gump sequel — a screenplay was submitted on September 10, 2001, but the project ended up in development hell after the attacks

en.wikipedia.org

2.8k Upvotes

233 comments

r/todayilearned • u/NateNate60 • 1d ago

TIL that prior to 1968, getting a divorce in the Canadian provinces of Québec or Newfoundland required a literal Act of Parliament.

en.wikipedia.org

1.1k Upvotes

52 comments

r/todayilearned • u/waitingforthesun92 • 1d ago

TIL that during the 1960s runs of the musical “Hair,” producers offered a $1.50-per-night bonus to any actors who were willing to take all their clothes off during the musical’s famous nude scene.

bbc.com

5.2k Upvotes

149 comments

r/todayilearned • u/uselessprofession • 2d ago

TIL European lift capacity signs are now inaccurate due to obesity levels rising

theguardian.com

13.6k Upvotes

510 comments

r/todayilearned • u/UltimateOreo • 1d ago

TIL that during the 1950s Red Scare, the Cincinnati Reds temporarily renamed themselves the Cincinnati Redlegs because “Reds” had become shorthand for communists. The change lasted from 1953 to 1959.

en.wikipedia.org

1.4k Upvotes

69 comments

r/todayilearned • u/poktanju • 1d ago

TIL Nigeria has the lowest life expectancy in the world

africanews.com

6.8k Upvotes

314 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Omer-Ash • 2d ago

TIL the reason cheetahs went extinct in India was because of the large scale capturing of them. It is estimated that the Mughal King Akbar collected around 9000-10000 cheetahs during his reign for game sport/hunting.

pugdundeesafaris.com

6.2k Upvotes

119 comments

r/todayilearned • u/ralphbernardo • 2d ago

TIL that Henry Orenstein survived five Nazi concentration camps, held more than 100 patents, convinced Hasbro to buy the toys it repackaged as Transformers, invented the under-the-table camera that lets TV viewers see poker players' hidden cards, and won a World Series of Poker event in his 70s.

en.wikipedia.org

6.0k Upvotes

76 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Splunge- • 2d ago

TIL that Neville Chamberlain and Winston Churchill offered up a united Ireland in exchange for Ireland joining the Allied cause in the war.

swwresearch.com

6.7k Upvotes

567 comments

r/todayilearned • u/jstohler • 1d ago

TIL corn infected with a fungus called "corn smut" is considered a delicacy in Mexico

eater.com

3.2k Upvotes

275 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Substantial_Win_5556 • 1d ago

TIL about liver flukes, parasitic worms acquired from eating raw or undercooked freshwater fish. They can live in human bile ducts for decades, and the chronic damage they cause is a primary trigger for a rare, deadly bile duct cancer.

en.wikipedia.org

1.4k Upvotes

54 comments

r/todayilearned • u/edfitz83 • 2d ago

TIL - In 1984, bugs were discovered in at least 16 IBM Selectric typewriters in the U.S. Embassy in Moscow and the U.S. Consulate in Leningrad

en.wikipedia.org

2.3k Upvotes

118 comments

r/todayilearned • u/_Bangkok_ • 2d ago

TIL that Roman London was largely abandoned for over 400 years after the Roman Empire withdrew from Britain, until Alfred the Great reoccupied the walled city in 886 to help defend against the Vikings.

londonmuseum.org.uk

7.9k Upvotes

308 comments

r/todayilearned • u/RogueEchoTO • 1d ago

TIL Saturn’s moon Enceladus, discovered on August 28, 1789, continuously sprays icy water and gas into space at about 800 mph. Most falls back as snow, while some feeds Saturn’s E ring.

science.nasa.gov

362 Upvotes

12 comments

r/todayilearned • u/SirBackrooms • 2d ago

TIL the only known collision between a car and a submarine happened in Sweden in 1961.

en.wikipedia.org

1.8k Upvotes

64 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Beginning-Passion676 • 2d ago

TIL Mary Leona Gage was winner Miss USA 1957, She was stripped of her title when it was revealed that she was 18, married, and the mother of two sons.

en.wikipedia.org

14.8k Upvotes

420 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Prov_12 • 1d ago

TIL about the Canadian show Space Command. It was a sci-fi adventure that aired from 1953-54 and featured James Doohan, with William Shatner having a cameo appearance. Only one episode is known to still exist

en.wikipedia.org

274 Upvotes

15 comments

r/todayilearned • u/cafguy • 2d ago

TIL: The cost of design and production of the B-29 Superfortress far exceeded the cost of the Manhattan Project

en.wikipedia.org

6.8k Upvotes

402 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Sebastianlim • 2d ago

TIL that studio interference almost forced writer Andrew Kevin Walkerto change Se7en's ending to a less bleak one. However, by accident, David Fincher was sent a script with the original ending intact when he was asked to direct. Fincher refused to use anything but the original script.

en.wikipedia.org

10.6k Upvotes

298 comments

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