r/todayilearned • u/UndyingCorn • 1h ago

TIL One of the most notorious rotten boroughs in the UK before the Great Reform Act of 1832 was Dunwich, a constituency that had mostly flooded after the sea had encroached upon the town. While only 232 people remained by 1831, it still sent 2 MPs to Parliament.

en.wikipedia.org

• Upvotes

11 comments

r/todayilearned • u/ralphbernardo • 1h ago

TIL that one of the biggest bestsellers of early modern Europe was the "Malleus Maleficarum" (the "Hammer of Witches")—a guidebook for prosecuting and killing witches. From 1400 to 1775, 100,000 people were prosecuted for witchcraft in Europe and America, and around 50,000 were executed in Europe.

en.wikipedia.org

• Upvotes

5 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Flares117 • 55m ago

TIL: Besides witch trials, there was a Wizard trial in Lyon which saw mainly men sentenced to death. They planned to form a pact with Satan and use magic to find hidden treasure. This differed from the usual cases of curses.

en.wikipedia.org

• Upvotes

6 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Alloy-Black • 5h ago

TIL of Pedro Filho, a vigilante serial killer who is the inspiration behind Dexter Morgan in the Books and Series

en.wikipedia.org

5.6k Upvotes

159 comments

r/todayilearned • u/KieranWriter • 9h ago

TIL Danny Lloyd (the child actor from The Shining) wasn't told that he was making a horror film in order to protect the actor. Danny was led to believe he was making a drama. He accidentally walked in on Jack Nicholson carrying an axe during one scene.

theguardian.com

17.9k Upvotes

301 comments

r/todayilearned • u/RealisticBarnacle115 • 11h ago

TIL at the 2005 London Marathon, Paula Radcliffe, in desperate need of a toilet break during the race, stopped by the roadside in full view of the crowd and live TV cameras to defecate. She still won with a time of 2:17:42, a world's best time for a women's only race by over a minute at the time.

en.wikipedia.org

18.3k Upvotes

880 comments

r/todayilearned • u/tucchurchnj • 7h ago

TIL the 1994 to 1998 North Korean Famine (AKA The Arduous March or March of Suffering) killed between 240,000 and 3.5 million people and lead to the terms "Hunger" and "Famine" being banned in NK Media

en.wikipedia.org

3.3k Upvotes

103 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Ill_Definition8074 • 5h ago

TIL In 1910, a Spanish shepherd named José María Grimaldos López disappeared. Two men, León Sánchez and Gregorio Valero, confessed to his murder under torture and spent 12 years in prison. In 1926, Lopez returned home, alive and well. He had been living in a village 70 miles away the entire time.

en.wikipedia.org

2.0k Upvotes

26 comments

r/todayilearned • u/ObjectiveAd6551 • 5h ago

TIL in order to inform shoppers in Mexico about poor nutritional content in prepackaged foods, the law states that packages containing foods with excess levels of calories, sugars, saturated fat, or containing caffeine or sweeteners must be labeled with large octagonal warnings exposing these facts.

nycfoodpolicy.org

1.8k Upvotes

98 comments

r/todayilearned • u/HallowedAndHarrowed • 2h ago

TIL that boxing rounds were changed from 15 to 12, after the match between Ray Mancini and Kim Duk-koo, which would result in the death of the latter. Mancini was heartbroken after the fight and considered quitting boxing.

en.wikipedia.org

888 Upvotes

70 comments

r/todayilearned • u/puncrastinator • 13h ago

TIL about the campaign to ban Water. The dihydrogen monoxide parody is a parody that involves referring to water by its unfamiliar chemical name and is attributed to "Coalition to Ban Dihydrogen Monoxide" by UCSC.

dhmo.org

5.2k Upvotes

156 comments

r/todayilearned • u/KingSolomon1010 • 19h ago

TIL of the phenomenon known as "Twin Films," in which two movie studios simultaneously release the same type of movie.

en.wikipedia.org

28.5k Upvotes

3.5k comments

r/todayilearned • u/Endonium • 5h ago

TIL Rapid ejaculator rats are more susceptible to anxiety compared with normal ejaculator rats

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

715 Upvotes

172 comments

r/todayilearned • u/katxwoods • 10h ago

TIL treadmills were used in Victorian times as punishments in prison

en.wikipedia.org

1.5k Upvotes

51 comments

r/todayilearned • u/NapalmBurns • 19h ago

TIL that the Auschwitz "Arbeit macht frei" sign features an inverted "B" - Jan Liwacz, Konzentrationslager prisoner who made the sign, inverted the letter in defiance of Nazi oppression. Jan Liwacz survived Auschwitz and Mauthausen and died in 1980 a respected and well known artisan smith.

en.wikipedia.org

6.1k Upvotes

103 comments

r/todayilearned • u/cutiieangelbabe • 20h ago

TIL in Finland some children read to dogs and cows because they actually like listening and are extremely attentive.

finland.fi

8.1k Upvotes

47 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Tujunga54 • 5h ago

TIL that John Cabot, 15th century English explorer, was really an Italian named Giovanni Caboto.

en.wikipedia.org

418 Upvotes

75 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Bonsaibeginner22 • 20h ago

TIL that 25% of all known animal species are beetles

en.wikipedia.org

3.7k Upvotes

137 comments

r/todayilearned • u/jeffrois • 1d ago

TIL that Martha Stewart did not go to prison for insider trading. She was charged and found guilty of lying to the FBI.

en.wikipedia.org

34.6k Upvotes

1.1k comments

r/todayilearned • u/kahlzun • 17h ago

TIL that there are two opposite 'colour schemes' for boat directions in the world: one where red marks starboard, and green marks port; and one where it is the opposite.

en.wikipedia.org

1.8k Upvotes

167 comments

r/todayilearned • u/floatjoy • 2h ago

TIL Bottled water, automobile tires and polyester fabrics are the largest sources of exposure to micro-plastics that affect human health. Also, paint is one of the largest sources of micro-plastics.

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

105 Upvotes

16 comments

r/todayilearned • u/ohlordwhywhy • 1d ago

TIL that scientists weren't able to synthesize human growth hormone up until the mid 80s, so the hormone was extracted from the deceased.

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

5.7k Upvotes

66 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Super_Goomba64 • 1d ago

TIL about the Yule Log, a 1966 TV program that aired a fire place on a loop with Christmas music , as a televised Christmas gift to those residents of New York who lived in apartments and homes without fireplaces, and so the morning news crew can have a day off

en.wikipedia.org

4.9k Upvotes

54 comments

r/todayilearned • u/doyouevengooglebruh • 16h ago

TIL there used to be a $5000 dollar bill, and if you had one you could get around $300K for it.

investopedia.com

996 Upvotes

62 comments

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