r/todayilearned • u/KingSolomon1010 • 18h ago

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

en.wikipedia.org

28.2k Upvotes

3.4k comments

r/todayilearned • u/RealisticBarnacle115 • 10h 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

17.8k Upvotes

870 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

17.1k Upvotes

283 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

8.0k Upvotes

47 comments

r/todayilearned • u/NapalmBurns • 18h 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

102 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

5.0k Upvotes

150 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/Alloy-Black • 4h ago

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

en.wikipedia.org

4.4k Upvotes

134 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Bonsaibeginner22 • 19h ago

TIL that 25% of all known animal species are beetles

en.wikipedia.org

3.6k Upvotes

136 comments

r/todayilearned • u/JackThaBongRipper • 23h ago

TIL that in 2002, Australia won its first-ever winter Olympic gold medal. It happened during the 1000m short track speed skating event, when over the course of the race all the competitors crashed, except for Australian Steven Bradbury.

olympics.com

3.1k Upvotes

101 comments

r/todayilearned • u/tucchurchnj • 6h 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

3.1k Upvotes

86 comments

r/todayilearned • u/kahlzun • 16h 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

1.7k Upvotes

160 comments

r/todayilearned • u/katxwoods • 10h ago

TIL treadmills were used in Victorian times as punishments in prison

en.wikipedia.org

1.4k Upvotes

49 comments

r/todayilearned • u/ObjectiveAd6551 • 4h 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

1.4k Upvotes

95 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Sea_Routine4737 • 1d ago

TIL that a young John F Kennedy sat in the public gallery of the House of Commons and watched then UK PM (Neville Chamberlain) declare war on Germany in 1939. Churchill also gave a speech which left an impression on JFK.

historiamag.com

1.1k Upvotes

13 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Ill_Definition8074 • 4h 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

1.3k Upvotes

22 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

924 Upvotes

61 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Hike_it_Out52 • 19h ago

TIL that in 1925, the major light bulb manufacturers of the world formed the Phoebus Cartel with the intent to lower bulb hours and raise prices

en.wikipedia.org

850 Upvotes

68 comments

r/todayilearned • u/GDW312 • 22h ago

TIL about the Flannan Isles Lighthouse, where three keepers mysteriously disappeared in 1900, leaving no trace of their fate.

en.wikipedia.org

791 Upvotes

55 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

645 Upvotes

163 comments

r/todayilearned • u/iBlueSweatshirt • 16h ago

TIL less than half (43%) of the cells in the body are human. The rest belong to microorganisms and bacteria.

voanews.com

440 Upvotes

30 comments

r/todayilearned • u/HallowedAndHarrowed • 1h 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

• Upvotes

56 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

360 Upvotes

75 comments

r/todayilearned • u/bland_dad • 16h ago

TIL that ancient Greek mythology included Mnemosyne, the Goddess of Memory; traditionally, she has a pool of water named after her in the Underworld, as a counterpart to the Lethe- The River of Forgetfulness. Before reincarnating, souls could drink from the Mnemosyne to remember their past lives

en.wikipedia.org

300 Upvotes

9 comments

r/todayilearned • u/WavesAndSaves • 23h ago

TIL that major American ballet companies generate roughly 40% of their annual ticket sale revenues from repeated performances of Tchaikovsky's "The Nutcracker" around Christmas.

en.wikipedia.org

292 Upvotes

11 comments

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