r/todayilearned • u/Ainsley-Sorsby • 2h ago

TIL Sharon Osbourne was the manager of smashing pumpkins until 2000: she put out a public statement saying "unfortunately I must resign today due to medical reasons...Billy Corgan was making me sick"

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en.wikipedia.org
14.3k Upvotes
687 comments

r/todayilearned • u/tyrion2024 • 7h ago

TIL after boxes of booster packs containing unreleased Magic: The Gathering cards were opened online, the publisher Wizards of the Coast sent Pinkerton agents to the home of the presenter to retrieve them. They confiscated 22 boxes after a confrontation that reportedly made the presenter's wife cry.

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polygon.com
13.9k Upvotes
869 comments

r/todayilearned • u/LookAtThatBacon • 1h ago

TIL the TV show Scrubs was filmed in the North Hollywood Medical Center, using the entire decommissioned hospital. All of the writers also worked inside it, and it had an editing suite and a sound-studio for post-production. And instead of trailers for the cast, they were given old hospital rooms.

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en.wikipedia.org
• Upvotes
41 comments

r/todayilearned • u/BadenBaden1981 • 12h ago

TIL the first yelling at Rocky Horror Picture Show screening happened after 5 months in midnight screening. Upon seeing a character place a newspaper over her head to protect herself from rain, someone yelled, "Buy an umbrella you cheap bitch!"

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22.3k Upvotes
706 comments

r/todayilearned • u/bawlhie62a2 • 9h ago

TIL that Elvis Presley’s cousin was paid $18,000 by the National Enquirer to secretly photograph Elvis’ corpse after his open-casket funeral. The issue went on to become the magazine’s best-selling edition ever, with a record 6.7 million copies sold.

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remindmagazine.com
4.6k Upvotes
101 comments

r/todayilearned • u/SuperMcG • 6h ago

TIL of the 1983 Video Game Collapse when industry revenues dropped 97% over two years.

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2.4k Upvotes
302 comments

r/todayilearned • u/tyrion2024 • 4h ago

TIL each year roughly 0.3% of all college applicants in the US are accepted into at least one Ivy League school, whereas only 0.0004% of college applicants get accepted into all eight Ivy League schools. 19 known students accomplished the latter between 2014-2022.

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theivyinst.org
1.6k Upvotes
95 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Fighterpilot108 • 5h ago

TIL that the largest Uranium deposit on the United States is located near Danville Virginia. However there is a ban on mining it because of groundwater contamination concerns.

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en.wikipedia.org
1.2k Upvotes
36 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Xyeeyx • 36m ago

TIL the restaurant betrayal scene in the Matrix used a spit bucket for actor Joe Pantoliano, who said rare beef makes him gag. In wide shots they used shiitake mushrooms rigged to look like steak for the actor to eat.

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inverse.com
• Upvotes
52 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Objective_Horror1113 • 20h ago

TIL Freddie Mercury was born with four extra teeth, causing a prominent overbite. Despite being self-conscious about them, he never got them fixed, believing the extra space in his mouth contributed to his vocal ability. He feared altering his teeth might change his voice.

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ultimateclassicrock.com
28.6k Upvotes
386 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Flubadubadubadub • 16h ago

TIL That a Contronym is a word that can have two opposite valid meanings, for example Cleave, to split something and also hold on to something, or another example is Bolt, to affix something and also to get away. There are many others.

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6.9k Upvotes
766 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Ghosts_of_Bordeaux • 8h ago

TIl of "Bruceploitation", a subgenre of martial arts films made in the wake of Bruce Lee's death to capitalize on his popularity, where "look-alike" actors with their names changed to sound like Lee's (Bruce Li, Bruce Le) starred in movies such as Re-Enter the Dragon and Enter Another Dragon.

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wikipedia.org
1.4k Upvotes
84 comments

r/todayilearned • u/trubol • 2h ago

TIL Boxer Paul Sykes spent 21 years in 18 different prisons and was considered one of Britain's most difficult prisoners. His two sons are serving life sentences for murder

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385 Upvotes
23 comments

r/todayilearned • u/tyrion2024 • 1h ago

TIL in 1937 Angelo Hays slammed headfirst into a brick wall in a motorcycle crash & was declared dead. However he was discovered alive when his body was exhumed 2 days after his funeral. He made a full recovery & invented a coffin that contained a "small oven, refrigerator & a hi-fi cassette player"

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historyhit.com
• Upvotes
7 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Pozzolana • 16h ago

TIL whilst filming of The Island of Dr. Moreau multiple disasters occurred including radiation poisoning, floods and the suicide of Marlon Brando’s daughter. As director Richard Stanley was on the phone to his Mum in Ireland at the time explaining this, her house was struck by lightning.

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professionalmoron.com
3.6k Upvotes
45 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Theolaa • 1h ago

TIL that Coconut Crabs (the largest arthropods on Earth at up to 9lbs) are ticklish. If you're pinched by one, "a gentle titillation of the under soft parts of the body with any light material will cause the crab to loosen its hold."

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en.wikipedia.org
• Upvotes
26 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Loki-L • 14h ago

TIL about epaulette sharks, who can walk on land and survive for hours with little or no oxygen from their gills. They are well camouflaged apex predators that live in the waters (and sometimes land) near Australia.

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en.wikipedia.org
1.2k Upvotes
51 comments

r/todayilearned • u/DAL59 • 4h ago

TIL that between 1833 and 1855, Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna served 11 non-consecutive terms as president of Mexico, but was president for less than 6 years in total

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en.wikipedia.org
211 Upvotes
12 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Morella1989 • 6h ago

TIL that Dummy, a deaf-mute fortune teller from Sible Hedingham, was accused of cursing Emma Smith in 1863. A mob beat him and threw him in a brook as an “ordeal by water.” He died of pneumonia in a workhouse. Two men were convicted of assault and sentenced to six months’ hard labour.

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en.wikipedia.org
304 Upvotes
12 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Own-Bullfrog7362 • 1h ago

TIL that American movie producer Robert Goldstein was sentenced to ten years in 1918 under the Espionage Act for a film that portrayed the British negatively during the American Revolution.

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• Upvotes
18 comments

r/todayilearned • u/idkmoiname • 14h ago

TIL Operation LAC (Large Area Coverage) was a United States Army Chemical Corps operation which dispersed microscopic zinc cadmium sulfide particles over much of the United States and Canada in order to test dispersal patterns and the geographic range of chemical or biological weapons

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en.wikipedia.org
1.1k Upvotes
65 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Morella1989 • 4h ago

TIL Mary Baker (1792–1864) was an English impostor posing as the fictional Princess Caraboo from a distant island kingdom. She fooled a British town for several months before being exposed.

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en.wikipedia.org
156 Upvotes
13 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Morella1989 • 4h ago

TIL that the Wendel Family was an eccentric and reclusive New York real estate dynasty in the 19th and early 20th centuries. They wore outdated Victorian clothing and refused to install modern utilities. Ella, the last surviving sibling, was famous for her many poodles, all named Toby.

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135 Upvotes
4 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Grrerrb • 1d ago

TIL that in the 90s Alaskan Iñupiat schoolchildren in Kaktovik created a series of numerical digits to represent their base-20 numeral system to remedy the inadequacy of using Arabic numerals for the purpose.

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en.wikipedia.org
3.7k Upvotes
67 comments