TIL in an effort to protect her son and daughter from falling under the sinister charms of Charles Manson, Angela Lansbury relocated her family from LA to Ireland. Describing Ireland as “free from bad influences”, she then refused work to better support their recovery from heroin addiction. https://ift.tt/cuRLrBt

TIL the British had a secret WW2 plan called Operation Tracer to leave behind an observation post if the Germans captured Gibraltar. Six men were to be sealed inside a hidden chamber to observer the harbor and Strait of Gibraltar. They would have had 7 years of supplies and bicycle-powered radios. https://ift.tt/Xpgs4Fb

TIL that President Richard Nixon often traveled to Camp David, Maryland to catch broadcasts of Redskins' home games that were "blacked out" on TV in Washington DC. He also once reserved a phone line at his Florida White House to receive the play-by-play of a Cowboys-Redskins game in Dallas. https://ift.tt/puRceol

TIL The United States, who entered WWII with just four aircraft carriers, finished the war four years later with close to 100 carriers of all classes and types. https://ift.tt/4njVIe6

TIL David Copperfield was once robbed at gunpoint -- but successfully performed an illusion to convince the robbers his pockets were empty when they weren't. https://ift.tt/iS0KGOT

TIL that the Watergate scandal began when burglars acting on behalf of the Nixon administration broke into Democratic campaign headquarters. They were caught because their lookout (posted in a hotel next door) was watching "Attack of the Puppet People" on TV and didn't notice the police arriving. https://ift.tt/MgnEurv

TIL about Hunger Stones, rocks placed in rivers below a certain depth and meant to be revealed during times of drought and famine. When one is found, it is marked with the current year, some still bearing dates from the 1600s. One found in the Czech Republic in 2018 reads "If you see me, weep" https://ift.tt/S3Qvica

TIL the radiation in a nuclear power plant doesn’t produce electricity. It heats water into steam which runs a turbine that creates electricity. https://ift.tt/Xtbk3zl

TIL Marjoe Gortner is an Evangelical preacher who decided to pull the curtain back on the scams he and other preachers used. He invited a crew to film behind the scenes as he revealed tricks of the trade and the sacks full of cash he earned nightly. It won the '72 Academy Award Best Documentary https://ift.tt/9WHqBm8

TIL after multiple disputes with his town Marvin Heemeyer constructed a concrete/steel armor-plated bulldozer “Killdozer” to destroy those who had sided against him. His rampage destroyed 13 buildings & was unstoppable by Police/SWAT until the dozer stalled. He killed himself & was the only casualty https://ift.tt/vOTaSEo

TIL in the 2006 documentary "This Film is Not Yet Rated" the director hired detectives to uncover the identities of the MPAA ratings & appeal boards, revealing that the former received very little training for rating films, and the latter consisted of studio/theater execs - as well as two clergymen https://ift.tt/szd7Dhf

TIL in the 1936 summer Olympics in Nazi Germany, Adi Dassler, founder of the new German company Adidas, asked african American athlete Jesse Owens to wear his new running shoes during the events. Owens would agree and go on to win 4 gold medals. https://ift.tt/XLu2ivW

TIL that measles infection is linked to immune amnesia. If you develops a measles infections your immune system memory for all other pathogens is wiped clean and you are left extremely susceptible to other infections and pathogens. https://ift.tt/qefFUBN

TIL: Throughout its history, Jerusalem has been destroyed at least twice, besieged 23 times, captured and recaptured 44 times, and attacked 52 times. https://ift.tt/XzWe6JO

TIL Debra McKenna forgot a class ring gifted by her then fiancé in a department store in Maine in 1973. A worker found it 47 years later with a metal detector, buried in a forest in Finland. https://ift.tt/rtW0zS5

TIL in 1912 4 yr-old Bobby Dunbar disappeared, was found eight months later in Mississippi with a couple that refuted that it was him. Courts ordered the boy to live with the Dunbars. 100 years later DNA verified that the boy was Bruce Anderson and had been wrongly identified by Dunbar's parents https://ift.tt/Cmodgf9

TIL that there is a region in Antarctica that is so dry, that not even ice can form there. It hasn't seen rain in nearly 2 million years and is host to unique lifeforms. https://ift.tt/uptBNLx

TIL at the end of the Top Gear US Special after arriving in New Orleans, the hosts gave their cars away instead of selling them as originally planned after seeing the damage from Hurricane Katrina https://ift.tt/TwuB9bL

TIL one of the earliest pregnancy tests was a fish, called a European Bitterling. If injected with a pregnant person's urine, its ovipositor (egg-laying organ) will protrude, indicating a positive result https://ift.tt/c48VCk3

TIL Sugar does not cause hyperactivity in children. This myth is based on a single 1978 study; no subsequent study has shown a relationship. https://ift.tt/5vA3CGZ

TIL that Pope Innocent VIII was breastfed while he was on his deathbed, as that was the only thing he could eat or drink https://ift.tt/SVtIkDq