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30 Facts That Made Someone Stop And Say, ‘I Can’t Believe I Didn’t Know That’ (New Facts)
Did you know that the “red” in “red velvet cake” may have come from the addition of beetroot during the great depression? Even if this fact is, by and large useless unless you make a living doing pub quizzes, there is something about little details like this that just feels nice to our brains.
So we’ve gathered some new and interesting facts to equip yourself with for your next trivia event. Prepare to take some notes as you scroll through, upvote the most interesting ones and share your own examples in the comments below.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
TIL Sequoyah, an illiterate warrior of the Cherokee Nation, observed the "talking leaves" (writing) of the white man in 1813. He thought it was military advantage and created a syllabary for Cherokee from scratch in 1821. It caught on quickly and Cherokee literacy surpassed 90% just 9 years later.
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#2
TIL Frederick Douglas did not know his actual birthday, so he chose Feb 14, because his mother referred to him as her little Valentine.
#3
TIL in 2022 an 18-yr-old student, who did genealogical research as a hobby, cracked the unsolved 1964 m*rder of a 9-yr-old girl in Hazleton, PA. He researched for 18 months & created 50 complete family trees to find a connection to Hazleton which eventually led him to zero in on culprit James Forte.
#4
TIL that despite being advised by his professor not to pursue physics because “almost everything is already discovered,” Max Planck went on to develop quantum theory and win the Nobel Prize.
#5
TIL of Robert Grosseteste, a 13th century English bishop who correctly proved that rainbows are formed from refracted light. He then (very roughly) theorized an idea similar to the Big Bang theory. His sainthood was denied due to rumors that his ghost murdered the pope.
David 9 months ago
But..but.. the Pope is chosen by God and is supposedly in close contact. Catholics obey him because his word is supposed to be God's word. My point being - if the church believes all that, how come they believe someone's ghost murdered the pope and God let it. LOL Also, TIL at least 7 Popes are suspected of being murdered.
#6
TIL that "Weird Al" Yankovic is one of only five artists to chart on the Billboard Top 100 each of the previous four decades. The other four are U2, Madonna, Michael Jackson and Kenny G.
#7
TIL a man who received a bone marrow transplant was found that the DNA in his blood and semen had been completely replaced by that of his donor.
#8
TIL after doctors removed a mass from a 47-yr-old man's lung that they believed was a malignant tumor, they discovered it was a Playmobil toy traffic cone that he had swallowed on his 7th birthday in 1974. His airway was able to adapt, which is most likely why he didn't show symptoms until he was 40.
#9
TIL you can't legally buy Jack Daniel's whiskey in the town where the Jack Daniel's distillery is located, since it's a "dry county". It's legal to distill alcohol, just not legal to sell.
#10
TIL Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple, was so good at Tetris that Nintendo Power magazine eventually stopped publishing his high scores because he dominated the leaderboard.
LakotaWolf (she/her) 9 months ago
A good friend of mine, Jonas Neubauer, was the Tetris World Champion several times over, and was also the world record-holder for highest points for a while. He died in 2021 of a sudden cardiac arrhythmia (leading to cardiac death) while on vacation in Hawaii. He was only 39. We miss him. I always think of him when I hear something about Tetris :(
#11
TIL about Kalachi, Kazakhstan, a village plagued by a mysterious 'sleeping sickness' that caused residents to fall asleep for days at a time. Scientists eventually linked it to carbon monoxide poisoning from a nearby abandoned uranium mine.
#12
TIL that in 1920, French President Paul Deschanel fell from a moving train at night while wearing pajamas. Disoriented, he approached a railway signalman, claiming to be the president. The signalman, doubting his sanity, reportedly replied, "And I'm Napoleon Bonaparte."
#13
TIL 55% of the world's population aged 15 and older can't swim.
Ray Ceeya (RayCeeYa) 9 months ago
And something like 20% of Americans cant read. Seriously, in the USA 1 out of 5 adults can't read.
#14
TIL “My Heart Will Go On” by Celine Dion from the movie Titanic was playing in the dining hall when the Costa Concordia crashed in 2012.
#15
TIL Kathleen Caronna was in a month-long coma after a Thanksgiving Day parade float knocked a lamppost onto her head in 1997. She bought a nice apartment with the settlement money and 9 years later, Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle crashed his plane into her high rise and the engine landed in her bedroom.
#16
TIL Thomas Jefferson once spent $1400 (in today's dollars) just to ship a stuffed moose to France to prove that America had large animals.
Earthquake903 9 months ago
And politicians are still finding more and more expensive ways to measure their junk
#17
TIL In 2002 German actor Günther Kaufmann confessed that he had fallen on his accountant and accidentally suffocated the man to death with his 260-pound body. But in 2005 it was discovered that Kaufmann was innocent and had confessed to protect his dying wife who had m*rdered the man.
#18
TIL about Timothy Clark Smith, who, due to taphophobia (fear of being buried alive) is famous for having a grave with a window and being buried with a bell on his hand.
#19
TIL about skunk cabbage - a Canadian plant that is capable of creating temperatures tens of degrees above ambient in order to melt its way through frozen ground! Thanks to this truly Canadian feature, skunk cabbage blooms while there is still snow and ice on the ground.
#20
TIL that after admitting responsibility for over 12,000 deaths in the Cambodian genocide under the Khmer Rouge, Kang Kek Iew aka Comrade Duch asked the war crimes tribunal to acquit and release him. They did not.
#21
TIL Kayden Kross ,the p*rn actress, started her career because she wanted to save a pony from being slaughtered, she needed to get enough funds to buy the pony which made her start s***pping.
LauraDragonWench 9 months ago
Can we please, for the love of our remaining collective sanity, stop censoring words! For crying out loud! Anyone who gets offended by the words "porn" or "stripping" has way bigger problems.
#22
TIL Spain is in the "wrong" timezone because Franco aligned it with N*zi Germany in 1940, and it was never changed back.
Verena 9 months ago
As are Andorra, France, Belgium and the Netherlands. All belong technically to the British time zone. They keep the "wrong" time due to the easier exchange across borders. I live at the Dutch west coast, our "noon" is at 12:49. With daylight saving 13:49. Which is dangerous for the many German tourists, because they grow up (as I did) with "be careful between 11h and 14h, because sun is fiercest and temperature hottest". It is the hottest at 15h to 17h. And *sigh*, no, this is not related to military. In Europe every hour of the 24 hours of a day has its own unique number. Makes communication about appointments so much easier.
#23
TIL that 2 men tried to sue Universal Studios for $5m over false advertisement, after they paid $3.99 each to watch the film "Yesterday", only to discover that Ana De Armas, who appeared in the trailer, wasn't in the film.
#24
TIL about a 747 hijacking where the jet had to land in Algeria to refuel. The lead flight attendant actually had to buy 6,000 gallons of jet fuel on her personal credit card because the Algerians insisted on payment first.
Heir of Durin 9 months ago
Phew. Good thing it wasn’t my credit card or everyone on that flight would be in big trouble. 😂
#25
TIL Peter Sellers inhaled poppers before having sex with his wife one night to get "the ultimate orgasm" but instead suffered 8 heart attacks over 3 hours.
Ray Ceeya (RayCeeYa) 9 months ago
RIP. He was a comedic Genius. We will not see his kind again.
#26
TIL that a BBC report found that 80% of personal loans taken out by UAE men were used for wedding expenses; as a result, many Emirati men opted to marry "less demanding" foreign women. In response, the government created a fund giving grooms money if the bride was Emirati.
#27
TIL Britain was connected to continental Europe 9,000 years ago by strip known as Doggerland. Doggerland is now submerged.
#28
TIL Coca-Cola sold for 5 cents for over 60 years.
#29
TIL After Breaking Bad, many m*th manufacturers in real life dyed their product blue.
Ray Ceeya (RayCeeYa) 9 months ago
Actually knew a guy in the 90s who cooked his blue. Never touched the stuff myself but you run into a lot of interesting people in rural USA.
#30
TIL There is a Disney super-fan that has ridden the Cars ride, Radiator Springs Racers, over 10,000 times. He will often ride it in excess of 20 times a day.
#31
TIL that Pittsburgh had a fake Burger King. In 2014 a TV station revealed that a location of the fast food chain was using plain brown bags and odd recipes. Burger King had revoked the license but the franchisee continued until the news report, after which it became "South Side Burgers".
#32
TIL that the person who destroyed most Axis planes during WW2 was not a fighter ace but a SAS commando.
Ace 9 months ago
Point of order, members of the SAS are called troopers, they'd get very upset if you called them commandos. The term commando was used for the specialist teams of Royal Marines created in WW2, and originally only referred to the unit as a whole, not the individual soldiers therein.
#33
TIL the character "Mr. Hankey" from South Park was based on how Trey Parker's father toilet-trained him as a child. Trey said he refused to flush the toilet, so his father told him if he did not flush down his stool, which he called "Mr. Hankey," it would come to life and kill him.
#34
TIL that King Louis IX was captured and imprisoned for six weeks in Egypt in 1250 during the Seventh Crusade. He was ransomed for the equivalent of one-third of France’s GDP, while nearly all of his army was massacred. 20 years later, he died in Tunisia while on another crusade.
Annik Perrot 9 months ago
And was canonized after his death. All the "St Louis" in the world are named after him.
#35
TIL 6 years after Martha Stewart started her own catering company in 1976, a publisher (impressed with her chef skills) got her to write a cookbook which launched her career. By 1999, she consolidated her "media empire" & took it public which made her the first female self-made billionaire in the US.
#36
TIL in the weeks leading up to D-Day, due to the enormous stress he was under, General Dwight D. Eisenhower was smoking six packs of cigarettes, drinking 24 cups of coffee, and averaging two hours of sleep every day.
David 9 months ago
I mean to be fair, he was running the operation for the largest invasion in world history, involving 5 beachheads, run by 3 different countries, with 160,000 troops from over 12 countries serving in 5 different command structures, etc. And he had to make sure everyone worked together, deal with all egos, different political interests, military rivalries, etc. I think its a miracle he didnt collapse. There is a reason why Churchill said the Ike wasnt the best tactician, but he was the best organizing general he ever saw, and called him a natural politican the way he handled on those issues.
#37
TIL motoring journalist Chris Harris got temporarily blacklisted from reviewing or buying Ferraris after publishing an article in which he accused the company of specially tuning their press cars to perform significantly better in magazine reviews than the production cars customers were buying.
#38
TIL Thomas Jefferson wrote his own epitaph listing three accomplishments. Being 3rd President wasn't one of them.
Michael Largey 9 months ago
Many people at the time felt that his presidency had not been as successful as it should have been, and Thomas Jefferson was one of them. And he was both preceded and followed by presidents who were regarded as more successful.
#39
TIL: The Hittite plague was one of the diseases that helped caused a Bronze Age collapse alongside smallpox and lasted 2 decades. It is considered the first recorded form of biological warfare as Hittites brought infected rams to enemies. It was also named, "The Hand of Nergle" in ancient tablets.
#40
TIL edible gold is a particular type of real gold authorized by the European Union and the United States as a food additive, under the code E 175. It is used in haute cuisine as part of a trend towards extravagance in meals. It has to be pure, to avoid any type of infections or perils for the body.
Lord of the laserprinter. 9 months ago
A large part of the world is starving while persons who are “especially challenged” put gold in their poncy food.
#41
TIL about Peter Hagendorf a German mercenary who fought during the 30 years war and kept a diary. In it he casually describes the death of several of his children, being shot and abducting women.
#43
TIL that the film Top Gun: Maverick was actively supported and influenced by the United States Department of Defense and the United States Navy to present the U.S. military in a positive light and aid in recruitment and retention.
#44
TIL - When Alice Cooper played his “School’s Out” concert in 1972 at the Hollywood Bowl, he had a helicopter fly over and drop women’s panties on the crowd.
#45
TIL in 1530, the chinese Ming Dynasty invented bronze-iron composite cannons. The Dutch claimed "it’s scarcely possible to find their equal outside of Ming Empire". After manchu Qing dynasty's conquest they deprioritised Gunsmithing and had to use 100-300 years old cannons against British Empire.
Kira Okah 9 months ago (edited)
They didn't need to, tbf. The Qing left cannonsmithing to Chinese artisans, who developed the Shenwei Grand General - a composite metal cannon of unparalleled splendour - in the 18th century. It was these 100 year old cannons that were brought into use in the Opium Wars, the British were absolutely shocked at them, the composite construction was something not seen in British gunpowder constructions until 1847.
#46
TIL about Patricia Meehan, a woman who was involved in a car crash on Montana Highway 200. After the crash, she was observed acting strangely and wandered off, disappearing into the night. Despite over 5,000 supposed sightings of her, she has never been located.
Pyla 9 months ago
I've done that drive, it's beyond gorgeous, but it's wild on most of it. Plus I remember these little white crosses Mt puts up where fatalities occurred. It was peppered with them. I am sure she could have wandered into the Clark Fork or something and game over. Mother nature subscribes to the Werner Herzog school of "you gonna die either way" kind of thinking.
#47
TIL: Beaufort's Dyke, a deep ocean trench between Ireland and Scotland where the UK has dumped over a million tons of surplus munitions including nuclear waste. Occasionally some munitions wash up on the surrounding shores.
#48
TIL about ''execution of nine relations'' from china in which a criminal's spouse, kids, grandkids, parents, grandparents ,cousins, aunts and uncles, inlaws would all be killed. Usually only used in cases of treason though sometimes this was used for crimes as mundane as libel.
#49
TIL far beneath the pacific ocean, at the boundary between the earth's molten mantle and its outer core, there is a continent-sized natural structure called Jason.
#50
TIL A latin teacher incited 3 of his students to assassinate the cruel Duke of Milan, an act they've been groomed for since childhood. Instead of being hailed as heroes, one was killed by the crowd, and one killed by a guard after he run towards a group of women and got tangled in their clothing.
RedHairedDragon 9 months ago
Out of curiosity, I googled this since I've never heard about it. One man was killed by a guard after getting tangled in some church cloth (the murder took place in a church). The same man was dragged through the streets after death. The other two made their escapes but were soon arrested and sentenced to death. Neither Assassin were "groomed", but had all suffered some injustice by the Duke.
#51
TIL that in 1992 CNN Headline News came seconds away from mistakenly announcing that President George HW Bush had died on a trip to Japan.
#52
Til about king Henry ii and his son Henry the young king. Henry Jr led several revolt’s against his father. Despite this they never stop loving each other. When Henry II learn Henry jr had died he said "He cost me much, but I wish he lived to cost me more”.
Chewie Baron 9 months ago
Henry’s wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine, encouraged all of her sons to rebel against their father. Two other sons would sit on the throne after their father, Richard I, Coeur de Lion and John, he of the Magna Carter.
#53
TIL about Tongyangxi a Chinese practice in which a family would agree to adopt and raise a girl and in exchange she would agree to marry one of there sons when they reach marriage age.
Kira Okah 9 months ago
童养媳? The term itself is commonly translated as "child bride", though a literal translation is "child raised daughter-in-law". From what I know, this was a form of arranged marriage pretty much exclusive to poor families, and was very unsuccessful. It's quite outlawed now.
#54
TIL that the movie Kingdom of Heaven Directors Cut was so long (3 hours and 14 minutes), that it had an overture at the beginning and a 3 min intermission in the middle of the film where you watch a photo of Balian sitting with his fellow Crusaders after a battle to a special musical score.
LakotaWolf (she/her) 9 months ago
Well. After I saw that movie with my ex (who was still my boyfriend at the time) I remember liking the sound of the name "Balian" so much that I used it as a character name in MMOs and other games for a while. I feel like that wasn't all that long ago.... the movie came out in 2005 XD I feel quite old now!
#56
TIL A phenomenon called "change blindness": An experiment found that nearly half of people failed to notice when the person they were talking to was replaced with someone else after a brief visual distraction.
Heir of Durin 9 months ago
This has to be the case only if you don’t personally know the person you’re talking to. Otherwise, what?
#57
TIL the founder of North Face, Douglas Tompkins, was killed in 2015 in a kayaking accident while traveling with long time friend Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard, in Patagonia, Chile.
HardBoiledBlonde 9 months ago
TIL, a few decades back, a friend's son attending University created "South Butt" tshirts and he was sued by North Face. North Face won.
#58
TIL “Aqua Dots” were recalled for containing a chemical that metabolizes to the controlled substance GHB when ingested.
#59
TIL "Bank of America" was actually founded as the Bank of Italy in 1904.
#60
TIL in ‘22 Jim Carrey considered retiring from acting, and producers confirmed they wouldn’t recast Robotnik if he did. But they hoped to entice him with a great script. Carrey requested it be written in gold. In ‘24 Carrey confirmed his return for Sonic 3. Fowler joked the 24k ink script cost $100k.
#61
TIL about Gabriel's horn, is a type of geometric figure that has infinite surface area but finite volume.
liam newton-harding 9 months ago
Also a Menger Sponge, and a Dragon Curve. Fractals are wonderful things.
#62
TIL that women's brains appear about three years younger than men's of the same age in terms of metabolism.
#63
TIL about the Puckle Gun, an early automatic weapon designed to fire round bullets at Christians and square bullets at Muslim Turks. Square bullets were believed to cause more severe wounds than round ones.
#64
TIL A city treasurer stole over $50 million over the course over over 20 years from a small rural town in Illinois, crippling the infrastructure due to budget shortages.
Pyla 9 months ago (edited)
This is Rita Crundwell. There is a great doc. She basically had control of the bank accounts, created extra ones the city did not know about and through fake invoices paid herself millions. She also blew it on show Quarterhorses (a subject that I will offend QH breeders if I digress, but let's just say more money than horsemanship), and bankrupted the town.....They only found it because she was out once (she often went to shows), and the secretary called the bank and asked for a list of accounts (that Rita forgot to give her) and she discovered the slush funds. The whole town's infrastructure was crumbling because Rita got super greedy and not one person had the system audited properly. Fascinating to me.
#65
TIL that three Leicester City players including the son of its former manager created a scandal that involved taping an orgy in Bangkok with local prostitutes before the seasons' start. The replacement manager then went on to win the Premier League as extreme underdogs at 5000/1 odds.
SheamusFanFrom1987 9 months ago (edited)
James Pearson, Tom Hopper, and Adam Smith. Note that Pearson was the son of the manager at the time, Nigel... Nigel's replacement aka the Underdog Champ manager was Claudio Ranieri. Talk about a shock to the system back then...
#66
TIL Fidel Castro was imprisoned for a year in 1953 due to a failed coup before becoming Prime Minister of Cuba in 1959.
#67
TIL that Napster was active for just 2 years, from June 1999 to July 2001.
#68
TIL Shakespeare likely died on his birthday, April 23.
Auntriarch 9 months ago
He may even have been born on his birthday. No I'm not being sarcastic
#69
TIL Google’s 2004 IPO used a Dutch auction, where investors bid the highest price they’re willing to pay, and everyone gets shares at the lowest price that clears all available stock (the market-clearing price).
#70
TIL Max Payne was originally named Max Heat and 3D Realms spent over $20,000 trademarking the name before someone at the company suggested Max Payne, which was immediately adopted.
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Verena 9 months ago
"TIL" is not equal to "this is a proven fact". But it is always a nice read
Jaya 9 months ago
Petition to change TIL to TIHSSWMOMNBT (Today I Heard Some Story Which May Or May Not Be True)
Load More Replies... 
WindySwede 9 months ago
Even more when Pandas fact check these things. Not always 100% true.
Load More Replies... Verena 9 months ago
"TIL" is not equal to "this is a proven fact". But it is always a nice read
Jaya 9 months ago
Petition to change TIL to TIHSSWMOMNBT (Today I Heard Some Story Which May Or May Not Be True)
Load More Replies... WindySwede 9 months ago
Even more when Pandas fact check these things. Not always 100% true.
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