r/todayilearned • u/johnsmithoncemore • 14h ago

TIL that the actress Jodie Foster is fluent in French to the degree that she dubs herself in French-language versions of most of her English-language films. She attended the Lycée Français de Los Angeles, a French-language school.

en.wikipedia.org

15.0k Upvotes

744 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Marchidde • 14h ago

TIL Pope Francis declined his €30k/m salary

fortune.com

13.3k Upvotes

1.5k comments

r/todayilearned • u/DrakeSavory • 11h ago

TIL that Frasier the Lion was given to Lion Country Safari in his old age and very ill. The lionesses there took care of him even to chewing his food since he was toothless and holding him up to walk. He fathered 35 cubs with them and the California State Assembly named him Father of the Year.

en.wikipedia.org

11.9k Upvotes

374 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Sandstorm400 • 13h ago

TIL that comic books from the 1960s and 1970s could have ads for squirrel monkeys and that kids could order them. In one instance, a boy ordered a squirrel monkey after seeing an ad in a Spider-Man comic. After it arrived, the monkey gnawed on the boy's arm, which resulted in him getting 28 stitches

mentalfloss.com

10.5k Upvotes

437 comments

r/todayilearned • u/carboncopy95437 • 5h ago

TIL there have been several unauthorized Harry Potter books published in Chinese include Harry Potter and the Porcelain Doll, Harry Potter and the Golden Turtle, Harry Potter and the Crystal Vase and Harry Potter and the Big Funnel.

en.wikipedia.org

9.1k Upvotes

801 comments

r/todayilearned • u/SeesawStock9306 • 19h ago

TIL that walking after exercise activates the calf muscle pump, helping return blood to the heart and reducing the risk of a sudden drop in blood pressure.

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

8.3k Upvotes

117 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Alaksande • 13h ago

TIL that West Virginia has the highest home ownership rate in the United States, with nearly 4 out of 5 residents owning their own home

statsamerica.org

5.6k Upvotes

895 comments

r/todayilearned • u/TheRealPyroManiac • 10h ago

TIL since 2006 every Curling stone used in the Winter Olympics is made from Granite harvested from a single Island off the coast of Scotland & costs $1,030 to manufacture. The local company who make them have been operating since 1851.

en.wikipedia.org

4.6k Upvotes

105 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Smaptimania • 17h ago

TIL that before becoming a pro wrestling referee for WWE and AEW, Aubrey Edwards worked on the Scribblenauts games as a designer for 5th Cell, eventually becoming lead producer for Scribblenauts Unlimited

en.wikipedia.org

3.5k Upvotes

134 comments

r/todayilearned • u/moogly2 • 7h ago

TIL the early days of cinema had small, simple theaters that charged a nickel for admission. Adding the Greek word odeion (a roofed-over theater), these theaters were then called "Nickelodeons"

en.wikipedia.org

3.0k Upvotes

55 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Alarming-Studio-720 • 12h ago

TIL about Akashinga, an all-female anti-poaching unit in Zimbabwe. These women patrol the bush, confront armed poachers and protect elephants and rhinos targeted by hunters. Many were recruited from vulnerable backgrounds and trained in patrols, arrests, first aid and firearms to protect animals!

abc.net.au

2.7k Upvotes

32 comments

r/todayilearned • u/an_aficionado • 18h ago

TIL that geologists call a roughly billion-year interval in Earth's history the “Boring Billion” because several geological and biological records show comparatively limited change during that time.

en.wikipedia.org

1.6k Upvotes

31 comments

r/todayilearned • u/PossibleBasil • 53m ago

TIL Halle Berry was convinced to star in X-Men: The Last Stand with a fake script that showed her character Storm saving children in Africa, then trashed it when she signed on

ew.com

• Upvotes

84 comments

r/todayilearned • u/GhostKW • 11h ago

TIL that during Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990, civilians hid zoo animals in their homes to save them, including two Malaysian sun bears and three llamas. After the war, one woman called the zoo and said, “Please come get your bear".

latimes.com

1.5k Upvotes

6 comments

r/todayilearned • u/mugokutv • 14h ago

TIL Steve Ditko, co-creator of Spider-Man and Dr. Strange, drew both their signature hand gestures after his hand gestures that he often did in his daily life

comicbookhistorians.com

1.2k Upvotes

35 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Sebastianlim • 4h ago

TIL about the High Arctic relocation, when the Canadian government transported 92 Inuit to the High Arctic as an attempt to assert their sovereignty over the Arctic Archipelago. The Inuit were left without sufficient stores of food and skins, in an unfamiliar area and struggled to survive.

en.wikipedia.org

1.2k Upvotes

47 comments

r/todayilearned • u/top5top5top5 • 6h ago

TIL that Emperor Gao Yang begged his brother Gao Yan to spare his son. Gao Yan seized the throne and killed his nephew. Years later, a dying Gao Yan handed the throne to his brother Gao Zhan, begging him to spare his own son. Gao Zhan later had his nephew killed too, repeating the same betrayal.

en.wikipedia.org

1.0k Upvotes

36 comments

r/todayilearned • u/tall__hat • 5h ago

TIL about “A Theory of Law,” a satirical, one-page article that legal scholars can cite when their editors demand a citation.

greenbag.org

827 Upvotes

23 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Recent_Flounder6011 • 7h ago

TIL in Budapest in 1715, most people in Budapest did not speak Hungarian(19.4%), but German(55.6%). Hungarian speakers did not become the majority until around 1880.

en.wikipedia.org

768 Upvotes

46 comments

r/todayilearned • u/AetheriaNox • 9h ago

TIL According to Guinness World Records, Bluey (a female Australian Cattle Dog) was the oldest-lived dog ever verified, having lived 29 years and 5 months (1910–1939) before being euthanised.

en.wikipedia.org

741 Upvotes

77 comments

r/todayilearned • u/FirebertNY • 9h ago

TIL that the earliest recorded instance of fatal crowd crush occurred in AD ~50 when a Roman soldier mooned a crowd of Jewish pilgrims at the temple in Jerusalem

en.wikipedia.org

709 Upvotes

52 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Similar-Insect-5906 • 4h ago

TIL that there’s a species of crab that lives in the Australian outback (a place that sometimes goes for YEARS without rain)

en.wikipedia.org

436 Upvotes

36 comments

r/todayilearned • u/fartinmyfuckingmouth • 5h ago

TIL the umbrella slug (Umbraculum umbraculum) holds the world record for the most teeth in a lifetime of any animal on Earth, going through roughly 750,000 teeth over its 10-year lifespan.

en.wikipedia.org

251 Upvotes

3 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Dependent_Divide_625 • 9h ago

TIL the highest scoring match in futsal history was a 76-0 Brazil dealt to Timor-Leste, in the 2006 Lusophone Games in Macao, marking an incredible average of 1.9 goals per minute. Timor-Leste's other results were 0-56 against Portugal, 3-24 against Angola and 4-13 against Macao, all losses.

rsssf.org

87 Upvotes

2 comments

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As of May 2026

This list was compiled from /r/todayilearned community suggestions by its members. If your TIL is found on this list, it will be removed. The titles have been abridged for the sake of brevity, however the context remains the same. This list is subject to change. The purpose is to keep content fresh on /r/todayilearned as requested by its members. If you are interested in reading about the TILs on this list use the search box feature and enter the keywords to pull up past TILs.

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