TIL 'Michael' was the most frequently given male name every year between 1954-1998 except for 1960 (David) and it fell out of the top five in 2011 for the first time since 1949. [source, comments]

TIL Big Ben has a Prison Room. Last time it was used as a prison room was in 1880, when a newly elected atheist member of Parliament refused to swear an oath to the Queen. [source, comments]

TIL the Gestapo compiled a "Black Book" listing prominent residents of Great Britain to be rounded up after a successful invasion. In addition to obvious names like Churchill, the Nazis set their sights on Bertrand Russell and Virginia Woolf. [source, comments]

TIL that the Wehrmacht suffered 80% of its military deaths in WW2 on the Eastern Front [source, comments]

TIL that Microsoft skipped version 13 of Microsoft Office due to concerns about triskaidekaphobia (fear of the number 13). [source, comments]