Pound (mass)
The pound or pound-mass is a unit of mass used in the imperial, United States customary and other systems of measurement. Various definitions have been used; the international standard symbol for the avoirdupois pound is lb. The unit is descended from the Roman libra; the English word pound is cognate with, among others, German Pfund, Dutch pond, Swedish pund. All derive from a borrowing into Proto-Germanic of the Latin expression lībra pondō, in which the word pondō is the ablative case of the Latin noun pondus. Usage of the unqualified term pound reflects the historical conflation of weight; this accounts for the modern distinguishing terms pound-force. The United States and countries of the Commonwealth of Nations agreed upon common definitions for the pound and the yard. Since 1 July 1959, the international avoirdupois pound has been defined as 0.45359237 kg. In the United Kingdom, the use of the international pound was implemented in the Weights and Measures Act 1963; the yard or the metre shall be the unit of measurement of length and the pound or the kilogram shall be the unit of measurement of mass by reference to which any measurement involving a measurement of length or mass shall be made in the United Kingdom.
An avoirdupois pound is equal to 16 avoirdupois ounces and to 7,000 grains. The conversion factor between the kilogram and the international pound was therefore chosen to be divisible by 7, an grain is thus equal to 64.79891 milligrams. In the UK, the process of metrication and European units of measurement directives were expected to eliminate the use of the pound and ounce, but in 2007 the European Commission abandoned the requirement for metric-only labelling on packaged goods there, allowed for dual metric–imperial marking to continue indefinitely; when used as a measurement of body weight the UK practice remains to use the stone of 14 pounds as the primary measure e.g. "11 stone 4 pounds", rather than "158 pounds", or "72 kilograms" as used elsewhere. The US has not adopted the metric system despite many efforts to do so, the pound remains used as one of the key United States customary units. In different parts of the world, at different points in time, for different applications, the pound has referred to broadly similar but not identical standards of mass or force.
The libra is an ancient Roman unit of mass, equivalent to 328.9 grams. It was divided into ounces; the libra is the origin of the abbreviation for pound, "lb". A number of different definitions of the pound have been used in Britain. Amongst these were the avoirdupois pound and the obsolete Tower, merchant's and London pounds. Troy pounds and ounces remain in use only for the weight of certain precious metals in the trade; the pound sterling was a Tower pound of silver. In 1528, the standard was changed to the Troy pound; the avoirdupois pound known as the wool pound, first came into general use c. 1300. It was equal to 6992 troy grains; the pound avoirdupois was divided into 16 ounces. During the reign of Queen Elizabeth, the avoirdupois pound was redefined as 7,000 troy grains. Since the grain has been an integral part of the avoirdupois system. By 1758, two Elizabethan Exchequer standard weights for the avoirdupois pound existed, when measured in troy grains they were found to be of 7,002 grains and 6,999 grains.
In the United Kingdom and measures have been defined by a long series of Acts of Parliament, the intention of, to regulate the sale of commodities. Materials traded in the marketplace are quantified according to accepted units and standards in order to avoid fraud; the standards themselves are defined so as to facilitate the resolution of disputes brought to the courts. Quantifying devices used by traders are subject to official inspection, penalties apply if they are fraudulent; the Weights and Measures Act of 1878 marked a major overhaul of the British system of weights and measures, the definition of the pound given there remained in force until the 1960s. The pound was defined thus "The... platinum weight... deposited in the Standards department of the Board of Trade... shall continue to be the imperial standard of... weight... and the said platinum weight shall continue to be the Imperial Standard for determining the Imperial Standard Pound for the United Kingdom". Paragraph 13 states that the weight in vacuo of this standard shall be called the Imperial Standard Pound, that all other weights mentioned in the act and permissible for commerce shall be ascertained from it alone.
The First Schedule of the Act gave more details of the standard pound: it is a platinum cylinder nearly 1.35 inches high, 1.15 inches diameter, the edges are rounded off. It has a groove about 0.34 inches from the top, to allow the cylinder to be lifted
Filly
A filly is a female horse, too young to be called a mare. There are two specific definitions in use: In most cases, a filly is a female horse under four years old. In some nations, such as the United Kingdom and the United States, the world of horse racing sets the cutoff age for fillies as five. Fillies are sexually mature by two and are sometimes bred at that age, but they should not be bred until they themselves have stopped growing by four or five; some fillies may exhibit estrus as yearlings. The equivalent term for a male is a colt; when horses of either sex are less than one year, they are referred to as foals. Horses of either sex between one and two years old may be called yearlings. Filly Triple Crown Weanling
Stone (unit)
The stone or stone weight is an English and imperial unit of mass now equal to 14 pounds. England and other Germanic-speaking countries of northern Europe used various standardised "stones" for trade, with their values ranging from about 5 to 40 local pounds depending on the location and objects weighed; the United Kingdom's imperial system adopted the wool stone of 14 pounds in 1835. With the advent of metrication, Europe's various "stones" were superseded by or adapted to the kilogram from the mid-19th century on; the stone continues in customary use in Britain and Ireland used for measuring body weight, but was prohibited for commercial use in the UK by the Weights and Measures Act of 1985. The name "stone" derives from the use of stones for weights, a practice that dates back into antiquity; the Biblical law against the carrying of "diverse weights, a large and a small" is more translated as "you shall not carry a stone and a stone, a large and a small". There was no standardised "stone" in the ancient Jewish world, but in Roman times stone weights were crafted to multiples of the Roman pound.
Such weights varied in quality: the Yale Medical Library holds 10 and 50-pound examples of polished serpentine, while a 40-pound example at the Eschborn Museum is made of sandstone. The English stone under law varied in practice varied according to local standards; the Assize of Weights and Measures, a statute of uncertain date from c. 1300, describes stones of 5 merchants' pounds used for glass. In 1350, Edward III issued a new statute defining the stone weight, to be used for wool and "other Merchandizes", at 14 pounds, reaffirmed by Henry VII in 1495. In England, merchants traditionally sold potatoes in half-stone increments of 7 pounds. Live animals were weighed in stones of 14 lb. Smithfield market continued to use the 8 lb stone for meat until shortly before the Second World War; the Oxford English Dictionary lists: The Scottish stone was equal to 16 Scottish pounds. In 1661, the Royal Commission of Scotland recommended that the Troy stone be used as a standard of weight and that it be kept in the custody of the burgh of Lanark.
The tron stone of Edinburgh standardised in 1661, was 16 tron pounds. In 1789, an encyclopedic enumeration of measurements was printed for the use of "his Majesty's Sheriffs and Stewards Depute, Justices of Peace... and to the Magistrates of the Royal Boroughs of Scotland" and provided a county-by-county and commodity-by-commodity breakdown of values and conversions for the stone and other measures. The Scots stone ceased to be used for trade when the Act of 1824 established a uniform system of measure across the whole of the United Kingdom, which at that time included all of Ireland. Before the early 19th century, as in England, the stone varied both with locality and with commodity. For example, the Belfast stone for measuring flax equaled 16.75 avoirdupois pounds. The most usual value was 14 pounds. Among the oddities related to the use of the stone was the practice in County Clare of a stone of potatoes being 16 lb in the summer and 18 lb in the winter; the 1772 edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica defined the stone:STONE denotes a certain quantity or weight of some commodities.
A stone of beef, in London, is the quantity of eight pounds. The Weights and Measures Act of 1824, which applied to all of the United Kingdom, consolidated the weights and measures legislation of several centuries into a single document, it revoked the provision that bales of wool should be made up of 20 stones, each of 14 pounds, but made no provision for the continued use of the stone. Ten years a stone still varied from 5 pounds to 8 pounds to 14 pounds. However, the Act of 1835 permitted using a stone of 14 pounds for trade but other values remained in use. James Britten, in 1880 for example, catalogued a number of different values of the stone in various British towns and cities, ranging from 4 lb to 26 lb; the value of the stone and associated units of measure that were legalised for purposes of trade were clarified by the Weights and Measures Act 1835 as follows: In 1965, the Federation of British Industry informed the British Government that its members favoured adopting the metric system.
The Board of Trade, on behalf of the Government, agreed to support a ten-year metrication programme. There would be minimal legislation, as the programme was to be voluntary and costs were to be borne where they fell. Under the guidance of the Metrication Board, the agricultural product markets achieved a voluntary switchover by 1976; the stone was not included in the Directive 80/181/EEC as a unit of measure that could be used within the EEC for "economic, public health, public safety or administrative purposes", though its use as a "supplementary unit" was permitted. The scope of the directive was extended to include all aspects of the EU internal market as from 1 January 2010. With the adoption of metric units by the agricultural sector, the stone was, in practice, no longer used for trade.
Newmarket, Suffolk
Newmarket is a market town in the English county of Suffolk 65 miles north of London. It is considered the birthplace and global centre of thoroughbred horse racing and a potential World Heritage Site, it is a major local business cluster, with annual investment rivalling that of the Cambridge Science Park, the other major cluster in the region. It is the largest racehorse training centre in Britain, the largest racehorse breeding centre in the country, home to most major British horseracing institutions, a key global centre for horse health. Two Classic races, an additional three British Champions Series races are held at Newmarket every year; the town has had close royal connections since the time of James I, who built a palace there, was a base for Charles I, Charles II, most monarchs since. The current monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, visits the town to see her horses in training. Newmarket has over fifty horse training stables, two large racetracks, the Rowley Mile and the July Course, one of the most extensive and prestigious horse training grounds in the world.
The town is home to over 3,500 racehorses, it is estimated that one in every three local jobs is related to horse racing. Palace House, the National Heritage Centre for Horseracing and Sporting Art, the National Horseracing Museum, Tattersalls racehorse auctioneers, two of the world's foremost equine hospitals for horse health, are in the town, surrounded by over sixty horse breeding studs. On account of its leading position in the multibillion-pound horse racing and breeding industry, it is a major export centre. 1200: Newmarket's name was recorded as Novum Forum, a Latin phrase meaning "new market", the English translation was applied to give the town its present name. February 1605: James I first visited, describing it as a "poor little village". 1606 to 1610: James I built the Newmarket Palace, an estate covering an acre of land from the High Street to All Saints’ churchyard, thus established the town as a royal resort. This made Newmarket into a horseracing town. 1619: Inigo Jones was commissioned to build a new lodge for the Prince of Wales.
It was Italianate in style. 1642: In Newmarket Charles I met a parliamentary deputation that demanded his surrender of the armed forces. "By God not for an hour", Charles replied, "You have asked such of me, never asked of a King!" This started the English Civil War. Newmarket remained Royalist throughout the war. Early June 1647: Charles was captured at Holdenby House in Northamptonshire and brought to Newmarket as a prisoner, he was placed under house arrest in the palace while the whole of Cromwell's New Model Army kept guard over the town. 30 January 1649: Charles I was executed. 1649: A survey showed that the palace was in disrepair. 1650: The palace was sold to John Okey, who demolished most of the buildings. 1660: Restoration of Charles II. 1666 to 1685: Charles II visited Newmarket. 1668: Charles II commissioned William Samwell to build a new palace on the High Street. 1670: John Evelyn said that the palace was "meane enough, hardly capable for a hunting house, let alone a royal palace!" October 1677, October 1695: William of Orange visited Newmarket.
Start of the 19th century: The palace was torn down, but a part survives and is now named Palace House. 19th century: Newmarket south of the High Street spread into the parishes of Woodditton and Cheveley in Cambridgeshire. 1894: The county border was moved to accommodate this, has been further altered since. 15 December 1977: An F111-F jet fighter crashed at Exning near Newmarket because of hydraulic failure. About 2011: Time Team excavated on the site of Charles II's palace at Newmarket, found foundations of racehorse stables; the area of Suffolk containing Newmarket is nearly an exclave, with only a narrow strip of territory linking it to the rest of the county. The town was split with one parish - St Mary - in Suffolk, the other - All Saints - in Cambridgeshire; the Local Government Act 1888 made the entirety of Newmarket urban sanitary district part of the administrative county of West Suffolk. The town falls in the Parliamentary constituency West Suffolk and as of 2010 has been represented by Conservative MP Matthew Hancock, the secretary of state for Health & Social Care.
The 1972 Local Government Bill as proposed would have transferred the town to Cambridgeshire. The Local Government Commission for England had suggested in the 1960s that the border around Newmarket be altered, in West Suffolk's favour. Newmarket Urban District Council supported the move to Cambridgeshire, but the government decided to withdraw this proposal and keep the existing boundary, despite intense lobbying from the UDC. Racing at Newmarket has been dated as far back as 1174, making it the earliest known racing venue of post-classical times. King James I increased the popularity of horse racing there, King Charles I followed this by inaugurating the first cup race in 1634; the Jockey Club's clubhouse is in Newmarket. Around 3,000 race horses are stabled around Newmarket. By comparison, the human population is of the order of 15,000 and it is estimated that one in three jobs are connected to horseracing in one way or another. Newmarket has 3 main sections of Heath; the grassland of Newmarket's training grounds has been developed over hundreds of years of careful maintenance, is regarded as some of the finest in the world.
"Racecourse side" is located next to the Rowley Mile Racecourse and is a pr
Gelding
A gelding is a castrated horse or other equine, such as a donkey or a mule. Castration, as well as the elimination of hormonally-driven behavior associated with a stallion, allows a male horse to be calmer and better-behaved, making the animal quieter and more suitable as an everyday working animal; the gerund and participle "gelding" and the infinitive "to geld" refer to the castration procedure itself. The verb "to geld" comes from the adjective geldr; the noun "gelding" is from the Old Norse geldingr. The Scythians are thought to have been the first people to geld their horses, they valued geldings as war horses because they were quiet, lacked mating urges, were less prone to call out to other horses, were easier to keep in groups, were less to fight with one another. A male horse is gelded to make him better-behaved and easier to control. Gelding can remove lower-quality animals from the gene pool. To allow only the finest animals to breed on, while preserving adequate genetic diversity, only a small percentage of all male horses should remain stallions.
Mainstream sources place the percentage of stallions that should be kept as breeding stock at about 10%, while an extreme view states that only 0.5% of all males should be bred. In wild herds, the 10% ratio is maintained as a single stallion protects and breeds with a herd, larger than 10 or 12 mares, though may permit a less dominant junior stallion to live at the fringes of the herd. There are more males than just herd stallions, but unattached male horses group together for protection in small all-male "bachelor herds", where, in the absence of mares, they tend to behave much like geldings. Geldings are preferred over stallions for working purposes because they are calmer, easier to handle, more tractable. Geldings are therefore a favorite for many equestrians. In some horse shows, due to the dangers inherent in handling stallions, which require experienced handlers, youth exhibitors are not permitted to show stallions in classes limited to just those riders. Geldings are preferred over mares, because some mares become temperamental when in heat.
The use of mares may be limited during the months of pregnancy and while caring for a young foal. In horse racing, castrating a stallion may be considered worthwhile if the animal is distracted by other horses, difficult to handle, or otherwise not running to his full potential due to behavioral issues. While this means the horse loses any breeding value, a successful track career can be a boost to the value of the stallion that sired the gelding. Sometimes a stallion used for breeding is castrated in life due to sterility, or because the offspring of the stallion are not up to expectations, or because the horse is not used much for breeding, due to shifting fashion in pedigree or phenotype. Castration may allow a stallion to live peacefully with other horses, allowing a more social and comfortable existence. Under British National Hunt racing rules, to minimize the health and safety risk for horses and spectators, nearly all participating horses are geldings. On the other hand, in other parts of Europe, geldings are excluded from many of the most prestigious flat races including the Classics and the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.
In North American Thoroughbred racing, geldings, if otherwise qualified by age, winnings, or experience, are allowed in races open to intact males. The same applies in Australia. To perpetuate any given breed, some male horses must remain capable of reproduction. Thus, animals considered to be the finest representatives are used for mating. Though the criteria used can be, in some places, rather subjective, a stallion should have a superior appearance, or phenotype; some cultures did not and still geld male horses, most notably the Arabs. These people used mares for everyday work and for war. In these cultures, most stallions are still not used for breeding, only those of the best quality; when used as ordinary riding animals, they are kept only with or near other male horses in a "bachelor" setting, which tends to produce calmer, less stallion-like behavior. Sometimes cultural reasons for these practices exist. Gelding horses is approved of as a way to allow more horses to live comfortably and safely in proximity to humans and other horses, as an ethical means of population control within the animal rights community.
However, a small number of horse owners are concerned that the process may cause pain for the animal or somehow lessen their vitality or spirit. While modern surgical procedures cause far less discomfort to the animal than more primitive methods, there is minor postoperative discomfort when the animal is in recovery. Although castrations have few complications, there are risks. Castration can have complication such as swelling, hemorrhage or post-operative bleeding and eventration, it can take up to six weeks for residual testosterone to clear from the new gelding's system and he may continue to exhibit stallion-like behaviors in that period. For reasons not always clear, about 30% of all geldings may still display a stallion-like manner, some because of a cryptorchid testicle retained in the horse, some due to learned behavior, but some for no clear reason. Training to eliminate these behaviors
Suffolk
Suffolk is an East Anglian county of historic origin in England. It has borders with Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; the county is low-lying with few hills, is arable land with the wetlands of the Broads in the north. The Suffolk Coast and Heaths are an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. By the fifth century, the Angles had established control of the region; the Angles became the "north folk" and the "south folk", from which developed the names "Norfolk" and "Suffolk". Suffolk and several adjacent areas became the kingdom of East Anglia, which merged with Mercia and Wessex. Suffolk was divided into four separate Quarter Sessions divisions. In 1860, the number of divisions was reduced to two; the eastern division was administered from the western from Bury St Edmunds. Under the Local Government Act 1888, the two divisions were made the separate administrative counties of East Suffolk and West Suffolk. A few Essex parishes were added to Suffolk: Ballingdon-with-Brundon and parts of Haverhill and Kedington.
On 1 April 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972, East Suffolk, West Suffolk, Ipswich were merged to form the unified county of Suffolk. The county was divided into several local government districts: Babergh, Forest Heath, Mid Suffolk, St Edmundsbury, Suffolk Coastal, Waveney; this act transferred some land near Great Yarmouth to Norfolk. As introduced in Parliament, the Local Government Act would have transferred Newmarket and Haverhill to Cambridgeshire and Colchester from Essex. In 2007, the Department for Communities and Local Government referred Ipswich Borough Council's bid to become a new unitary authority to the Boundary Committee; the Boundary Committee reported in favour of the proposal. It was not, approved by the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government. Beginning in February 2008, the Boundary Committee again reviewed local government in the county, with two possible options emerging. One was that of splitting Suffolk into two unitary authorities – Ipswich and Felixstowe and Rural Suffolk.
In February 2010, the then-Minister Rosie Winterton announced that no changes would be imposed on the structure of local government in the county as a result of the review, but that the government would be: "asking Suffolk councils and MPs to reach a consensus on what unitary solution they want through a countywide constitutional convention". Following the May 2010 general election, all further moves towards any of the suggested unitary solutions ceased on the instructions of the incoming Coalition government. In 2018 it was determined that Forest Heath and St Edmundsbury would be merged to form a new West Suffolk district, while Waveney and Suffolk Coastal would form a new East Suffolk district; these changes took effect on 1 April 2019. West Suffolk, like nearby East Cambridgeshire, is renowned for archaeological finds from the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, the Iron Age. Bronze Age artefacts have been found in the area between Mildenhall and West Row, in Eriswell and in Lakenheath. Many bronze objects, such as swords, arrows, palstaves, daggers, armour, decorative equipment, fragments of sheet bronze, are entrusted to St. Edmundsbury heritage service, housed at West Stow just outside Bury St. Edmunds.
Other finds include traces of barrows. In the east of the county is Sutton Hoo, the site of one of England's most significant Anglo-Saxon archaeological finds, a ship burial containing a collection of treasures including a Sword of State and silver bowls, jewellery and a lyre; the majority of agriculture in Suffolk is either mixed. Farm sizes vary from anything around 80 acres to over 8,000. Soil types vary from heavy clays to light sands. Crops grown include:winter wheat, winter barley, sugar beet, oilseed rape and spring beans and linseed, although smaller areas of rye and oats can be found growing in areas with lighter soils along with a variety of vegetables; the continuing importance of agriculture in the county is reflected in the Suffolk Show, held annually in May at Ipswich. Although latterly somewhat changed in nature, this remains an agricultural show. Below is a chart of regional gross value added of Suffolk at current basic prices published by Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling.
Well-known companies in Suffolk include Greene Branston Pickle in Bury St Edmunds. Birds Eye has its largest UK factory in Lowestoft, where all its meat products and frozen vegetables are processed. Huntley & Palmers biscuit company has a base in Sudbury; the UK horse racing industry is based in Newmarket. There are two USAF bases in the west of the county close to the A11. Sizewell B nuclear power station is at Sizewell on the coast near Leiston. Bernard Matthews Farms have some processing units in the county Holton. Southwold is the home of Adnams Brewery; the Port of Felixstowe is the largest container port in the United Kingdom. Other ports are at Ipswich, run by Associated British Ports. BT has its main development facility at Martlesham Heath. There are several towns in the county with Ipswich being most populous. At the time
Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News
The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News was an English weekly magazine founded in 1874 and published in London. In 1945 it changed its name to the Sport and Country, in 1957 to the Farm and Country, before closing in 1970; the Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News was founded in 1874. The paper covered, as its title indicates, both sporting and theatrical events, including news and criticism, it contained original pieces of fiction in serials and a story or two in each issue. There were numerous similar publications in Britain at the time, including The Illustrated London News, which shared its address and some illustrators with the magazine. In 1883, the paper published a cartoon showing Oscar Wilde in convict dress, considered at the time to be a serious slur. Twelve years Wilde was convicted of "gross indecency" and sentenced to two years penal labour; the paper is a good source of illustrations from sporting and theatre events, such as images of horse racing. Notable illustrators included Louis Wain, Frank R. Grey, D. H. Friston, Alfred Concanen and Alfred Bryan.
In 1920, its address was 172, London WC 2. Notable editors included James Wentworth Day, who served in the post between 1935 and 1937; the magazine's published fiction included W. S. Gilbert's short piece, Actors and Audiences in 1880's Holly Leaves, its annual Christmas special, Bram Stoker's The Squaw and Crooken Sands, Agatha Christie's story The Unbreakable Alibi in Holly Leaves of 1928, her Sing a Song of Sixpence in the following year's Holly Leaves; the Irish chess grand master George Alcock MacDonnell wrote a regular chess column under the name of Mars. According to a Catalogue of Printed Books in the Library of the British Museum, the British Library holds copies of the paper from 28 February 1874; the University of Wisconsin–Madison has all but three of the first twenty-five volumes in its English and Irish Periodicals collection. Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News: 28 February 1874 to 22 January 1943, Nos. 1 to 3576 Sport and Country: 5 February 1943 to 16 October 1957, Nos. 3577 to 3958 Farm and Country: 30 October 1957 to December 1970, Nos. 3959 to 4200 Holly Leaves: the Christmas edition of the titles, issued 1880 to 1969 New York Clipper New York Dramatic Mirror Media related to Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News at Wikimedia Commons
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