Fish and chips is a hot dish consisting of fried fish in batter served with chips. The dish originated in England and is an example of culinary fusion of its two main ingredients, each brought by immigrants, it is a staple meal and a common take-away food in the United Kingdom and numerous other countries in English-speaking and Commonwealth nations. Fish and chips first appeared in the UK in the 1860s. By 1910 there were more than 25,000 fish and chip shops across the UK, by the 1930s there were over 35,000, falling to about 10,000 by 2009; the British government safeguarded the supply of fish and chips during World War I and World War II. The tradition in the UK of fish battered and fried in oil may have come from Western Sephardic Jewish immigrants from Holland. Originating in Spain and Portugal and settling in England as early as the 16th century, they would have prepared fried fish in a manner similar to pescado frito, coated in flour fried in oil. Fish fried for Shabbat for dinner on Friday evenings could be eaten cold the following afternoon for shalosh seudot, palatable this way as liquid vegetable oil was used rather than a hard fat, such as butter.
Charles Dickens mentions "fried fish warehouses" in Oliver Twist, in 1845 Alexis Soyer in his first edition of A Shilling Cookery for the People, gives a recipe for "Fried fish, Jewish fashion", dipped in a batter of flour and water. The exact location of the first fish and chip shop is unclear; the earliest known shops were opened in the 1860s, in London by Joseph Malin and in Mossley, near Oldham, Lancashire, by John Lees. However, fried fish, as well as chips, had existed independently for at least fifty years, so the possibility that they had been combined at an earlier time cannot be ruled out. Fish and chips became a stock meal among the working classes in England as a consequence of the rapid development of trawl fishing in the North Sea, the development of railways which connected the ports to major industrial cities during the second half of the 19th century, so that fresh fish could be transported to the populated areas. Deep-fried chips as a dish may have first appeared in England in about the same period: the Oxford English Dictionary notes as its earliest usage of "chips" in this sense the mention in Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities: "husky chips of potato, fried with some reluctant drops of oil".
The modern fish-and-chip shop originated in the United Kingdom, although outlets selling fried food occurred throughout Europe. Early fish-and-chip shops had only basic facilities; these consisted principally of a large cauldron of cooking fat, heated by a coal fire. The fish-and-chip shop evolved into a standard format, with the food served, in paper wrappings, to queuing customers, over a counter in front of the fryers; as a boy Alfred Hitchcock lived above a fish and chip shop in London, the family business. According to Professor John Walton, author of Fish and Chips and the British Working Class, the British government made safeguarding supplies of fish and chips during World War I a priority: "The cabinet knew it was vital to keep families on the home front in good heart, unlike the German regime that failed to keep its people well fed". In 1928, Harry Ramsden opened his first chip shop in Guiseley, West Yorkshire. On a single day in 1952, the shop served 10,000 portions of fish and chips, earning a place in the Guinness Book of Records.
In George Orwell's The Road to Wigan Pier, which documents his experience of working class life in the north of England, the author considered fish and chips chief among the'home comforts' which acted as a panacea to the working classes. During World War II, fish and chips remained one of the few foods in the United Kingdom not subject to rationing. Prime Minister Winston Churchill referred to the combination of fish and chips as "the good companions". John Lennon enjoyed his fish and chips—a staple of the working class—smothered in ketchup. British fish and chips were served in a wrapping of old newspapers but this practice has now ceased, with plain paper, cardboard, or plastic being used instead. In the United Kingdom, the Fish Labelling Regulations 2003 and in Ireland the European Communities Regulations 2003 enact directive 2065/2001/EC, mean that "fish" must be sold with the particular commercial name or species named. In the United Kingdom the Food Standards Agency guidance excludes caterers from this.
A prominent meal in British culture and chips became popular in wider circles in London and South East England in the middle of the 19th century: Charles Dickens mentions a "fried fish warehouse" in Oliver Twist, first published in 1838, while in the north of England a trade in deep-fried chipped potatoes developed. The first chip shop stood on the present site of Oldham's Tommyfield Market, it remains unclear when and where these two trades combined to become the modern fish and chip shop industry. A Jewish immigrant, Joseph Malin, opened the first recorded combined fish-and-chip shop in London in 1860; the concept of a fish restaurant, as opposed to take-away, was introduced by Samuel Isaacs who ran a thriving wholesale and retail fish business througho
The Speed Freak Killers is the name given to serial killer duo Loren Herzog and Wesley Shermantine, together convicted of four murders — three jointly — and suspected in the deaths of as many as 72 people in and around San Joaquin County, California. They received the "speed freak" moniker due to their methamphetamine abuse. Herzog committed suicide in 2012; as of 2016 Shermantine remains in San Quentin, California. Herzog and Shermantine grew up as childhood friends in the town of California; the citizens of Linden, a small town with fewer than 2,000 people, 95 miles east of San Francisco, were long aware of the duo's reputation as methamphetamine users. They were regulars at the Linden Inn, a bar owned by the father of 25-year-old Cyndi Vanderheiden of Clements, California. Vanderheiden went missing after leaving the Linden Inn with Herzog and Shermantine on November 14, 1998. Investigation into Vanderheiden's disappearance was ongoing into 1999, Shermantine was the prime suspect. In mid-January 1999, Shermantine's car was repossessed, was subsequently searched by the San Joaquin Sheriff's Department.
Blood identified as being from Cyndi Vanderheiden was discovered in the car, while DNA test results were being confirmed, the sheriff's department focused on Loren Herzog, Shermantine's friend and suspected accomplice. He was extensively questioned. Herzog described when Shermantine shot a hunter they ran into while they were on vacation in Utah in 1994. Utah police confirmed that a hunter was shot to death, but his murder was still classified as unsolved. Herzog said Shermantine was responsible for killing Henry Howell, found parked off the road on Highway 88 in Alpine County with his teeth and head bashed in. Herzog said he and Shermantine passed Howell parked on the highway and Shermantine stopped, grabbed Howell's shotgun, killed him, stole what little money he had. Additionally, Herzog gave specific details about. Herzog and Shermantine both were arrested by the San Joaquin County Sheriff's Department and charged with several counts of murder each in March 1999. In 2001, a jury found Shermantine guilty of four murders: those of Vanderheiden, Howard King and Paul Cavanaugh – each shot dead in his car in 1984, 16-year-old Chevelle "Chevy" Wheeler, who disappeared in 1985 from Franklin High School in Stockton after telling friends she was leaving school to go with Shermantine to his family's cabin in San Andreas.
Shermantine is on death row at San Quentin State Prison. Herzog was charged with five counts of murder in 1999: that of Cyndi Vanderheiden, Henry Howell, Paul Raymond Cavanaugh, Howard Michael King III, Roberta "Robin" Ray Armtrout. In his 2001 trial, a jury found him guilty on three murder counts, the lesser charge of accessory to murder in the Howell count, acquitted him on the Armtrout count. Herzog was given a 78-year sentence. An appeals court overturned all of Herzog's convictions in August 2004, after ruling that three of Herzog's four confessions were coerced. In the case of the fourth, that of Cyndi Vanderheiden, a retrial was ordered; this retrial never took place. Rather, a plea bargain was reached, where Herzog pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and furnishing amphetamine in the Vanderheiden case, to being an accessory to murder in the Cavanaugh and Howell cases. Accordingly, Herzog's sentence was reduced with credit for six years served. With credit off his sentence for good behavior, Herzog served 11 years in prison and was in a position where he was to be paroled by 2010.
Opposition to the inevitability of Herzog's parole was vocal from victims' families. That no California county wanted to take him for parole led the California Department of Corrections to parole him to a trailer stationed outside the front gate of the High Desert State Prison in Susanville, California in Lassen County in September 2010. Herzog committed suicide in January 2012, he did so shortly after bounty hunter Leonard Padilla informed Herzog that Shermantine was planning to disclose the location of a well and two other locations where the duo buried their victims. None of their victims' bodies had been found. Both men maintained. In February 2010, while Wesley Shermantine waited on death row, his sister Barbara received letters from him identifying the locations of victims in an abandoned well on Flood Road, near Linden, California, she turned these letters over to the San Joaquin County Sheriff's Department. The Sheriff's Department followed up on the lead, but in an interview with the property owner, the owner stated that the wells in question were sealed before the victims disappeared.
No further action was taken at that time. More came out in February 2012, based on the promise bounty hunter Leonard Padilla made to Shermantine to pay $33,000 for information. A map drawn by Shermantine and additional information given again led authorities to the same Linden, California well site he mentioned in 2010. More than 1,000 human bone fragments were recovered; the bones were to be tested by the California Department of Justice for DNA profiling. In March 2012, the FBI's Evidence Recovery Team was asked to assist with the overall investigation, in part because of how the excavation of the Linden well was handled; the identity of the remains recovered in the well were announced to the public on March 30, 2012. They were those of two Stockton, California teens missing since the mid-1980s: Kimberly Ann Billy, 19, who disappeared December 11, 1984 and Joann Hobson, 16, who disappeared August 29, 1985; the remains of an additional victim as well as an unidentif
Pitcombe is a village and civil parish 1 mile south-west of Bruton and 5 miles from Wincanton in Somerset, England. It has a population of 532; the parish includes the hamlets of Godminster. The village other streams that flow into the River Brue. Godminster Lane Quarry and Railway Cutting is a geological Site of Special Scientific Interest important for study of the Inferior Oolite limestones of Middle Jurassic age; the rocks do contain the rich assemblage of fossil ammonites typical of the north Dorset/south Somerset area. It is important as a reference site for three sub-divisions of the Inferior Oolite — the laeviscula and concavum Zones; the name Pitcombe means "the marshy valley". Evidence of prehistoric activity has been found near Godminster Farm, where a Roman coin hoard was discovered. In the Domesday Book of 1086 the manor was held by Turstin FitzRolf and had two watermills. Pitcombe was part of the hundred of Bruton, it was on the Dorset Joint Railway, now disused. The parish council has responsibility for local issues, including setting an annual precept to cover the council’s operating costs and producing annual accounts for public scrutiny.
The parish council evaluates local planning applications and works with the local police, district council officers, neighbourhood watch groups on matters of crime and traffic. The parish council's role includes initiating projects for the maintenance and repair of parish facilities, as well as consulting with the district council on the maintenance and improvement of highways, footpaths, public transport, street cleaning. Conservation matters and environmental issues are the responsibility of the council; the village falls within the Non-metropolitan district of South Somerset, formed on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, having been part of Wincanton Rural District. The district council is responsible for local planning and building control, local roads, council housing, environmental health and fairs, refuse collection and recycling and crematoria, leisure services and tourism. Somerset County Council is responsible for running the largest and most expensive local services such as education, social services, main roads, public transport and fire services, trading standards, waste disposal and strategic planning.
It is part of a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election. Hadspen house and garden is within the parish; the house was built for William Player in the late 17th century, but has undergone several major restorations. It is built of Cary stone ashlar, with a hipped Welsh slate roof behind parapets and stone chimney stacks, it has been designated by English Heritage as a grade II* listed building. There is still a working quarry within the parish of pitcombe, notably Hadspen Quarry Ltd located in Higher Hadspen, they provide the stone to the locality which gives this area in South Somerset its local unique characteristics of honey coloured buildings. Gants Mill is an 18th-century watermill with 13th-century origins, it now has a turbine producing hydroelectricity. Godminster Manor is a 15th-century manor house which underwent extensive restoration following a fire in 1924.
Cole Manor dates from the 17th century. The dismantled Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway passes through the village over a viaduct. At the north of the village is the old Cole Railway Station; the village is the home of Bruton School for Girls. The church, dedicated to St Leonard, has a 15th-century tower at the west end containing six bells; the church was rebuilt, with the exception of its tower, in 1858. It has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II listed building. Herbert John "Bert" Pitman MBE, Third Officer on board the Titanic Stephen Henry Hobhouse, conscientious objector during World War I, prison reformer and theologian Henry Hobhouse Justice of the Peace and Liberal Member of Parliament in the House of Commons from 1885 until 1906 parish council web site