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Fred Tuttle

Frederick Herman Tuttle (July 18, 1919 – October 4, 2003) was an American dairy farmer, actor, United States Army veteran of World War II, and Republican candidate for the United States Senate from Vermont in 1998. He lived in Tunbridge all his life, and attended South Royalton High School before dropping out after the tenth grade to begin a career as a dairy farmer. He served in the U.S. Army during World War II, and participated in military actions in the European Theater.

Tuttle retired from farming in 1984, and continued to reside in Tunbridge, where he engaged in gardening and other hobbies. Tuttle was a neighbor of filmmaker John O'Brien, who recognized that Tuttle's charisma and unique personality might come across well on film. As a result, he cast Tuttle in movie roles including parts in Nosey Parker and Man with a Plan. In 1998, Tuttle and O'Brien decided that a Tuttle candidacy for public office might help publicize Man with a Plan, a mock documentary which centers on the idea of a retired farmer (Tuttle) running for the United States House of Representatives because it is easier and pays better than farming. He decided to run for the Republican nomination to oppose Senator Patrick Leahy, in part to promote the film, and in part to poke fun at Jack McMullen, a recent arrival to Vermont, who was accused of moving to the state because it would be easier to campaign for a United States Senate seat there than in his home state of Massachusetts.

Tuttle defeated McMullen by 5,034 votes out of 52,813 cast in the Republican primary after a campaign of humorous and memorable incidents. Vermont had recently adopted an open primary system and many Democrats voted in the Republican primary to help Tuttle win. He then announced that he had no intention of leaving Tunbridge or serving in the Senate, and endorsed Leahy for reelection. They made several joint appearances, and Leahy easily won reelection in November. The campaign added to Tuttle's growing status as a folk figure and cult hero, and a steady stream of public appearances followed. However, many Republicans in Vermont resented his false candidacy which they felt denied them the right to a legitimate candidate in the Senate race since McMullen was seen as their best chance to unseat Leahy in years. He died in 2003, and was buried in Tunbridge.

Early life
Tuttle was born in Tunbridge, Vermont, the son of Bessie Laura (Hoyt) and Joseph Charles Tuttle. He lived in Tunbridge all his life, except for his military service. He attended the schools of Tunbridge, and completed tenth grade at South Royalton High School before going to work on his family's dairy farm.

Military service
Tuttle served in the United States Army during World War II. He participated in military actions in Europe, first with the Military Police, and then Army Corps of Engineers.

Post-World War II
In 1947, Tuttle married Ida May Foote (1916–2000) in Canterbury, New Hampshire. They divorced and in 1953, Tuttle married Charlotte Lorraine Perry (1929–1999) in White River Junction, Vermont. He married Dorothy L. (Hilts) (1929–2011) in Maine in 1961.

Later career
Tuttle retired from farming in 1984 and engaged in gardening and other hobbies. After his retirement, he appeared in several movies directed by Vermont filmmaker John O'Brien, including Nosey Parker and Man with a Plan. He starred in the latter, playing a retired farmer who decides to run for U.S. Representative from Vermont.

In 1998, Tuttle was persuaded to run in the Republican U.S. Senate primary as a way to publicize Man with a Plan. His opponent was Jack McMullen, a multi-millionaire who had lived in Massachusetts for most of his adult life. O'Brien and Tuttle targeted McMullen as a carpetbagger who apparently moved to Vermont for the sole purpose of establishing residency for a Senate run. The Vermont primary structure allows Democrats and Independents to vote in the Republican primary, and many political observers foresaw the possibility that Tuttle could draw votes across party lines.

Tuttle campaigned on a platform that seemed absurdist by the standards of contemporary politics. McMullen and the state Republican Party challenged Tuttle's nominating petitions and got 95 signatures invalidated. Tuttle needed to obtain 23 more to stay on the ballot, and proceeded to obtain 2,309. McMullen sent flowers to while Tuttle was hopspitalized for knee surgery.

During their debate on Vermont Public Radio, Tuttle asked a series of humorous local knowledge questions. McMullen was unable to correctly pronounce the names of several Vermont towns, or correctly answer Tuttle's dairy farming-related questions, such as "How many teats a Holstein got?" answering "Six", instead of the correct four. In the primary, Tuttle defeated McMullen by ten percentage points and promptly endorsed the incumbent Democrat, Patrick Leahy.

Tuttle's subsequent general election campaign continued to generate publicity. He made several joint appearances with Leahy and continued to endorse him, saying "He knows how many tits on a cow." Tuttle commented that he did not really want to win because he would have to move to Washington, D.C. Despite endorsing his opponent, Tuttle garnered 48,051 votes (22 percent of the vote) in the actual election.

Tuttle was described by Senator Leahy as "the distilled essence of Vermonthood". He was considered by many to be an example of both the "everyman" and of the unique individualist.

Death and burial
Tuttle died in Burlington, Vermont, after being hospitalized with a heart attack following a day spent digging potatoes at his home in Tunbridge. He was buried at Tunbridge's Spring Road Cemetery wearing his overalls, with a pen in his pocket for autograph signing and a can of Moxie by his side.

title: Fred Tuttle


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Michael Majerus

Michael Eugene Nicolas Majerus (13 February 1954 – 27 January 2009) was a British geneticist and professor of evolution at the University of Cambridge. He was also a teaching fellow at Clare College, Cambridge. He was an enthusiast in Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection and became a world authority in his field of insect evolutionary biology. He was widely noted for his work on moths and ladybirds and as an advocate of the science of evolution. He was also an enthusiastic educator and the author of several books on insects,  evolution and sexual reproduction. He is best remembered as an ardent supporter and champion of experiments on peppered moth evolution.

Biography
The son of Fernand and Muriel Majerus, Michael Majerus took an early interest in insects. He got his first butterfly net at the age of four. His father, a Luxembourg national by origin, encouraged him by taking him for field trips on weekends and bringing him home specimens from his travels. He was particularly interested in lepidopterans and ecological genetics following the work of E.B. Ford, whose book Moths (in the New Naturalist series) he bought at the age of ten. He was educated at Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood, and graduated in botany and zoology from Royal Holloway College, London. He earned his PhD from Royal Holloway College on the study of the genetic control of larval colour in the angle shades moth. He worked for two years at Keele University as a research demonstrator. In 1980 he joined the Department of Genetics at the University of Cambridge as a research associate. After promotion as lecturer in 1987 and reader in 2001, he was appointed professor of evolution in 2006. In 1990 he was elected fellow of Clare College, and from the next year, in 1991, he became a teaching fellow of the college, the post he held until his death.

He died 27 January 2009 after an unexpected and brief struggle with aggressive mesothelioma.

Personal life
Majerus was a passionate anti-creationist. He used much of his scientific works to argue against creationism.

He married Vicki Maclean in 1979, but their marriage was dissolved. He remarried Tamsin Harris in 1988 with whom he had two sons, and one daughter. They later divorced, and Majerus married, for the third time, Christina Poole in 2005.

Achievements
After his doctoral work on moths, Majerus moved into studying ladybirds, an area which brought him widespread publicity as an expert in 2004 when the harlequin ladybird came to Britain, causing a disaster for native species. This publicity led to the involvement of members of the public in the effective monitoring of the spread of the harlequin. His work on the peppered moth provided new support for the understanding of peppered moth evolution.

His research work was largely focussed around insect species, particularly the peppered moth and ladybirds, but explored these from many different perspectives including melanism, male killers, sexual selection,  sexually transmitted diseases, animal colouration, invasive species,  and biological pest control.

Peppered moth evolution
The legacy of Majerus was largely built on his fervent defence and experimental works on the peppered moth evolution. The concept of industrial melanism in Biston betularia had been a primary example of Darwinian natural selection in action. With the experimental evidence of Bernard Kettlewell in the early 1950s, the story became a classic in evolutionary biology. However, the rise of creationism towards the end of 20th century brought forth serious attack. To increase the controversy, biologists also began to argue the validity of Kettlewell's experiments. The publication of Melanism: Evolution in Action in 1998 in which Majerus analysed and defended Kettlewell's experiments provoked severe criticism. Kettlewell's works were seen as lacking proper experimental procedure, with some even accusing it variously as a fake, fraudulent, hoax and wrong. The accusations were most influentially popularised by Judith Hooper in her 2002 book Of Moths and Men (which in turn received severe criticisms). One of the critics, Jerry Coyne, himself a professor of evolution at the University of Chicago, commented that: "[M]ost of the work described is inconclusive... for the time being we must discard Biston as a well-understood example of natural selection in action, although it is clearly a case of evolution." Majerus then designed an elaborate experiment to resolve the issues. Starting from 2001 he conducted experiments for seven years, and terminated by his own death. He had experimented with 4,864 moths in Cambridgeshire, becoming the largest experiment in such manner. After his death his experimental results were analysed by a collaboration of American and British geneticists, and was published in 2012. Majerus's works clearly vindicated the experiments on peppered moth evolution, and the paper concluded that: "The new data, coupled with the weight of previously existing data convincingly show that 'industrial melanism in the peppered moth is still one of the clearest and most easily understood examples of Darwinian evolution in action'."

Honours and recognitions
Majerus was the president of the Amateur Entomologists' Society, a Fellow of the Royal Entomological Society, and a Life Fellow of the British Naturalists' Association. He received a number of awards, including the Peter Scott Memorial Award in 2006, for his contributions to British Natural History. In 2004 he was conferred the title "Distinguished Supporter" of the British Humanist Association. In 2010 the Amateur Entomologists' Society launched The Mike Majerus Grant with the aim of encouraging a new generation of entomologists by supporting and funding projects based in the British Isles which further the cause of entomological study, research or education by amateurs, especially the young.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Michael Majerus


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Newtonian limit

In physics, the Newtonian limit is a mathematical approximation applicable to physical systems exhibiting (1) weak gravitation, (2) objects moving slowly compared to the speed of light, and (3) slowly changing (or completely static) gravitational fields. Under these conditions, Newton's law of universal gravitation may be used to obtain values that are accurate. In general, and in the presence of significant gravitation, the general theory of relativity must be used.

In the Newtonian limit, spacetime is approximately flat and the Minkowski metric may be used over finite distances. In this case 'approximately flat' is defined as space in which gravitational effect approaches 0, mathematically actual spacetime and Minkowski space are not identical, Minkowski space is an idealized model.

Special relativity
In special relativity, Newtonian behaviour can in most cases be obtained by performing the limit $$ v\to 0 $$. In this limit, the often appearing gamma factor becomes 1 $$ \begin{align} \gamma=\frac{1}{\sqrt{1-v^2/c^2}}&\to 1 \end{align} $$ and the Lorentz transformations between reference frames turn into Galileo transformations $$ \begin{align} t'=\gamma(t-v/c^2\,x)&\to t'=t \\ x'=\gamma(x-v\,t)&\to x'=x-v\,t \end{align} $$

General relativity
The geodesic equation for a free particle on curved spacetime with metric $$g^{\mu\nu}$$ can be derived from the action $$ \begin{align} S[x,\dot{x}]&=-m\,c\,\int dt \,\sqrt{-g_{\mu\nu}\,\dot{x}^\mu\,\dot{x}^\nu} \end{align} $$ If the spacetime-metric is $$ \begin{align} g&=\begin{pmatrix} -1-\frac{2\,\phi(x)}{c^2} & 0 & 0 & 0\\ 0 & 1 & 0 & 0\\ 0 & 0 & 1 & 0\\ 0 & 0 & 0 & 1 \end{pmatrix} \end{align} $$ then, ignoring all contributions of order $$\frac{1}{c^2}$$ the action becomes $$ \begin{align} S[x,\dot{x}]&=-m\,c\,\int dt \,\sqrt{c^2+ 2\,\phi(x)-\dot{\mathbf{x} }^2 }\\ &= -m\,c\,\int dt \,\left(\sqrt{c^2} + \frac{1}{2\,\sqrt{c^2}}\,\left(2\,\phi(x) - \dot{\mathbf{x}}^2\right)+...\right)\\ &\approx \int dt \,\left( -m\,c^2 + \frac{1}{2}m\dot{\mathbf{x}}^2 -m\,\phi(x)\right) \end{align} $$ which is the action that reproduces the Newtonian equations of motion of a particle in a gravitational potential $$\phi(x)$$

title: Newtonian limit


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Gupta script

The Gupta script (sometimes referred to as Gupta Brahmi script or Late Brahmi script) was used for writing Sanskrit and is associated with the Gupta Empire of the Indian subcontinent, which was a period of material prosperity and great religious and scientific developments. The Gupta script was descended from Brāhmī and gave rise to the Śāradā and Siddhaṃ scripts. These scripts in turn gave rise to many of the most important Indic scripts, including Devanāgarī (the most common script used for writing Sanskrit since the 19th century), the Gurmukhī script for Punjabi, the Odia script, the Bengali-Assamese script and the Tibetan script.

Origins and classification
The Gupta script was descended from the Ashokan Brāhmī script, and is a crucial link between Brahmi and most other Brahmic scripts, a family of alphasyllabaries or abugidas. This means that while only consonantal phonemes have distinct symbols, vowels are marked by diacritics, with being the implied pronunciation when the diacritic is not present. In fact, the Gupta script works in exactly the same manner as its predecessor and successors, and only the shapes and forms of the graphemes and diacritics are different.

Through the 4th century, letters began to take more cursive and symmetric forms, as a result of the desire to write more quickly and aesthetically. This also meant that the script became more differentiated throughout the Empire, with regional variations which have been broadly classified into three, four or five categories; however, a definitive classification is lacking, because even in a single inscription, there may be variation in how a particular symbol is written. In this sense, the term Gupta script should be taken to mean any form of writing derived from the Gupta period, even though there may be a lack of uniformity in the scripts.

Inscriptions
The surviving inscriptions of the Gupta script are mostly found on iron or stone pillars, and on gold coins from the Gupta Dynasty. One of the most important was the Prayagraj (Allahabad) Prasasti. Composed by Harisena, the court poet and minister of Samudragupta, it describes Samudragupta's reign, beginning from his accession to the throne as the second king of the Gupta Dynasty and including his conquest of other kings. It is inscribed on the Allahabad pillar of Ashoka.

Alphabet
The Gupta alphabet is composed of 37 letters: 32 consonants with the inherent ending "a" and 5 independent vowels. In addition diacritics are attached to the consonants in order to change the sound of the final vowel (from the inherent "a" to other sounds such as i, u, e, o, au ...). Consonants can also be combined into compounds, also called conjunct consonants (for example sa+ya are combined vertically to give "sya").

In Unicode
The Unicode Standard does not explicitly state that the Gupta script is considered a stylistic variation of Brahmi, though use of the Brahmi encoding is one approach.

Gupta numismatics
The study of Gupta coins began with the discovery of a hoard of gold coins in 1783. Many other such hoards have since been discovered, the most important being the Bayana (situated in Bharatpur district of Rajasthan) hoard, discovered in 1946, which contained more than 2000 gold coins issued by the Gupta Kings. Many of the Gupta Empire's coins bear inscriptions of legends or mark historic events. In fact, it was one of the first Indian Empires to do so, probably as a result of its unprecedented prosperity. Almost every Gupta king issued coins, beginning with its first king, Chandragupta I.

The scripts on the coin are also of a different nature compared to scripts on pillars, due to conservatism regarding the coins that were to be accepted as currency, which would have prevented regional variations in the script from manifesting on the coinage. Moreover, space was more limited especially on their silver coins, and thus many of the symbols are truncated or stunted. An example is the symbol for /ta/ and /na/, which were often simplified to vertical strokes.

title: Gupta script


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Hanafuda

Hanafuda (花札 ) are a type of Japanese playing cards. They are typically smaller than Western playing cards, only 5.4 by, but thicker and stiffer, and often with a pronounced curve. On the face of each card is a depiction of plants, tanzaku (短冊), animals, birds, or man-made objects. One single card depicts a human. The back side is usually plain, without a pattern or design of any kind, and traditionally colored either red or black. Hanafuda are used to play a variety of games including Koi-Koi and Hachi-Hachi.

Outside Japan
In Korea, hanafuda are known as hwatu (화투, Hanja: 花鬪) and made of plastic with a textured back side. The most popular game is Go-stop (고스톱), commonly played during special holidays such as Lunar New Year and Chuseok (추석).

In Hawaii, hanafuda is used to play Sakura. Hanafuda is also played in Micronesia, where it is known as hanahuda and is used to play a four-person game, which is often played in partnerships.

History
Playing cards were introduced to Japan by the Portuguese in the mid-16th century. The Portuguese deck consisted of 48 cards, with four suits divided into 12 ranks. The first Japanese-made decks made during the Tenshō period (1573–1592) mimicked Portuguese decks and are referred to as Tenshō Karuta. The main game was a trick-taking game intermediate in evolution between Triunfo and Ombre. After Japan closed off all contact with the Western world in 1633, foreign playing cards were banned.

In 1648, Tenshō Karuta were banned by the Tokugawa shogunate. During prohibition, gambling with cards remained highly popular which led to disguised card designs. Each time gambling with a card deck of a particular design became too popular, the government banned it, which then prompted the creation of a new design. This cat-and-mouse game between the government and rebellious gamblers resulted in the creation of increasingly abstract and minimalist regional patterns (地方札). These designs were initially called Yomi Karuta after the popular Poch-like game of Yomi which was known by the 1680s.

Through the Meiwa, An'ei, and Tenmei eras (roughly 1764–1789), a game called Mekuri took the place of Yomi. It became so popular that Yomi Karuta was renamed Mekuri Karuta. Mechanically, Mekuri is similar to Chinese fishing games. Cards became so commonly used for gambling that they were banned in 1791, during the Kansei era. On the other hand, Uta-garuta such as Hyakunin Isshu were officially permitted as being educationally beneficial. So as a loophole to the ban, early hanafuda were made to have old poems on some of the cards, disguising them as Uta-garuta. Remnants of this can be seen via the tanzaku-ranked cards.

The earliest known reference to hana awase (a previous version of hanafuda) is from 1816 when it was recorded as a banned gambling tool. The earliest decks contained between 12, 20, and even 32 suits, each with one high value card, one tanzaku card, and two low-value cards.

As hana awase modernized into hanafuda, it standardized at 12 months (suits) with four rank-like categories. The majority of hanafuda games are descended from Mekuri although Yomi adaptations for the flower cards survived until the 20th century. Though they can still be used for gambling, its structure and design is less convenient than other decks such as Kabufuda. In the Meiji period, playing cards became tolerated by the authorities. In 1889, Fusajiro Yamauchi founded Nintendo for the purposes of producing and selling hand-crafted hanafuda. Nintendo has focused on video games since the 1970s but continues to produce cards in Japan, including themed sets based on Mario, Pokémon, and Kirby. The Koi-Koi game played with hanafuda is included in Nintendo's own Clubhouse Games (2006) for the Nintendo DS, and Clubhouse Games: 51 Worldwide Classics (2020) for the Nintendo Switch.

Though modern Japanese hanafuda is primarily made today by either of the long-standing Oishi Tengudo (1800) or Nintendo (1889), dozens of others have manufactured hanafuda, such as Angel, Tamura Shogundo, Matsui Tengudo, Ace, Maruē, and many more.

Hanafuda were likely introduced to Korea during the late 1890s and to Hawaii in the early 1900s. Since then, companies and individuals in Korea and Hawaii have produced their own hanafuda, sometimes adapting the original Japanese imagery to fit either culture. Also made for western audiences are decks which fuse hanafuda with Toranpu (トランプ, "Trumps" a.k.a. the standard 52-card deck). These decks have indices on all their cards, and introduce a 13th suit which varies considerably by manufacturer (jokers, flowers, objects from japanese imagery, left blank or used as a "snow" suit, left as western Kings, etc.).

Cards
There are 48 cards total, divided into twelve suits, representing months of the year. Each suit is designated by a flower and has four cards. An extra blank card may be included to serve as a replacement. In Korean hwatu decks, several joker cards (조커패) award various bonuses.

The standard categorizations and point values for each card are as follows. Note that some games change the point values or categorizations of the cards. For example, in the game Hachi-Hachi, all of the November cards count as kasu, and in the game Sakura, the values of the cards are different.

* In the Korean hwatu version, the November and December suits are swapped.

Text significance
A few cards in hanafuda contain Japanese text. Early hanafuda had poems in order to disguise themselves as Uta-garuta, but the text had since been simplified in modern times. In addition to the examples below, the December kasu cards typically display the manufacturer's name and marks, similar to the Ace of spades in western playing cards.

Games
Mekuri-derived games:
 * Hana-Awase
 * Minhwatu
 * Koi-Koi
 * Sakura
 * Go-Stop
 * Roppyakken
 * Mushi
 * Hachi
 * Hachi-Hachi
 * Sudaoshi
 * Tensho

Yomi-derived games:
 * Poka (game)
 * Hiyoko
 * Isuri

Gabo Japgi/Kabufuda-derived games:
 * Seotda
 * Doryjytgo-ttang

title: Hanafuda


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Lonicera japonica

Lonicera japonica, known as Japanese honeysuckle and golden-and-silver honeysuckle, is a species of honeysuckle native to East Asia, including many parts of China. It is often grown as an ornamental plant, but has become an invasive species in a number of countries. Japanese honeysuckle is used in traditional Chinese medicine.

Description
Lonicera japonica is a twining vine able to climb up to 10 m high or more in trees, with opposite, simple oval leaves 3 – long and 2 – broad. When its stems are young, they are slightly red in color and may be fuzzy. Older stems are brown with peeling bark, and are often hollow on the inside.

The flowers are double-tongued, opening white and fading to yellow, and sweetly vanilla scented. The fruit, which is produced in fall, is a black spherical berry 3 – diameter containing a few seeds. While the nectar from the flowers can be safely consumed by humans, all other parts of the plant have the potential to be toxic.

Subspecies
There are three subspecies of Lonicera japonica:

Cultivation, management, and uses
Even though it is a highly invasive and destructive plant, this species is often sold by American nurseries as the cultivar 'Hall's Prolific' (Lonicera japonica var. halliana), and in the UK as the cultivar 'Halliana'. The cultivar is also known as Hall's Japanese honeysuckle. It is an effective groundcover and has strong-smelling flowers. It can be cultivated by seed, cuttings, or layering. In addition, it will spread itself via shoots if given enough space to grow. The variety L. japonica var. repens has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.

Japanese honeysuckle flowers are edible to humans and appreciated for their sweet-tasting nectar. The flowers can also be a significant source of food for deer, rabbits, hummingbirds, and other wildlife.

Herbal medicine
In traditional Chinese medicine, Lonicera japonica is called rěn dōng téng ; literally "winter enduring vine") or jīn yín huā (literally "gold-silver flower", in reference to the presence of flowers of different age on the same plant as each flower change from white (silver) to yellow (gold)). Alternative Chinese names include er hua (二花) and shuang hua (雙花), meaning double-[color] flowers.

As an invasive species
Japanese honeysuckle has become naturalized in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Mexico, New Zealand, and much of the US, including Hawaii, as well as a number of Pacific and Caribbean islands. It is classified as a noxious weed in 46 states, Prohibited to be bought and sold in Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, and Vermont, and banned in Indiana and New Hampshire. It is listed on the New Zealand National Pest Plant Accord as an unwanted organism.

Lonicera japonica was initially brought to the United States from Japan in the early 1800s as an ornamental plant. It is still deliberately planted in the United States for reasons such as erosion control or forage for deer, but has become invasive in many areas. It prefers to invade areas that have been disturbed, such as roadsides or floodplains. It will generally only invade forests when the canopy has been opened by logging or fallen trees, as it grows less vigorously in the shade. Once it has invaded an area, Lonicera japonica grows rapidly and outcompetes native plants for sunlight and nutrients. It proliferates using both sexual and vegetative reproduction, producing seeds that are spread by animals and expanding locally via rhizomes. Eventually, it will form a dense thicket which prevents other plant species from germinating in that area. Due to its suppression of germination in the understory, Lonicera japonica also prevents the regeneration of trees. Management of invasive Lonicera japonica has been achieved through a variety of means. Small patches can be removed by hand, or using simple digging tools, but all plant parts including roots and rhizomes must be removed to prevent resprouting. Larger patches can be removed through repeated mowing, but application of herbicide is also recommended to prevent regrowth. There has been some study of using controlled burns to remove Lonicera japonica, but the underground portion of the plant is usually able to survive and resprout, limiting the effectiveness of this method. Browsing by herbivores may limit its growth, but is unlikely to fully eliminate it.

Biological control
The EPA of New Zealand approved the release of Limenitis glorifica butterflies in 2013 as a biological control for Lonicera japonica. This butterfly is host specific for Japanese honeysuckle, but it may incidentally feed on other closely related plants, including Himalayan honeysuckle Leycesteria formosa. Oberea shirahatai is a Japanese honeysuckle host-specific beetle that feeds on the stems and leaves of Japanese honeysuckle. It was released in New Zealand in 2018 as another L. japonica-specialist biological control.

Chemistry
Lonicera japonica contains methyl caffeate, 3,4-di-O-caffeoylquinic acid, methyl 3,4-di-O-caffeoylquinate, protocatechuic acid, methyl chlorogenic acid, and luteolin. The two biflavonoids, 3′-O-methyl loniflavone and loniflavone, along with luteolin and chrysin, can be isolated from the leaves. Other phenolic compounds present in the plant are hyperoside, chlorogenic acid, and caffeic acid. The two secoiridoid glycosides, loniceracetalides A and B, can be isolated, together with 10 known iridoid glycosides, from the flower buds. The plant also contains the saponins loniceroside A and B and the anti-inflammatory loniceroside C.

title: Lonicera japonica


text:
Minehead

Minehead is a coastal town and civil parish in Somerset, England. It lies on the south bank of the Bristol Channel, 21 mi north-west of the county town of Taunton, 12 mi from the boundary with the county of Devon and in proximity of the Exmoor National Park.

The parish of Minehead has a population of approximately 11,981, making it the most populous town in the western part of the now-defunct Somerset West and Taunton local government district, which in turn, is the worst area in the country for social mobility. This figure includes Alcombe and Woodcombe, suburban villages which have been subsumed into Minehead.

There is evidence of human occupation in the area since the Bronze and Iron Ages. Before the Norman conquest, it was held by Ælfgar, Earl of Mercia and after it by William de Moyon and his descendants, who administered the area from Dunster Castle, which was later sold to Sir George Luttrell and his family. There was a small port at Minehead by 1380, which grew into a major trading centre during the medieval period. Most trade transferred to larger ports during the 20th century, but pleasure steamers did call at the port. Major rebuilding took place in the Lower or Middle town area following a fire in 1791 and the fortunes of the town revived with the growth in sea bathing, and by 1851 was becoming a retirement centre. There was a marked increase in building during the early years of the 20th century, which resulted in the wide main shopping avenue and adjacent roads with Edwardian-style architecture. The town's flood defences were improved after a storm in 1990 caused flooding.

Minehead is governed by a town council, which was created in 1983. In addition to the parish church of St. Michael on the Hill in Minehead, the separate parish church of St Michael the Archangel is situated in Church Street, Alcombe. Alcombe is also home to the Spiritualist Church in Grove Place. Since 1991, Minehead has been twinned with Saint-Berthevin, a small town close to the regional centre of Laval in the Mayenne département of France. Blenheim Gardens, which is Minehead's largest park, was opened in 1925. The town is also the home of a Butlins Holiday Park which increases Minehead's seasonal tourist population by several thousand.

There is a variety of schools and religious, cultural and sporting facilities including sailing and wind surfing and golf. One popular ancient local tradition involves the Hobby Horse which takes to the streets for four days on the eve of the first of May each year, with accompanying musicians and rival horses. The town is the starting point of the South West Coast Path National Trail, the nation's longest long-distance countryside walking trail. The Minehead Railway was opened in 1874 and closed in 1971 but has since been reopened as the West Somerset Railway.

Toponym
The town sits at the foot of a steeply rising outcrop of Exmoor known as North Hill, and the original name of the town was mynydd, which means mountain in Welsh. It has also been written as Mynheafdon (1046), Maneheve (1086), Menehewed (1225) and Menedun (also 1225), which contain elements of Welsh and Old English words for hill.

History
The earliest known fossilised forest was discovered in the Hangman Sandstone Formation near to the Butlins Holiday Park. The trees, identified as a species resembling modern palm trees, known as calamophyton, date back to the Devonian period, between 419 and 358 million years ago.

Evidence of prehistoric occupation of the area are Bronze Age barrows at Selworthy Beacon and an Iron Age enclosure at Furzebury Brake west of the town, although there is also possible evidence in the intertidal area, where the remains of a submerged forest still exist.

Minehead was part of the hundred of Carhampton. It is mentioned as a manor belonging to William de Moyon in the Domesday Book in 1086, although it had previously been held by Ælfgar, Earl of Mercia. William de Mohun of Dunster, 1st Earl of Somerset and his descendants administered the area from Dunster Castle, which was later sold to Lady Elizabeth Luttrell.

There was a small port at Minehead by 1380, but it was not until 1420 that money given by Lady Margaret Luttrell enabled improvements to be made and a jetty built. During the reign of Elizabeth I, the town had its own Port Officer similar to the position at Bristol. Vessels in the 15th century included the Trinite which traded between Ireland and Bristol, and others carrying salt and other cargo from La Rochelle in France. Other products included local wool and cloth which were traded for coal from South Wales. In 1559 a Charter of Incorporation, established a free Borough and Parliamentary representation, but was made conditional on improvements being made to the port. The harbour silted up and fell into disrepair so that in 1604 James I withdrew the town's charter. Control reverted to the Luttrells and a new harbour was built, at a cost of £5,000, further out to sea than the original, which had been at the mouth of the Bratton Stream. It incorporated a pier, dating from 1616, and was built to replace that at Dunster which was silting up. Trade was primarily with Wales for cattle, sheep, wool, butter, fish and coal. These are commemorated in the town arms which include a woolpack and sailing ship. Privateers based at Minehead were involved in the war with Spain and France during 1625–1630 and again during the War of the Spanish Succession from 1702 to 1713. The first cranes were installed after further improvements to the port in 1714.

By the beginning of the 18th century, trade between Minehead and Ireland, South Wales, Bristol and Bridgwater grew, with forty vessels based in the harbour for trade and herring fishing. It was also a departure point for pilgrims to Santiago de Compostela. Until the 19th century, trade continued with Ireland but Minehead vessels started to travel further afield to Virginia and the West Indies. In 1808 a ship, believed to be the Bristol Packet which had been built in 1801, was wrecked on Madbrain Sands. Further problems with the port continued and led to a decline in trade and the fisheries in the late 18th century and in 1834 the port lost its jurisdiction to Bridgwater. In the 20th century most trade transferred to larger ports, but pleasure steamers did call at the port. Minehead Lifeboat Station was established in 1901 near the harbour. The pier was demolished during the Second World War as it obstructed the view from the gun battery set up on the quay head, as part of the coastal defence preparations, which stopped steamers calling at the harbour until it was cleared in 1951.

Major rebuilding took place in the Lower or Middle town area following a fire in 1791. In that year a Carrara marble statue of Queen Anne, sculpted by Francis Bird was presented to the town by Sir Jacob Bancks, who served as the local Member of Parliament from 1698 to 1715. It originally stood in the parish church but was moved to Wellington Square in 1893, when the marble pedestal and canopy by H. Dare Bryan were added. Lower town and the quay area were rebuilt and the fortunes of the town revived with the growth in sea bathing, and by 1851 was becoming a retirement centre.

Early areas of development of the town include Higher Town with its cottages, many of which are "listed" buildings of historic interest, some of which are still thatched, and the Quay area. In Victorian times wealthy industrialists built large houses on North Hill and hotels were developed so that tourism became an important industry. It was in the Victorian and Edwardian era that tourism in the town increased. There was a marked increase in building in the early years of the 20th century when the landowners, the Luttrells of Dunster Castle, released extensive building land. Probably the most prolific Edwardian architect was W.J.Tamlyn from North Devon who settled in the town and was responsible for designing several hundred domestic properties as well as Minehead Town Hall and the Queen's Hall.

The steamship SS Pelican grounded in Minehead Bay on 22 June 1928, on an unmarked reef known as the Gables that circles Minehead Bay, 0.7 mile from land. The Pelican was sailing from Port Talbot to Highbridge. The crew of five were rescued by the Minehead Lifeboat. Evacuees were billeted in Minehead during the Second World War. During the war, the town was bombed by KG 54, a Luftwaffe bomber wing on the night of the 7/8 April 1941. Butlins opened in 1962, and has brought thousands of visitors to the town.

Governance
The civil parish of Minehead is governed by a town council, which was created in 1983. In 2002, the parish was estimated to have a population of 10,330. Since April 2023 Minehead has been part of the unitary authority area administered by Somerset Council. Administrative tasks and services are shared between unitary and town councils. Minehead was previously in the district of Somerset West and Taunton and before that West Somerset. Until 1974 it was part of Minehead Urban District. The town falls within the Tiverton and Minehead parliamentary constituency

Geography

Minehead is located on the Bristol Channel coast of South West England, and thus experiences one of the highest tidal ranges in the world. The tidal rise and fall in the Bristol Channel can be as great as 48 ft, second only to the Bay of Fundy in Eastern Canada.

The town is overlooked by North Hill, which rises steeply from the harbour shoreline. The town lies just outside the boundaries of Exmoor National Park. The cliff exposures around the shoreline are dramatic and fossils are exposed. Areas of the town include Higher Town, Quay Town and Lower or Middle Town, although they are no longer separate.

In 1990, much of Minehead's beach was washed away in a severe storm which also caused serious flooding in the town. A £12.6 million sea defence scheme by the Environment Agency was designed to reduce the risk of this erosion and flooding happening in the future. The Environment Agency built 1.1 mi of new sea wall and rock or concrete stepped revetments between 1997 and 1998 and imported 320,000 tons of additional sand in 1999 to build a new beach. This beach sits between four rock groynes and has been built at a much higher level than the previous beach so that the waves are broken before they reach the new sea wall. Any waves that do reach the new wall are turned back by its curved shape. The town's new sea defences were officially opened in 2001.

Blenheim Gardens, which is Minehead's largest park, was opened in 1925. The bandstand within the park is used to host musical events.

Along with the rest of South West England, Minehead has a temperate climate which is generally wetter and milder than the rest of England. The annual mean temperature is about 10 C with seasonal and diurnal variations, but due to the modifying effect of the sea, the range is less than in most other parts of the United Kingdom. January is the coldest month with mean minimum temperatures between 1 C and 2 C. July and August are the warmest months in the region with mean daily maxima around 21 C. In general, December is the dullest month and June the sunniest. The south west of England enjoys a favoured location, particularly in summer, when the Azores High extends its influence north-eastwards towards the UK.

Cloud often forms inland, especially near hills, and reduces exposure to sunshine. The average annual sunshine totals around 1,600 hours. Rainfall tends to be associated with Atlantic depressions or with convection. In summer, convection caused by solar surface heating sometimes forms shower clouds and a large proportion of the annual precipitation falls from showers and thunderstorms at this time of year. Average rainfall is around 800 –. About 8–15 days of snowfall is typical. November to March have the highest mean wind speeds, with June to August having the lightest. The predominant wind direction is from the south-west.

Landmarks
The town's major tourist attraction is Butlins holiday camp. Others include: the terminus of the West Somerset Railway; the town's main ornamental park, Blenheim Gardens, off Blenheim Road; and the Minehead & West Somerset Golf Club, Somerset's oldest golf club, established in 1882, which has an 18-hole links course. A variety of sailing and wind surfing options are on offer, as well as the usual beach activities. There are many other attractions and amusement arcades, for example "Merlins" and a variety of well-known high street stores such as WHSmith and Boots, together with independent local shops. The town has both a Tesco and a Morrisons supermarket on its outskirts as well as a new Lidl.

The South West Coast Path National Trail starts at a marker, erected in Minehead in 2001, partly paid for by the South West Coast Path Association. The UK's longest long-distance countryside walking trail, it runs along the South West Coast to Poole in Dorset.

Transport
The town's location—sea to the north and Exmoor to the south—means that transport links are limited. Minehead is located on the A39 road, and is 28 mi north-west of the M5 motorway at junction 24.

Local bus services are operated by First West of England and Quantock Motor Services.

Minehead railway station is close to the beach. The Minehead Railway was opened on 16 July 1874, linking the town to Taunton and beyond. It was operated by the Bristol and Exeter Railway which was amalgamated into the Great Western Railway in 1876. The Minehead Railway was itself absorbed into the GWR in 1897, which in turn was nationalised into British Railways in 1948. It was closed on 4 January 1971 but has since been reopened as the West Somerset Railway, which is notable for being the longest standard-gauge heritage railway in Britain.

Media
Minehead's local radio station is the community based West Somerset Radio that broadcasts from the town on 104.4 FM.

The local newspapers are West Somerset Free Press and Somerset County Gazette.

Education
In Minehead, there are two first schools, one middle school (Minehead Middle School) and an upper school, West Somerset College, which provides education for 1,298 students between the ages of 13 and 18. In 2006 there was debate about changing West Somerset's 3-tier school system to a 2-tier system to match the rest of Somerset and the majority of education authorities in the UK.

Religious sites
The Anglican parish church of St Michael dates from the 15th century and has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II* listed building; its tower used to display a beacon light for ships approaching the harbour. After being caught in a violent storm at sea, Robert Quirke dedicated a ship and its cargo to God's service, as well as donating a cellar near the quay for prayers to be offered for those at sea. Dating from 1628 and known as the Gibraltar Celler [sic], it is now the Chapel of St Peter. Quirke also donated money from the sale of the ship and its cargo to build almshouses.

St Michael's parish church contains a number of historical highlights, including an impressive late medieval rood screen and rood stair, and an attractive stained glass window designed by Sir Henry Holiday. There are views from the churchyard of the surrounding hills and coastline.

The Church of St Michael the Archangel in Alcombe was built in 1903 as a chapel of ease for the Dunster parish, but in 1953 it became the Parish Church of Alcombe in its own right. St Andrew's Church, on Wellington Square in the town, was built of red sandstone in 1877–1880, by George Edmund Street.

Butlins Minehead is the only Butlins resort still to have a small on-site chapel, and over the Easter period the resort hosts an annual Spring Harvest, the largest Christian festival in the UK. The Catholic parish of Minehead covers an area of 200 mi2 and is served by the Sacred Heart Parish Church, built in 1896, as well as a mass centre in the nearby village of Watchet. There are also religious sites serving the needs of the Baptist, Evangelical, Methodist and United Reformed communities and the Plymouth Brethren. Alcombe is also home to the Spiritualist Church in Grove Place.

Local economy
Minehead has one of the UK's three remaining Butlins holiday camps, and tourism has been a part of Minehead's economy since Victorian times. At the height of the season in late July and early August, the town's population is significantly increased by tourists.

There is a Farmers' Market in the Parade every Friday from 8:30 am to 2 pm, selling local produce.

Culture
The town hosts the annual Minehead and Exmoor Festival, a week-long classical music festival that has been running since 1963. Richard Dickins has held the post of artistic director for the festival since 1982.

The wooded bluffs above Minehead feature as the Hermit's abode "in that wood which slopes down to the sea", in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Romantic poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge. The poet lived nearby, at Nether Stowey (between Bridgwater and Minehead). His statue can be seen at the nearby harbour at Watchet. He and Wordsworth (who lived nearby at Alfoxton House) would often roam the hills and coast on long night walks; leading to local gossip that they were 'spies' for the French. The Government sent an agent to investigate, but found they were, indeed, "mere poets". Cecil Frances Alexander wrote the popular Anglican hymn All Things Bright And Beautiful in Minehead and in nearby Dunster the verse:

"The purple headed mountain, The river running by, The sunset and the morning, That brightens up the sky;−" Refers to Grabbist Hill and the River Avill that runs near it through the popular tourist location Snowdrop Valley on Exmoor

Minehead was the setting of Monty Python's 1970 "Mr. Hilter" sketch, in which Adolf Hitler (posing as a "Mr. Hilter"), Joachim von Ribbentrop ("Ron Vibbentrop") and Heinrich Himmler ("Heimlich Bimmler") conspire at a local rooming house to win the local by-election as the "National Bocialist" candidate and unite Minehead with neighbouring Taunton (in the style of the Anschluss in 1938).

May Day Hobby Horse

One popular ancient local tradition involves the Hobby Horse, or Obby Oss, which takes to the streets on the eve of the first of May each year, with accompanying musicians and rival horses, for four days. In fact there are three rival hobby horses, the Original Sailor's Horse, the Traditional Sailor's Horse and the Town Horse. They appear on May Eve (called "Show Night"), on May Day morning (when they salute the sunrise at a crossroads on the outskirts of town), 2 and 3 May (when a ceremony called "The Bootie" takes place in the evening called "Bootie Night" at part of town called Cher). Each horse is made of a boat-shaped wooden frame, pointed and built up at each end, which is carried on the dancer's shoulders.

As at Padstow, his face is hidden by a mask attached to a tall, pointed hat. The top surface of the horse is covered with ribbons and strips of fabric. A long fabric skirt, painted with rows of multicoloured roundels, hangs down to the ground all round. A long tail is attached to the back of the frame. Each horse is accompanied by a small group of musicians and attendants. The Town Horse is accompanied by "Gullivers", dressed similarly to the horse but without the large frame; as at Padstow, smaller, children's horses have sometimes been constructed. The horses' visits are (or were) believed to bring good luck. In the past there was also a similar hobby horse based at the nearby village of Dunster, which would sometimes visit Minehead. The first of May has been a festival day in Minehead since 1465.

Sport and recreation
Minehead Barbarians, the town's rugby club, have been playing together since the 1930s, but the main local football club, Minehead A.F.C., is even older, founded in 1889. In September 2007, the TWIF European Outdoor Tug of war Championships was held at the football club's stadium. Minehead Cricket Club, based at the West Somerset College in Alcombe, field four men's teams and one women's team while Minehead Hockey Club plays close by at the West Somerset Sports & Leisure Centre. There were plans for a swimming pool to be built in the grounds of the West Somerset College and there is a bowls club on Irnham Road.

Minehead has on several occasions been the location of 'Britain's Strongest Man' contest, most recently in 2004, and since 2006 the Butlin's Resort has been one of the venues for the World Wrestling Entertainment's UK winter tour. In 2010 stage four of the Tour of Britain road cycling race started in Minehead.

In April 2010 RadioMinehead.com started to broadcast music, travel news, events guide and general to and for the Minehead community.

The 2011 European Outdoor Tug of War Championships was held within the grounds at Butlin's Minehead from 22 to 25 September.

Since December 2012 Minehead has hosted the PDC Players Championship Finals.

Minehead also hosts many motorsport events including the Somerset Stages Rally which has been hosted in the area for years. There is also the Enduroland Quad and Motocross Event held in Bratton Woods.

Notable residents

 * Richard Chorley (1927–2002), physical geographer, was born and brought up in Minehead.
 * Arthur C. Clarke (1917–2008), science fiction writer, was born in Minehead.
 * Edward Ellicott (1768–1847), naval officer during the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars, lived in Alcombe with his family and died there.
 * Peter Hurford (1930–2019), organist and composer, was born in Minehead.
 * Tim Kevan writer, blogger and barrister, author of the Baby Barista series of books, was brought up in Minehead.
 * Stephen Mulhern (born 1977), television presenter, lived in Minehead at an early age where his family owned the joke shop ‘Magic Moments’ on The Avenue. His first job was a Redcoat at Butlins Minehead, aged 17.
 * Adam O'Brian (born 1989), actor in The Imposter, was brought up in Minehead.
 * Sir Nick Partridge (born 1955), Chief Executive of The Terrence Higgins Trust, and a key campaigner on HIV and AIDS, lived in the town in the 1970s when his family moved there to run a hotel.
 * Danielle Waterman (born 1985), member of the England women's national rugby union team and member of the 2014 Women's Rugby World Cup-winning team, was brought up in Minehead.

title: Minehead