What do Beatrix Potter and Jeremy Clarkson have in common? Both susceptible to the charms of pigs – Potter’s Pigling brand story Clarkson’s Oxford Sandy and Blacks is about a brave young piglet escaping slaughter, a fate that is inevitable.
This unlikely pair is also bonded over an interest in mushrooms. The latest series of Clarkson’s Farm finds Jeremy taking a diversified approach to mushroom farming, with his cavernous grow bunker looking like the set of a terrifying early episode of Doctor Who.
Potter became fascinated with fungi during family holidays in the Lake District and conducted more than 250 in-depth scientific studies. In 1897, her paper “On the Germination of Spores of the Agaricaceae” was submitted to the Linnean Society by a (male) mycologist at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (she was not eligible to attend as she was a woman).
More than a century later, the work of a Victorian mycologist is providing research material to a team of mostly female scientists at Kew’s Mycological Museum. Founded in 1879, it has one of the largest and oldest collections of its kind in the world. The team will sequence her DNA in specimens with the aim of unlocking untapped potential in medicine, pharmaceuticals, industry, cuisine and more.
In his remarkable book on fungi, intertwined lives (2020), biologist Merlin Sheldrake writes: [estimated 2.5 million] The species is still undocumented. ”
Sheldrake has discovered that the maze-solving abilities of mycelial networks are being used to design urban transport networks and fire escape routes, while fungi are already being harnessed to produce the products of the future, from artificial skin to building materials, furniture and clothing.
And if anyone doubted the inexorable march of fungi to global domination, a new tarragon oyster mushroom was shortlisted for the prestigious Plant of the Year at this week’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show – to be exact. Well, it’s not a plant.
Pub over beer
Ben Cheshire, landlord of The Coronation pub in Bristol, is wheezing like a wizard. Rather than flocking to the bar to catch the eye of the bartender, customers can now order drinks on their smartphones and pay up to 50p less. He believes digital services should be more efficient and less stressful for staff, ideal for the younger demographic that will make up the post-lockdown customer base.
“I’m a big proponent of European-style service,” Cheshire says. Although Bristol City largely voted to remain in the 2016 referendum, the Europhile tendencies of Bristol residents do not seem to include paying remotely. So far, 90 per cent of Coronation customers prefer to pay at the bar.
Here you can see the important points of going to the pub. It’s not a drink. You can get drinks cheaper at home. It begins and ends with Crake having a conversation with a sympathetic bar worker.
branch out
Jacqueline Davies, from Faversham, Kent, wrote: telegraph paper She wonders why there is a shortage of olive oil when her two olive trees regularly produce bumper crops. I also have a homemade olive tree that produces lots of fruit every year.
The extreme weather that caused Europe’s olive oil shortage is certainly a disaster. But when Kent vineyards are producing award-winning wine, it might be time to plant a Kent olive grove.