10. Records suggest that the first roast turkey was eaten in Europe on 27 June 1570 at the wedding feast of Charles XI of France and Elizabeth of Austria. The King was so impressed with the birds that he began to breed them in the forest of St Germain. The turkey subsequently became a popular dish at banquets held by the French nobility. It is thought that turkeys were imported into Britain from South America, via Spain. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the majority of turkeys were raised for Christmas in the counties of Cambridgeshire and Norfolk. These counties are traditionally cereal growing areas and the drier climate probably lowered the incidence of turkey diseases, such as blackhead and gape worms.
11. Until the 1950s turkey production continued along traditional lines. The turkey industry, as we know it today, came into being as the result of several technical developments in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The first of these was the introduction of the verandah system of turkey growing which enabled producers to control blackhead disease for the first time. However, the system was expensive and the development of effective drugs for the control of the disease has allowed turkeys to be kept in pole barns and controlled-environment houses. The introduction of broad breasted strains of turkeys from the USA led to improved British strains of turkeys, with better growth rates, feed conversion and conformation. Research into techniques of artificial insemination has allowed these characteristics to be developed in the breeding stock of today.