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The Tay Bridge Disaster was the collapse of the original railway bridge over the Firth of Tay on December the 28th 1879 during a night gale. While a train was crossing the bridge, thirteen of the main central spans gave way and the train fell ninety feet into the river. The disaster marked the loss of one third of the bridge which had only been built a year earlier.
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The salmon (Salmo salar) is a fish of the Salmonidae family.
Salmon are hatched in fresh water, and make for the sea, where most of their food is found, usually in their third year. When first hatched the infant salmon are known by the name of 'alevin'. They soon attain the 'parr' stage, being then olive-brown in colour with dark transverse bands and red spots. When two years old the silvery 'smelt' stage is attained.
Salmon generally re-enter the river to spawn for the first time when some three and a half years old during the autumn months, when they are known as ' Grilse'. On the way up-stream the fish feed scarcely at all, and so lose much in condition. Often the journey is arduous, necessitating the leaping of falls and other obstacles. At this time the fish lose their silvery tint, and the males are known as 'red fish', the females as 'black fish'. Savage fights may take place between the males, and their jaws undergo a strange modification, often assuming a hooked or beak-like form. Having reached the gravely shallows suitable for spawning, trough-shaped depressions known as 'redds' are excavated by the fish with their tails, and in these the hen- fish deposit their eggs, loosely covering them with silt. It is at this period that many eggs become fertilised by trout, which seize the opportunity to do so when the cock salmon is otherwise engaged repulsing rivals of his own species. It is doubtful if salmon spawn more than three or four times, as the procedure is very exhaustive, and an interval of some years may elapse between successive spawnings. In the River Tay in Scotland the salmon attains a weight of over eighty pounds.
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James Bowman Lindsay was a Scottish scientist. He was born in 1799 at Carmylie and died in 1862. He discovered the heating and lighting possibilities of electricity in 1834 and lit his garret in Dundee with electric light. He was also a pioneer of wireless telegraphy, and transmitted messages across the Firth of Tay.
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Tay-Sachs disease is an inherited disorder, caused by a faulty recessive gene, in which lipids accumulate in the brain, leading to mental retardation and blindness. It occurs mostly in Ashkenazi Jews.
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The Battle of Stirling Bridge was a Scottish victory over the English fought on September the 11th 1297. William Wallace had collected an army from the coastal districts north of the Tay, and waited in ambush for the English army, in the Stirling valley. Warenne, earl of Surrey, advanced with an army of some 50,000 men to the bridge over the Forth near Stirling - the only bridge across the Forth wide enough for two horsemen to cross side-by-side, and when half the English army were across, William Wallace and his army swept down and slaughtered the English, forcing those who had not yet crossed the river to retreat rapidly.
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The Gulfstream Aerospace Gulfstream IV is an American long-range multi-role light transport aircraft developed from the Gulfstream III in 1983, first flown in 1985 and entered service in 1987. The Gulfstream IV is powered by two Rolls-Royce Tay RB.183-03 Mk 611-8 turbofans providing a top speed of 943 kmh and a range of 6845 km fully laden. The Gulfstream IV carries a flight crew of two or three and up to 19 passengers or 4000 lbs of freight.
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China Seas is a romantic adventure starring Clark Gable and Jean Harlow in a story about a cargo boat skipper who is forced to deal with marauding pirates and romantic complications. China Seas was directed by Tay Garnett in 1935.
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My Favourite Spy is a musical comedy starring Jane Wyman and Kay Kyser. A band leader postpones his honeymoon in order to catch spies! Directed by Tay Garnett.
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One Minute To Zero is a drama starring Robert Mitchum and Ann Blyth in a story about a United Nations official who learns the truth about war when she falls for an American colonel charged with the evacuation of civilians during the Korean War. One Minute To Zero was directed by Tay Garnett in 1952.
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The Postman Always Ring Twice is a crime drama starring Lana Turner and John Garfield in a story based on the novel by James M Cain set during the depression about a drifter embarking on an intense affair with a roadside diner owner's wife, an affair which leads to thoughts of murder. The Postman Always Ring Twice was directed in 1946 by Tay Garnett.
The Postman Always Ring Twice is a crime drama starring Jack Nicholson and Jessica Lange in a story based on the novel by James M Cain set during the depression about a drifter embarking on an intense affair with a roadside diner owner's wife, an affair which leads to thoughts of murder. The Postman Always Ring Twice was directed in 1981 by Bob Rafelson.
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The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
©1993 - 2009 The Probert Encyclopaedia
Southampton, United Kingdom
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