Timothy (tortoise)

Timothy (c. 1839 – 3 April 2004) was a Mediterranean spur-thighed tortoise who was thought to be approximately 165 years old at the time of her death. This made her the UK's oldest known resident. In spite of her name, Timothy was female; it was not properly known how to sex tortoises in the 19th century.

Timothy was found aboard a Portuguese privateer in 1854 by Captain John Courtenay Everard, of the Royal Navy. The tortoise served as a mascot on a series of Navy vessels until 1892. She was ship's mascot of HMS Queen during the first bombardment of Sevastopol in the Crimean War (she was the last survivor of this war), then moved to HMS Princess Charlotte followed by HMS Nankin. After her navy service she retired to live out her life on dry land, taken in by the Earl of Devon at his home, Powderham Castle. On her underside was etched the family motto, "Where have I fallen? What have I done?"

In 1926, Timothy's owners decided that he should mate and it was then discovered that "he" was female. Despite this useful information, mating attempts were unsuccessful.

Timothy

Timothy may refer to:

Timothy (song)

"Timothy" is a song written by Rupert Holmes and recorded by the Buoys in 1970, presenting the unnerving story of three men trapped in a collapsed mine, two of whom apparently resort to cannibalism against the third (the eponymous character Timothy). The song managed to reach the U.S. Billboard Top 40 chart on April 17, 1971, remaining on the chart for eight weeks, peaking at # 17, as listed in The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits by Joel Whitburn. On the U.S. Cash Box Top 100, it spent two weeks at # 13. In Canada, the song reached # 9.

Origin

According to his own account, Holmes and a colleague had discovered the Buoys and convinced Scepter Records to sign them to a one-single contract. Since the deal did not call for the label to promote the single, the band would have to find some other way to get themselves and their song noticed. Holmes suggested a novel solution to this problem: to purposefully record a song likely to be banned, thus generating publicity for the Buoys under the time-honored axiom that "there's no such thing as bad publicity".

Timothy-grass

Timothy-grass (Phleum pratense), is an abundant perennial grass native to most of Europe except for the Mediterranean region. It is also known simply as timothy, or as meadow cat's-tail or common cat's tail. It is one of the Phleum genus, consisting of about 15 species of annual and perennial grasses.

It is probably named after Timothy Hanson, a U.S. farmer and agriculturalist said to have introduced it from New England to the southern states in the early 18th century. Upon his recommendation it became a major source of hay and cattle fodder to British farmers in the mid-18th century.

Timothy-grass can be confused with Meadow Foxtail (Alopecurus pratensis) and Purple-stem Cat's-tail (Phleum phleoides).

Description

It grows to 19–59 inches tall, with leaves up to 17 inches long and ½ inch broad. The leaves are hairless,rolled rather than folded, and the lower sheaths turn dark brown.

It has no stolons or rhizomes, and no auricles.

The flowerhead is 2¾–6 inches long and ¼–½ inches broad, with densely packed spikelets. It flowers from June until September. The stamen are pink.

Tortoise

Tortoises (/ˈtɔːr.təs.ᵻz/) are a family, Testudinidae, of land-dwelling vertebrates in the order Testudines. Tortoises are shielded from predators by a shell. The top part of the shell is the carapace, the underside is the plastron, and the two are connected by the bridge. The carapace is fused to both the vertebrae and ribcage, and tortoises are unique among vertebrates in that the pectoral and pelvic girdles are inside, rather than outside, the ribcage. Tortoises can vary in size from a few centimeters to two meters. They are usually diurnal animals with tendencies to be crepuscular depending on the ambient temperatures. They are generally reclusive animals.

Use of the terms turtle, tortoise, and terrapin

Differences exist in usage of the common terms turtle, tortoise, and terrapin, depending on the variety of English being used; usage is inconsistent and contradictory. These terms are common names and do not reflect precise biological or taxonomic distinctions.

The American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists uses "turtle" to describe all species of the order Testudines, regardless of whether they are land-dwelling or sea-dwelling, and uses "tortoise" as a more specific term for slow-moving terrestrial species. General American usage agrees; turtle is often a general term (although some restrict it to aquatic turtles); tortoise is used only in reference to terrestrial turtles or, more narrowly, only those members of Testudinidae, the family of modern land tortoises; and terrapin may refer to turtles that are small and live in fresh and brackish water, in particular the diamondback terrapin (Malaclemys terrapin). In America, for example, the members of the genus Terrapene dwell on land, yet are referred to as box turtles rather than tortoises.

Tortoise heavy assault tank

The Tank, Heavy Assault, Tortoise (A39) was a British heavy assault tank design developed in World War II but never put into mass production. It was developed for the task of clearing heavily fortified areas and as a result favoured armour protection over mobility.

Although heavy, at 78 tons, and not readily transported, it was considered reliable and a good gun platform.

Only a few prototypes of the Tortoise had been produced by the end of the war.

Development

In the early part of 1943, the Allied forces anticipated considerable resistance in the projected future invasion of Europe, with the enemy fighting from heavily fortified positions such as the Siegfried Line. As a result, a new class of vehicles emerged, in the shape of Assault tanks, which placed maximum armour protection at a higher priority than mobility. Initially, work was concentrated on the Excelsior tank (A33), based on the Cromwell tank. There was also a program to upgrade the armour of the Churchill tank. For similar work in the Far East, the Valiant tank (A38), based on the Valentine tank was considered although weight was specified to be as low as possible.