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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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pigs
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The wild boar was indigenous to the entire Eurasian landmass from western Europe to China, and the domestic pig was independently derived from it at various places (probably first in China). Out of some 300 breeds existing today, the best-known of those developed in Britain are the Berkshire (black with small patches of white on face, legs and tip of tail); the Gloucester Old Spot (white with black spots, now relatively rare); the Tamworth (golden red all over, deriving from Tamworth in Staffordshire and descended directly from the Old English forest pig); the Yorkshire or Large White (the nearest of all these to the conventional 'pink' pig of popular imagination, bred in the 18C by crossing an English strain with a Chinese); and the Wessex Saddleback (black with white forelegs and a white band over the back).
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