walter

I'm so tired, I'm feeling so upset Although I'm so tired I'll have another cigarette And curse Sir Walter Raleigh He was such a stupid git. (Beatles: I'm So Tired) Sir Walter Raleigh smoking a pipe, with his servant throwing water over him! 💦 On this day - 27th July 1586: Sir Walter Raleigh brings tobacco to England. One of the best-known stories in English history, claims that on 27th July 1586, Sir Walter Raleigh returned from the New World carrying tobacco from Virginia. According to a famous legend, Raleigh's servant walked into the room and saw smoke pouring from his master's mouth. Thinking his master had burst into flames 🔥 he promptly threw a bucket of water over him! 💦 Whether true or not, it's a tale that has entertained generations...... However, tobacco had been around long before this date. Tobacco had been smoked by Spanish and Portuguese sailors for many years. It is likely that British sailors adopted the habit of pipe smoking, before 1586. So while Raleigh probably wasn't the first Englishman to smoke tobacco, he certainly played a huge role in making it fashionable. When Raleigh arrived back in England in 1586, he brought with him colonists from the settlement of the Roanoke Island. These colonists brought with them tobacco, maize and potatoes. When Raleigh returned from the failed Roanoke Colony expedition in 1586, he brought back English settlers - along with several unfamiliar American crops, including tobacco, maize and potatoes. Ironically, the crop we now recognise as a staple food, the humble potato was greeted with suspicion, while tobacco was widely praised for its supposed medicinal qualities. Physicians of the day believed it could cure everything from headaches and stomach complaints, to the plague! Tobacco quickly became a fashionable novelty among England's elite. Raleigh is traditionally credited with encouraging smoking at the Court of Queen Elizabeth I. Although the Queen herself is not known to have embraced the habit, tobacco soon became a status symbol among courtiers and gentlemen. By the early seventeenth century, pipe smoking had spread rapidly across England. Despite King James I later condemning the habit in his famous Counterblaste to Tobacco in 1604 - smoking continued to grow in popularity, and eventually became woven into everyday life. What began as an exotic curiosity from the Americas would become one of history's most influential - and controversial - imports. Tomado de:The Tudor Intruders Source - Historic UK/Introduction of Tobacco to England Ben Johnson Sir Walter Raleigh smoking a pipe, with his servant throwing water over him! 💦