Wooo Hooooo My holiday is finally here! And from the title of this ramble you may well have gathered that I am off to Turkey. To say I have been looking forward to escaping the vagaries of the online world is something of an understatement. I actually love what I do, but a couple of weeks out from staring at a computer screen will be a much needed tonic. A change is as good as a rest, and when you combine the two in a holiday jaunt it will hopefully be a winner. I am engaging in a classical tour so will be hopping on and off tour buses, and so quite how restful it is going to be in reality I will have to wait and see. But I am sure it will be great for the mind anyway, because Turkey is a fascinating country.

I think it will be what I call a 'Bitta' holiday. Bitta sun. Bitta food. Bitta drink. Bitta monuments. Bitta culture. Just the ticket. So anyway, to celebrate the fact that I won't be engaging with you happy people for the next two weeks (next ramble will be on the 17th September) I thought we would explore together some glorious facts about Turkeys. The scraggly necked birds eaten at Christmas and Thanksgiving. Now logically, I guess, I should explore facts about the country Turkey. But I reckon that logic is overrated as a hobby. And I happen to have a burning desire today to share the wonder that is Turkeydom with you people.

So here goes turkey fans...

1/ Turkeys are native to North and Central America and were first brought to England in about 1526 by Yorkshireman William Strickland. He acquired six birds from American Indian traders on his travels and sold them for tuppence each in Bristol.

2/ In the wild, turkeys can run at speeds of up to 20mph, increasing to 50mph in flight.

3/ At one time, the turkey and the bald eagle were each considered as the national symbol of America. Benjamin Franklin was one of those who argued passionately on behalf of the turkey. Franklin felt the turkey, although "vain and silly," was a better choice than the bald eagle, whom he felt was "a coward."

4/ According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, more than 45 million turkeys are cooked and eaten in the U.S. at Thanksgiving — that's one-sixth of all turkeys sold in the U.S. each year. American per-capita consumption of turkeys has soared from 8.3 pounds in 1975 to 18.5 pounds in 1999.

5/ Mature turkeys have 3,500 or so feathers. The Apache Indians considered the turkey timid and wouldn't eat it or use its feathers on their arrows.

6/ Only male turkeys (toms) gobble. Females (hens) make a clicking noise. The gobble is a seasonal call during the spring and fall. Hens are attracted for mating when a tom gobbles. Wild toms love to gobble when they hear loud sounds or settle in for the night.

7/ Until 1863, Thanksgiving Day had not been celebrated annually since the first feast in 1621. This changed in 1863 when Sarah Josepha Hale encouraged Abraham Lincoln to set aside the last Thursday in November "as a day for national thanksgiving and prayer."

8/ The heaviest turkey ever raised weighed in at 86 pounds -- about the size of a large German Shepherd -- and was grown in England, according to Dr. Sarah Birkhold, poultry specialist with the Texas Agricultural Extension Service.

9/ Ninety percent of American homes eat turkey on Thanksgiving Day. Fifty percent eat turkey at Christmas.