In 1526, a young Yorkshire landowner returned to England from a long trip. William Strickland had sailed to the New World on a voyage of discovery, where he purchased six rather silly-looking birds from Native American traders. They had wobbly flaps of skin that flopped over their beaks like red socks, and liked to strut around with their tails fanned out – they were turkeys, and when his ship eventually docked in Bristol, he sold them to locals for two pence each.