Veg Soc

A dating website for vegetarians has been reprimanded by advertising watchdogs because too many of its members eat meat. Here is a brief history of the Vegetarian Society as per TTel:

The word "vegetarian" was coined by founders when the society was established at a vegetarian hospital called Northwood Villa in Ramsgate, Kent in 1847.

It followed a unanimously passed resolution at the meeting that was presided by Joseph Brotherton, the then MP for Salford. The Vegetarian Society was born and within minutes 150 members had already joined.

The following year, at the Society's first annual meeting in Manchester, its membership base at grown to 265 people aged between 14 and 76. By the late 19th century, Britain boasted two influential vegetarian organisations.

In 1908 amid a surge in popularity of vegetarian movements world-wide, the International Vegetarian Union (IVU) was founded, which succeeded the Vegetarian Federal Union that was almost two decades earlier.

Vegetarian cuisine has continued to flourish through the 20th century, with dozens of restaurant and cookery schools established while a National Vegetarian Week has been celebrated almost every year since 1991.

Famous vegetarians are said to include Adolf Hitler, although some dispute this, Sir Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, the former Beatles, Christine Lagarde, the newly installed French head of the International Monetary Fund, Martina Navratilova, the Czech tennis champion Shania Twain, the Canadian singer, Isaac Pitman, the Shorthand "guru" and Danni Minogue, the Australian pop star.