Flax health of linseed oil. Eventually, Flanders became the major center of the linen industry in the European Middle Ages. In North America, flax was introduced by the colonists and it flourished there, but by the early 20th century, cheap cotton and rising farm wages had caused production of flax to become concentrated in northern Russia, which came to provide 90% of the world's output. Since then, flax has lost its importance as a commercial crop, due to the easy availability of more durable fibres. Flax is grown for its seeds, which can be ground into a meal or turned into
The Lightning Seeds the forming his own project, Ian Broudie had been a member of the 1970s post-punk band Big in Japan, and later formed the new wave duo Care with vocalist Paul Simpson. In 1989, Ian Broudie began recording alone under the name "Lightning Seeds". The name derives from a misheard lyric from Prince's 1985 hit single "Raspberry Beret" (The rain sounds so cool/When it hits the barn roof/And the horses wonder who you are/Thunder drowns out what the lightning sees). Broudie had previously been a member of the band Care in the mid-1980s, but by 1989 was much better known as