Reading

Reading, town, southern England, at the junction of the Thames and Kennet rivers. The M4 motorway is just south of Reading, and is a main route to London and to western England and Wales. Its railway station has direct services to London Paddington and London Waterloo as well as to the rest of the country, and the town is about 32 km (20 mi) west of Heathrow International Airport. Reading’s good transport links have helped it develop into a major business and commercial centre with an emphasis on computer, business, and financial services, and led to its development as an important regional shopping centre.

The University of Reading was founded in 1892 as a college affiliated to the University of Oxford; it received its charter as an independent university in 1926. Gyosei International College of Japan also has a campus there. In Reading there are the remains of a Benedictine abbey, founded in 1121 by Henry I, who was buried there. There are also several museums and an art gallery as well as the Hexagon theatre, which holds regular concerts, plays, and sporting events including world-ranking snooker championships. Reading FC is based at Madejski Stadium. The team has been known since 1976 as “the Royals”; their previous nickname, “The Biscuitmen”, refers to a traditional industry of the area.

The site of present-day Reading was occupied by the Danes (see Vikings) in 871, and Reading was granted its first charter in 1253. It was in Reading Gaol (now used as a prison for young offenders) that Oscar Wilde wrote the long letter he later published as De Profundis, and his experiences there were later transformed into a poem, The Ballad of Reading Gaol (1898). Population 143,096 (2001).