Basingstoke
Basingstoke is a town in the county of Hampshire in the UK.
It is the seat of the Basingstoke and Deane district.
In 1996 it had a population of 86,600.
Basingstoke is a prosperous town with an above-average standard of living and low unemployment.
Major industries include drug manufacture, insurance and electronics and the headquarters of the Automobile Association is located in the town.
Population growth has been rapid since its designation as a London overspill town in 1961: in 1951 there were only 16,000 inhabitants.
Today it is famous for having a large number of roundabouts.
Basingstoke has existed as a small market town since the Anglo-Saxon period, and is listed in the Domesday Book as a royal manor.
In the late 1960s, Basingstoke's centre was completely rebuilt.
Many buildings of historic interest were replaced by a large concrete shopping centre.
The brutalism of the town's architecture, and its perceived status as a haven for accountants and those with other occupations considered "boring", have led to Basingstoke becoming an comedic archetype for the soullessness of many modern British towns.
In the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta Ruddigore, the word Basingstoke is a sort of soothing charm which Sir Despard Murgatroyd intones to Mad Margaret when she seems in danger of getting agitated, presumably an indication that the town even then was considered boring and respectable.
(Although she says the word is "teeming with hidden meaning" the audience would have known better.) Even Shakespeare pokes mild fun at Basingstoke, with a line in King Henry VI .
Basingstoke also gets a mention in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
It is twinned with
Famous people who were born or lived in the Basingstoke area
