Slough

Slough is a unitary authority in the south of England. It is made up mainly by the town of Slough. It borders onto Greater London, Buckinghamshire, Surrey and the unitary authority of Windsor and Maidenhead[?].

Villages which form part of Slough are: Britwell, Chalvey, Cippenham, Colnbrook, Langley, Upton, Wexham.

The astronomer William Herschel produced the first true map of the universe with a telescope he built in his garden in Slough. A monument in Windsor Road commemorates his achievement.

The poet John Betjeman wrote, in his 1937 poem 'Slough' as a protest against the 850 factories and a new town in what was a rural area:

Come, friendly bombs, and fall on Slough

It isn't fit for humans now

As a joke, the comedian Spike Milligan presented it on TV as holiday resort.

In the 1960s Gerry Anderson's film company was based in Slough, and his Supermarionation series including Thunderbirds were filmed there.

Slough is home to the National Foundation for Educational Research, which is housed in The Mere[?].

The BBC comedy series The Office is set in Slough, reiterating Betjeman's view of the place as a depressing industrial wasteland. In fact Betjeman's poem appears on the inside sleeve of the video and DVD of Series 1.

External links

• http://www.bbc.co.uk/berkshire/history/slough.shtml
• http://www.wam.umd.edu/~wsp/212texts.htm#Slough
• http://www.nfer.ac.uk/