Things you didn't know about... Reading

Rimbaud was here
All poetry fans know that Oscar Wilde did time in Reading Gaol. But another cult literary figure also has an association with the town. Visionary French poet and enfant terrible Arthur Rimbaud, inspiration for the likes of Patti Smith, lived for a short while in the Kings Road in 1874. He supported himself by working as a French tutor while writing Illuminations, considered his greatest work.

Britain's first woman professor worked at Reading University
Edith Julia Morley was also a keen suffragette.

Reading is the birthplace of reality TV
In 1974 the pioneering fly-on-the-wall documentary The Family, starring the Wilkins clan, was filmed in Reading—and went on to cause a sensation.

Reading's mystery castle
There may have once been a castle on Reading's Castle Hill, but, despite the best efforts of historians, no one really knows. Reading had at least one castle somewhere in the Abbey grounds, but whether there was another one—or where exactly it was—remains a puzzle.

Reading was a bus lane pioneer
Britain's first contraflow bus lane opened on Kings Road in 1968.

Godot is alive and well in Reading!
The biggest collection of material related to the playwright Samuel Beckett is kept at Reading University. It includes 600 manuscripts and nearly 400 letters, many donated by the man himself.

The first ever Little Chef was in Reading
The eleven-seater restaurant opened in 1958.

Reading's accent is dying out
The Reading accent, as exemplified by the Wilkins family and Reading's most famous son, comedian Ricky Gervais, is under threat. The distinctive accent, which sounds a bit like a West Country one, is gradually giving way to more Cockney tones, according to linguistic experts.

Reading once ruled
For a brief time in the 13th century, England was ruled from Reading. Statesman William Earl Marshall ran the country for the nine-year-old King Henry, who became monarch on the death of his father King John in 1216. Marshall brought the royal household to Caversham Park, his estate in Reading.

Reading has two namesakes
The name of Reading has spread far and wide—Reading in Pennsylvania and Reading in Massachusetts are both named after Reading, Berkshire.