Reading (England)

Reading (pronounced redding) is a town in the Thames valley in south-east England, 40 miles west of London, and is the county town of the Royal County of Berkshire. It has a population of circa 160,000. Its industries were until recently based on brewing, the growing of flowers(bulbs) and the manufacture of biscuits. The local prison was the subject of the poem The Ballad of Reading Gaol by Oscar Wilde, who was imprisoned here after his conviction for homosexual offences.

The University of Reading was created in 1926.

## See also[edit]

* reading (academic subject)