Reading (England)

Reading is a town in the Thames valley in south-east England, 40 miles west of London, and is the county town of the ceremonial county of Berkshire. It has a population of 143,000. Its industries were until recently based on brewing 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.