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BasingstokeBasingstoke is a new 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. The ruins of the Tudor palace of Basing House can be found two miles east of the town centre, in Old Basing. Basingstoke railway station is the junction between the South Western Main Line railway, built by the London and South Western Railway, and the Reading to Basingstoke line, built by the Great Western Railway. In the late 1960s, Basingstoke town centre was completely rebuilt. At this time 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. It remains to be seen whether the opening of the new Festival Place shopping centre (October, 2002) will do anything to soften this image. 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 [1]. Basingstoke also gets a mention in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. It is twinned with Leisure and TourismBasingstoke is the home of the Milestones Museum which features a network of streets and buildings based on the history of Hampshire. The [Aquadrome] swimming pool is found very close to the Milestones project and features flumes and rapid water courses. Famous people who were born or lived in the Basingstoke area
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