Country	England
Latitude	51.4289
Longitude	-0.5479
Static image name	High Street, Egham - geograph.org.uk - 1499881.jpg
Static image caption	High Street, Egham
Official name	Egham
London distance	ENE
population	5,724
population ref	(2001 Census) |shire_district Runnymede
Shire county	Surrey
Region	South East England
Constituency westminster	Runnymede and Weybridge
Post town	EGHAM
Postcode area	TW
Postcode district	TW18, TW20
Dial code	01784
Os grid reference	TQ008712 }}

Egham is a small town in the Runnymede borough of Surrey, in the south-east of England. It is part of the London commuter belt and Greater London Urban Area, and is about south-west of central London on the River Thames and near junction 13 of the M25 motorway.

Demographics[link]

Egham town has a population of 5,724 and contiguous Egham Hythe has a population of 6,345.

History[link]

Egham predates 666AD when Chertsey Abbey was founded with lands which included that of Ecga's Ham, from which the name Egham derives.

Egham appears in Domesday Book of 1086 as ''Egeham''. It was held by Chertsey Abbey. Its domesday assets were: 15 hides; 12 ploughs, of meadow, woodland, herbage and pannage worth 75 hogs. It rendered £30 10s 0d.

The village of Egham was previously an ancient parish covering land totalling in the counties of Berkshire and Surrey; incorporating Egham, Egham Hill, Coopers Hill, Englefield Green, Virginia Water, Shrubs Hill, Runnymede, Egham Hythe, and a considerable portion of Windsor Great Park.

The manor of Egham, which includes Runnymede belonged formerly, and in 1215, to Chertsey Abbey, and after the dissolution (around 1540) became the property of the Crown, though granted to various tenants (holders) at different times.

thumb|Right|King John SculptureThe Magna Carta was sealed at nearby Runnymede in 1215, and is commemorated by a memorial, built in 1957 by the American Bar Association, at the foot of Cooper's Hill (a small rise adjacent to the Thames floodplain, immortalised in verse by such luminaries as John Denham ('Cooper's Hill') and Alexander Pope ('Windsor Forest')). A Sculpture portraying King John and Baron Fitzwalter in the act of sealing the Magna Carta is also located in Church Road in the centre of town.

Another memorial at the top of the hill in nearby Englefield Green commemorates all Commonwealth air force personnel killed in World War II. It was the first new-built British building to be listed in the post-war era. The memorial isadministered by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and freely open to the public year-round. It has excellent views towards London, Windsor and the Surrey Hills, as well as being a place of quiet contemplation and reflection.

Egham at one time held horse races which took place at the Runnymede meadow, which interfered with the Inclosure Act of 1814 (54 G. III, c. 153), and the consequent award made in 1817, which divided up the meadow, as the Act stipulated that any enclosures which should interfere with the holding of Egham races at the end of August upon on its usual course must be removed every year. In 1836 the races was presided over by William IV, who gave a plate to be run for at the meeting, which coincided with festivities at Windsor for his daughter's marriage. The races ceased in 1884.

The principal properties were 'Egham Park', and 'Egham Wick'.

More recently Egham was centre to two national issues. On 12 September 2007 a case of foot-and-mouth disease was found in Egham, from the previous outbreak found in early August 2007. In December, 2008, Egham was at the centre of a controversy due to possible traffic impact on the 3 level crossings in the town which will be affected by Heathrow Airtrack. The project has since been abandoned.

Governance[link]

Egham once lay within the Godley hundred, which for a time may have been external to the historic county boundaries of Surrey.

Egham Rural District was a Local Government District within the administrative county of Surrey. It was created in 1894 and replaced in 1906 with Egham Urban District, which was later abolished in 1974. Since 1974, Egham has been part of the Runnymede borough of Surrey.

Geography[link]

Nearby are Staines, Bagshot, Sunningdale, Englefield Green and Virginia Water, Windsor Great Park, Old Windsor and Windsor itself. The area between Egham and Staines town centres is known as Egham Hythe.

North of Egham is Wraysbury, home of the British Disabled Waterski Association. South is Thorpe Park, a large theme park of rides and attractions. Also near Egham is Ascot Racecourse - another big attraction.

Economy[link]

Egham is home to a large research centre for Procter & Gamble, the London Innovation Centre, on Rusham Park, formally owned by Shell oils. P&G; has over 550 employees in Egham, working on Fine Fragrance, Beauty Care and Health Care brands, such as Hugo Boss, Olay, and Vicks. Other notable employers include Research in Motion, makers of BlackBerry, HCL AXON (an information technology consultancy), Belron (parent company of Autoglass), and the national headquarters of Enterprise Rent-a-Car. Egham is also home to CAB International Europe UK, which holds one of the world's largest collections of microorganisms.

The area around Egham has many connections with prestige sports cars. Egham has been Ferrari's spiritual home in the United Kingdom located in the listed Tower Garage. Lagonda Cars were based at Egham Hythe where Sainsbury's is now located. Egham today contains both a Maserati and a Porsche dealership.

Egham has many pubs including The Foresters, The Crown, The Red Lion, The Monkeys Forehead and The White Lion.

Sport & Leisure[link]

Egham has a Non-League football club Egham Town F.C. who play at The Runnymede Stadium.

Transport[link]

Egham railway station is on the railway lines from London Waterloo station to Reading and Weybridge. Passenger services are operated by South West Trains. Egham has three level crossings, which could become problematic if the proposed Heathrow Airtrack scheme comes to fruition. Several bus routes connect the town and Royal Holloway to Staines, Windsor and London Heathrow Airport.

Education[link]

Strode's College is an institution in Egham dating back to 1704 and was a grammar school before being designated a sixth form college in 1975.

Royal Holloway College, a part of the University of London is south of Egham along the A30 road at Englefield Green. It will provide accommodation for London 2012 competitors who are competing at Eton Dorney.

The Magna Carta School, formerly Hythe County Secondary, is a comprehensive school in Egham Hythe. ACS International Schools has a campus in Egham.

Churches[link]

St John's Church Egham is located on Church Road and is an evangelical Anglican church in the Diocese of Guildford. There are approximately 350 members and a usual Sunday attendance is around 450. The incumbent Vicar is the Revd Jeff Wattley.

Notable people[link]

Hilda Braid, actor, lived in Egham

Edward Budgen, provisions merchant, resided in Egham

John Denham, wrote poetry about Egham in the 17th century

Frederick James Furnivall, co-creator of the ''Oxford English Dictionary''

Hugh Reginald Haweis, cleric and writer

William Chaloner, counterfeiter, ran a coining operation in Egham.

Frank Muir, Comedy writer and broadcast personality lived in Egham towards the end of his life.

References[link]

External links[link]

Egham town website.

St John's Church Egham website.

Magna Carta Essays

Bibliography of local history

Egham Hythe, St Paul's Church and Edward Budgen (see history page)

Category:Towns in Surrey Category:Runnymede (borough)

de:Egham it:Egham nl:Egham no:Egham nn:Egham pl:Egham ro:Egham

name	Bill Hicks
birth name	William Melvin Hicks
birth date	December 16, 1961
birth place	Valdosta, Georgia, U.S.
origin	Houston, Texas, U.S.
death date	February 26, 1994
death place	Little Rock, Arkansas, U.S.
medium	Stand-up, music
nationality	American
active	1978–1994
genre	Observational comedy, dark comedy, political satire
subject	American culture, American politics, current events, pop culture, human sexuality, philosophy, religion, spirituality, recreational drug use, entheogens, conspiracy theories, consumerism
influences	Woody Allen, Johnny Carson, Richard Pryor
influenced	David Cross, Russell Brand
website	BillHicks.com. WebCitation archive.
footnotes	}}

William Melvin "Bill" Hicks (December 16, 1961 – February 26, 1994) was an American stand-up comedian, social critic, satirist, and musician. His material largely consisted of general discussions about society, religion, politics, philosophy, and personal issues. Hicks' material was often controversial and steeped in dark comedy. In both his stand-up performances and during interviews, he often criticized consumerism, superficiality, mediocrity, and banality within the media and popular culture, describing them as oppressive tools of the ruling class, meant to "keep people stupid and apathetic".

Hicks was 16 years old when he started performing stand-up comedy at the Comedy Workshop in Houston, Texas, in 1978. During the 1980s he toured the United States extensively and performed a number of high profile television appearances. It was in the UK, however, where Hicks first amassed a significant fan base, packing large venues with his 1991 tour. Hicks died of pancreatic cancer in 1994 at the age of 32. In the years after his death, his work and legacy achieved acclaim in creative circles. In 2007 he was voted the fourth-greatest stand-up comic on the UK's 100 Greatest Stand-Ups, and appeared again in the updated 2010 list as the fourth-greatest comic.

Early life[link]

Born in Valdosta, Georgia, Bill Hicks was the son of Jim and Mary (Reese) Hicks and had two elder siblings: sister Lynn and brother Steve. The family lived in Florida, Alabama, and New Jersey, before settling in Houston, Texas when Hicks was seven. He was raised in the Southern Baptist faith, where he first began performing as a comedian for other children at Sunday School.

Hicks was drawn to comedy at an early age, emulating Woody Allen and Richard Pryor, and writing routines with his friend Dwight Slade. Worried about his behavior, his parents took him to a psychoanalyst at age 17 but, according to Hicks, after one session the psychoanalyst informed him that "...it's them, not you."

His mother described Hicks's early interest in comedy on ''The Late Show with David Letterman'' on January 30, 2009: }}

Career[link]

Beginnings[link]

Hicks graduated from Stratford High School in Houston and began touring in the early 1980s. After a few years of performing the same material, he felt that his act wasn't progressing. He wanted to push the boundaries of creativity as his idols Jimi Hendrix and Richard Pryor had done. At 21 years old, Hicks had never consumed alcohol, smoked cigarettes, or tried drugs. He began to experiment to see if intoxication was indeed the key to crossing the line.

Once Hicks gained some underground success in night clubs and universities, he quit drinking, realizing that it wasn't alcohol that made a great comic, but his ability to express a truth, even if it was an unpopular one. However, Hicks continued to smoke cigarettes. His nicotine addiction, love of smoking, and occasional attempts to quit became a recurring theme in his act throughout his later years.

California and New York[link]

In January 1986, Hicks found himself broke, having spent all his money on a variety of substances. His career soon received another upturn, though, as he appeared on Rodney Dangerfield's ''Young Comedians Special'', in 1987. The same year, he moved to New York City, and, for the next 5 years, performed about 300 times a year. On the album ''Relentless'', he jokes that he quit using drugs because "once you've been taken aboard a UFO, it's kind of hard to top that", although in his performances, he continued to extol the virtues of LSD, marijuana, and psychedelic mushrooms. He fell back to chain-smoking, a theme that would figure heavily in his performances from then on.

In 1988, Hicks signed on with his first professional business manager, Jack Mondrus. Throughout 1989, Mondrus worked to convince many clubs to book Hicks, promising that the wild drug- and alcohol-induced behavior was behind him. Among the club managers hiring the newly sober Hicks was Colleen McGarr, who would become his girlfriend and fiancée in later years.

Hicks quit drinking in 1988, as stated in his 1990 album ''Dangerous'' on the first track, entitled "Modern Bummer".

In 1989 he released his first video, ''Sane Man''. It was reissued in 2006.

Early fame[link]

In 1990, Hicks released his first album, ''Dangerous'', performed on the HBO special ''One Night Stand'', and performed at Montreal's ''Just for Laughs'' festival. He was also part of a group of American stand-up comedians performing in London's West End in November. Hicks was a huge hit in the UK and Ireland and continued touring there throughout 1991. That year, he returned to ''Just for Laughs'' and filmed his second video, ''Relentless''.

Hicks made a brief detour into musical recording with the ''Marble Head Johnson'' album in 1992. During the same year he toured the UK, where he recorded the ''Revelations'' video. for Channel 4 He closed the show with his soon-to become-famous philosophy regarding life, "It's Just a Ride". Also in that tour he recorded the stand-up performance released in its entirety on a double CD titled ''Salvation''. Hicks was voted "Hot Standup Comic" by ''Rolling Stone magazine'' in 1993. He moved to Los Angeles in 1992.

Hicks and Tool[link]

The progressive metal band Tool invited Hicks to open a number of concerts in its 1992 Lollapalooza appearances, where Hicks once famously asked the audience to look for a contact lens he had lost. Thousands of people complied.

Members of Tool felt that they and Hicks "were resonating similar concepts". Intending to raise awareness about Hicks's material and ideas, Tool dedicated their triple-platinum album ''Ænima'' (1996) to Hicks. Both the lenticular casing of the ''Ænima'' album packaging as well as the chorus of the title track "Ænema" make reference to a sketch from Hicks' ''Arizona Bay'' album, in which he contemplates the idea of Los Angeles falling into the Pacific Ocean. ''Ænima''s final track, "Third Eye" contains samples from Hicks' ''Dangerous'' and ''Relentless'' albums.

An alternate version of the ''Ænima'' artwork shows a painting of Bill Hicks, calling him "Another Dead Hero," and mentions of Hicks are found both in the liner notes and on the record.

Controversy[link]

Censorship and aftermath[link]

Hicks constantly faced problems with censorship. In 1984, Hicks was invited to appear on ''Late Night with David Letterman'' for the first time. He had a joke that he used frequently in comedy clubs about how he caused a serious accident that left a classmate using a wheelchair. NBC had a policy that no handicapped jokes could be aired on the show, making his stand-up routine difficult to perform without mentioning words such as "wheelchair".

On October 1, 1993, Hicks was scheduled to appear on ''Late Show with David Letterman'', his 12th appearance on a Letterman late-night show, but his entire performance was removed from the broadcast—then the only occasion where a comedian's entire routine was cut after taping. Hicks' stand-up routine was removed from the show allegedly because Letterman and his producer were nervous about a religious joke ("if Jesus came back he might not want to see so many crosses"). Hicks said he believed it was due to a pro-life commercial aired during a commercial break. Both the show's producers and CBS denied responsibility. Hicks expressed his feelings of betrayal in a letter to John Lahr of ''The New Yorker''. Although Letterman later expressed regret at the way Hicks had been handled, Hicks did not appear on the show again.

Hicks' mother, Mary, appeared on the January 30, 2009 episode of ''Late Show''. Letterman played the routine in its entirety. Letterman took full responsibility for the original censorship and apologized to Mrs. Hicks. Letterman also declared he did not know what he was thinking when he pulled the routine from the original show in 1993, saying, "It says more about me as a guy than it says about Bill because there was absolutely nothing wrong with that."

Denis Leary[link]

For many years, Hicks was friends with fellow comedian Denis Leary. But in 1993 Hicks was angered by Leary's album ''No Cure for Cancer'', which featured lines and subject matter similar to Hicks' routine. According to ''American Scream: The Bill Hicks Story'' by Cynthia True, upon hearing the album "Bill was furious. All these years, aside from the occasional jibe, he had pretty much shrugged off Leary's lifting. Comedians borrowed, stole stuff, and even bought bits from one another. Milton Berle and Robin Williams were famous for it. This was different. Leary had practically line for line taken huge chunks of Bill's act and ''recorded'' it."

The friendship ended abruptly as a result.

At least three stand-up comedians have gone on the record stating they believe Leary stole Hicks's material as well as his persona and attitude. In an interview, when Hicks was asked why he had quit smoking, he answered, "I just wanted to see if Denis would, too."

In another interview, Hicks said, "I have a scoop for you. I stole his [Leary's] act. I camouflaged it with punchlines, and, to really throw people off, I did it before he did."

The controversy surrounding plagiarism is also mentioned in ''American Scream'':

}}

During a 2003 Comedy Central roast of Denis Leary, comedian Lenny Clarke, a friend of Leary's, said there was a carton of cigarettes backstage from Bill Hicks with the message, "Wish I had gotten these to you sooner." This joke was cut from the final broadcast.

In a 2008 interview, Leary said, "It wouldn't have been an issue, I think, if Bill had lived. It's just that people look at a tragedy and they look at that circumstance and they go, oh, this must be how we can explain this."

Comic style[link]

Hicks' style was a play on his audience's emotions. He expressed anger, disgust, and apathy while addressing the audience in a casual and personal manner, which he likened to merely conversing with his friends. His material was less focused on the everyday banalities of life and placed greater emphasis on philosophical themes of existence. He would invite his audiences to challenge authority and the existential nature of "accepted truth." One such message, which he often used in his shows, was delivered in the style of a news report (in order to draw attention to the negative slant news organizations give to any story about drugs):

Another of Hicks' most famous quotes was delivered during a gig in Chicago in 1989 (later released as the bootleg ''I'm Sorry, Folks''). After a heckler repeatedly shouted "Free Bird", Hicks screamed that "Hitler had the right idea, he was just an underachiever!" Hicks followed this remark with a misanthropic tirade calling for unbiased genocide against the whole of humanity.

Much of Hicks' routine involved direct attacks on mainstream society, religion, politics, and consumerism. Asked in a BBC interview why he cannot do a routine that appeals "to everyone", he said that such an act was impossible. He responded by repeating a comment that an audience member once made to him, "We don't come to comedy to think!", to which he replied, "Gee! Where do you go to think? I'll meet you there!" In the same interview, he also said: "My way is half-way between: this is a night-club, and these are adults."

Hicks often discussed conspiracy theories in his performances, most notably the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. He mocked the Warren Report and the official version of Lee Harvey Oswald as a "lone nut assassin." He also questioned the guilt of David Koresh and the Branch Davidian compound during the Waco Siege. Hicks would end some of his shows, especially those being recorded in front of larger audiences as albums, with a mock "assassination" of himself on stage, making gunshot sound effects into the microphone while falling to the ground.

Cancer diagnosis and death[link]

Hicks wrote, "On June 16, 1993 I was diagnosed with having 'liver cancer that had spread from the pancreas.'" He started receiving weekly chemotherapy, while still touring and also recording his album, ''Arizona Bay'', with Kevin Booth. He was also working with comedian Fallon Woodland on a pilot episode of a new talk show, titled ''Counts of the Netherworld'' for Channel 4 at the time of his death. The budget and concept had been approved, and a pilot was filmed. The ''Counts of the Netherworld'' pilot was shown at the various Tenth Anniversary Tribute Night events around the world on February 26, 2004.

After being diagnosed with cancer, Hicks would often joke that any given performance would be his last. The public, however, was unaware of Hicks's condition. Only a few close friends and family members knew of his disease. Hicks performed the final show of his career at Caroline's in New York on January 6, 1994. He moved back to his parents' house in Little Rock, Arkansas, shortly thereafter. He called his friends to say goodbye, before he stopped speaking on February 14.

He spent time with his parents, playing them the music he loved and showing them documentaries about his interests. He died of side effects of his cancer treatment in the presence of his parents at 11:20pm on February 26, 1994. He was 32 years old.

Hicks was buried in the family plot in Leakesville, Mississippi.

On February 7, 1994, Hicks authored a verse on his perspective, wishes, and thanks of his life, to be released after his death as his "last word", ending with the words: "I left in love, in laughter, and in truth and wherever truth, love and laughter abide, I am there in spirit."

Legacy[link]

''Arizona Bay'' and ''Rant in E-Minor'' were released posthumously in 1997 on the Voices imprint of the Rykodisc label. ''Dangerous'' and ''Relentless'' were also re-released by Rykodisc on the same date.

In a 2005 poll to find The Comedian's Comedian, fellow comedians and comedy insiders voted Hicks #13 on their list of "The Top 20 Greatest Comedy Acts Ever". Likewise, in "Comedy Central Presents: 100 Greatest Stand-ups of All Time" (2004), Hicks was ranked at #19. In March 2007, Channel 4 ran a poll, "The Top 100 Stand-Up Comedians of All Time", in which Hicks was voted #6. Channel 4 renewed this list in April 2010, which saw Hicks move up 2 places to #4.

Devotees of Hicks have incorporated his words, image, and attitude into their own creations. By means of audio sampling, fragments of Hicks' rants, diatribes, social criticisms, and philosophies have found their way into many musical works, such as the live version of Super Furry Animals' "Man Don't Give A Fuck". His influence on the band Tool is well-documented; he "appears" on the Fila Brazillia album ''Maim That Tune'' (1996) and on SPA's self titled album ''SPA'' (1997), which are both dedicated to Hicks; the British band Radiohead's second album ''The Bends'' (1995) is also dedicated to his memory. Singer/songwriter Tom Waits listed ''Rant in E-Minor'' as one of his 20 most cherished albums of all time.

Contemporary comedians David Cross and Russell Brand have stated that they were inspired by Hicks.

The British actor Chas Early portrayed Hicks in the one-man stage show ''Bill Hicks: Slight Return'', which premiered in 2004. The show was co-written by Chas Early and Richard Hurst, and imagined Hicks' view of the world 10 years after his death.

On February 25, 2004, British MP Stephen Pound tabled an early day motion titled "Anniversary of the Death of Bill Hicks" (EDM 678 of the 2003-04 session), the text of which reads: ; recalls his assertion that his words would be a bullet in the heart of consumerism, capitalism and the American Dream; and mourns the passing of one of the few people who may be mentioned as being of inclusion with Lenny Bruce in any list of unflinching and painfully honest political philosophers.}}

Hicks appeared in a flashback scene in writer Garth Ennis' Vertigo comic-book series ''Preacher'', in the story "Underworld" in issue #31 (Nov. 1997).

Film and documentary[link]

A documentary entitled ''American: The Bill Hicks Story'', based on interviews with his family and friends, premiered on March 12, 2010, at the South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin, Texas.

Discography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Sacred Cow Productions

Bill Hicks Quotes

The subversive legacy of comic Bill Hicks, ''Salon.com''

Bill Hicks is Dead: Tribute and Biography, with related videos.

Further reading[link]

Category:1961 births Category:1994 deaths Category:American cannabis activists Category:American satirists Category:American social commentators Category:American stand-up comedians Category:Cancer deaths in Arkansas Category:Censorship in the arts Category:Deaths from pancreatic cancer Category:Free speech activists Category:Former Baptists Category:People from Houston, Texas Category:People from Valdosta, Georgia Category:People self-identifying as alcoholics Category:Psychedelic drug advocates Category:Conspiracy theorists Category:Religious skeptics Category:Rykodisc artists

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