Coordinates: 51°25′44″N 0°32′52″W / 51.4289°N 0.5479°W / 51.4289; -0.5479

Egham
High Street, Egham
Egham  Egham shown within Surrey
Population	5,724 (2001 Census)
OS grid reference	TQ008712
- London	20 miles (32 km) ENE
District	Runnymede
Shire county	Surrey
Region	South East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	EGHAM
Postcode district	TW18, TW20
Dialling code	01784
Police	Surrey
Fire	Surrey
Ambulance	South East Coast
EU Parliament	South East England
UK Parliament	Runnymede and Weybridge
List of places: UK • England • Surrey

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 20 miles (32.2 km) 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^[1] and contiguous Egham Hythe has a population of 6,345.^[2]

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, 120 acres (0.49 km²) of meadow, woodland, herbage and pannage worth 75 hogs. It rendered £30 10s 0d.^[3]

The village of Egham was previously an ancient parish covering land totalling 7,435 acres (30 km²) 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.^[4]

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.^[5]

King John Sculpture

The 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.^[5]

The principal properties were 'Egham Park', and 'Egham Wick'.^[6]

More recently Egham was centre to two national issues. On 12 September 2007 a case of foot-and-mouth disease was found in Egham, 12 miles (19 km) from the previous outbreak found in early August 2007.^[7] 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]

This section requires expansion.

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 High Street

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.^[8]

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]

Royal Holloway's world-famous Founders building

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.^[9]

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^[10] 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^[11]
• 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.^[12]

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)
• [2]

v t e Towns, villages and hamlets in the Runnymede Borough of Surrey, England Addlestone Chertsey Egham Egham Hythe Englefield Green Longcross Lyne Ottershaw Thorpe Virginia Water

Ray Wilkins

Personal information
Full name	Raymond Colin Wilkins
Date of birth	(1956-09-14) 14 September 1956 (age 55)
Place of birth	Hillingdon, Middlesex, England
Height	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)
Playing position	Midfielder
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1973–1979	Chelsea	179	(30)
1979–1984	Manchester United	160	(7)
1984–1987	Milan	73	(2)
1987	Paris St. Germain	13	(0)
1987–1989	Rangers	70	(2)
1989–1994	Queens Park Rangers	155	(8)
1994	Crystal Palace	1	(0)
1994–1996	Queens Park Rangers	21	(0)
1996	Wycombe Wanderers	1	(0)
1996–1997	Hibernian	16	(0)
1997	Millwall	3	(0)
1997	Leyton Orient	3	(0)
National team
1976	England U21	1	(0)
1976–1986	England	84	(3[1])
Teams managed
1994–1996	Queens Park Rangers
1997–1998	Fulham
2000	Chelsea (caretaker)
2004–2005	Millwall (co-manager)
2009	Chelsea (caretaker)
2009–2010	Chelsea (assistant first-team coach)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Raymond Colin Wilkins MBE (born 14 September 1956 in Hillingdon, Middlesex), commonly known as Ray Wilkins, is an English former footballer and at present a television pundit. Most recently, he was assistant manager of Chelsea.

He was a key midfielder for the England national football team during the 1980s, and enjoyed success at various clubs including Chelsea, Manchester United, Milan, Queens Park Rangers and Rangers.

He is the son of professional footballer George Wilkins and the brother of Graham George Wilkins (born 28 June 1955 in Hillingdon) former professional footballer who played in the Football League as a full back for Chelsea, Brentford and Southend United, former Brighton & Hove Albion manager and player Dean Wilkins, Stephen Wilkins, signed by Chelsea and Brentford, but did not make any first-team appearances for either team and he went on to play for a number of non-league teams, including Dagenham and Hayes.

Player[link]

Wilkins started his career with Senrab in Wanstead Flats.^{[2] [3]}

Chelsea[link]

Wilkins, nicknamed Butch from childhood, made his name in the 1970s with boyhood club Chelsea, whom he joined as an apprentice, progressing to his first team debut against Norwich City at the age of 17 on 26 October 1973 as a substitute in a 3-0 home league win.^[4]

His brothers Graham and Stephen also joined Chelsea around this time, though they did not achieve the same heights in the game as Ray.

Wilkins made sporadic further appearances for the rest of that season before establishing himself as a fixture in the side the following year, although he was unable to save Chelsea from relegation that season.

In 1975, following the club's relegation and the departure of many established players, an 18-year old Wilkins was handed the captaincy of Chelsea by new manager Eddie McCreadie, taking it from long-time Blues captain Ron Harris. He took to the role well, maintaining it for four years. He emerged as Chelsea's key player of that period, leading a team of mainly young players to promotion again in 1976–77 and, in the next season, consolidation of their place in the First Division. Ray's rapid success, along with his "dark good looks", also saw Wilkins becoming a regular pin-up feature in British teenybopper magazines.^[5] Maligned in some quarters for supposedly "negative" play (he was deemed more likely to pass a ball sideways rather than forwards – which earned him semi-affectionate nicknames like Squareball Wilkins and The Crab), Wilkins, nevertheless, became one of his country's most sought-after players.

The sudden departure of manager Eddie McCreadie proved to be a blow to Chelsea's performance, and they were relegated in 1978–79. Shortly afterwards debt-ridden Chelsea accepted an offer of £800,000 from Manchester United and Wilkins headed north.

Manchester United[link]

Ray Wilkins' first season with Manchester United was uneventful, with domestic honours continuing to elude him. He scored his first goal for United in a 4-0 victory against Stoke City in 1979. In 1983 he scored in the FA Cup final, to put Manchester United 2–1 up against Brighton and Hove Albion. The game ended 2–2 after extra-time.

Wilkins got his winners' medal after United won the replay 4–0.

A.C. Milan[link]

A year after collecting an FA Cup winner's medal, United accepted an offer of £1.5 million from Italian giants Milan. Wilkins and his family settled quickly in Italy and Milan reached the final of the Coppa Italia in 1985, but it wasn't a successful era for the Italian club.

Paris St. Germain[link]

Wilkins left A.C. Milan in 1987 to join French outfit Paris Saint-Germain, with whom he stayed only four months.

Rangers[link]

On leaving Paris, Wilkins joined Rangers for a transfer fee of £250,000. During his time with Rangers he won the Scottish league title in 1989 and the Scottish League Cup. He also scored a memorable goal in an Old Firm derby against Celtic. Such was his enjoyment of his time at Rangers, and the fans' love for him, Wilkins was reduced to tears after his final game with the club.

Queens Park Rangers[link]

Next stop for Wilkins was London, when he joined Queens Park Rangers, after his family decided that a decade away from home was long enough.

Wilkins spent four years with QPR. In the early 1990s, there was media speculation that he would rejoin Manchester United (now managed by Alex Ferguson), but this never happened. He remained at Loftus Road until the summer of 1994.

Crystal Palace[link]

In 1994, Wilkins accepted an offer to become player-coach of London club Crystal Palace, who had been promoted to the Premier League under manager Alan Smith. However, Ray broke his left foot on his debut for the club, and did not play a competitive game for them again. On recovery from the injury, he accepted an offer from QPR to become their new player-manager after Gerry Francis left in November 1994.

Return to Queens Park Rangers[link]

His appearances during his spell as player-manager of QPR were less frequent. In his first season they did reasonably well, finishing eighth in the Premier League and reaching the FA Cup quarter-finals. But leading goalscorer Les Ferdinand was sold to Newcastle United in the 1995 close season and Wilkins failed to find a suitable successor. A shortage of goals cost QPR their Premier League status and they were relegated in second from bottom place (19th) at the end of 1995–96.

Wilkins left QPR at the start of the 1996–97 season after the club was bought by media tycoon Chris Wright following the relegation from the FA Premier League.

England[link]

Wilkins was called up to play for England for the first time in 1976 by coach Don Revie and quickly made his debut against Italy during a mini-tournament in the U.S.. He was to become a permanent fixture in England squads for a decade to come.

He achieved one of his career highs after helping England qualify for the 1980 European Championships in Italy – the first tournament England had reached for a decade.

During a group game against Belgium, Wilkins scored a memorable goal when he lobbed the whole Belgian defence and, in one movement, latched on to the ball (thereby breaching the Belgians' obvious offside trap) and delivered a second lob, this time over the head of the goalkeeper and into the net to put England ahead. The Belgians swiftly equalised and a disappointing England failed to make progress from their group.

Wilkins was a fixture in the England squad through a successful campaign to qualify for the 1982 World Cup in Spain, which England exited at the second group stage. Over the season 1983/84, Wilkins continued to play for England under new coach Bobby Robson but the team failed to qualify for the 1984 European Championships.

Despite moving to Italy, to join A.C. Milan, Wilkins remained an England regular and he was chosen for the squad which qualified for the 1986 World Cup in Mexico. He played in the opening defeat against Portugal but didn't last the full 90 minutes in the next group game against Morocco, after receiving a red card for the first and only time in his career, which made him the first England player to be sent off in a World Cup finals game. In disagreeing with a decision made by the referee, Wilkins threw the ball towards the direction of official and "unintentionally" hit him with it.

He was suspended for the next two games and was not reinstated by the time the quarter final against Argentina came round, a game which England lost 2–1.

Wilkins made his 84th and final England appearance in November 1986. He had scored three international goals and had been captain on ten occasions.

Retirement[link]

After QPR, there followed spells at Wycombe Wanderers, Hibernian, Millwall, and Leyton Orient before he finally retired from playing at the end of the 1996-97 season.

Coach[link]

Fulham; Chelsea; Watford; Millwall[link]

In 1997, Wilkins became the manager of Fulham, with former England teammate Kevin Keegan as "Chief Operating Officer" under him. Wilkins managed to take the big-spending side to the Second Division play-offs, but was sacked by chairman Mohamed Al-Fayed before the first game took place after Fulham lost the last three games of the regular season. Kevin Keegan, who replaced Wilkins, failed in his bid to guide the side through the play-offs that season. The two, once close England team-mates, have had frosty relations since.

After leaving Fulham, Wilkins worked as a coach at Chelsea and Watford under Gianluca Vialli, on both occasions being sacked along with Vialli (in September 2000 and July 2002 respectively). He spent the next year working mainly as a pundit before joining Millwall as assistant manager to Dennis Wise in October 2003. Wilkins left the club along with Wise in May 2005, but returned in a consultancy role from March to October 2006.

England U-21[link]

Ray Wilkins in October 2010, giving advice to Chelsea's youngster Josh McEachran

From 2004 on Wilkins was assistant coach to Peter Taylor with the England under 21's until Peter left in early 2007. Wilkins was not retained by incoming head coach Stuart Pearce.

Return to Chelsea[link]

In September 2008, Ray Wilkins was appointed assistant first team coach to Luiz Felipe Scolari at Chelsea, following Steve Clarke's departure to West Ham United. In February 2009, following Scolari's shock sacking,^[6] Wilkins was appointed as Chelsea's caretaker manager for the Fifth round FA Cup tie with Watford.^[7] Chelsea won the game 3–1, through a Nicolas Anelka hat trick, with the club's new manager Guus Hiddink watching from the stands.^[8][9] When Carlo Ancelotti took over as Chelsea manager, on 1 July 2009, Wilkins was appointed assistant manager. Chelsea won the Community Shield two months after the new management took over and went on to win both the 2009/10 Premier League title and the F.A. Cup, securing the double, the first in the club's history.

On 11 November 2010, it was announced that Wilkins' contract with Chelsea "would not be renewed" and that he was to leave the club "with immediate effect".^[10] On 1 December 2010, Wilkins reached what he described as a "harmonious conclusion" with Chelsea following his unexpected departure from Stamford Bridge. While appearing as a guest on Sky Sports Champions League coverage on 7 December 2010, Wilkins claimed that Chelsea still have not given him a reason for his sacking.^[11]

Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti, who was to be sacked in turn at the end of the 2010–2011 season, wrote about Wilkins, in his autobiographical book The Beautiful Games of an Ordinary Genius: "Ray is one of those select few, always present, noble in spirit, a real blue-blood, Chelsea flows in his veins ... without him we wouldn't have won a thing."^[12]

Media[link]

Wilkins appears as a commentator for Sky Sports, particularly on their Champions League coverage. Since the departure of Andy Gray from the broadcaster in January 2011, he has also been given the role of co-commentator on a number of high profile Premier League and Champions League matches.

Personal Life[link]

In 2012 he was charged with drink driving after being stopped by police returning home from a youth player awards ceremony in Bournemouth.^[13]

Managerial statistics[link]

Team	Country	From	To	Record
				G	W	D	L	Win %
QPR		15 November 1994	4 September 1996	&1000000000000008000000080	&1000000000000003100000031	&1000000000000001300000013	&1000000000000003600000036	&1000000000000003875000038.75
Fulham		25 September 1997	7 May 1998	&1000000000000004400000044	&1000000000000002100000021	&100000000000000080000008	&1000000000000001500000015	&1000000000000004772999947.73
Chelsea (caretaker)		13 September 2000	17 September 2000	&100000000000000010000001	&100000000000000010000001	&100000000000000000000000	&100000000000000000000000	&10000000000000100000000100.000
Chelsea (caretaker)		9 February 2009	15 February 2009	&100000000000000010000001	&100000000000000010000001	&100000000000000000000000	&100000000000000000000000	&10000000000000100000000100.000
Total				&10000000000000126000000126	&1000000000000005400000054	&1000000000000002100000021	&1000000000000005100000051	&1000000000000004285999942.86

Honours[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Ray Wilkins management career stats at Soccerbase
• FIFA Record
• England Record

England squads v t e England squad – UEFA Euro 1980 1 Clemence 2 Neal 3 Sansom 4 Thompson 5 Watson 6 Wilkins 7 Keegan 8 Coppell 9 Johnson 10 Brooking 11 Woodcock 12 Anderson 13 Shilton 14 Cherry 15 Hughes 16 Mills 17 McDermott 18 Kennedy 19 Hoddle 20 Mariner 21 Birtles 22 Corrigan Coach: Greenwood v t e England squad – 1982 FIFA World Cup 1 Clemence 2 Anderson 3 Brooking 4 Butcher 5 Coppell 6 Foster 7 Keegan 8 Francis 9 Hoddle 10 McDermott 11 Mariner 12 Mills (c) 13 Corrigan 14 Neal 15 Rix 16 Bryan Robson 17 Sansom 18 Thompson 19 Wilkins 20 Withe 21 Woodcock 22 Shilton Coach: Greenwood v t e England squad – 1986 FIFA World Cup 1 Shilton 2 Gary Stevens 3 Sansom 4 Hoddle 5 Martin 6 Butcher 7 Bryan Robson (c) 8 Wilkins 9 Hateley 10 Lineker 11 Waddle 12 Anderson 13 Woods 14 Fenwick 15 Gary A. Stevens 16 Reid 17 Steven 18 Hodge 19 Barnes 20 Beardsley 21 Dixon 22 Bailey Coach: Bobby Robson