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Coordinates: 52°05′08″N 0°15′21″W / 52.0855°N 0.2557°W / 52.0855; -0.2557

Biggleswade
130px Town council logo and de facto town crest
Biggleswade town centre
Biggleswade  Biggleswade shown within Bedfordshire
Population	15,383
OS grid reference	TL1944
Civil parish	Biggleswade
Unitary authority	Central Bedfordshire
Ceremonial county	Bedfordshire
Region	East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	BIGGLESWADE
Postcode district	SG18
Dialling code	01767
Police	Bedfordshire
Fire	Bedfordshire and Luton
Ambulance	East of England
EU Parliament	East of England
UK Parliament	North East Bedfordshire
List of places: UK • England • Bedfordshire

Biggleswade is a market town and civil parish located on the River Ivel in Bedfordshire, England. It is well served by transport routes, being close to the A1 road between London and the North, as well as having a railway station on the main rail link North from London (the East Coast Main Line).

Geography[link]

Located about 40 miles (60 km) north of Central London and 20 miles (30 km) west-south-west of Cambridge, the fastest train to London, King's Cross, takes 35 minutes, while a car journey to central Cambridge takes about 35 minutes. In 2001 the population of the town was about 15,383.^[1] The Biggleswade civil parish also includes the nearby hamlet of Holme, Bedfordshire.

The town lies on the B1040, which leads to Potton to the north and the A6001 (a section is the former A1), which leads to Langford and Henlow to the south.

History[link]

Romans[link]

The area around Biggleswade is thought to have been inhabited from around 10,000 BC, with arrowheads dating from this period found in the region. In Roman times, a loop road known as the White Way passed through Biggleswade (possibly along the course of the present-day Drove Road), linking up with the Ermine Way at Godmanchester.

The Saxons[link]

In the 5th century AD, Saxon invaders settled here - the name Biggleswade is thought to be derived from Biceil, an Anglo-Saxon personal name and Waed, the Saxon word for ford.

In 2001 a gold coin bearing the name Coenwulf was discovered at Biggleswade on a footpath beside the River Ivel.^[2][3] The 4.33 g (0.15 oz) mancus, worth about 30 silver pennies, is only the eighth known Anglo-Saxon gold coin dating to the mid to late Anglo-Saxon period.^[2][3] The coin's inscription, "DE VICO LVNDONIAE", indicates that it was minted in London.^[3] Initially sold to American collector Allan Davisson for £230,000 at an auction held by Spink auction house in October of that year, the British Government subsequently put in place an export ban in the hope of saving it for the British public.^[2][4][5] In February 2006 the coin was bought by the British Museum for £357,832 with the help of funding from the National Heritage Memorial Fund and the British Museum Friends^[6][7] making it the most expensive British coin purchased until that date.

Medieval times[link]

The Crown Inn.
The 1785 fire started here.

In 1132, Henry I granted the manor of Biggleswade to Bishop Alexander - Alexander the Magnificent - of Lincoln to help endow Lincoln Cathedral. The town was granted a charter to hold a market during the reign of King John (1196–1216) - a market is still held in the market place in the centre of the town every Saturday. The church is dedicated to St. Andrew. Biggleswade Castle existed in earlier times.

On June 16, 1785, there was a large fire in the town. The fire started at the Crown Inn and spread rapidly through the neighbouring streets. By the time the fire had been brought under control, nearly one-third of the town had been destroyed, including 103 houses leaving 332 people homeless. A national appeal was launched to raise funds for the many people who had lost their homes and their livelihoods. In the local parish church there is a stained glass window depicting the fire.

St. Andrew's Church

Biggleswade, June 2000

Transport history[link]

The Great Northern Railway opened in 1850, and Biggleswade was the third town in Bedfordshire to have a mainline station (on the East Coast Main Line) after Bedford & Dunstable.

The town was bypassed in 1961.

Buses in the town were provided by Eastern National until 1952 when the western division of Eastern National was handed over to United Counties. The company had a garage in Shortmead Street opposite Ivel Gardens until 1989 when it was sold for redevelopment into flats. United Counties was acquired by Stagecoach in November 1987 and moved to the current site in Hitchin Street in 1989, which was acquired from Charles Cook. Other bus operators based in Biggleswade included Charles Cook European Travel who operated in the area between 1947 and 1998 and Fairway Coaches although both of these operators have ceased to operate.

Industrial history[link]

Traditionally, Biggleswade has been a vegetable- and produce-growing area with trains often taking daily loads of vegetables to London's produce markets. Even though much of this has now stopped, Bedfordshire Growers, based on the outskirts of the town, still supplies major supermarkets with UK-grown potatoes and onions.^[8]

Biggleswade is also the base of the Jordan's cereals business^[9] who produce their own brand of breakfast Muesli, Country Crisp and Crunchy Oats and Frusli cereal bars which are sold across Europe as well as in Canada. There used to be a Felix cat food factory located on Potton Road. However, this moved away in 1970. There also used to be a glass bottle factory on Brunts Lane which was later destroyed by fire in 2000.

The town was also home to the Ivel Cycle Works, founded by Dan Albone. This factory ultimately produced bicycles, motorbikes and light tractors. It went into receivership in 1920.

Other goods which have been made in Biggleswade include Berkeley Caravans and Sportscars, who had a factory in the town, which was later used by Kayser Bondor who made ladies' underwear and stockings in the town until the mid-1990s. The factory was demolished and is now a housing estate, with roads named Berkeley Close and Kayser Court after the businesses that used the factory.

The town had a large brewery in the town centre for many decades; its last owners were Greene King but it closed down in October 1997 and the site is now occupied by an Asda supermarket.

Biggleswade had two long serving motor dealers, A. W. Watkin were agents for locally made Vauxhall cars and Bedford lorries for many years and had a large showroom and repair site in Shortmead Street, but the dealership closed in 2002 and the was site redeveloped into houses which are in a road named Watkin Walk. The other dealer was the Mantle's business which originally had a site for Austin cars near the old Swan Hotel in the town. Mantle's moved to a larger site opposite the old work house on London Road where they sold British Leyland and later Austin Rover cars. They also had a caravan dealership. Mantle's still sell cars here, but since the collapse of MG Rover now sells Mitsubishi and Ford cars. The caravan business closed in the early 1990s.

Sport and leisure[link]

Biggleswade Swimming Club website at www.biggleswadesc.org celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2006. It now uses the new indoor Saxon Pool and Leisure Centre.^[10]

The town has two football clubs - Biggleswade Town and Biggleswade United. Biggleswade also homes a Skatepark.

Biggleswade is the home of Biggleswade Rugby Club, which has 3 senior sides and an active Mini and Youth section with sides from under 7 through to 17 years. See Biggleswade rugby.

The Swiss Garden in Old Warden Park was created in the early 19th century, with additions by the Shuttleworth family. It is promoted by the Campaign to Protect Rural England.^[11]

Culture[link]

The town is mentioned twice in the diaries of Samuel Pepys. On 22 July 1661, Pepys stopped off in Biggleswade (called 'Bigglesworth' by Pepys) to buy a pair of warm woollen stockings. John Byng, 5th Viscount Torrington often refers to the town and the Sun Inn. There are six churches in Biggleswade, which are represented by the umbrella organisation Churches Together in Biggleswade. ^[12]

• St. Andrew's Church, (Anglican), Biggleswade
• Biggleswade Baptist Church, (Baptist), Biggleswade
• St. Peter's Roman Catholic Church, (Catholic), Biggleswade
• The Methodist Church, (Methodist), Biggleswade
• Biggleswade Pentecostal Church, (Pentecostal), Biggleswade
• New Life Church, (Newfrontiers), Biggleswade

Nearby is the Shuttleworth Collection of vintage aeroplanes.

Education[link]

Biggleswade, as part of Central Bedfordshire, has a three-tier schooling system with lower schools catering for ages between 5 to 9, middle schools from 9 to 13 and Stratton Upper School continuing education up and into Sixth Form.

List of schools:

• Stratton Upper School and Community College
• Holmemead Middle School
• Edward Peake Middle School
• St Andrew's Lower School [3]
• Lawnside Lower School
• Southlands Lower School
• Ivel Valley School, a special school for children with moderate or severe learning difficulties
• Holme Court School, a private school for dyslexic children, which was opened in 2005 just off the A1 to the west of Biggleswade (note - although still signposted from the A1, this school has relocated to Cambridge as of September 2011)

Twinned towns[link]

Erlensee, Germany since 2000.

Notable residents[link]

• Dan Albone, inventor, manufacturer and cyclist, credited with making the first practical farm tractor, 'The Ivel Agricultural Motor'.
• Chris Roycroft-Davis, journalist
• Philip E. High, science fiction writer
• Charles Penrose, radio comedian and singer of The Laughing Policeman.
• Henry Ryland, Pre-Raphaelite painter born in Biggleswade in 1856.
• Mary Tealby, one of the founders of the Battersea Dogs Home, is buried in St. Andrew's Churchyard.
• Stevie V, dance act famous for the song Dirty Cash (Money Talks), that reached #2 in the UK Top 40 in 1990.
• Richard Walker, angling journalist, author and photographer.
• John Buglass, archaeologist
• Pam Rhodes, novelist and BBC Songs of Praise presenter
• Gurpareet Bains, chef and food writer, attended Stratton Upper School in the town

References[link]

George Nodwell UK Youth Parliament 2011-2013 and CBYP.

External links[link]

• Biggleswade History Society
• Community Web site

v t e Settlements in Central Bedfordshire Aley Green Ampthill Apsley End Arlesey Aspley Guise Aspley Heath Astwick Barton-le-Clay Battlesden Beadlow Beeston Bidwell Biggleswade Billington Blunham Brogborough Broom Budna Caddington Campton Chalgrave Chalton Chicksands Chiltern Green Clifton Clophill Cockayne Hatley Cranfield Dunstable Dunton East Hyde Eaton Bray Edworth Eggington Eversholt Everton Eyeworth Fancott Flitton Flitwick Gravenhurst Greenfield Harlington Hatch Haynes Haynes Church End Heath and Reach Henlow Henlow Camp Higham Gobion Hockliffe Holywell Holme Houghton Conquest Houghton Regis How End Hulcote Husborne Crawley Hyde Ickwell Ireland Kensworth Langford Leighton Buzzard Lidlington Lower Caldecote Lower Shelton Lower Stondon Lower Sundon Lower Woodside Marston Moretaine Maulden Meppershall Millbrook Milton Bryan Moggerhanger New Mill End Northill Old Warden Pegsdon Potsgrove Potton Pulloxhill Ridgmont Salford Sandy Seddington Sewell Sharpenhoe Shefford Shillington Silsoe Skimpot Slip End Southill Stanbridge Stanford Steppingley Stotfold Streatley Studham Sutton Tebworth Tempsford Thorn Thorncote Green Tilsworth Tingrith Toddington Totternhoe Upper Caldecote Upper Gravenhurst Upper Shelton Upper Stondon Upper Sundon Westoning Whipsnade Wingfield Woburn Woodside Wrestlingworth

Jeremy Kyle
Jeremy Kyle at Radio Festival 2010
Born	(1965-07-07) 7 July 1965 (age 46) Reading, England, United Kingdom
Nationality	British
Other names	Jezza
Education	University of Surrey
Occupation	Broadcaster
Years active	1996–present
Employer	ITV
Known for	The Jeremy Kyle Show
Spouse	Kirsty Rowley (m. 1989–1991) «start: (1989)–end+1: (1992)»"Marriage: Kirsty Rowley to Jeremy Kyle" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/Jeremy_Kyle) (divorced) Carla Germaine (m. 2003) «start: (2003)»"Marriage: Carla Germaine to Jeremy Kyle" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/Jeremy_Kyle)
Children	3 daughters, 1 son

Jeremy Kyle (born 7 July 1965)^[1] is an English radio and television presenter, best known for his British daytime television chat show on ITV, The Jeremy Kyle Show. Kyle is also the host of an American talk show of the same name which premiered on 19 September 2011.

Radio career[link]

From 1986-95, Kyle worked as a salesman for life insurance, recruitment, and radio advertising.^[2] He then became a radio presenter and after a brief stint at Orchard FM in Taunton and Leicester Sound in Leicester, he was signed by Kent's Invicta FM in 1996. In 1997, he joined BRMB in Birmingham, presenting the shows Late & Live and Jezza's Jukebox.^[3][4]

In 2000, Kyle moved to the Century FM network, taking this format with him. The show was called Jezza's Confessions. It was broadcast between 9pm and 1am. He won a Sony Award for Late & Live in 2001.^[2] On 1 July 2002, he made his first broadcast on Virgin Radio, presenting Jezza's Virgin Confessions every weekday from 8pm to midnight. In mid-2003, he broadcast the show from 9pm to 1am every weekday, and in January 2004 the show went out from 10pm to 1am, Sunday to Thursday. He left Virgin Radio in June 2004. From 5 September 2004, Kyle presented the Confessions show on London's Capital FM. The new programme aired Sunday to Thursday from 10pm to 1am with live calls on relationship issues of all kinds. Capital Confessions came to an end on 22 December 2005 to make way for The Jeremy Kyle Show, a similar show which ran from January 2006 to December 2006.

In late 2007, Kyle began a new show (The Jeremy Kyle Show), broadcasting across Gcap Media's One Network, of which Orchard FM, Invicta FM and BRMB, his previous employers, are a part. The programme differed from his previous shows in that he interviewed celebrities. Kyle also began broadcasting a new programme, on Essex FM, in November 2007.

Kyle joined Talksport on 21 September 2008 to present a lunchtime sports show every Sunday called The Jeremy Kyle Sunday Sports Show.

As a result of Talksport's Premiership coverage on a Sunday, Kyle's show was cancelled, and he left the station.^[5]

TV career[link]

In 2005 Kyle moved his format to ITV, with a programme also entitled The Jeremy Kyle Show. Here Kyle has reached his widest audience to date. His often aggressive manner with guests has been the source of both popularity and criticism. He is seemingly unafraid of reprisal from his guests, believing that speaking his mind is better than holding his peace. Guests sometimes take offence at Kyle's comments, one guest even attempting to throw a chair at him, whilst another threw an envelope at the back of his head, but he often justifies his criticism by claiming that he only wants to help them. Kyle recently claimed on air that his show was watched by 1.8 million viewers, a very high figure for a daytime chat show.

In September 2007, Judge Alan Berg described The Jeremy Kyle Show as trash which existed to "titillate bored members of the public with nothing better to do". He went on to say "It seems to me that the purpose of this show is to affect a morbid and depressing display of dysfunctional people whose lives are in turmoil" and added that it was "human bear-baiting".^[6] The judge so characterised it "after [a] husband was provoked into headbutting [his] wife's lover in front of [Kyle's] studio audience".^[7]

In February 2008, The Jeremy Kyle Show was again criticised in court after a man who found out during the recording of a show that he was not the father of his wife's baby later pointed an air rifle at her.^[8]

Other shows Kyle is involved with include Kyle's Academy, a ten-part series for ITV1 daytime which first aired on 18 June 2007.^[8] A team of experts (so-called life coaches and psychotherapists), headed by Kyle take five people and work with them over an intensive fortnight to help them on the road to a happier more fulfilled life. Kyle has also presented Half Ton Hospital, a show about morbidly obese people in the United States. In December 2009 he played himself in ITV1's comedy-drama The Fattest Man in Britain.

On 19 April 2011, Kyle began presenting a new documentary series called Military Driving School, where he visited the Defence School Of Transport in Yorkshire, following a group of new recruits as they undergo training as front line military drivers. He is the presenter of the ITV1 show High Stakes, which began on 11 October 2011. Billed as a game of "knowledge, risk, and tension," the show involves participants answering questions and stepping on the correct six squares on a grid in order to avoid trap numbers.^[9]

Writing career[link]

Kyle writes a column for Pick Me Up, a women's weekly magazine published by IPC.^[10] In his column, titled Jeremy Kyle Says..., Kyle adopts a frank style in responding to readers' problems that closely resembles the approach he takes on The Jeremy Kyle Show.

In 2009 Kyle wrote his first book, 'I'm Only Being Honest', about Britain's social problems and his views on how to solve them including recounts of his past and personal life.^[11]

Personal life[link]

Kyle was born in Reading, Berkshire.^[1] His father was an accountant and personal secretary to the Queen Mother.^[12] He attended the independent Reading Blue Coat School in Sonning, Berkshire^[2] and studied history and sociology at the University of Surrey.^[13]

He met his first wife, Kirsty Rowley, in 1988, when he was a recruitment consultant in an agency in Bristol.^[14] They became a couple within a fortnight, and were engaged within two months. They married in Almondsbury near Bristol seven months later, in July 1989. Their daughter, Harriet, was born in June 1990. The marriage ended just five months after the birth, in November 1990. His ex-wife has since claimed that Kyle had carefully concealed a destructive and expensive gambling habit from her over the course of their marriage.^[14]

He met former model Carla Germaine in 1999, while he was presenting on a BRMB radio show, and Germaine entered the controversial Two Strangers and a Wedding contest hosted by the station.^[15]

As the winner of the bride part of the contest, her prize was to marry the selected groom, Greg Cordell. Their marriage lasted only three months, after claims that Greg had an affair just days after their honeymoon, and she subsequently married Kyle in 2002.^[15][16][17] They have two daughters and a son together.

Kyle is a supporter of West Ham United.^[18] He suffers from obsessive–compulsive disorder and has stated that he "licks his mobile phone to make sure it's clean", as stated in his book "I'm Only Being Honest".^[19]

Kyle has described his opinion on "Broken Britain":

I think it starts with the breakdown of the family unit. Society should invest more in our kids. There should be community centres and youth clubs. And our benefits system – it's the greatest in the modern world. But there are loopholes and people taking advantage.^[12]

In October 2010, Kyle appeared at the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham. He chaired "Getting Britain Back To Work" alongside George Osborne.^[20]

References[link]

External links[link]

• The Jeremy Kyle Show at itv.com

Johnson after winning a Traxxas TORC Series race in 2010

Rick Johnson (born July 6, 1964 in El Cajon, California) is a motorcycle racer who has competed in AMA motocross and Supercross.^[1] During the 1980s, he won seven AMA national championships.^[1] In 2010, he won the Pro 2WD Trophy Truck championship in the Traxxas TORC Series.^[2]

Racing career[link]

Motocross career[link]

Johnson's father was an avid motorcyclist and he bought his son a mini-bike when he was 3 years old.^[1] When he turned 16 in 1980, he earned his pro license.^[1] He won his first national championship in 1984 for the Yamaha factory motocross team.^[3] For the 1986 season, he was offered a job with the Honda team by team manager and five time former world champion Roger De Coster.^[1] He battled his Honda team-mate David Bailey throughout the 1986 season, coming away with the 250 title and the Supercross crown.^[4] During this season Johnson and Bailey were part of one of the most epic battles in Supercross history at the Anaheim stadium.^{[citation needed]} He finished second to Bailey in the 500 class. Unfortunately, the rivalry was short-lived as just prior to the start of the 1987 season Bailey was paralyzed in a practice crash.^[1] Johnson would dominate the 1987 season, winning both the 250 and 500 crowns.^[1]

In 1987, Johnson also won what is considered one of Supercross history's greatest races in the Super Bowl Of Motorcross at the L.A. Coliseum.^{[citation needed]} After crashing in the first corner Johnson came back from near dead last to pass Jeff Ward and eventually privateer Guy Cooper on the penultimate lap to squeeze the win. He followed this performance by adding the 1988 Supercross and 500 titles to his name. Johnson started the 1989 season strongly but suffered a serious injury when he broke his wrist in a practice session.^[1] He would never fully recover from the injury. He soldiered on for a few more seasons but the injury proved too debilitating. He announced his retirement at the beginning of the 1991 season.^[1] At the time of his retirement from motocross racing at age 26, he was the all-time leader in Supercross victories.^[1] Johnson was inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 1999.^[1]

Career after motocross[link]

Johnson went on to have success in off-road racing and stock car racing. He took wins in the famous Baja 1000 twice and was American Speed Association stock car series Rookie of the Year in 1999, driving for Herzog Racing as a teammate to unrelated El Cajon, CA off-road racer Jimmie Johnson.^[1] Johnson ran twelve races in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series from 1995 to 1997.

Off-road racing[link]

	Pro 2 demonstration Johnson demonstrates a Pro 2 Trophy Truck — 555 kB, 7 sec
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

Johnson's 2010 truck

Johnson founded the Traxxas TORC Series for the 2009 season. He sold the series after the season to the United States Auto Club (USAC) and he concentrated on being a driver. Ricky Johnson won the TORC Series Pro2wd Championship in 2010 after a season long battle with Rob MacCachren, the defending champ. This championship came down to the last race of the season at Crandon International Off-Road Raceway with Ricky securing a second place finish to win the championship.^[2]

Personal life[link]

Johnson now lives in Southern California with his wife, Stephanie, and their children, and is an active off-road racer.

References[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ricky Johnson

Scott Parsons (born March 27, 1979) is an American slalom canoer who has competed since the early 1990s. Competing in two Summer Olympics, he earned his best finish of sixth in the K-1 event at Athens in 2004.

Attended St. John's Jesuit High School in Toledo, OH.

References[link]

• Sports-Reference.com profile

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