Coordinates: 51°49′00″N 0°48′45″W / 51.8168°N 0.8124°W / 51.8168; -0.8124

Aylesbury ( /ˈeɪlzbri/) is the county town of Buckinghamshire in South East England. However the town also falls into a notional geographical region known as the South Midlands an area that ecompasses the north of the South East, and the southern extremities of the East Midlands, and the western portion of the East of England. In the 2001 census the Aylesbury Urban Area, which includes Bierton, Fairford Leys, Stoke Mandeville and Watermead, had a population of 69,021, which included 56,392 for the Aylesbury civil parish.

The town name is of Old English origin. Its first recorded name Æglesburgh is thought to mean "Fort of Aegel", though who Aegel was is not recorded. Since earliest records there have been 57 variations of the name. Excavations in the town centre in 1985 found an Iron Age hillfort dating from the early 4th century BC. The town is sited on an outcrop of Portlandian limestone which accounts for its prominent position in the surrounding landscape, which is largely clay. Aylesbury was a major market town in Anglo-Saxon times, famous in addition as the burial place of Saint Osyth, whose shrine attracted pilgrims. The Early English parish church of St. Mary (which has many later additions) has a crypt beneath. Once thought to be Anglo-Saxon, it is now recognised as being of the same period as the medieval chapel above. At the Norman Conquest, the king took the manor of Aylesbury for himself, and it is listed as a royal manor in the Domesday Book, 1086.

William "Bill" Grundy (18 May 1923 – 9 February 1993) was an English television presenter and former host of Today, a regional news programme broadcast on Thames Television. He became nationally notorious because of a foul-mouthed interview with the Sex Pistols on his show in 1976.

The son of a factory owner, William Grundy was born in Manchester in 1923 and educated at Manchester University, where he read geology. Grundy began his career as a geologist and as a part-time journalist. When Granada Television began broadcasting in 1956, Grundy auditioned for the post of newsreader, which at first he held in tandem with his geological work. He was the first television presenter to present The Beatles on Granada Television on 17 October 1962. He appeared on several TV shows, including People and Places and Man About the House, but his greatest claim to fame was as host of the Today show.

Grundy became notorious in a matter of two minutes owing to an incident that occurred when the punk band Sex Pistols and their entourage appeared at short notice on the Today show of 1 December 1976. They were a last minute stand-in for Queen, who were forced to cancel. The Today show was broadcast live and uncensored during daytime hours at a time when obscenities were forbidden.