High Wycombe
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See High Wycombe, Western Australia for the suburb of Perth.
Template:GBdot High Wycombe, (previously Chepping Wycombe or Chipping Wycombe) South Buckinghamshire, is 32 miles (51.5 kilometres) WNW of London. pop (1991) 71,700. It is a hilly town situated at the southernmost foothills of the Chilterns. The town is right on the edge of the South Bucks countryside. The town has a central bus station and also a railway station on Chiltern Line between London Marylebone and Birmingham Snow Hill. The town is situated on the A40 trunk route and the M40 motorway. There is a modern town centre, revamped at the beginning of the nineties, with arcades and many brand name shops. There is also a large well-equipped theatre, the Wycombe Swan, which hosts many acts and shows prior to or following West End runs. Wycombe also houses a large Asian community from various parts of the sub-continent, and a West Indian community almost exclusively from Saint Vincent.
Wycombe was once renowned for furniture making (the town's football team is nicknamed the 'Chair Boys') and furniture design remains an important element of the town's university, Buckinghamshire Chilterns University College. The River Wye runs through the valley, where beech trees were cut down by the furniture industry, forming the town centre (circa 1700), with housing along the slopes (some areas still surrounded by woods). To the east of the town centre is the extensive Rye park (and the river) and dyke.
Wycombe appears in the Domesday Book, once featured a Roman Villa (2 A.D), was the site of a minor English Civil War battle featuring John Hampden, and the home of Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli. The local council attempts to maintain two locally beloved landmarks - the statue of a red lion (above Woolworths) and the replacement fountain in Frogmoor Square (the cast iron original was removed in WW2). Another notable local institution is the Wycombe Abbey School.
There is a gliding club, two flying schools and a voluntary aviation museum at Wycombe Air Park, the modern name for Booker Airfield, to the south of the M40 motorway on the western edge of the town. Many of the replica aircraft used in the film industry, for example in films such as Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines and The Blue Max were built and flown there. There is a friendly restaurant (Happy Landings) with outdoor picnic tables that is open to visitors beneath the control tower. Wycombe Air Park is one of the busiest general aviation airfields in the UK.
The town's football team, Wycombe Wanderers F.C., play at Causeway Stadium and are currently in Football League Two. In 2003 they reached the semi-finals of the FA Cup under Lawrie Sanchez, but their most prolific era was in the early '90s under the management of Martin O'Neill, who went on to Leicester City and Celtic football clubs. The London Wasps rugby team also rent Causeway Stadium for home games.
Recently, the town has become a host for Hollywood productions, even though the town's residents are largely unaware of it. Films such as Sleepy Hollow, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and The Importance of Being Earnest were filmed in the direct surroundings of the town. A new experimental scheme to knock down old council flats in Micklefield and replace them with housing association properties was approved by John Prescott in 2003, though there is controversy about the principle nationwide.de:High Wycombe fr:High Wycombe