Milton Keynes

Milton Keynes (pronounced{{fn|1}} {{IPA|}}) is a purpose-built, high technology city in the south east of England approximately 50 miles (80km) north of London and mid-way between Oxford and Cambridge. Although legally still a town (since city status in the United Kingdom is only possible through grant of Royal Charter), it was designed to be, and behaves as, a full city. Its administration is through the Borough of Milton Keynes, a unitary authority, of which it is the dominant part. (The Borough contains other towns in addition to Milton Keynes itself.)

Milton Keynes in popular culture

• Milton Keynes is parodied as "Milton Springsteen: It's Quite Nice, Really!" in Alexei Sayle's book Train To Hell. Rather than concrete cows, Milton Springsteen features "android yokels."
• Milton Keynes also appears in Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett's book Good Omens, as an example of a town neither heaven nor hell take credit for, but both regard as a success: "it was built to be modern, efficient, healthy, and, all in all, a pleasant place to live. Many Britons find this amusing."
• The British Comedian Bill Bailey makes reference to Milton Keynes in his stand up show Part Troll, calling the city "Satan's layby".
• The humourist Miles Kington once had a book cover cartoon with the caption "Miles Kington? I thought that was one of these dreadful new towns" — not simply an observation that his name resembles a place name, but almost certainly also a reference to Milton Keynes.
• The UK TV and radio personality Noel Edmonds is credited with tainting the image of Milton Keynes in the 1970s by repeatedly deriding it as a concrete jungle and the natural home of the famous Concrete Cows. The council was quick to point out that Milton Keynes has over 20 million trees. The Concrete Cows are among the earliest examples of conceptual art.
• The Travel Writer Bill Bryson also features Milton Keynes in his book Notes From A Small Island, in which he gets lost in the pedestrian subway system, the redways.
• The courtyard area of the city train station which displays a Steam Engine (a replica London and North Western Railways' "Bloomer") is widely regarded as one of the best places to skateboard in Europe. Due to the arrangement of the pavements, skateboards can move freely and it has plenty of places to attempt Grinds. However in recent years, the Council has disliked the skateboarders' use of this area. They have since built a skate park called Station Square across the street under the Bus station. (See Milton Keynes#Amenities above). The world-famous pro skater Tony Hawk is expected to visit the skate park sometime during the summer of 2005.
• Recently Milton Keynes hosted another music event but however not at the national bowl. They hosted a Proms in the Park style concert in Campbell Park. The pianist Jools Holland played with his band. Will Young was expected to perform however he pulled out at the last minute.
• Milton Keynes boasts a growing Parkour or Freerunning movement. Due to its urban landscape the Central Milton Keynes area is ideal for Parkour. A Parkour team has formed in Milton Keynes. Using the Go MK! ad campaign logo they have used this and formed under the name MK PK! using the edited logo.
• The city is notable for its number of roundabouts. Their number is far higher than is typical in British towns: for example, within the city limits, the A421 route passes through 13 roundabouts in a 10.7 km stretch, and the A509 route passes through 12 roundabouts in a 6.4 km stretch. On the other hand, the use of traffic lights is minimal. A book called Milton Keynes Roundabouts led to further editions for other towns.
• Marshall Amplifiers and speakers, much loved by rock and heavy metal bands, is based in Bletchley. It produced the amplifier with a volume dial that went up to 11, for the spoof 'rockumentary' This is Spinal Tap.
• In the book Britain's worst cities, Milton Keynes was put at 32. Although the crime rate is low and the house prices among the highest in the UK, it was dismissed as boring.
• Milton Keynes is the birthplace of Errol Barnett who is an anchor and reporter for Channel One News in the United States. He lived in Crownhill and attended Holmwood First School and Two Mile Ash Middle School before moving to the US.
• Contrary to (allegedly) popular misconception, Milton Keynes was not named after the poet John Milton nor the economists Milton Friedman and John Maynard Keynes (indeed "Keynes" in the latter is pronounced "kay", not "key"), but after a village that already existed on the site of the proposed New City. The village was renamed Middleton in 1991, to distinguish it from the larger city.
• The name Milton Keynes and its similarity to the names of the famous economists Milton Friedman and John Maynard Keynes has often led to various silly jokes. Once on the television show Yes, Prime Minister, the PM Jim Hacker mentioned Milton Keynes, the person to whom he was speaking mentioned how Milton Keynes was an economist and the intellectual leader of the Freedmen.
• In the film Love Actually one of the background people learning to speak English says the line "Milton Keynes has many roundabouts".