Didcot is ‘most normal town in England’, researchers claim
In this bizarre era where we seem to want to celebrate ordinariness this article gives the concept a location. My surprise at the idea of “normal” being described as “tremendous” was lightened a bit by happy memories of James Stewart. My favourite Stewart film Is Harvey (giant white rabbit and all) – what’s yours? The article tells us:
Didcot is an unassuming place, perhaps best known for its power and railway stations, but apparently it represents England more than any other.
The Oxfordshire town has been crowned the most normal in the country by a group of number-crunching statisticians.
Ten of its streets were a particularly close match to the national average lifestyle, opinions and experiences.
Mayor Steve Connel called the findings “tremendous”.
Didcot came closest to the statistical median when taking into account things like age, ethnicity, marital status, property ownership, employment, Euroscepticism, the 2015 Election vote share, income, and house prices.
The study was inspired by the 1947 James Stewart movie Magic Town, in which a pollster finds a place he believes perfectly represents national opinion.