Is there any interesting history associated with Feltham, Middlesex

Q. Oh dear. Brief history

A. Feltham is to the west of London, and first mention of it is a Saxon settlement in woodlands south of the Roman road to Staines some 300 years before the Normans. The name means 'a home in the felled part of woods'. Feltham became an urban district in 1903 and it was extended in 1930 with the adjoining parishes of East Bedfont and Hanworth. The county of Middlesex vanished in 1965 and Feltham was absorbed into the London Borough of Hounslow. That's more or less it.

Q. But what's it actually like as a place now

A. Feltham certainly has its critics. It has a multi-cultural population and this part of the old Middlesex is not without racial tension. It also has many of the architectural and social problems of towns that developed quickly after the war - poor designs that given the inhabitants little to be proud about. The Knowhere Guide contains a lot more opinions, many of which I wouldn't want to express on a family website.

Q. But is there anything famous about it

A. Aha. Now you're asking. Yes. Let's start with the plain obscure and work our way up! First - a tram.

Q. A tram. Very famous.

A. Well, it was in its own way. Experiments were made in the 1920s to break away from established traditions of tramcar design. The first Felthams were introduced in 1931 - built by the Union Construction Company at Feltham. A total of 100 were built. They had seats for 22 on the lower deck and 42 on the upper deck, with standing room for about another 40. This made them considerably larger and more comfortable than other trams.

Q. Hmm. Quite interesting. Anything else

A. Yes - a brainy woman called Irene Thomas. She was born Irene Ready, in Feltham, in 1919 and became Brain of Britain in 1961 and, the next year, Brain of Brains. For the next 30 years she was queen of the panellists on the old Round Britain Quiz on BBC radio. Here wit, charm (and beauty) led to many other shows, including What Do You Know , Criss Cross Quiz, Ask Me Another, Sale of the Century and The Gardening Quiz. She used to joke that she did so much for the BBC that the only jobs left were Match of the Day and fight-arranger for Songs of Praise. She died in April 2001.

Q. A little more interesting. You must be keeping an ace up your sleeve,

though

A. Yes, I am. It's Freddy Mercury. The Queen singer - born Farok Bulsara in Zanzibar on 5 September 1946 - moved to England in 1963 with his diplomat father Bomi, mother Jer and 10-year-old sister Kashmina... and settled in Feltham, Middlesex. Brian May, who was to become Queen's guitarist, went to school at Cardinal Road Infants and Hanworth Road Grammar School, Feltham.