Today in History - May 20: Town changes its name to avoid association with fictional idiot
The English town of Staines changed its name on May 20, 2012, in an effort to distance itself from a non-existent person.
From 1998, one of the UK's most beloved comedy characters, Ali G, claimed to be from Staines.
In his comedy show and the subsequent movie, Ali G, played by Sacha Baron Cohen, presented himself as the leader of gang Da West Staines Massif.
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Staines-upon-Thames, a town on the left bank of the River Thames in Surrey, England. Getty Images/iStockphoto
Ali G presented Staines as being an inner-city ghetto and himself as being a black gangster rapper.
The irony of his character was that Ali G was clearly white and middle-class.
Extending the irony, Staines was not in the inner-city, but a leafy and suburban commuter town on the outskirts of London.
While the town is only obliquely referenced in Da Ali G Show, it is the central setting of the 2002 film Ali G Indahouse.
In the film, Ali G is elected to parliament as the member for Staines to prevent his gang hangout being demolished.
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The central premise of Ali G was an idiotic character who presents himself as a black gangster rapper despite his middle class white upbringing. Stan
He later discovers the whole town is intended for demolition to extend Heathrow Airport.
The happy ending of the film involves the prime minister saving Staines and deciding to flatten the town of Slough instead.
Staines was not happy about the association, and its name was officially changed to Staines-upon-Thames.
The change came after business groups lobbied the Spelthorne borough council.
The renaming came despite the town going by that name since at least the Dark Ages.
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