Wigan

Football fans will remember that Wigan FC played the last game of the Premier League against Manchester United. That game decided MU to be the champion of the League.

My first encounter with Wigan was about 25 years ago. I was in a train which stopped at Wigan Wallgate. I found the name Wigan to be strange, and Wallgate to be strange also. I mentioned this to my English friend. He laughed and told me that the town of Wigan actually had two train stations, called Wigan Wallgate and Wigan North Western. He told this joke.

An Indian immigration worked in Wigan for many years. He received a telegram asking him to return to India, as his mother was very sick.

We went to the train station in Wigan and asked for a train ticket to take him to Bombay, India. Nobody at the station had every heard of Bombay or India. They sent him by train to London.

Nobody in London heard of Bombay or India either. So, they sent him to Paris. He finally arrived in India after much difficulty. He stayed in Bombay for some time until after his mother passed away. Now it is time for him to return to England.

He went to the train station in Bombay and asked for a ticket to Wigan. The clerk replied immediately, "Yes, sir. Do you want to be at Wigan Wallgate or Wigan North-western?"

Where is the joke? During the days of the British Empire, nobody in England has heard of any place outside of England. Everybody in the British Empire knows all the train stations in England!