History West Midlands On Air

Birmingham was transformed between 1850 and 1900. Though in 1850 a fast-growing, prosperous manufacturing centre, it was an unplanned, insanitary muddle of a town; by the end of the nineteenth century however it was renowned both as ‘the best governed town in the country' and as ‘the most artistic town in England.' An environmental revolution enacted by Mayor Joseph Chamberlain in the early 1870s ensured Birmingham was ‘parked, paved, assized, marketed, gas and watered and improved.' He and his supporters on the town council were inspired to act to improve the living conditions of Birmingham people by George Dawson, influential minister at the Church of the Saviour, who preached the mission of the ‘civic gospel'. But Dawson also taught that it was the duty of the wealthy, talented businessmen to civilise citizens, to educate, to promote intellectual opportunities, and to cultivate aesthetic appreciation. This talk by Andrew Reekes is concerned with those Dawson disciples – men largely ignored in standard accounts of the civic gospel in Birmingham - who set about providing schools, adult learning opportunities, libraries, a unique Shakespeare Memorial Library, a museum and art gallery, as well as the foremost art and design schools in the land. More than in any other British city, this cultural and intellectual efflorescence was administered by the town council and its councillors; many of them were the same men who had campaigned for new educational and aesthetic initiatives and who generously gave to the cause. It is a story that deserves to be recorded. Keywords: George Dawson, civic gospel, Andrew Reekes, Birmingham

Wyre Piddle, Dag Tail End, Cofton Hackett, Finstall and Inkberrow. Just a few of the strangely intriguing names found on the signposts pointing along the lanes leading to the hamlets, villages and towns of Worcestershire in the rural heart of England.  Each name is special. Every one of them hints at stories of people and events which shaped this quintessentially English county centuries ago. But what do they all mean? What mysteries lie here? Who named these hills and rivers? These voices form the past have been painstakingly unlocked in a new book by retired medical doctor, Mike Jenkins, in his new book The History of Place Names in England and Worcestershire which is now available from bookshops and Amazon. Keywords: Worcestershire; Mike Jenkins; places

As Britain emerged into the mid-twentieth century, change is everywhere. Cities were shifting from smog-filled industrial hubs to more efficient centres of commerce and, despite the country once again being blighted by war, society was shifting towards a more modern, forward-thinking era. But change was not limited to these ordinary men and women; under the surface, the criminal underbelly, too, was evolving, anxious to exploit new opportunities. And so, in the third instalment of his best-selling series, historian Carl Chinn examines this new era in the landscape of Britain's gangs. After the violent reign of the Peaky Blinders, the intimidation of the Birmingham gang and frequent gang wars up and down the country, from the wreckage new groups are emerging with new ways of making money and causing trouble, and, like those who came before them, they left havoc and destruction in their wake. In our new podcast Birmingham social historian and author Carl Chinn reveals this violent and murky world and its social consequences. Keywords: Peaky Blinders, Carl Chinn

Women's lives were transformed in the Black Country between 1945-1968. During these years of prosperity and full employment new appliances relieved some of the domestic drudgery that had dominated domestic life in earlier years. For the first time many working class families had the income to buy new cookers and other appliances - many of which were made in Black Country factories. At the same time the landscape was changing for the better.  Derelict land was being reclaimed and most importantly the region's notoriously poor housing was being systematically swept away. And for young people there were new schools and plenty of well paid jobs for both girls and boys with many companies keen to hire apprentices. In these post-war years the Black Country was truly forging ahead. Simon Briercliffe, a historian and author based at the Black Country Living Museum (BCLM) discusses this vibrant period and describes how it will be celebrated in the exciting new extension to the BCLM currently under construction. Keywords: Black Country, Women, Smethwick, Wolverhampton

The Black Country (1945-1966) The post-war years transformed the Black Country of the English Midlands. The region was a driving force in the country's industrial recovery and this was a golden era of working class prosperity with full employment and high wages. But it was also a time of social tension.  The region's industry desperately needed labour to satisfy continuing demand. Attracted by the promise of high wages, an increasing number of men came to the Black Country towns like Smethwick and Wolverhampton from the Caribbean and the Indian Sub-Continent to fill these jobs. Racial tensions grew, fuelled and encouraged by some local politicians. Simon Briercliffe, a historian of the Black Country based at the Black Country Living Museum (BCLM) discusses the causes of these tensions with our publisher, Mike Gibbs. Keywords: Black Country, Race Relations, Enoch Powell, Smethwick, Wolverhampton

The end of the Second World War ushered in a period of great prosperity in the Black Country of the English Midlands.  It began two decades of full employment and high wages, widespread urban regeneration with thousands of new homes being built and new labour saving appliances changing the domestic lives of men, women and children forever.  Many of the products in these homes came from Black Country companies which were now known around the world for their innovations and it was in these towns that the vital components for the cars which furled so much of Britain's post-war recovery were made. Wherever you looked, the region – Britain's industrial heartland – was changing.  But prosperity had to be maintained and  jobs had to be filled.  So families came  - first from Europe and Ireland and then from the Caribbean and the Indian subcontinent to help the Black Country continue to forge ahead. In this programme, the first of three podcasts, historian and author, Simon Briercliffe, of The Black Country Living Museum, explores this post-war story with History West Midlands publisher, Mike Gibbs. Keywords: Black Country, Black Country Living Museum, Industry, World War Two

Historically, widows have often been portrayed as pitiful figures dressed in black who required charity to survive. This was certainly true of the lives of many working class women over the centuries for whom day-to-day existence was already marginal. But for others, widowhood released them from a domestic life where they could own nothing and in which they were totally subjugated to their husband's will.  Now, as widows they found themselves suddenly empowered and free to conduct themselves as they wished with an independence of thought and action and a defined role in society. In their new book Widows: Poverty, Power and Politics West Midlands historians Professor Maggie Andrews and Dr Janis Lomas explore the lives of these women – famous and unknown. LISTEN to Professor Andrews talk to the publisher of History West Midlands, Mike Gibbs,  about some of the stories which the book reveals. Keywords: Women, widows, Maggie Andrews

Historically, widows have often been portrayed as pitiful figures dressed in black who required charity to survive. This was certainly true of the lives of many working class women over the centuries for whom day-to-day existence was already marginal. But for others, widowhood released them from a domestic life where they could own nothing and in which they were totally subjugated to their husband's will.  Now, as widows they found themselves suddenly empowered and free to conduct themselves as they wished with an independence of thought and action and a defined role in society. In their new book Widows: Poverty, Power and Politics West Midlands historians Professor Maggie Andrews and Dr Janis Lomas explore the lives of these women – famous and unknown. LISTEN to Professor Andrews talk to the publisher of History West Midlands, Mike Gibbs,  about some of the stories which the book reveals. Keywords: Women, widows, Maggie Andrews

For almost 150 years, the Worcestershire village of Powick was home to the county's hospital for mental illness. It reached the height of its importance during the First World War, as the trauma, anxiety and grief resulting from the War affected large numbers of people at home. As part of the “Worcestershire World War 100” project, supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, historian Sarah Ganderton discusses the stories revealed in the archive of the George Marshall and Worcestershire Archive and Archeology Service of the people who lived, and sometimes died, in the Powick Hospital. She spoke to History West Midlands publisher, Mike Gibbs.

The Chamberlains - Joseph, Austen and Neville - are unique in British political history in which they were prominent - and sometimes dominant - for nearly a century. Unlike previous political dynasties, they did not come from hereditary wealth but from the industrial enterprise of provincial Birmingham. From 1876 to 1940, Joseph and then his sons, Austen and Neville, were at the herat of British public life. During this time there were family triumphs and tragedies as well as great political successes and abject failures. Listen as author and historian Andrew Reekes story of the family who 'made the political weather'.

The ‘Everything to Everybody’ Project is recovering Birmingham’s unique heritage as home to the largest and oldest Shakespeare collection in any public library in the world. Recently, it has also begun to uncover the truly global influence and reach of this historic people’s Shakespeare library, which has holdings in some 93 languages. In a special History West Midlands film and two associated podcasts, the Project Director, Professor Ewan Fernie, and its American International Champion, Professor Katherine Scheil, share some of the excitement of re-establishing the links between Birmingham’s nineteenth-century Shakespeare heritage and the development of Shakespeare in America. In The Tempest, when she is faced with human society for the first time, Shakespeare’s cast-away Miranda says, “O brave new world / That has such people in’t!” Her father, Prospero, wearily replies, “’Tis new to thee.” But in the middle of the nineteenth century, George Dawson and the other founders of Birmingham’s pioneering Shakespeare library really believed Shakespeare could play a role in regenerating culture. Dawson regarded Shakespeare’s plays as “the newest Bible, the sweetest, truest teachings of the truths of the future that the world ever had.” When he crossed the Atlantic to visit America in 1874, he cemented relationships between British and American Shakespeareans which had lasting effects on America’s cultural institutions and landscape. While Fernie and Scheil’s new article on Shakespeare, Birmingham and America uncovers much of this lost history, it also shows that Dawson’s visit to the States exposed serious limitations to his “everything to everybody” ethos – limitations it is vitally important we acknowledge and move beyond today in favour of making culture more equal and inclusive.

The ‘Everything to Everybody’ Project is recovering Birmingham’s unique heritage as home to the largest and oldest Shakespeare collection in any public library in the world. Recently, it has also begun to uncover the truly global influence and reach of this historic people’s Shakespeare library, which has holdings in some 93 languages. In a special History West Midlands film and two associated podcasts, the Project Director, Professor Ewan Fernie, and its American International Champion, Professor Katherine Scheil, share some of the excitement of re-establishing the links between Birmingham’s nineteenth-century Shakespeare heritage and the development of Shakespeare in America. In The Tempest, when she is faced with human society for the first time, Shakespeare’s cast-away Miranda says, “O brave new world / That has such people in’t!” Her father, Prospero, wearily replies, “’Tis new to thee.” But in the middle of the nineteenth century, George Dawson and the other founders of Birmingham’s pioneering Shakespeare library really believed Shakespeare could play a role in regenerating culture. Dawson regarded Shakespeare’s plays as “the newest Bible, the sweetest, truest teachings of the truths of the future that the world ever had.” When he crossed the Atlantic to visit America in 1874, he cemented relationships between British and American Shakespeareans which had lasting effects on America’s cultural institutions and landscape. While Fernie and Scheil’s new article on Shakespeare, Birmingham and America uncovers much of this lost history, it also shows that Dawson’s visit to the States exposed serious limitations to his “everything to everybody” ethos – limitations it is vitally important we acknowledge and move beyond today in favour of making culture more equal and inclusive.

Dr Roger White, Senior Lecturer at the University of Birmingham who specialises in the Roman period and has been researching Wroxeter for the last 40 years, introduces this series of podcasts which will explore the significance and influence of the Romans on the development of the region and the country as a whole. Keywords: Romans, Wroxeter, Dr Roger White, University of Birmingham

Visitors to the ruins of Wroxeter in the heart of Shropshire are surprised to hear archaeologists compare it to Pompeii - the Roman town famously buried in the ashes of Mount Vesuvius.  But the analogy is real.  Both towns were a similar size and neither was destroyed by later development.  So each provides a fascinating window into Roman town life. For decades Dr Roger White of the University of Birmingham has revealed the secrets of Wroxeter and the people who lived there. Keywords: Romans, Dr Roger White, Wroxeter, Pompeii

The arrival of the Roman army in the West Midlands was shocking for the native communities who were occupied. Then came a profound change in life and society revealed by modern archaeology. In programme 1 of a series of podcasts about the Roman West Midlands Dr Roger White of the University of Birmingham tells the story of the early years of Roman rule in central England. Dr White explains that the legions and auxiliaries were active in the Midlands for about two generations after the invasion before moving to the Northern and Western frontiers of the province but their economic impact was felt throughout the Roman occupation. Keywords: Romans, Dr Roger White, Roman invasion, West Midlands

In 1910 - eight years before women won the right to vote in parliamentary elections - the Black Country got its first woman councillor, when Ada Newman was elected to Walsall Borough Council. Between then and the outbreak of the Second World War, a further 49 women were elected to local councils across the Black Country. In total, these 50 women represented a vast swathe of political opinion in the area – as well as Conservatives, Liberals and Labour Party candidates, many were Independents, standing outside of the party system. Many were often the only woman councillor in their town, or one of only a tiny minority of women elected to represent their local area. Yet, through their work in local government, these pioneering women made a huge difference to the lives of local men, women and children in the Black Country. In this podcast Anna Muggeridge looks at the experiences of some of the first women councillors here. Keywords: Women, councillors, Anna Muggeridge, Black Country

In this programme, Andrew reveals how Worcester gained notoriety for electoral malpractice which led to Worcester being without a sitting MP for two years, and how the campaign to rid the constituency of this fraud backfired on the Liberal Party. He talks to History West Midlands publisher Mike Gibbs. Keywords: Worcester, electoral fraud, River Severn, Worcester Cathedral, Andrew Reekes, George Williamson

In this programme, Andrew discusses how the two famous battles of Worcester in 1642 and 1651 highlight the strategic importance of the city to king and Parliament during bloody English Civil war and beyond. He talks to the publisher of History West Midlands, Mike Gibbs. Keywords: Andrew Reekes, Worcester, The Battle of Worcester, River Severn, Worcester Cathedral

In this programme, Andrew explains how the Dissolution of the monastaries at the hands of Henry VIII and Thomas Cromwell had a profound impact on the religious life of the city and the welfare of its residents and led directly to the foundation of the Kings School. He talks to the publisher of History West Midlands, Mike Gibbs. Keywords: Worcester, Dissolution, River Severn, Henry VIII, Thomas Cromwell, Andrew Reekes

In this second of two podcasts on the voyage to America made in 1874 by Birmingham's lost philosopher, Professor Ewan Fernie, Director of the ‘Everything to Everybody' Project, and the project's American Lead, Professor Katherine Scheil, continue their discussion with the Publisher of History West Midlands, Mike Gibbs.  In this episode,  they discuss how Dawson and Shakespeare reached the American frontier.  They bring out the wider impact of Birmingham's nineteenth-century culture on the developing cultural identity of the United States.  They unfold a range of intimate relationships between American Shakespeareans and Dawson.  And they discuss how Dawson's quiet right-hand man, the industrialist and bibliophile, Samuel Timmins, was also a major influence on American Shakespeareans.  Overall, this programme evokes an energetic transatlantic scholarly community reaching from Birmingham across America, an international Shakespearean fellowship who were working out a new culture for new times.  The podcast ends by dwelling on the implications of an exciting discovery recently made by Scheil and Fernie of some 300 letters by Samuel Timmins to the American Shakespearean, J. Parker Norris, in the Folger Shakespeare Library, now the greatest Shakespeare Library in the world.  As Scheil and Fernie explain, this is just one of the historic connections between Birmingham's great Shakespeare Library and America's, and it confirms a lost Shakespearean axis which links Birmingham to the cultural history of the United States. The ‘Everything to Everybody' Project is a major lottery-funded collaboration between the University of Birmingham and Birmingham City Council.  Dawson founded the world's first great Shakespeare Library in the city in 1864 and the project aims to unlock that pioneering public resource for all the citizens of contemporary Birmingham and to recover the ‘everything to everybody' ethos it embodies.  To get involved and for more podcasts, articles, films, Please see the project website: https://everythingtoeverybody.bham.ac.uk/.  Follow us on Twitter @E2EShakespeare. Keywords: George Dawson, Everything to Everybody, Professor Ewan Fernie, Joseph Chamberlain, Birmingham

In 1874, Birmingham's most famous politician, Joseph Chamberlain sent George Dawson across the Atlantic as ‘Birmingham's Ambassador to America' – almost as if Birmingham were a cultural power in its own right.  Dawson went down a storm in America, and his trip was enthusiastically reported back home.  But Dawson's  embassy to America has since been almost entirely forgotten in Birmingham and in the United States. Now the ‘Everything to Everybody' Project has started to uncover the traces.  In this the first of two History West Midlands podcasts, the Director of the ‘Everything to Everybody' Project, Professor Ewan Fernie, and the project's American champion, Professor Katherine Scheil of the University of Minnesota, piece the story together for the Publisher of History West Midlands, Mike Gibbs.  They talk about where Dawson went, who he spoke to, what he talked about, what he thought of America and Americans, and what they thought of him. It is a story which begins to unlock a forgotten and special relationship between Birmingham and America at a time when each was working out its own distinctive relationship  to ‘establishment' British culture. The ‘Everything to Everybody' Project is a major lottery-funded collaboration between the University of Birmingham and Birmingham City Council.  Dawson founded the world's first great Shakespeare Library in the city in 1864 and the project aims to unlock that pioneering public resource for all the citizens of contemporary Birmingham and to recover the ‘everything to everybody' ethos it embodies.  To get involved and for more podcasts, articles, films, please see the project website: https://everythingtoeverybody.bham.ac.uk/.  Follow us on Twitter @E2EShakespeare.  Keywords: George Dawson, Everything to Everybody, Professor Ewan Fernie, Joseph Chamberlain, Birmingham

Historians have extensively studied the achievements of the Scottish engineer James Watt Jr, seen by many as the father of the steam engines that powered the Industrial Revolution. However, despite their efforts Watt the man often remains a mysterious figure. Now researcher Eleanor Beestin has explored Watt’s personal notebooks and correspondence, preserved in the Wolfson Centre for archival research at the Library of Birmingham, to reveal Watt’s state of mind, his relationships with family and friends and his unspoken fears. She talked to History West Midlands publisher Mike Gibbs. Keywords: James Watt, Eleanor Beestin, Industrial Revolution, Library of Birmingham

Groups of young evacuees, standing on railway stations with gas masks and cardboard suitcases have become an iconic image of wartime Britain, but their histories have eclipsed those of women whose domestic lives were affected. In her new book, “Women and Evacuation in the Second World War”, University of Worcester Historian and Author, Professor Maggie Andrews, explores the effects of this unparalleled interference in the lives of women, looking at the impact on their everyday experience, and on ideas of femininity and domesticity. She shows that evacuation changed views of motherhood forever. In this programme, Professor Andrews tells History West Midlands Publisher, Mike Gibbs, the stories of some of these women. In other programmes in this series, Professor Andrews reveals the experiences of mothers who waved goodbye to their children as they were evacuated; those who left their homes and families to travel with their young children; and of the women who became foster mothers, sometimes for years. Professor Maggie Andrews book “Women and Evacuation in the Second World War”, published by Bloomsbury Academic, is available in bookshops and from Amazon. Keywords: Maggie Andrews, Evacuees, University of Worcester, Women

Groups of young evacuees, standing on railway stations with gas masks and cardboard suitcases have become an iconic image of wartime Britain, but their histories have eclipsed those of women whose domestic lives were affected. In her new book, “Women and Evacuation in the Second World War”, University of Worcester Historian and Author, Professor Maggie Andrews, explores the effects of this unparalleled interference in the lives of women, looking at the impact on their everyday experience, and on ideas of femininity and domesticity. She shows that evacuation changed views of motherhood forever. In this programme, Professor Andrews tells History West Midlands Publisher, Mike Gibbs, the stories of some of these women. In other programmes in this series, Professor Andrews reveals the experiences of mothers who waved goodbye to their children as they were evacuated; those who left their homes and families to travel with their young children; and of the women who became foster mothers, sometimes for years. Professor Maggie Andrews book “Women and Evacuation in the Second World War”, published by Bloomsbury Academic, is available in bookshops and from Amazon. Keywords: Maggie Andrews, Evacuees, University of Worcester, Women

Groups of young evacuees, standing on railway stations with gas masks and cardboard suitcases have become an iconic image of wartime Britain, but their histories have eclipsed those of women whose domestic lives were affected. In her new book, “Women and Evacuation in the Second World War”, University of Worcester Historian and Author, Professor Maggie Andrews, explores the effects of this unparalleled interference in the lives of women, looking at the impact on their everyday experience, and on ideas of femininity and domesticity. She shows that evacuation changed views of motherhood forever. In this programme, Professor Andrews tells History West Midlands Publisher, Mike Gibbs, the stories of some of these women. In other programmes in this series, Professor Andrews reveals the experiences of mothers who waved goodbye to their children as they were evacuated; those who left their homes and families to travel with their young children; and of the women who became foster mothers, sometimes for years. Professor Maggie Andrews book “Women and Evacuation in the Second World War”, published by Bloomsbury Academic, is available in bookshops and from Amazon. Keywords: Maggie Andrews, Evacuees, University of Worcester, Women

Groups of young evacuees, standing on railway stations with gas masks and cardboard suitcases have become an iconic image of wartime Britain, but their histories have eclipsed those of women whose domestic lives were affected. In her new book, “Women and Evacuation in the Second World War”, University of Worcester Historian and Author, Professor Maggie Andrews, explores the effects of this unparalleled interference in the lives of women, looking at the impact on their everyday experience, and on ideas of femininity and domesticity. She shows that evacuation changed views of motherhood forever. In this programme, Professor Andrews tells History West Midlands Publisher, Mike Gibbs, the stories of some of these women. In other programmes in this series, Professor Andrews reveals the experiences of mothers who waved goodbye to their children as they were evacuated; those who left their homes and families to travel with their young children; and of the women who became foster mothers, sometimes for years. Professor Maggie Andrews book “Women and Evacuation in the Second World War”, published by Bloomsbury Academic, is available in bookshops and from Amazon. Keywords: Maggie Andrews, Evacuees, University of Worcester, Women

In 1921, the brilliant and charismatic Trade Union leader Mary MacArthur died aged 40. In her short life, her activism and leadership had been responsible for raising the awareness of women’s poor working conditions, and encouraging them to speak out against injustice and inequality. Mary MacArthur is perhaps best known for the prominent part she played in the women chainmaker’s strike in Cradley Heath Staffordshire in 1910. The dispute, which lasted two months, ended in success with the women receiving the country’s first minimum wage. As the leader of the country’s first all-female general trade union, the National Federation of Women Workers, MacArthur travelled the length and breadth of the country, ensuring that women received better pay and working conditions, and the right to Union membership. In this programme, the publisher of History West Midlands, Mike Gibbs, talks to Cathy Hunt, whose new biography of Mary MacArthur explores the life of this fascinating campaigner. The songs in this programme were written by John KirkPatrick and are taken from Townsend Theatre Productions’ “Rouse Ye Women” by Neil Gore. Keywords: Mary Macarthur, Trade Union, TUC, Women Chainmakers, Cathy Hunt

Joseph Chamberlain was one of the dominant figures of political life in Britain and its Empire in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, famously described by a young Winston Churchill as ‘the man who made the political weather’. But less attention has been given to Chamberlain’s  personal life which was scarred by tragedy when his first two wives died in childbirth.  Then, after more than a decade, Joe surprised everyone when  he met and proposed to the beautiful American Mary Endicott, the much younger daughter of a member of the US cabinet. Mary became Joe’s third wife and the step mother of his children including Austen and Neville who would later become Chancellor of the Exchequer and Prime Minster respectively. At Chamberlain’s homes at Highbury in Birmingham and in London, Mary was a famous hostess who, for more than two decades, was at the very centre of the country’s political and social life.  Then after Joe suffered a stroke in 1906 she remained at his side until he died in 1914. Intrigued by Mary, historian Justine Pick spent more than a year researching her voluminous correspondence to uncover the life this charismatic woman and her marriage to Chamberlain.  In this programme Justine talks to  History West Midlands publisher Mike Gibbs. Keywords: Mary Endicott, Justine Pick, Joseph Chamberlain, Highbury, Birmingham Picture courtesy of: CCO – Birmingham Museums Trust 

The latest series of the highly acclaimed BBC One drama “Peaky Blinders” introduces us to a new “villain” – Oswald Mosely - one of Britain’s most enigmatic and controversial figures of the 20th century who played prominent role in the political life of Birmingham and the West Midlands between the first and second world wars. He began conventionally as a Conservative MP but became disillusioned by their lack of action to reduce unemployment so moved to the Labour Party but gave up the established party system entirely to form the British Fascist Union – the Blackshirts - where he abandoned democracy for demagoguery and street violence.   Like the “hero” of a classical Greek tragedy, Mosley’s glittering career of great promise ended in shame.  He and his wife were interred in Holloway prison throughout the war, and in the post-war years they were widely reviled and marginalised. Andrew Reekes, historian and author looks back at Mosley’s most constructive years were spent in Birmingham in the 1920s when, as a brilliant platform orator, deeply sympathetic to the working-man, he successfully laid siege to this Chamberlain citadel for the Labour Party.   Listen to more about Mosley and Birmingham at this History West Midlands podcast. Keywords: Oswald Mosley, Blackshirts, Peaky Blinders, Andrew Reekes

In 1918, amidst the turmoil of the First World War, a new deadly threat swept through Europe and beyond.  Spanish Flu, infected and killed tens of millions over the next two years. In Birmingham, three separate waves of the disease hit the city, causing massive disruption to the life of the city which was in Italy still at war and then trying to recover. This was a time of additional grief as returning servicemen who had survived years of war suddenly died soon after getting home while others returned to find loved ones dead or dying. Now Justine Pick from the University of Birmingham has investigated the records to discover how Spanish Flu affected the people of Birmingham.  Here she talks to History West Midlands publisher Mike Gibbs. Keywords: Spanish Flu, First World War, Birmingham, Justine Pick, University of Birmingham

More than six million people watched the first episode of series five of the BBC’s Peaky Blinders – the mesmerising drama of violence, moody characters and intrigue. Among them was internationally recognised Shakespeare expert Professor Ewan Fernie of the Shakespeare Institute of the University of Birmingham, Director of the high profile ‘Everything to Everybody’ project to unlock the city’s Shakespeare Memorial Library. Professor Fernie tells the publisher of History West Midlands he found himself seeing strong parallels with Shakespeare’s masterpiece – Macbeth. Keywords: Shakespeare, Peaky Blinders, Macbeth, Professor Ewan Fernie

Recently History West Midlands has sponsored researchers led by Dr Malcolm Dick of the University of Birmingham, in an exploration of different, and previously unreported facets of the complex life and personality of James Watt; the Scottish engineer who became an icon of the Industrial Revolution. Searching voluminous archives at the Library of Birmingham one of them, Dr Stephen Mullen of Glasgow University, went beyond the “heroic figure” of Watt the engineer and developer of the steam engine, to investigate the time before Watt moved to Birmingham to join Mathew Boulton in their historic partnership. Dr Mullen spent months delving into more than 50 years of little-studied correspondence from Watt; his father James Watt Senior; and his brother, John, about their extensive involvement in transatlantic mercantile trade with the North American colonies and the sugar plantations of the Caribbean. Dr Mullen's research reveals a dark side to the story of the Watt family. For the fist time it provides evidence that Watt's family and Watt himself were not only complicit in the slave trade - they participated directly and benefited extensively from the profits that slavery generated. On our sister initiative Revolutionary Players, www.revolutionaryplayers.org.uk you will find a unique digitised resource of prints, drawings, paintings, letters and much more. Keywords: James Watt, Slavery, Library of Birmingham, Scotland, James Watt, Dr Stephen Mullen

Professor Holbrook of the University of Queensland formerly President of the International Shakespeare Association, recently visited Birmingham to explore the Birmingham Shakespeare Memorial Library: the first great Shakespeare Library in the world, and the only great Shakespeare Library which truly belongs to all the people of the city. In this podcast he discusses the global impact and legacy of the Library’s founder, George Dawson, who pioneered a visionary new civic culture in Birmingham.  It reveals an extraordinary connection between Dawson’s Birmingham and the only Australian copy of the historic 1623 First Folio of Shakespeare’s collected works which was donated to Sydney’s Free Public Library in 1884 by Richard and George Tangye from Birmingham.  He also discusses connections between Dawson’s ‘civic gospel’ and nineteenth-century Australian politics. Professor Holbrook talks with Professor Ewan Fernie, Director of the ‘Everything to Everybody’ Project, a pioneering collaboration between Birmingham City Council and the University of Birmingham to unlock the first great people’s Shakespeare Library for all. The project has a development grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund to develop a three-year programme which will culminate in 2022 when the Commonwealth Games come to Birmingham. Keywords: Shakespeare, Birmingham Shakespeare Memorial Library, Ewan Fernie, Philip Holbrook, Library of Birmingham, Civic Gospel, George Dawson

‘Spanish Flu,’ killed more than 50 million people and affected millions more, across the globe during 1918 and 1919. Soldiers, POWs and the workers in war-industries all fell victim to this pandemic which brought fear and death to villages, towns and cities on the home front, even after the guns of the First World War battlefields had fallen silent. A failure to recognise and deal with the magnitude and threat the virus posed was exasperated by a wartime shortage of trained doctors and nurses and led to an inadequate medical response to the crisis. There were long queues outside pharmacies and doctors’ surgeries. The despairing population turned to charlatans, patent medicines, food supplements even alcohol to prevent or cure any symptoms of the flu. Keywords: Spanish Flu, Worcester, Pandemic

Just a few yards from the Chamberlain Clock at the heart of the Jewellery Quarter is a street that encapsulates the social and economic history of this distinctive and important district.  It is Vittoria Street.  Seemingly a quiet backwater in the midst of this busy area, yet does Vittoria Street have an intriguing history that tells us much about the stages of development of the Jewellery Quarter, its historical buildings, its manufacturers and the lives of its residents, poor as well as wealthy. Keywords: Vittoria Street, Carl Chinn, Birmingham, Jewellery Quarter

Birmingham’s Shakespeare Library has always held more materials in German than in any language other than English.  There are now thousands of German holdings, including some utterly unique treasures.  In this film, Professor Tobias Döring of Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich, presents perhaps the most extraordinary and iconic German book in Birmingham’s Shakespeare Library and reflects on the important relationships between Birmingham, Shakespeare and Germany.  Keywords: Professor Tobias Döring, Shakespeare Library, Everything to Everybody, Shakespeare, Birmingham

Listen to stories of women’s everyday lives in Coventry between 1850 and 1950. This was an extraordinary century of change and women, as always, were strong, resilient and resourceful.  Here we glimpse aspects of their lives at close quarters, drawing on their experiences of growing up in this industrial city as they went to school, started work and grew into womanhood. Dr Cathy Hunt is the author of ‘A History of Women’s Lives in Coventry’, published by Pen and Sword. Keywords: Coventry, Women, Cathy Hunt

The world of the brass makers of the industrial revolution Birmingham is as a world or powerful elites, industrial espionage, propaganda, deceit and political influence to create cartels and monopolies. Keywords: Brass, Industrial Revolution, Watt, Boulton,  Birmingham

Learn more about the little known story of Beatrice Cadbury who was born in 1884 and heiress to the Cadbury fortune.  She grew up with all the privileges that money could buy, but her life was shaped by her families Quaker beliefs and philosophy.  She was an anti-war campaigner and Christian Socialist who believed that war was a symptom of the problems inherent in the Capitalist system, but as the daughter of a Capitalist she was inextricably bound up within this system.  In 1920 Beatrice decided to give all of her inherited shares to the Cadbury workers, not everyone held her high ideals but Beatrice pursued her vision of a fairer and more equal society. Keywords: Cadbury, Beatrice Cadbury, Bourneville, Birmingham, Christian Socialism, Quaker, Capitalism

Well–known broadcaster and author, Professor Carl Chinn discusses how the communities of Birmingham came together to remember and honour the more than 12,000 men and women killed in the First World War. He takes us from the horror of the Western Front, the Royal visits to the city and the inauguration of the iconic Hall of Memory by the then Prince of Wales. Keywords: Carl Chinn, William Bloye, First World War, Second World War, Hall of Memory, Birmingham

Birmingham in the 1890s meeting the real gangs ​The dramatic BBC series 'Peaky Blinders' has captivated audiences all over the world who have followed the criminal gangs of Birmingham. ​Now well-known historian and author, Carl Chinn, tells the story of some of his ancestors who were among the petty criminals who were found in Birmingham's back streets.  It is not a story of fashionable mythology but a fascinating insight into the poverty and degradation of one of the Empire's great cities. Keywords: Peaky Blinders, Birmingham, poverty, gangs, Carl Chinn

From the 1820s onwards the Irish have come to the region in search of work. This flow of migrants has ebbed and flowed but throughout they have played a significant part in the development of the West Midlands. In the beginning the lives of Irish migrants in Wolverhampton and Birmingham was hard. The slums in which they lived were often some of the poorest. But today we recognise that their work in fields, factories and foundries provide the sweats and muscle on which the industrial might of the Black Country was built. Then again after the Second World War Irish voices were prominent on the major construction sites of the region as the housing, roads and hospitals were rebuilt. Social historian and broadcaster, Professor Carl Chinn examines how the Irish came to the West Midlands. Keywords: Irish, navvies, Birmingham, immigration, labour

A unique research project is seeking to uncover the stories of the men, women and even children who were employed by Matthew Boulton and James Watt at the revolutionary manufacturing site in Soho, Birmingham. Researchers are discovering new information about the relationship between these two icons of the English industrial revolution and their employees and revealing new insights into the lives of these forgotten revolutionary players. Keywords: Soho, Industrial Revolution, Revolutionary Player, Birmingham, Matthew Boulton, James Watt

Hidden away and forgotten by most of the people of Birmingham is the world's first great Shakespeare library. It is one of the city’s best kept secrets, known only to a few academics, here and overseas. But when it first opened its doors to the people of Birmingham in 1868, the Shakespeare Memorial Library was the envy of the world, which looked to Birmingham as the home of a comprehensive ‘Civic Gospel’. This was the concrete expression of the vision of George Dawson (1821-1876) – Birmingham’s forgotten philosopher-prophet.  And the Birmingham Shakespeare Memorial Library is one of its most important surviving legacies. Dawson conceived of a library where the Bard and his works would belong to every citizen, not just a cultured elite or academia. Paid for by public subscription, this world-class collection includes more than 40,000 volumes – among them the only Shakespeare First Folio in the world bought as part of a vision of comprehensive (including working-class) education.  And it still belongs to the people of Birmingham. Hear more about this wonderful fruit of George Dawson’s vision for Birmingham as a world-leading modern city in this second of two podcasts by Shakespeare scholar, Professor Ewan Fernie of the University of Birmingham, in discussion with Mike Gibbs, publisher of History West Midlands.  In partnership with Tom Epps of Birmingham City Council and institutions across and beyond Birmingham, Fernie is now developing a Heritage Lottery Fund project to revive Birmingham's forgotten Shakespeare Library with people and communities across the city. To learn more about the 'Everything to Everybody' Project please click below: Keywords: Shakespeare, George Dawson, Library, Civic Gospel, The Bard, Birmingham, Professor Ewan Fernie

Birmingham‘s Jewellery Quarter is famed nationally and internationally but locally its importance can be taken for granted or even overlooked as can that of the jewellery trade itself which has a long-standing connection with our city. That lack of attention is not a new phenomenon. By the mid-nineteenth century, jewellery making was regarded as one of the four main Birmingham trades. Along with the brass trade and the manufacture of guns and buttons it flourished above the rest but very little was written about it. That is surprising for such an important industry which remains prominent in modern Birmingham and which has such a fascinating history covering more than 200 years. Well-known historian of Birmingham, Carl Chinn click to collection explores the stories of the Quarter and the lives of the men and women whose history is created the area is unique heritage. Keywords: Jewellery Quarter, Victorian, Carl Chinn, Industry

At the heart of the city stands the famous Town Hall – a symbol of Birmingham since 1834. For all these years its history has been interwoven with the story of the city’s rise, fall and renaissance. The venue for great cultural events including premieres of works by Mendelssohn and Elgar and the first public reading of the Pickwick Papers. It also witnessed some of the great and sometimes violent political gatherings. But like the city itself the Town Hall fell on hard times in the mid-20th century. Unbelievably there was even talk of demolishing this Victorian Gem. Today it has been restored to its rightful place at the heart of the vibrant city. Keywords: Birmingham, Charles Dickens, Music, Arts, Carl Chinn

Amongst the three million men from the British Army who fought and died in the bloody Battle of the Somme some were from the South Staffs Regiment. In this programme, well known author and community historian Professor Carl Chinn follows many of these men from the poverty-stricken homes of the Black Country towns such as Darlaston. He describes their progress through the battle and for some of them, how they died. Keywords:  First World War, Black Country, Darlaston, South Staffs, Battle of the Somme, Carl Chinn

In this podcast Birmingham historian and author traces the links between the West Indies and the city. The story begins with Carl's vivid memories of the people, food and music which became part of his family's experiences of post-war Birmingham. But he also remembers that Birmingham merchants and industrialists profited from the slave trade through businesses such as the gun trade. However, as Carl explains the town was also at the centre of the abolition of slavery and the subsequent emancipation of slaves.  Indeed, one of the country's most important abolitionists the radical businessman and Quaker, Joseph Sturge (1793-1859) is still commemorated by a statue at Five Ways. Keywords: Birmingham, West Indies, slave trade, abolition of slavery, Joseph Sturge, Carl Chinn

In the first of two podcasts Professor Ewan Fernie tells the thrilling but almost totally forgotten story of George Dawson - preacher, activist and father of the Civic Gospel - who shaped the world's image of Birmingham in the 19th century. Described as 'Brummagem Dawson' by fellow philosopher Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881), he was the individual who changed Birmingham from the town which Jane Austen described as 'not a place to promise much' into 'the chief centre of civilisation, the chief town of democracy, the town from which Liberty radiates to all the world', in only 50 years. Today the modern city, which owes him so much, has utterly forgotten this global figure. Listen to this extraordinary story as Professor Fernie talks to Mike Gibbs of History West Midlands. To learn more about the 'Everything to Everybody' Project please click below: Keywords: Brummagem, George Dawson, Professor Ewan Fernie, Civic Gospel, 19th Century

For decades the women of the Black Country - particularly around Cradley Heath - sweated in dark, cramped outhouses making thousands of links of chain.  In return they were paid pence. This programme tells the story of how, lead by iconic women such as Mary Macarthur they fought for a better life in one of the most important episodes in Britain's labour history. Listen to well known and respected social historian, Professor Carl Chinn. Keywords: Chain making, women, trade union, labour, Black Country, Mary Macarthur, Cradley

Around the circle of the famous Lunar men of the Industrial Enlightenment are the shadowy figures of other important players. Now, thanks to a Canadian researcher, Kristen Schranz, one of these men is emerging from the shadows. Kristen has been searching archives and attics to uncover the life of James Keir (1735-1820), a prominent chemist and industrialist, who created significant businesses in Tipton and the West Midlands.  His achievements were widely acknowledged by his famous contemporaries but Keir is largely 'lost' to history. History West Midlands publisher, Mike Gibbs, hears more about this Enlightenment Man. Keywords: Keir, Lunar Society, Glass, Metal, Tipton, Black Country, Boulton, Watt, Darwin, Priestley, Day, Chemical, Dudley