A01=Andrew Homer
Art Architecture & Photography
Author_Andrew Homer
Category=WQH
Cultural History
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History
Local & Urban History
Photography
Product details
- ISBN 9781445697369
- Weight: 308g
- Dimensions: 165 x 234mm
- Publication Date: 15 Oct 2020
- Publisher: Amberley Publishing
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Paperback
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Birmingham – Britain’s second largest city – lies in the heart of the country. Nicknamed the ‘city of a thousand trades’, it became the workshop of England in the Industrial Revolution and, as the centre of the Enlightenment in the Midlands, was a hotbed of scientific thinking and technological innovation. The Lunar Society, including luminaries such as Erasmus Darwin and James Watt, met regularly at industrialist Matthew Boulton’s Soho House. The Cadbury family’s Arts and Crafts model village of Bournville, built for their workers, is sought after today, and although many famous industries associated with Birmingham – from Bird’s custard to BSA armaments and motorcycles – have gone, the eclectic Jewellery Quarter remains and a resurgent Birmingham is typified by its 1960s Rotunda, rebuilt Bullring and renovated old canal area around Gas Street Basin.
In A–Z of Birmingham Andrew Homer delves into the history of the city. He picks out well-known landmarks and famous residents such as Oscar Deutsch, founder of the Odeon cinema chain, Joseph Hansom, inventor of the safety cab, and a youthful J. R. R. Tolkien and digs beneath the surface to uncover some of the lesser-known facts about Birmingham and its hidden places of interest. This fascinating A–Z tour of Birmingham’s history is fully illustrated and will appeal to all those with an interest in this West Midlands city.
Andrew Homer is a local historian who has been researching and writing about the West Midlands for many years. He has an MA in West Midlands History awarded by the University of Birmingham and is a former Secretary of the Black Country Society. Andrew presents lectures to various organisations and has appeared on local and national television talking about local history and his lifelong fascination with anomalous phenomena, especially ghosts and hauntings. After a career as a college lecturer, Andrew enjoyed working as a Historic Character at the Black Country Living Museum interpreting and explaining the history of the region and the stories of the people who helped to forge our industrial and social heritage. He has written several books for Amberley on Black Country and Birmingham history together with haunted hostelries in Shropshire.
