Birmingham, West Midlands
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Birmingham, with its population of 977,087 (2001 Census), is technically the biggest city in the United Kingdom.
Because London is bigger, and often erroneously thought of as a single city, Birmingham is known as "the Second City"
(a title also occasionally claimed by Manchester).
Introduction
The city is situated in the West Midlands conurbation, of which it forms the largest part.
Along with the city of Wolverhampton, the Black Country and a number of surrounding towns,
this conurbation consists of around 2.25 million people.
Birmingham is part of the traditional county of Warwickshire,
although it does not lie within the administrative county of the same name (established 1889).
The city is commonly known to its inhabitants as Brum (from the old name "brummagem")
and its inhabitants known as Brummies. Birmingham residents also speak with a distinctive Brummie accent.
The people are generally regarded as hard working, and having an unusual sense of humour that is quite unique.
It is often said that "you can always tell a Brummie, but you can't tell him much".
Birmingham is governed by Birmingham City Council, the largest local authority in the United Kingdom (UK).
Birmingham is a multi-cultural city, with a large population from the Indian sub-continent and Carribean,
according to the 2001 census 29.7% of the population of Birmingham is non-white. This has meant that
the city has a surprising mix of cultures. Birmingham balti restuarants are reputed to produce the best
Indian food outside India.
You will often hear Brummies quoting the facts that not only does Birmingham have more canals
than Venice but that it also has both more parkland and more trees (per person) than any other city in Europe.
Birmingham certainly does boast an unusual number of trees, and there 35 miles of canals within the Birmingham
city boundaries (by comparison there are 26 miles of canals within the centre of Venice - that is, within the
six sestieri, and thus a much smaller land area than Birmingham.
Birmingham is also popular tourist attraction - about 22 million people every year visit the city.
It's top attractions include the Art Gallery, Bull Ring, Cadbury World and the somewhat bizzarrely
located National Sea Life Centre.
The City's coat of arms shows two figures, representing Industry and The Arts.
Industry
The conurbation is an industrial centre, home to the Jaguar and
MG Rover Group car companies.
Until 2003, coins were manufactured at the Birmingham Mint
, the oldest independent mint in the world.
Other famous brands from the "City of a thousand trades" include Cadburychocolate, LDV vans and
HP Sauce.
Past brands include Bird's Custard, BSA motorbikes, Bakelite, Lucas, the Mini and Ansells Beer.
Birmingham also has a history of making railway carriages, wire, steam engines, aeroplanes, guns, precious- metalware,
jewellery and even, bizarrely for somewhere so far from the sea, ships (which were made as pre-fabricated sections,
assembled at the coast).
While manufacturing is still important to the city, and to its future, the local economy is rapidly diversifying;
in particular, professional and financial services and tourism are growing quickly. More details about the
Birmingham economy can be found at: www.birminghameconomy.org.uk
Once considered the Industrial Backbone of Britain, Birmingham has in recent years been renovated,
with the city centre now a more attractive and pleasant place to walk around.
The Arts
The bands Black Sabbath, The Beat, Spencer Davis Group, Charlatans,
Dexy's Midnight Runners, Dodgy, Duran Duran,
ELO, Judas Priest, The Moody Blues, Magnum, Pop Will Eat Itself, Ned's Atomic Dustbin, The Move, Ocean Colour Scene,
Steel Pulse, Traffic, UB40 and Wizzard all originated in Birmingham, as did the musicians Joan Armatrading and
Steve Winwood.
In fiction, Birmingham was gently satirized by David Lodge. The fictional town of Rummidge
and its University which feature in several of his novels, were based on Birmingham. Judith Cutler's
crime novels are set in present-day Birmingham. The fictitious characters in the long-running Radio 4 serial
The Archers often visit Birmingham, where the programme is in fact made.
Arthur Conan Doyle lived in Aston from about Spring 1879 - early 1882 and many of his works include
refences to people or places he knew there.
Washington Irving lived in Birmingham for a while, during which time he wrote stories including Rip
van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Bracebridge Hall, or, The Humorists, A Medley is based on Aston Hall.
Symphony Hall (home to the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra) is in the City Centre.
Sport
Birmingham is home to two professional football teams: Aston Villa and Birmingham City (nearby West
Bromwich Albion's ground The Hawthorns used to be divided by the Birmingham/ Smethwick border, but was moved
completely into the latter by a minor rationalisation of local government borders in the 1960s).
Warwickshire County Cricket Club play at Edgbaston.
Lawn Tennis was first played in Birmingham.
The first ever football league was invented by a Brimingham man in Aston.
Learning
Birmingham has three universities: The University of Birmingham,
Aston University and The University of Central England (UCE, formerly Birmingham Polytechnic).
The UCE has asked Aston to consider a merger.
Transport
Birmingham is well served by a number of transport modes. Including:
Road
Birmingham is connected to London and the south, and the north-east of England and to
Scotland by the M6 motorway. The M40 also connects Birmingham to London and to Oxford.
The M5 motorway connects Birmingham to the south-west of England. The M42 motorway connects Birmingham
to the East Midlands.
Rail
A plethora of railway lines from all over the UK go into Birmingham,
which is a central hub of the rail network. Most of which converge in Birmingham New Street
station from where regular train services to all the major cities in the UK including London can
be caught. Trains to London can currently also be caught at Birmingham Snow Hill station, as can
trams to Wolverhampton on the Midland Metro. Although the London services are due to be diverted
into Moor Street station in 2004.
Air
Birmingham is served by Birmingham International Airport, which has flights to all
over Europe and to New York.
Water
Although it has no major river (the Rea is little more than a culverted stream,
and the Tame, which only passes through the northern suburbs, is not navigable), Birmingham
is at the hub of the country's canal network. Major canals including the Grand Union Canal,
the Birmingham and Worcester Canal, and the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal go into Birmingham.
History - The Early years
Small farming settlements existed in the Birmingham area since the Bronze Age.
In Roman times, the Ryknild Street Roman road passed through what is now the Birmingham area,
and a large millitary fort and marching camp existed at Metchley in what is now southern Birmingham.
Remains of pottery kilns dating from the Roman period have also been found in the Birmingham area.
Until the Middle Ages, due to poor quality soil which made agriculture unproductive, the Birmingham
area was for centuries a sparsely populated backwater.
Modern Birmingham came into existence in the year 1154 when a local landowner called Peter
de Birmingham obtained a charter to hold a market, a settlement grew up around this market
named Birmingham after its founder.
The market was called the Bull Ring and was the centre of all activity in what was then a village.
Birmingham became a Borough in the early 13th century.
From the 16th century onwards Birmingham became a centre of many metalworking industries,
with a skilled population of Ironmongers. Birmingham also became a centre of arms manufacturing,
with Guns and Swords being produced in the then town. This trade was greatly helped by the English
Civil War, Birmingham manufacturers supplied the Roundheads with much of their armaments. Reputedly,
15,000 swords were produced in Birmingham for Cromwell's forces.
Birmingham's skilled workforce, and the fact that Birmingham was located near the coalfields
of Staffordshire, meant that the town grew rapidly during the Industrial revolution. Birmingham
was then home to Matthew Boulton, James Watt,
William Murdoch, Joseph Priestley and others, who,
together, were known as the Lunar Society.
19th Century Expansion
In the late 18th and early 19th century Birmingham became a centre of the canal system, which
greatly aided its industrial growth.
In the 1830s the Grand Junction Railway (linking onwards to Liverpool and Manchester) and the London
and Birmingham Railway were built and Birmingham New Street station soon became the hub of the railway network.
During the 19th century Birmingham's population mushroomed and by the middle of the 19th century
Birmingham had become the second largest population centre in Britain. It was also during
the 19th century that Birmingham gained its reputation (which continues to this day amongst
many of those uninformed of recent changes) as a grim industrial city. In 1873 Joseph Chamberlain
became mayor of the city. Under his leadership, the council introduced many innovative civic improvements, including municipal gas and water works which improved the lighting and provided clean drinking water to the city; and opened numerous public parks.
Birmingham became a county borough in 1889, and a city in 1896.
20th Century
During the 20th century Birmingham's population continued to rise. An important industrial centre,
the city was heavily bombed by the German Luftwaffe during World War II, in a failed attempt to break
the morale of the city's workers. In total, 2,441 Birmingham residents were killed by German bombs during the war.
In the postwar years a massive program of slum clearances took place, and vast areas of the city were
re-built, with overcrowded "back to back" housing being replaced by high rise blocks of flats (the last
remaining block of four back to backs are to become a museum). The city centre was also extensively re-built,
especially the Bull Ring Shopping Centre. Birmingham also became a centre of the national motorway network,
with Spaghetti Junction.
In 1974, two city- centre pubs were bombed by the IRA.
Diversity
In the years following World War II a major influx of immigrants from the British Commonwealth changed
the face of Birmingham, with large communities from Southern Asia and the Caribbean settling in the city,
turning Birmingham into one of the UK's leading multicultural cities. As of 2001 29.7% of the city's population
is made up of ethnic minority communities. Amongst the largest minority communities: 10.6% of Birmingham residents
are Pakistani, 5.7% are Indian, 6.1% are Black Carribean or African, and 2.9% are of mixed race.
Since the early 1980s Birmingham has seen a new wave of migration, this time from communities which do not
have Commonwealth roots, including people from Kosovo and Somalia. Birmingham's reputation as a city built
on migration looks to continue. If Birmingham ended the 19th century as a Commonwealth city, the future
diversity of the City is set to be global.
Regeneration
In the 1970s, the National Exhibition Centre
was built, 10 miles southeast of the centre,
close to Birmingham International Airport. Although it is actually just inside neighbouring Solihull,
it was instigated, and largely owned by, Birmingham Council, and is thought by most people to be in the city.
It has been expanded several times since then.
The International Convention Centre (ICC) opened in central Birmingham in the early 1990s.
The area around Broad Street was extensively renovated at the turn of the Millennium, making it possible
to walk beside the canals. In September 2003, after a year long redevelopment project, the new Bull Ring was opened.
The city recently failed in its bid to become the
European Capital of Culture in 2008, under the banner
"Be in Birmingham 2008".
Population Growth by year
1550 pop 1,500
1650 pop 5,000
1750 pop 24,000
1800 pop 75,000
1900 pop 650,000
1981 pop 1,013,431
2001 pop 977,000
In recent years, Birmingham's population has declined slightly, from its peak of just over one million in 1980.
Famous Residents
Sir Michael Balcon
John Baskerville
Matthew Boulton
Jane Bunford
Edward Burne-Jones
Arthur Chamberlain
Joseph Chamberlain
Arthur Conan Doyle
Sid Field
Tony Hancock
Washington Irving
Alec Issigonis
Albert William Ketèlbey
Henry Vollam Morton
William Murdoch
Bill Oddie
Ozzy Osbourne
Joseph Priestley
J. R. R. Tolkien
James Watt
William Withering
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