X-Nico

100 unusual facts about Birmingham


Agyenim Boateng

He worked as an Assistant Professor in Alabama State University in Montgomery, Alabama and also at Daniel Payne College in Birmingham, Alabama where he served as Assistant Professor of Political and Social Science.

Alive at Last

Alive at Last is a live album by Train recorded at Workplay Theatre in Birmingham, Alabama over three consecutive nights from June 9 to June 11, 2004.

Allene Roberts

Allene Roberts (born September 1, 1928) was born in Fairfield Highlands, a suburb of Birmingham, Alabama.

Alum Rock

Alum Rock, Birmingham, an area in the United Kingdom, two miles east of Birmingham's city centre

Angela V. Shelton

Angela V. Shelton was born on 4 March 1970 and attended the Roeper School in Birmingham, Michigan.

Anti-Obscenity Enforcement Act

State Representative John Rogers of Birmingham has repeatedly introduced legislation to repeal the ban, but each bill has been defeated.

Arthur Blyth

His formative years were spent in Birmingham, England and he was educated at King Edward VI Grammar School, and arrived with his parents in South Australia in 1839 on the "Ariadne" at the age of 16.

Aubrey Willis Williams

At the very young age of six, Aubrey went to work in as a cash-boy in a Birmingham, Alabama department store.

B.L. Harbert International

B.L. Harbert International, LLC, based in Birmingham, Alabama, began construction operations in 2000 under the leadership of Billy L. Harbert.

Birmingham Blitz

The Bull Ring, New Street, High Street, and Dale End all suffered heavy damage.

Birmingham City University City Centre Campus

It is going to be constructed next to the existing facilities at Millennium Point and will be part of the ambitious Eastside project - Birmingham's biggest physical regeneration scheme.

Birmingham School of Acting

In September 2006, it moved from Paradise Place to a purpose-built state-of-the-art facility at Millennium Point in the city's Eastside area.

Birney Imes

Some of his work is exhibited in the permanent collection of the Mississippi Museum of Art in Jackson, Mississippi, the Birmingham Museum of Art in Birmingham, Alabama and the Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago, Illinois.

Bruno's

The crash caused a large outpouring of grief among the Birmingham metropolitan community due to the family and the company's well-known philanthropic contributions.

Carding

In 1748 Lewis Paul of Birmingham, England invented the hand driven carding machine.

City region

The New Local Government Network proposed the creation of city regions as part of on-going reform efforts, while a report released by the IPPR's Centre for Cities proposed the creation of four large city-regions based on Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool and Greater Manchester.

Congenital Heart Surgeons' Society

Data collection required the establishment of a Data Center, initially in Birmingham, Alabama.

Copperphone

Teasley was unaware of the incident until he arrived at his residence in Birmingham, Alabama where he was approached and questioned by members of the FBI.

Corfe Castle railway station

This locomotive was in use until 1955, and then displayed in the now defunct Birmingham Museum of Science and Industry until 2000.

Corporation Street tram stop

Corporation Street will be a stop on the city-centre extension of Line 1 of the Midland Metro onto Corporation Street in Birmingham City Centre, United Kingdom.

Corrupt practices

One of the most high-profile cases of corrupt practices in recent years was that of the local government elections in the Bordesley Green and Aston wards of Birmingham in June 2004.

CSS Industries

City Stores started in 1923 with the acquisition of three department stores: B. Lowenstein, Inc., of Memphis, Tennessee; Maison Blanche Co., of New Orleans, Louisiana; and Loveman, Joseph & Loeb, of Birmingham, Alabama.

Daniel Alarcón

Alarcón, a native of Peru, was raised, from the age of 3, in Birmingham, Alabama, U.S., and is an alumnus of Indian Springs School.

Danny Driver

He made his Wigmore Hall recital later that year, and has since appeared at Southbank Centre, Bridgewater Hall in Manchester, the Royal Albert Hall, and Symphony Hall, Birmingham.

DeDee Nathan

LeShundra "DeDee" Nathan (born April 20, 1968 in Birmingham, Alabama) is a retired heptathlete from the United States, who won the gold medal at the 1991 Pan American Games in Havana, Cuba.

Delcam

The company was renamed Delcam International in 1991 and moved to a new purpose built office in Small Heath.

DIY Week

Originally launched by a Birmingham hardware wholesaler as Martineau & Smith's Monthly Circular, the magazine was very soon renamed Hardware Trade Journal, and changed from monthly to weekly publication in 1900.

Dottie Peoples

On July 28, 2008, Peoples performed a free concert at the East Birmingham Church of God in Christ.

Downtown music

Likewise, despite its origin in New York musical politics, "Downtown" music is not solely specific to Manhattan; many major cities such as Chicago, San Francisco, even Birmingham, Alabama have alternative, Downtown music scenes.

Dry plate

The lack of success for the above was not that it did not work, or that it was complicated, but because at the time, transportation — especially timely transportation — was complicated; by the time a plate from Birmingham in England reached New York in the USA it could be best used as window pane.

Edmund Street

Edmund Street is one of a series of roads on the old Colmore Estate which originally stretched from Temple Row in the city centre, around St Phillip's Cathedral, to the northern end of Newhall Street.

Edward Thomason

He died in his house in Jury Street, Warwick in 1849, and a memorial was erected to him in St Philip's Cathedral, Birmingham.

Emily Scarratt

Emily is also a PE assistant at King Edward's School Birmingham, following in the footsteps of fellow England rugby international Natasha Hunt.

Eric James Eames

A former steam engine driver, Eames represented the city's Small Heath ward on Birmingham City Council from 1949-1992, without break.

Evan Harris Walker

Born in Birmingham, Alabama, Harris received his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Maryland in 1964.

First Midland Red

Based in Worcester, Midland Red West's main areas of operation were Worcestershire, Herefordshire, parts of Shropshire and parts of the West Midlands conurbation, including Birmingham.

Frank Stitt

Frank Stitt III is the owner and executive chef of Highlands Bar and Grill, Bottega Restaurant, and Chez Fon Fon in Birmingham, Alabama.

Frisco 4003

4003 was retired in early 1952, shortly before the last steam powered train on the Frisco, between Birmingham and Bessemer, Alabama in February.

Greenwood Academy

Greenwood Academy, Birmingham, a secondary school in Birmingham, West Midlands, England

Gus Mayer

Gus Mayer is a Birmingham, Alabama based, family-owned, upscale specialty department store that caters to upper-end clientele and is known for its high-end fashions.

Haitian gourde

In 1863, bronze coins, produced by the Heaton mint of Birmingham, were issued.

Halesowen News

It has been in circulation since February 1985 and as well as residents of Halesowen, it is also posted to the homes of readers living in surrounding communities including Quinton, Rowley Regis, Blackheath, Cradley Heath, Old Hill and Cradley.

Handsworth Park

Handsworth Park (originally Victoria Park) is a park in the Handsworth area of Birmingham, England.

Handsworth Riots – Twenty Summers On

In September 1985, yhe days were warm and sunny, thousands of dancing revellers, many in brightly coloured costumes were pouring into the streets of Handsworth, an area of Birmingham, Great Britain well known for its rich and vibrant cultural mix.

Harbinger Capital

Harbinger was founded by its Senior Managing Director Philip Falcone and Harbert Management Corporation, a Birmingham, Alabama-based investment company that provided much of the original funding.

Henry Folliott, 3rd Baron Folliott

He married Elizabeth Pudsey, heiress of Langley Hall, Sutton Coldfield in 1677 and built a substantial mansion, Four Oaks Hall, Sutton Coldfield, to a design by architect William Wilson.

Herbert Manzoni

His attitudes became the orthodoxy and directly or indirectly led to the demolition of a number of much loved landmarks, such as the old Birmingham Central Library and the original Bull Ring market hall.

Jack Cotton

Jack Cotton was educated at King Edward VI Grammar School, then at Cheltenham College.

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In 1937, he built King Edward House on the site of his old school, which was rebuilt in Edgbaston close to the University of Birmingham.

James Lansdowne Norton

He is buried at Lodge Hill Cemetery in Selly Oak, Birmingham, England.

Jane Briggs Hart

She was a founding member of the National Organization for Women, and served as board member and national convention delegate for the Birmingham, Michigan League of Women Voters.

Janet Monach Patey

Whytock's first appearance, as a child, was made at Birmingham.

Jurys Inn Birmingham

Built using concrete cladding and steel joists, this building was part of the plan to redevelop Birmingham in the 1960s.

Kinetic Communications

Kinetic Communications, based in Birmingham, Alabama, is a website and multimedia development company.

Leonard Lord

On 26 March 1962 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Lambury, of Northfield in the County of Warwick.

Lodge Hill

Lodge Hill Cemetery, Birmingham, a cemetery and crematorium in Selly Oak, Birmingham, England

Lynx gang

The gang was founded in the Small Heath area of the city, but later spread to the Birmingham boroughs Lozells, Handsworth Birmingham, Sparkbrook, and Aston.

Maureen Jennings

She was born on Eastfield Road in Birmingham, England; she spent her formative years there until emigrating to Canada at the age of seventeen with her mother.

Michael Staniforth

Michael Staniforth (15 December 1942 – 31 July 1987), born in Selly Oak, Birmingham, was a British stage actor.

Mike Mordecai

Michael Howard Mordecai (born December 13, 1967 in Birmingham, Alabama) is a right-handed hitting/throwing infielder in Major League Baseball who most recently played for the Florida Marlins.

Mindless Ones

Plokta, a Duke of Hell, decided to conquer the world exponentially from a tower block in Birmingham.

Napoleon Barleycorn

Napoleon Barleycorn, a Primitive Methodist missionary in Spanish Guinea, a Fernandino of Igbo descent, who sent his sons to be educated at Bourne College in Quinton, England.

National Telephone Company

In 1886 it built an ornate red brick and terracotta building 19, Newhall Street, now grade I listed, for its Birmingham Central exchange, opened in 1887.

Oregrounds iron

In Britain, the iron was known by these 'marks', and the quality of each brand was well-known to the buyers in London, Sheffield, Birmingham and elsewhere.

Parks and open spaces in Birmingham

A number of parks were created to commemorate a special occasion, such as the Queen’s Jubilees such as Victoria Park and Queens Park.

Paul Moon James

James was also a poet, and lawyer, who also served for a time as magistrate of Worcestershire and later as High Bailiff of Birmingham, England.

Phil Mulkey

Now residing in Birmingham, Alabama, Mulkey has spent many years coaching at The Altamont School, with numerous state titles to his team's credits.

Philip Bradbourn

Philip Bradbourn also came under fire in 2008 when it was discovered that the website of the West Midlands Conservative MEPs showed a photo of Birmingham, Alabama instead of Birmingham, England.

Phillip Alford

Alford appeared in three productions with Birmingham's Town and Gown Civic Theatre, whose director called up Alford's mother to see if her son was interested in auditioning for the part of Jem in To Kill a Mockingbird.

Public Library and Baths, Balsall Heath

Since their formation various community events and fundraisers have been held, including the Centenary celebration on 30 October 2007 which was attended by the Lord Mayor of Birmingham and swimmers past and present.

Rick Pietri

He then spent four years as an assistant with the men's team at Spring Hill College in Mobile before moving to Birmingham and one season as an assistant for Birmingham-Southern College's successful men's NAIA program.

RK2 plasmid

RK 2 was first isolated in connection with an outbreak of antibotic-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Klebsiella aerogenes in Birmingham in 1969, as one of a family of plasmids implicated in transfer of Ampicillin resistance between bacterial strains.

Royal Pump Rooms

One of the most interesting, although not at the time most famous or notable, parts of the development were the pumps which were manufactured by the engineering giants Boulton and Watt of Smethwick, Birmingham.

Rudge Sisters

The Rudge Sisters were British actresses and dancers from Birmingham.

Saks, Inc.

After acquiring Parisian, Proffitt's relocated its corporate headquarters to Birmingham, Alabama from Knoxville in October 1997.

Samuel Bache

In 1862 the New Meeting, Moor Street, was sold to Roman Catholics, the congregation removing to a handsome structure in Broad Street, called the Church of the Messiah, Birmingham (foundation laid 11 August 1860).

Samuel D. Ratcliffe

He grew up in Birmingham, Alabama and graduated from Birmingham Southern College, moving to New York in 1968 to pursue a career as an actor.

Saracen's Head

The Saracen's Head is the name formerly given to a group of late medieval buildings in Kings Norton, Birmingham.

Sarah Smiley

Sarah Smiley has a B.S. in Education from Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama and a M.A. in Mass Communication fro the University of Maine in Orono.

Sisters of Our Lady of Charity of the Refuge

The sisters came to England in 1863 and by 1910 had houses at Bartestree, Waterlooville, Monmouth, Southampton, and Northfield.

Smalbroke family

He was instrumental in the foundation of King Edwards School in New Street.

St Agatha's Church, Sparkbrook

It was funded by the sale of the site of Christ Church, New Street which was demolished the same year to make way for shops and offices - Christchurch Buildings.

St Michael's Catholic Church, Moor Street

When the New Meeting House became unsuitable for congregation, they started construction on a new place of worship on Broad Street.

Stuck Rubber Baby

Although Cruse drew heavily upon his own experiences as a gay man growing up in Birmingham, Alabama, the story is fictional.

Sue Ellen Brown

Sue Ellen Brown (born 1954) is an artist living in Birmingham, Alabama.

T. J. Lang

Lang attended Lakeland High School in White Lake, Michigan before transferring to Brother Rice High School in Birmingham, Michigan.

Taylor Hollingsworth

Taylor Hollingsworth is a singer/songwriter and guitarist from Birmingham, Alabama.

The Runner Stumbles

On 21 October 2009, the play The Runner Stumbles made its UK Premiere at The Crescent Theatre in Birmingham.

Thompson Memorial Library

The window comes from the studios of Messrs. John Hardman & Company of Birmingham, England, and of the Church Glass and Decorating Company of New York, their U.S. representatives.

Totally Jodie Marsh

Totally Jodie Marsh: Who'll Take Her Up the Aisle? was a British reality television show, which saw glamour model Jodie Marsh audition a potential husband in London, Edinburgh, Sheffield, Birmingham, Cardiff and Bournemouth.

Ty G. Allushuski

Allushuski mainly covered prep sports in Shelby County in suburban Birmingham, Alabama.

Vann McElroy

Vann William McElroy (born 13 January 1960 in Birmingham, Alabama), is a former professional American football player who was selected by the Los Angeles Raiders in the third round of the 1982 NFL Draft.

Victoria Law Courts

Standing at the northern end of the street it is complemented by the similarly coloured Methodist Central Hall, which stands opposite.

Victoria Square, Birmingham

It is a short walk from St. Philip's Cathedral on Colmore Row and is on the main pedestrian route between the Bull Ring and Brindleyplace areas.

Walter Schoel Engineering Co.

located in the City of Birmingham, Alabama has offered Consulting Civil Engineering, Hydrologic and Environmental Consulting, and land Surveying services, since its founding by Herman Schoel in 1888.

Warstone Lane Cemetery

It is one of two cemeteries located in the city's Jewellery Quarter, in Hockley (the other being Key Hill Cemetery).

William Barleycorn

He was the son of Napoleon Barleycorn, also a Primitive Methodist missionary in Fernando Po, who sent his sons to be educated at Bourne College in Quinton, England.

William Lovett

Many supporters gathered in the city's Bull Ring, but local authorities had prohibited assembly there, and several were arrested.

William Walter Peele

William Walter Peele was elected a bishop of the M.E. Church, S. at the 1938 General Conference meeting in Birmingham, Alabama, one of eight bishops elected at that final General Conference of this denomination.

WTVR-TV

On January 6, 2009, Raycom and Local TV LLC announced that they would be swapping stations in Richmond and Birmingham.


1844 Victoria One Penny Model

The 1844 Victoria One Penny Model was a model coin issued by Birmingham medallist Joseph Moore (1817–1892) between 1844 and 1848, during a period in which the British Government were considering the notion of replacing the heavy copper coinage then in use.

1978–79 Birmingham City F.C. season

Jim Smith, in his first full season as Birmingham's manager, brought Argentina's World Cup-winning full-back Alberto Tarantini to the club.

AmSouth Bancorporation

AmSouth was previously known as First National Bank of Birmingham, which was first organized by Charles Linn in 1872.

Anthony William Hall

He also made many speeches, in Birmingham and elsewhere, in which he set out his claim and challenged the King to a duel, with the loser to be beheaded.

Birmingham Journal

The Birmingham Journal was the name of two separate and unrelated newspapers published in Birmingham, England.

Brian Webber

Brian Webber (December 19, 1967) is an American actor from Birmingham, Alabama.

Callum Innes

A substantial selection of his best-known series, the "Exposed" paintings, was exhibited in 1998 at the Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, England, and at the Kunsthalle Bern the following year.

Carry Me Home: Birmingham, Alabama, the Climactic Battle of the Civil Rights Revolution

McWhorter grew up in Birmingham, Alabama, and recounts being about the same age as the girls killed in the September 1963 bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church, though she "was growing up on the wrong side of the revolution".

Centre for International Education and Research

Early international influences in Birmingham include Elihu Burritt, a US Consul sent by Abraham Lincoln, who lived in Harborne just north of the present Birmingham University campus.

Chief Blue Horse

Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show was part of the celebration during the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle in England, and toured through Birmingham, Salford, and London for five months.

Clare Purcell

Between 1911 and 1918 Rev. Purcell served the following appointments: Madison Circuit, the Owenton Church (later renamed McCoy Memorial) in Birmingham, and First Methodist Church of Sylacauga.

Constance Bache

Bache was born in Edgbaston, the daughter of Samuel Bache (1804-1876), a Unitarian minister at the Church of the Messiah, Birmingham; an uncle on her mother's side was James Martineau.

Freddie Goodwin

It was at Birmingham where he introduced the young Trevor Francis into league football.

Frederick Rushbrooke

The son of a miller and confectioner from Willenhall in Staffordshire, Frederick Rushbrooke initially established himself in business as a wholesale ironmonger in Birmingham.

Gaynor Arnold

Her debut novel Girl in a Blue Dress was published by Birmingham's Tindal Street Press in 2008, being longlisted for both the Booker Prize and the Orange Prize for Fiction.

Gerald Roush

While in high school in Birmingham, Alabama, Roush picked up a 1958 issue of Sports Car Illustrated that featured driver Phil Hill, winner of the 1958 24 Hours of Le Mans and a Ferrari 4.9 Superfast, giving birth to an interest that would last a lifetime.

Illuminated dance floor

They were popularised for disco by the 1977 film Saturday Night Fever which it had gotten inspiration from a floor the director of the movie had seen at "The Club", a private supper club in Birmingham, Alabama.

Jack Whitten

Whitten is represented by Alexander Gray Associates in New York; Zeno X gallery in Antwerp, Belgium; and Guido Maus, beta pictoris gallery / Maus Contemporary in Birmingham, AL.

Jamie Shepherd

During his degree at Staffordshire University, Stoke-on-Trent, Jamie was freelancing at Dee 106.3 in Chester, Brmb in Birmingham, Heart 100.7 in Birmingham and Heart Radio in North Wales and Cheshire.

John Brekell

Joshua Toulmin prints a letter (dated Liverpool, 3 Dec. 1730) from Brekell to Rev. Thomas Pickard of Birmingham, showing that Brekell had been asked to Birmingham, but had 'handsome encouragement to continue' where he was.

Joseph Lancaster Ball

Born to a Methodist family in Maltby in Yorkshire, Ball was articled to the architect William Wilmer Pocock in London in 1877, and moved to Birmingham in 1880 to set up in private practice after winning a competition to design the Handsworth Wesleyan Theological College, now the Hamstead campus of Birmingham City University.

Joseph Pickford

St Mary's Church, Gun Quarter, Birmingham, West Midlands (1773-4, now demolished).

K. Lee Scott

Lee Scott (born 1950 in Valley, Alabama) is an internationally known teacher, musician, conductor and composer of sacred music, choral music and hymns, residing in Birmingham, Alabama.

Kampfgeschwader 54

Between 29 July and 14 August 1942 it lost 6 bombers on missions against Bedford, Birmingham, Norwich, Southend, Hastings and Luton.

Kotli

Many Kotli city residents have ties to British nationals in the city of Manchester, Sheffield, Leeds, Bradford, Luton, Bedford, Watford and Birmingham.

Larry Taunton

Larry Alex Taunton (born, May 24, 1967) is an American author, columnist, radio talk show host, and cultural commentator based out of Birmingham, Alabama who serves as the Executive Director of Fixed Point Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to the public defense of the Christian faith.

Little Kimble railway station

The G8 Summit was held in Birmingham that year and the wives of the G8 countries' leaders, including Cherie Blair and Hillary Clinton, were taken to Chequers via the Royal Train and Little Kimble, whiuch is the nearest station to Chequers.

Marie Weaver

In "Four Voices: Echoes," (Bare Hands Gallery, Birmingham, AL) her work was shown with Janice Kluge (sculptor), Lucy Jaffe (painter), and Sonja Rieger (photographer) and Marie Weaver (printmaker).

Moon Base One

The 'patient' will be Tony Hale, from Aston near Birmingham (who goes on to feature in the rest of the series).

Patel Taylor

Most recently the newly completed Eastside City Park was awarded 4 RIBA awards – a National award, West Midlands award, Building of the Year award and Client of the year for Birmingham City Council.

Pato Banton

The album Universal Love featured a song covered by Banton called "United We Stand", which was written by fellow Birmingham musician Ray Watts, of the group Beshara.

Phil Bayton

Joining the Thornhill Cycling Club in Birmingham he won a handicap race at Hirwaun in South Wales as a 16 year old junior and a year later was part of the GB Olympic squad under Norman Sheil.

Prince engine

The engines’ components are produced by PSA at their Douvrin, France, facility, with Mini engine construction at Hams Hall in Birmingham, England.

Robert Collyer

In 1883, when he visited Birmingham in England, he engaged Marie Bethell Beauclerc to report and edit his sermons and prayers which were published during the same year.

Robert James Clayton

When the BBC resumed television service from Alexandra Palace after the war GEC won the important contract to implement the first link to another transmitter at Birmingham.

Robin Corbett, Baron Corbett of Castle Vale

Siôn Simon replaced him as Labour Member of Parliament for Birmingham Erdington.

SLSF 1522

1994: 1522 was one of the locomotives to participate in the 1994 NRHS annual convention in Atlanta, Georgia and did a double-header with Norfolk and Western 611 from Birmingham, Alabama to Atlanta on its way to the convention.

Socio-Analysis

Northfield Hospital was a military hospital, situated in Birmingham, in the English Midlands, with the task of treating soldiers who had developed psychiatric problems, in order to get them back into the war.

T. L. Bayne

On December 31, 1892, Bayne and his brother, Hugh Aiken Bayne, organized the Southern Club to play a football game against a club from Birmingham, Alabama at Audubon Park in New Orleans.

Terry Francona

As manager of the AA franchise Birmingham Barons from 1993–1995, he posted a 223-203 record and won two distinctions: Southern League Manager of the Year in 1993, Baseball America's Minor League Manager of the Year in 1993, and top managerial candidate by Baseball America in 1994, the same year Michael Jordan played for Birmingham.

The Twelfth Man

As befits the name (a reference to the non-playing reserve in an eleven-player cricket side), Birmingham particularly focuses on cricket commentators such as Richie Benaud, Bill Lawry and Tony Greig.

Walter Rosenhain

In 1900 he became scientific adviser to Chance Brothers of Birmingham, glass manufacturers and lighthouse engineers, and for the next six years his work was chiefly concerned with the production of optical glass and lighthouse apparatus.

Western Region of British Railways

The Region consisted principally of ex-Great Western Railway lines, minus certain lines west of Birmingham, which were transferred to the London Midland Region in 1963 and with the addition of all former Southern Railway routes west of Exeter, which were subsequently rationalised.

William F. Durand

A native of Connecticut, he was a member of the first graduating class of Birmingham High School in Derby, Connecticut (now Derby High School) in 1877.

WJOX

WJOX-FM, a radio station (94.5 FM) in Birmingham, Alabama, United States