Bostin’ new book all about Brummagem
AUTHOR Andrew Homer works as a historic character at the Black Country Living Museum but for his latest book he has looked across the border to Brummagem.
Birmingham, Britain’s second largest city, is nicknamed the ‘city of a thousand trades’, after it became the workshop of England in the Industrial Revolution. But there is more to the city than that.
Innovation
As the centre of the Enlightenment in the Midlands, it 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 much 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 Bull Ring shopping centre 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.
Andrew Homer is a local historian who has been researching and writing about the West Midlands for many years. He has had a lifelong fascination with anomalous phenomena and especially ghosts and hauntings. He has enjoyed a long and varied career in anomaly research including serving as National Investigations Coordinator for the Association for the Scientific Study of Anomalous Phenomena (ASSAP).
Investigations
In 1998 he was awarded the Michael Bentine memorial shield for anomaly research. He has played a key role in numerous notable investigations over many years of anomaly research and has appeared on radio and television programmes. Andrew has investigated anomalous phenomena in every type of location including castles, stately homes, private houses and, of course, licensed properties.
Andrew has written a number of books on the Black Country, and also on brewing and haunted hostelries in Shropshire.
A–Z of Birmingham is a fascinating fully illustrated tour of Birmingham’s history that will appeal to all those with an interest in the city. With 96 pages and 100 illustrations, this new paperback will be published by Amberley Books on October 15, priced at £14.99.
More information can be found at www.amber ley-books.com