Recent content by PaulE

I should have used different images in my original post. Compare these: a proper colour picture, that picture converted to sepia, the sepia picture recoloured by palette.fm. How does it know it was a glass of orange juice, and not beer for example?

Perhaps I was unwise to post a 'before and after' picture of a Birmingham street scene, as it might have given the impression I thought we could 'improve' all our black and white Birmingham photos by colourising them; that is certainly not the case. Who knows what errors exist in the colour...

I recently came across a website called palette.fm; it uses artificial intelligence to colorise old black and white photographs. As you can see, the results are pretty impressive. You can use it for free (without even registering) but the maximum size of the output image is limited, as seen...

Hi Phil, I am trying to work out where your photo of Skinner St was taken. The view of the Rotunda makes me think it was at the junction with Bromsgrove St, except the road at the end looks at the wrong angle to be Dean St. Any thoughts? Paul

Steve Punt investigated this on Radio 4 in 2008 - sadly, he concluded it wasn't true. Paul

Thank you Dennis, these are great! I am so used to thinking of Birmingham as a Victorian city, and this post has reminded me that it is a lot older than that. A bit like Warwick, in the last picture. Paul

Edward Francis Spicer (1850-1927) was the cousin of Peter Spicer, with whom he was working in Leamington in 1871. In 1872 he left to form his own taxidermy business at 229, Great Colmore Street, Birmingham. Around 1880, he moved to 61, Suffolk Street, then around 1900 to 58, Suffolk Street, at...

Slightly off-topic, but I think this Londoner who has moved to Brum has got it dead right (and I have lived in London too): https://thetally.efinancialnews.com/2014/02/sharp-end-birmingham-loving/ Paul

It looks a bit like Kings Heath - could it be the Kings Road? Paul

How do you put London behind Birmingham, by population? I think the reason some people think Manchester is the second city is because it is further away from London, and less under London's influence. Paul

Whatever you do, don't use this! It is a scam. If you don't believe me try changing the error in the address to anything else, e.g. https://www.wiki-errors.com/err.php?wiki=Scam Paul

Hi Fabian Which post are you referring to? I haven't spotted a pic of Ladywell Walk lately. Paul

Well spotted Viv! How did you find it? Paul

Does anyone know when the new BBC series based on Birmingham gangs just after WW1 is going to be shown? https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/mediapacks/peakyblinders/ https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2012/peaky-blinders.html...

Thanks Pat As I use Ancestry I hadn't tried that website. My ancestors were't there in 1891, but I will see if any of their neighbours were there for a long time. Regards Paul