Dennis Williams
Gone but not forgotten
Now, some famous Brummies that also deserve a mention…..but don't immediately spring to mind perhaps.
Now we have lready given Carl Chinn a solo fanfare on here, but I would like to also spare a thought for other iconic Brummie Historians, maybe not so obvious, but without whom, these pages would be much more threadbare and not half as interesting…..Messrs Bill Dargue , Phylis Nicklin, Dr Chris Upton, John Whybrow, Rachel Whitehouse, Vivian Bird and the perennial Alton Douglas - to name but a few prominent ones to whom I refer and plagiarise constantly….please feel free to add others…
1 Bill Dargue
This bloke is a fantastic workaholic as far as Brum History is concerned, and I love his contributions to bits - this is from his blog:
"Born in Southport, Lancashire, I have been a Birmingham primary school teacher for over forty years, and I believe he is currently Deputy Head of Heath Mount Primary School, Balsall Heath.
I trained at St Peter's College, Saltley, later completing a BA with the Open University.
I have long been interested in the history of my adoptive city and studied part-time for an MA in West Midlands local history at Birmingham University. My Master's dissertation was a study of the impact of the Gothic revival on the restoration of Birmingham's ancient churches. I am the author of two primary school assembly books (Oxford University Press) and the former captain of the local bell ringing team. I have lived in Castle Bromwich for some 30 years.
This website is my compilation of material from all sorts of sources. I don't claim to be an expert on the history of Birmingham, just an enthusiastic amateur, so don't take what I write here as the last word on anything. Check it out for yourself!
https://billdargue.jimdo.com/weblinks-etc/weblinks/online-texts
https://oldbirminghampictures.lefora.com
https://ahistoryofbirminghamchurches.jimdo.com
2 Phylis Nicklin
Phyllis Nicklin was the Staff Tutor in Geography in the University of Birmingham's
former Department of Extra Mural Studies in the 1950s and 60s and died in post in 1969,
leaving behind thousands of slides she had taken for her classes. The University of Birmingham had kindly made the collection available to download and redistribute for non-commercial research or private study purposes. Popularized by another prodigious and talented photographer Keith Berry…her photos are also featured on many sites and blogs about Brum…and in colour too!
https://epapers.bham.ac.uk/view/series/Birmingham=27s_Buildings_and_Urban_Topography.html
3 Chris Upton
Dr Chris Upton is Reader in Public History at Newman University Birmingham, specialising in the history of the West Midlands region. Previously he taught at the universities of Aston and Birmingham, and worked in the Archives & Heritage section of Birmingham Central Library. Chris is the author of four books on West Midlands history, all published by Phillimore & Co., including volumes on Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Lichfield. His most recent book is Living Back to Back, a study of back-to-back housing. Chris was the researcher on the project to restore the court of back-to-backs in Hurst Street for the National Trust.
Chris is shortly to complete a book on Birmingham and its Poor 1740-1840. In addition, Chris writes two weekly columns for the Birmingham Post, and makes regular appearances on TV and radio. These too generally focus on the history of the West Midlands. He also conducts Walks and Coach trips around Birmingham, and is a very nice and approachable Brummie Historian, in the mould of Carl Chinn…and his books are also superb.
https://www.birminghampost.co.uk/lifestyle/nostalgia/button-making-returned-roots-birmingham-7487706
4 John Whybrow and Rachel Waterhouse
Fellow of The Institute of Incorporated Photographers, John Whybrow was born in 1924 and educated at King Edwards Grammar School, Five Ways. He was Managing Director of Birmingham’s oldest surviving photographers, founded in 1971 by Thomas Lewis, whose glass plates recorded the Victorian Town. John Whybrow did not simply inherit the early plates, he earned the right to them by his own work as a photographer and his commitment to expanding the collection, organising it, and bringing it up to date.
From 1967 to 1976 he served on the national council of the Institute of Incorporated Photographers and was a regular writer in the Institute’s journal on professional matters. In 1972 , after publishing the best seller “How Does Your Birmingham Grow?”, he joined forces with Rachel Waterhouse in a word and picture propaganda battle to save the old Reference Library and the GPO on behalf of the Victorian Society. This begat another book, “How Birmingham Became a Great City”.
Rachel Waterhouse, born in 1923, mother of four children, was educated at King Edwards High School, Edgbaston, and at St Hugh’s College, Oxford, returning to Birmingham University to take her PhD. In 1964 she became a member of the Birmingham Consumers Group. Since 1966 she served on the council of the National Consumers Association, publishers of the Which Magazine. However her first interest lay in Birmingham, and she was commissioned to write the centenary histories of the Birmingham and Midland Institute (1954), of Tangyes Ltd (1957), and of the Birmingham Children’s Hospital (1962). In 1966 she became the first chairman of the Victorian society, Birmingham Group, and fought long and hard to preserve the City’s buildings…
Those two books mentioned, must contain some of the most copied photos on the numerous Birmingham History forums and discussion blogs. And his company is still trading on the Stratford Road….
5 Vivian Bird
Vivian Bird was born at his parents' pub, the Nag's Head, which was beneath the grandstand at Warwick Racecourse and attended King Edward's School for Boys Camp Hill, between 1921 and 1926.
He then had a spell away from Birmingham for some years while he worked for Conservative Central Office in London, although he captained Camp Hill Old Edwardians Fourth XV rugby team in the mid 1930s.
In 1940 he was conscripted into the 428 (Shirley) Searchlight Battery in which he served for five-and-a-half years.
Following the Second World War, Mr Bird taught rugby at Alsager Teachers Training College in Staffordshire and then joined the Post and Mail in 1951, becoming a distinguished feature writer until his retirement in 1975.
Author of 11 cracking Birmingham and local books, traveller, walker, local politician, popular public speaker, and charity worker, he became an OBE in 1982, and in 1997 received the Queen's commendation on his 60-year marriage to former Camp Hill girl Edith Drew. He died aged 90, after watching his beloved Camp Hill Old Edwardians rugby team at Haslucks Green Rd….almost know how he feels, but we’ll pass over that…I went to the same school…
6 Alton Douglas
And last but not least, my ancient Facebook adversary…..without whom I might not be here on this site, for it’s true to say that my Mom first bought me one of his books of Birmingham Photos in 1983 for Christmas….and I then became instantly hooked on this sort of thing ever since…and I would wager I’m not alone in losing my Historical virginity like that too….and he’s been picking my pocket for new volumes every ten minutes or so ever since….and yes, I fully realise that he never took many of the photos, but he caused them to appear, and that’s good enough for me. Besides that, he was a famous Brummie in other ways, like making people laugh (or cry), and never deserting us for higher and more lofty planes…like London…or Yardley. The other thing is, he never moans about folk constantly pinching his pictures and not acknowledging his ‘human rights’ or ‘copyright rituals’, he just urges them to buy more of his stuff! And as an aside, his wife is MUCH prettier and even more famous.
His bio reads thus: Alton Douglas, born 22 Jan 1938 in Birmingham, was registered as Douglas John Price , the son of Sidney Neville Price (died 19 Aug 1948), a motor pressing inspector, 6th child of Tom Price and Lucy Crutchley, both of Shrewsbury, who had 16 children, and of Dorothy Margaret Price, nee Pipe, (born 17 Dec 1900 in Wolverhampton), daughter of Richard Pipe and Emily Withington. Alton is a broadcaster and author who has appeared in virtually every major theatre in the U.K. and was responsible for hundreds of television warm-ups. He is the voice behind several cartoons and children's toys etc. He was educated at Saltley Grammer School. Alton Douglas has been well known in the Midlands for many years as a radio entertainer and a television presenter of such shows as "Know Your Place". In recent years his carefully planned researched pictorial books on Midland themes have generated sales of over 300,000 copies, and earned him a loyal following. Each book contains between 350 and 400 illustrations, carefully captioned, and presented in a standard A4 format. After spending his National Service as a trombonist, with the band of the 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards, he played in local bands for some time before forming his own group. In order to present something different from the average dance band he began to break up the sets by telling the occasional joke. In time it became a natural progression for him to become a full-time comedian. Over the years he played Dame in panto, Principal Boy opposite Helen Shapiro, appeared in summer shows (including a spell as Principal Comic with the world famous 'Fol de Rols') and played most of the major cabaret venues and theatres in the U.K. (appearing with Paul Daniels, Vera Lynn, Roy Hudd, Frankie Vaughan, Edmund Hockridge and many more). He also acted as warm-up comic for over 1,000 TV shows including 'The Golden Shot', 'The Peggy Lee Show', 'Some Mothers Do 'Ave Em', 'Terry and June', 'New Faces', 'Lunchtime with Wogan', 'Up the workers' and "Are you being served?". Over the years he has acted in training videos, recorded voice-overs for hundreds of radio commercials, been the voice behind several cartoons and children's toys, written showbiz columns and reviewed jazz records and shows and appeared in such TV programmes as 'Angels', 'Seconds Out', 'Crossroads', 'A Soft Touch', 'Muck and Brass', 'The Golden Shot', 'The Knockers', 'The Original Alton Douglas', 'Nights at the Swan', 'Watch This Space', 'The Barmaid's Arms', 'Open University', 'Property Rites', 'Big Deal', 'Newshound', 'Murder of a Moderate Man' and 'The Bretts'. In 1979 he was asked to host the BBC Midlands TV inter-town quiz series 'Know Your Place' and, as writer and quizmaster. By the time the third series had ended, he had discovered a hole in the market - there did not appear to be any books concentrating on the Midlands during the 2nd World War. 'Birmingham at War Vol 1' (published by the Evening Mail) came out in 1982 and was an immediate success.This was followed by another three war books and the idea was then developed to cover a longer span of time. Most of the following books show events over a 100 years or more and they are mainly pictorial, with lots of ads, newspaper cuttings and posters. Alton, working with his wife of 35 years, Jo, nee Ward, along with Dennis Moore, (ex-RAF/retired Bank Manager) do all the distribution. In fact, they have carried so many boxes of books into shops - over 450,000 to date - that Jo and Alton have had to have osteopathic treatment for neck and back injuries!
He suggests I read more in his biog, The Original Alton Douglas! --- which I have now done, and it is a good read, honest Miss!
https://exhib.homestead.com/index.html
Now we have lready given Carl Chinn a solo fanfare on here, but I would like to also spare a thought for other iconic Brummie Historians, maybe not so obvious, but without whom, these pages would be much more threadbare and not half as interesting…..Messrs Bill Dargue , Phylis Nicklin, Dr Chris Upton, John Whybrow, Rachel Whitehouse, Vivian Bird and the perennial Alton Douglas - to name but a few prominent ones to whom I refer and plagiarise constantly….please feel free to add others…
1 Bill Dargue
This bloke is a fantastic workaholic as far as Brum History is concerned, and I love his contributions to bits - this is from his blog:
"Born in Southport, Lancashire, I have been a Birmingham primary school teacher for over forty years, and I believe he is currently Deputy Head of Heath Mount Primary School, Balsall Heath.
I trained at St Peter's College, Saltley, later completing a BA with the Open University.
I have long been interested in the history of my adoptive city and studied part-time for an MA in West Midlands local history at Birmingham University. My Master's dissertation was a study of the impact of the Gothic revival on the restoration of Birmingham's ancient churches. I am the author of two primary school assembly books (Oxford University Press) and the former captain of the local bell ringing team. I have lived in Castle Bromwich for some 30 years.
This website is my compilation of material from all sorts of sources. I don't claim to be an expert on the history of Birmingham, just an enthusiastic amateur, so don't take what I write here as the last word on anything. Check it out for yourself!
https://billdargue.jimdo.com/weblinks-etc/weblinks/online-texts
https://oldbirminghampictures.lefora.com
https://ahistoryofbirminghamchurches.jimdo.com
2 Phylis Nicklin
Phyllis Nicklin was the Staff Tutor in Geography in the University of Birmingham's
former Department of Extra Mural Studies in the 1950s and 60s and died in post in 1969,
leaving behind thousands of slides she had taken for her classes. The University of Birmingham had kindly made the collection available to download and redistribute for non-commercial research or private study purposes. Popularized by another prodigious and talented photographer Keith Berry…her photos are also featured on many sites and blogs about Brum…and in colour too!
https://epapers.bham.ac.uk/view/series/Birmingham=27s_Buildings_and_Urban_Topography.html
3 Chris Upton
Dr Chris Upton is Reader in Public History at Newman University Birmingham, specialising in the history of the West Midlands region. Previously he taught at the universities of Aston and Birmingham, and worked in the Archives & Heritage section of Birmingham Central Library. Chris is the author of four books on West Midlands history, all published by Phillimore & Co., including volumes on Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Lichfield. His most recent book is Living Back to Back, a study of back-to-back housing. Chris was the researcher on the project to restore the court of back-to-backs in Hurst Street for the National Trust.
Chris is shortly to complete a book on Birmingham and its Poor 1740-1840. In addition, Chris writes two weekly columns for the Birmingham Post, and makes regular appearances on TV and radio. These too generally focus on the history of the West Midlands. He also conducts Walks and Coach trips around Birmingham, and is a very nice and approachable Brummie Historian, in the mould of Carl Chinn…and his books are also superb.
https://www.birminghampost.co.uk/lifestyle/nostalgia/button-making-returned-roots-birmingham-7487706
4 John Whybrow and Rachel Waterhouse
Fellow of The Institute of Incorporated Photographers, John Whybrow was born in 1924 and educated at King Edwards Grammar School, Five Ways. He was Managing Director of Birmingham’s oldest surviving photographers, founded in 1971 by Thomas Lewis, whose glass plates recorded the Victorian Town. John Whybrow did not simply inherit the early plates, he earned the right to them by his own work as a photographer and his commitment to expanding the collection, organising it, and bringing it up to date.
From 1967 to 1976 he served on the national council of the Institute of Incorporated Photographers and was a regular writer in the Institute’s journal on professional matters. In 1972 , after publishing the best seller “How Does Your Birmingham Grow?”, he joined forces with Rachel Waterhouse in a word and picture propaganda battle to save the old Reference Library and the GPO on behalf of the Victorian Society. This begat another book, “How Birmingham Became a Great City”.
Rachel Waterhouse, born in 1923, mother of four children, was educated at King Edwards High School, Edgbaston, and at St Hugh’s College, Oxford, returning to Birmingham University to take her PhD. In 1964 she became a member of the Birmingham Consumers Group. Since 1966 she served on the council of the National Consumers Association, publishers of the Which Magazine. However her first interest lay in Birmingham, and she was commissioned to write the centenary histories of the Birmingham and Midland Institute (1954), of Tangyes Ltd (1957), and of the Birmingham Children’s Hospital (1962). In 1966 she became the first chairman of the Victorian society, Birmingham Group, and fought long and hard to preserve the City’s buildings…
Those two books mentioned, must contain some of the most copied photos on the numerous Birmingham History forums and discussion blogs. And his company is still trading on the Stratford Road….
5 Vivian Bird
Vivian Bird was born at his parents' pub, the Nag's Head, which was beneath the grandstand at Warwick Racecourse and attended King Edward's School for Boys Camp Hill, between 1921 and 1926.
He then had a spell away from Birmingham for some years while he worked for Conservative Central Office in London, although he captained Camp Hill Old Edwardians Fourth XV rugby team in the mid 1930s.
In 1940 he was conscripted into the 428 (Shirley) Searchlight Battery in which he served for five-and-a-half years.
Following the Second World War, Mr Bird taught rugby at Alsager Teachers Training College in Staffordshire and then joined the Post and Mail in 1951, becoming a distinguished feature writer until his retirement in 1975.
Author of 11 cracking Birmingham and local books, traveller, walker, local politician, popular public speaker, and charity worker, he became an OBE in 1982, and in 1997 received the Queen's commendation on his 60-year marriage to former Camp Hill girl Edith Drew. He died aged 90, after watching his beloved Camp Hill Old Edwardians rugby team at Haslucks Green Rd….almost know how he feels, but we’ll pass over that…I went to the same school…
6 Alton Douglas
And last but not least, my ancient Facebook adversary…..without whom I might not be here on this site, for it’s true to say that my Mom first bought me one of his books of Birmingham Photos in 1983 for Christmas….and I then became instantly hooked on this sort of thing ever since…and I would wager I’m not alone in losing my Historical virginity like that too….and he’s been picking my pocket for new volumes every ten minutes or so ever since….and yes, I fully realise that he never took many of the photos, but he caused them to appear, and that’s good enough for me. Besides that, he was a famous Brummie in other ways, like making people laugh (or cry), and never deserting us for higher and more lofty planes…like London…or Yardley. The other thing is, he never moans about folk constantly pinching his pictures and not acknowledging his ‘human rights’ or ‘copyright rituals’, he just urges them to buy more of his stuff! And as an aside, his wife is MUCH prettier and even more famous.
His bio reads thus: Alton Douglas, born 22 Jan 1938 in Birmingham, was registered as Douglas John Price , the son of Sidney Neville Price (died 19 Aug 1948), a motor pressing inspector, 6th child of Tom Price and Lucy Crutchley, both of Shrewsbury, who had 16 children, and of Dorothy Margaret Price, nee Pipe, (born 17 Dec 1900 in Wolverhampton), daughter of Richard Pipe and Emily Withington. Alton is a broadcaster and author who has appeared in virtually every major theatre in the U.K. and was responsible for hundreds of television warm-ups. He is the voice behind several cartoons and children's toys etc. He was educated at Saltley Grammer School. Alton Douglas has been well known in the Midlands for many years as a radio entertainer and a television presenter of such shows as "Know Your Place". In recent years his carefully planned researched pictorial books on Midland themes have generated sales of over 300,000 copies, and earned him a loyal following. Each book contains between 350 and 400 illustrations, carefully captioned, and presented in a standard A4 format. After spending his National Service as a trombonist, with the band of the 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards, he played in local bands for some time before forming his own group. In order to present something different from the average dance band he began to break up the sets by telling the occasional joke. In time it became a natural progression for him to become a full-time comedian. Over the years he played Dame in panto, Principal Boy opposite Helen Shapiro, appeared in summer shows (including a spell as Principal Comic with the world famous 'Fol de Rols') and played most of the major cabaret venues and theatres in the U.K. (appearing with Paul Daniels, Vera Lynn, Roy Hudd, Frankie Vaughan, Edmund Hockridge and many more). He also acted as warm-up comic for over 1,000 TV shows including 'The Golden Shot', 'The Peggy Lee Show', 'Some Mothers Do 'Ave Em', 'Terry and June', 'New Faces', 'Lunchtime with Wogan', 'Up the workers' and "Are you being served?". Over the years he has acted in training videos, recorded voice-overs for hundreds of radio commercials, been the voice behind several cartoons and children's toys, written showbiz columns and reviewed jazz records and shows and appeared in such TV programmes as 'Angels', 'Seconds Out', 'Crossroads', 'A Soft Touch', 'Muck and Brass', 'The Golden Shot', 'The Knockers', 'The Original Alton Douglas', 'Nights at the Swan', 'Watch This Space', 'The Barmaid's Arms', 'Open University', 'Property Rites', 'Big Deal', 'Newshound', 'Murder of a Moderate Man' and 'The Bretts'. In 1979 he was asked to host the BBC Midlands TV inter-town quiz series 'Know Your Place' and, as writer and quizmaster. By the time the third series had ended, he had discovered a hole in the market - there did not appear to be any books concentrating on the Midlands during the 2nd World War. 'Birmingham at War Vol 1' (published by the Evening Mail) came out in 1982 and was an immediate success.This was followed by another three war books and the idea was then developed to cover a longer span of time. Most of the following books show events over a 100 years or more and they are mainly pictorial, with lots of ads, newspaper cuttings and posters. Alton, working with his wife of 35 years, Jo, nee Ward, along with Dennis Moore, (ex-RAF/retired Bank Manager) do all the distribution. In fact, they have carried so many boxes of books into shops - over 450,000 to date - that Jo and Alton have had to have osteopathic treatment for neck and back injuries!
He suggests I read more in his biog, The Original Alton Douglas! --- which I have now done, and it is a good read, honest Miss!
https://exhib.homestead.com/index.html
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