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Notable Brummies

I have been pleasantly surprised to learn from Dennis Shaw (shawcross), that England's current Test Match hero, Moeen Ali, is a Sparkhill lad, from Showell Green Lane. I am told that his father wanted him to play for Pakistan, but Moeen preferred England. Good for him. Why
does he also play for Worcestershire, and not Warwickshire? Eddie.
 
I was familiar with the Tangye name when I worked for Robert M. Douglas
in George Road. The Civil Engineering company often wrote letters to the
Tangye factory. It was a very successful business.

Years later I came across Derek Tangye's books. He was the grandson of Richard Tangy, founder of the Birmingham company. He and his wife
Jeannie (maiden name same as my married name...Nicol) gave up prestige jobs to move to a very small clifftop farm to grow daffodils, keep donkeys and cats. The dwelling they lived in was very basic for amenities in the beginning. Jeannie worked as a PR person at The Savoy Hotel is London and met and wrote about the famous people she met in four books. Derek was a print journalist in the war years and there have been suggestions he worked for MI5.

I have read all Dereks' books and listened to some on tape. They are called the "Minack Chronicles" as a group. Jeannie died in 1986 and Derek lived on another ten years until l996. The cottage and land has been preserved as was their wish and the donkeys are provided for.

Wikipedia has an entry and links https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derek_Tangye

I used to read excerpts from the Tangye books in my mum's My Weekley then I got one from the library. Donkeys On My Roof. Just today I was researching the name Tanqueray as in Gin, and the Second Mrs Tanqueray by George Bernard Shaw, I read that it is the same 'family' as Tangye which it the Cornish branch and Tankerville which is the Welsh.
 
Did you know that we have a world class drummer on our site. Guess who this is? John Crump OldBrit.Parker. Co USA001 (1).jpg001 (1).jpg
 
Is Mark Williams of TV's Father Brown, a Brummie?

Watching him on The Link, his accent s definitely from the area.

Eddie.
 
Not sure if this qualifies but back in 1970's a guy who taught us at North Birmingham tech, who then worked at Lucas is now Lord Bhattacharyya, I think I spelt that correctly.
 
Re: Notable Birmingham People

My personal view is that no he doesn't but just my opinion.

Sent from my LG-D802 using Tapatalk
 
Re: Notable Brummies-Oh how us Brummies get around

​Brummies 22nd June 2015
 

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I didn't realise that the 1950's singer David Hughes came from Bournbrook, i always thought he was welsh.
 
Not sure if this qualifies but back in 1970's a guy who taught us at North Birmingham tech, who then worked at Lucas is now Lord Bhattacharyya, I think I spelt that correctly.

A reply to this old thread says "no". Well I disagree. How do you define a famous person of Birmingham? Surely it's a very narrow concept to only consider people actually born in Birmingham? Many of Birmingham's famous people were not born in Brum but were long associated with Brum after they became famous.
What about:
William Hutton
Prof. Fred Lanchester
James Watt
& my favourite author Lee Child to name a few.

Kumar Bhattacharyya is the foremost engineer of his generation and well deserved his title. He is alive and well living in Moseley in the former Lucas home.

What do other members think?
 
Agree very much that Lord Bhattacharyya of Moseley qualifies as a notable Brummie. He studied at the University of Birmingham, taught in Birmingham and worked at Lucas. He now resides in Moseley. He built up his reputation at the University of Warwick where he successfully led engineering research and innovations to outcomes that could be used by businesses and industry. I took this photograph of him in 1991 at a degree ceremony held in Coventry Cathedral. My son had studied Engineering and Business Studies and graduated that day. He had attended many lectures by Prof. Bhattacharyya and found him inspiring. Dave.
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How about my old pal and mate the late EDDIE HAYNES (NorfolkBrummie) He was a great drummer in his time and met and played with all the stars, had many many tales to tell. Just read some of his post you will see what I mean
 
No chance, John, unless you are prepared to pay for it yourself - and that is not meant to disrespect Eddie's memory as you know. I tried to get a plaque put up for Frederick Humphreys and his wife, Marie Longmore in Wheeleys Road, Edgbaston. He was director musical director of the Theatre Royal for over 40 years, composer of many shows there, and wrote much educational music for students, all published by Cornish Bros. She was their top star from the late 1860s onwards and also appeared in West End theatres and all over the USA. He lived all his life in Edgbaston, she was born in Bilston and died in Edgbaston.

The reply I got back was "Not well known enough" - which translates as nobody on the Committee has ever heard of them! A friend of mine, Kurt Ganzl, who produced the Black & White Minstrel Show and many other shows for the BBC and West End shows, and is author of many books, including the three volume Encyclopaedia of Musical Theatre, said "If you put the money on the table, it'll be up there next week!". I think we was right. :)

Maurice
 
If I see a blue plaque and I have not heard of the person honoured it encourages me try to find out who they were and more about them. Surely "not well known enough" stops people getting to know about historical figures and their achievements.
Carolann
 
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