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And here's a view of the Octagon itself. There are plans for lots of tall buildings in Birmingham, commercial and luxury housing.

The Library of Birmingham lights up nicely at night. There's a pool of water outside with fountains on sunny days. The tall building to the right is the Octagon which is being finished off after topping out. They both dwarf Baskerville House to the extreme right.

Birmingham Daily Post 29 June 1974 reported 6 killed and 24 workers seriously injured in the 1973 explosion. IMI were fined £10 the maximum allowed under the Explosives Act 1875 with £150 costs. The cause was a worker fitting a guard using an electric drill on a cartridge filling machine while...

Reading about Kynoch and found this 1973 short film. (Starts silent then sound for the interviews). 'IMI Ammunition factory at Witton - aftermath of the explosion. Home Office officials sift through the wreckage to find evidence of sabotage'...

I agree Lyn, it is a quality building and part of our industrial and military past. Derek

Hi Lyn, Gatehouses built for Kynochs/IMI - the works hospital was inside the site and a small building compared to the entire works. They had a fire brigade as well. Here's the listing description linked to by Brummielad above: "The Gatehouse Buildings at the former IMI works, of 1915 by...

Kynoch's works which became IMI has been demolished and Eden Boy's School occupies part of the site since about 2016. The gatehouses were listed and have been preserved. When I started work at Birmingham Poly staff and students could use the medical facilities at IMI as they had nurses and a...

Thanks, just to clarify I meant the tracks near the old Docker's Paints site.

Do you know if they can still be seen? Or have they been removed or covered over? I know Icknield Port Loop is a big development. I've not ventured to that part of the canal for many years. I have seen Osler street about 7 years ago and the reservoir. I've read the thread on canalworld.

Brinson, C. (2023). The ‘Homecoming’ of the Activists: How the Communist Refugees Returned from British Exile. Oxford German Studies, 52(3), 297–306. https://doi.org/10.1080/00787191.2023.2225286...

Thanks Peter. I can appreciate that you might not wish to disclose names if you are intending to publish. You know that there are registers of aliens in wartime Britain? Some took British citizenship, others might have avoided being sent to Czechoslovakia after the war. This might help...

Welcome to BHF Peter! Can you tell us their name? I don't know if you are aware of the conference last year? https://www.architecture.com/whats-on/displaced-lives-architects-seeking-refuge-on-the-brink-of-the-second-world-war-hybrid-conference Press cuttings for Radiation Ltd are available...

From Daily Express 21 April 1941 among a list of RAAF slang terms. Defined, but nothing about origins.

Jonathan Green's Dictionary of Slang suggests: go for a Burton (v.) [the precise ety. remains unknown but there are a number of suggestions. First is the elision of SE burnt ’un, i.e. a burning aircraft (and its pilot). Partridge (DSUE, 1970), and Paul Beale (DSUE, 1984) suggest: (i) a euph...

Betty Burden was photographed by a famous photographer, Bert Hardy. But the 'brief encounter' photo posted by Mark is by Haywood Magee another Picture Post photographer who isn't known much today. I had to look him up. Great photos in Black and White on this thread...

Me too, remembered from Uplands Secondary Boys late 1960s. I guess it was someone's father's or grandfather's party piece.

Pete, have a great Birthday! Derek

The Iron Room - the blog of Archives and Collections chose James Henry Cook as its subject in 2016. https://theironroom.wordpress.com/tag/james-henry-cook/ but nothing further was found searching then.