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For what it's worth Hive VLM an AI image detector concluded that the image is 100% not generated by Al Other Al generated image detectors are available...

The dark figures to the right strike me as difficult to resolve. Are they a couple walking side by side? Overall, I'd agree the image isn't real, but we could judge better if we had a print. Most people encounter historic photos mediated by digital images these days. I supposed the bus could be...

It is hard to assess images on screen. Mike's #1 seems to have very contrasty horses and bus compared to the soft pub background on the right. I expect that the image was taken with a 5x4 or even 10x8 camera. Big negatives facilitate burning in of the subject and dodging the background to make...

I had to Google to see Finchley Park is in Kingstanding. An unknown area of Birmingham to me. Thank you!

Thank you Quibell. That seems pretty clear that she did have an ARP role. I don't know how reliable the 1939 Register is at recording ARP responsibilities. The final column 'instructions' is blank, but appears to be cut off and we can't see any more of the right-hand page. Perhaps she minuted a...

Carl Chinn on women volunteer wardens in Birmingham. https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/nostalgia/carl-chinn-volunteer-wardens-heroes-361375

I found Norma Quibell in the 1939 Register - annotated with her married name Mackenzie. But there's no annotation or note about ARP. Her occupation is shorthand typist, so perhaps she took notes at meetings? Reports would be sent to headquarters. Finding individual ARP records I'm afraid is...

In the case of the Barton's Arms it was owned by Oakham Ales, a brewery with a large pub in Peterborough. I don't know if anything has changed. [It has.]

Here's a restored Linotype machine in action.

That's an excellent description, Dionysus! My scout master was a printers' engineer and took a small party of us round the print shop. We each got a piece of lead formed into letters to take away. Sadly I thew mine away when I moved house. I seem to remember a kind of moulding made of hardened...

Barton's Arms announced that the pub is closed for good. Due to unforeseen circumstances. (Birmingham Live) :(

Letterpress is taught in some art schools and is used for small items such as wedding invitations and artistic expression. It is an artisan and also a hobby activity. Birmingham is also a centre for research into type and letterpress. https://www.cphc.org.uk/ Here's...

Workers at Lamkin´s tobacco factory, 9 Patrick's Street, Cork. (Irish Examiner) Irish National Archives. Undated. No lectors in sight.

There's a well-known folk song 'The Doffing Mistress' which originated in the Ulster linen mills. Anne Briggs recorded this in 1963, but lots of folk singers have sung versions. (A doffing mistress was the overseer). I think that apart from engineers most mill workers were women and girls?)...

Factory Lector? I think that is a Cuban cigar factory where books and newspapers were read to the workers. Is there any evidence of such a job in the UK? A fabulous set of pictures though.

Hovis bread is still in business and a British brand sold by Waitrose and Tesco and others.https://www.hovis.co.uk Harvo isn't made since the 1970s, but Soreen another malt fruit loaf is widely available.

Just signed up! This site is a fund of information and entertainment. Thanks to @warren and mods for keeping it going. Not forgetting members who post photographs and historical information.

I used all three libraries in Central Birmingham. There are still some Victorian and Modernist buildings left, but many who have not visited the city for some years won't recognise the place.

The Flapper has a 'what's on' page which says that goth/metal bands play there regularly. Looks as if they are still in business.

As a footnote, I was curious to find out who 'General Elliott' was and if he had any link to Birmingham. I'd say the name refers to General George Augustus Eliott (25 December 1717 – 6 July 1790) He commanded the garrison during the Great Siege of Gibraltar, which lasted from 1779 to 1783...