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I should say I was laughing only at Eric's wonderful turn of phrase 'if you can't put a spanner on it...' I suspect that the historical legal language and abbreviations might defeat us. If people can decipher any of this then do post in this thread.

...... is a undecoded word Heading is: To the Right Honourable Sir Thomas Audley …… Lord Chancellor of England [Agreeing with Lady Penelope's post above] Complaining … ... Your good lordship your poor …… Thomas Croft …… that / [Note: "common pleas" are actions between subject and subject...

Actually Eric, Middle English is the language of Chaucer so before this document with more French vocabulary! There are lots of words we can read as modern English once we decipher the handwriting. Spelling wasn't fixed until after Shakespeare's time, so this makes it tricky for modern eyes...

This legal document, I agree it appears to be a plea, is actually written in Early Modern English, so we shouldn't talk about Old English (which is the language of the Anglo Saxons). Shakespeare's Sonnets were published in 1609. Legal texts contain both Latin and French, the handwriting is...

Happy Birthday Viv, I hope you have a lovely day.

Yes, there was. I never went inside, but looked at the window display. There is always a market and a fascination for such things. There are also lots of fakes originating from Eastern Europe.

My g. greataunt born 1851 Dudley emigrated to New South Wales age 35 with husband and children in 1886. She has many descendants there. No one else in the family went to Australia, but it certainly worked out for them. Before her marriage she had been a domestic servant, it must have been an...

J. Lancaster and Son, optician and camera maker, of Irving Street, Birmingham. Made wooden view cameras, among them several cameras for smaller plate formats. The 1/4-plate Instantograph was one of the better known. A very special model was the Gem Apparatus of 1880, a camera with twelve...

I wonder if having his father die of tuberculosis might be a reason for changing his name before emigration? Attitudes to this disease were very different then and it was often seen as shameful.

Back to 1909, Jean Stanton suggests in her brief history online: A Box of Chocolates, The Cabbage and Making Plate Glass https://savetheelectriccinema.com/a-brief-history/ I guess that the films mentioned were documentary shorts? 650 films were made in Britain in 1909 and mostly documentaries...

Last film, I think may be The Taste of Things (French: La Passion de Dodin Bouffant directed by Trần Anh Hùng starring Juliette Binoche and Benoît Magimel. Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clm7nnyx2d5o There is another film poster to the left - but we can't see this.

Welcome to the forum, Brian! The first film to be shown at The Electric Theatre as it was known, was silent with piano accompaniment. I don't know what the film was or if anyone took a note, but if you have access to a good library or the BFI Wikipedia gives some sources: The Era, Film Gossip...

Apparently the 'perversion' is Tractarianism - the Anglo-Catholic Tracts for the Times which energised the early stages of the Oxford Movement. She has an entry in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography which explains. Thanks for posting about this author. I've never heard of her, but there...

I looked for the introduction of the slogan 'Fizziness is our bizziness' but no joy so far! November 1963 this slogan used in the Birmingham Mail. Can you confirm that this is a screw stopper rather than a crown cap or screw on lid.

Historic England has over 7000 images relating to Birmingham. These may be used for non-commercial purposes with attribution. https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/photos/results/?filteroption=images&search=Birmingham&searchType=HE+Archive+New Images can be embedded- but not I think on...

King's Head junction of Hagley Road and Lordswood Road is closed perhaps permanently. [Picture from Geograph 2016 Creative Commons]. There used to be a Beer Keller and bands used the venue in the 1960s...

First visit to The Woodman after reopening. The restoration is nicely done. The back yard contained a surprise.

Interesting that these fights are both in the same time period. In Harborne B'ham Maney is taken before the Tipton Police (Magistrates) court and Royal before West Bromwich - both outside Birmingham. But perhaps people thought that they could escape across county lines? Interesting.

There's a wide coverage of prize fighting in the Birmingham and Black Country papers. But often bouts took place in a field or rural location. If the police did interfere Breach of the Peace was the offence. Published: Saturday 26 September 1885 Newspaper: Harborne Herald British Newspaper...