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Im pretty certain that the "Credenda works" were based in Smethwick.

Interesting topic , there must have been many engineering companies involved with the manufacture of various parts for the war but probably only a few who actually did the final assembly and adding the explosives and detonators, as mentioned it would have been a chemical company who supplied the...

Hello David, this might help to clear things up a little regarding Oscar Deutsch, I am taking most of this text from "The Dream Palaces of Birmingham" which has quite a large page on him but this is probably the most interesting part............................. "Oscar had a unique way of...

Oscar Deutch was a clever businessman, I believe he did not have many shares in any on his Odeons, each being a separate Limited liabliity company. He invested quite heavily in the companies that supplied his circuit and he also invited his Cinemas builders to buy shares so he apparently got his...

It looks a really impressive building.

Indeed it would Lloyd, unfortunately my interests in Cinemas started a little late, Im not a big film fan its the technology and the architecture that I find more interesting and all the information i give in the forum tends to come from the two books that have been written about our local...

I must confess I have not visited it for a long time and its on my vast list of things to do. I hope it carries on because so far it has managed to survive so many potential threats to its existance. Odeons built by Oscar Deutch did have a particular look about them as most of them were...

According to the book Iam using for referance the Star opened in 1914 and was owned by Aston Villa player William Devey, it doesnt say when. Its frontagw was heavily modified in the mid 50s with what looks like a new canopy and large square shaped pillars surrounding a lrager centre secion with...

Thanks David, Im not absolutely certain re it being an Odeon but Im fairly certain, this is one of those instances when takeovers rather complicate things, I will try to do some further research. The last time I visited the Cinema in order to take photos of the projection room, I think it was a...

Big, I only embibe purely for health reasons, to be honest it can become quite a chore :) Best Wishes and Cheers:)

I am sure we all have a favourite Cinema, they are so much an integral part of our former years and they should be remembered for what they are, a building where many shared a few hours together engrossed in a film made to simply entertain us and yet they became far more, often remaining in our...

Although it does initially appear to be quite funny, it also makes me quite angry. These people almost certainly had other problems that made them get drunk, times were hard then and the bottom of a glass rt bottle almost certainly provided the short term solution to their probelms. However...

Purely as an aside, we have started collecting Birmingham Silver.

According to the book "Dream Palaces of Birmingham", Chris&Rosemary Clegg, the Capitol was designed by Arcibald Hurley Robijson and opened on the 4th April 1925. Four years later it was enlarged to a design by Satchwell&Roberts this increased the seating capacity to 1,400 from the previuos 900...

Quite right Mike re the bit about bowel irritation and something that I believe current medics do not encourage. Interestingly when I used to do metallurgical analysis at Darcast, Smethwick we used phenolphthalein as an indicator for the analysis of phophorous,in cast iron, it was used during...

I seem to remember Phillips using the slogan "The True Temper Steel Bicycle" I had a Phillips "Fiesta" witha three speed SA hub when I was a lad. Apparently they also produced mopeds................ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phillips_Cycles

Kathy, this is ideal holiday reading, Astonite, your right about the mans genious, easy to read , informative and very entertaining.

I have to admit Im not a big reader but I am a keen fan of Mr Bryson. I am currently reading the above mentioned and it is a super book full of the most fascinating facts about all sorts of things. The author moves from one room of his house, a Norflok rectory, to another room but then goes...

Hello Mike, interesting, I would put it pre 1947 as the railway companies are referred to by their pre grouping names, ie LMSR and GWR.

Agreed Hannah, we went last Thursday after preboooking, it was a most interesting afternoon. This did not involve the 40s week, as that had ended by then, in fact we new nothing about that. Well worth the visit all the same.