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Well Mike, we are back to photomontage then. I hope a historic one and for artistic rather than documentary purposes. I see no reason to think this is the result of photoshop or any digital process, just competent darkroom work. I think the photomontage could well have been done in the early...

Excellent Geoff! You have greatly added to our knowledge of the image. I suspect that it could be created by a skilled photographer using a view camera, that is a large plate camera with movements enabling the lens to focus on the bus and horses with a big enough image circle to include the pub...

Lyn, if there are originals then this would be the glass plate or negative. But the image might be enlarged, made darker or lighter or even reversed. Portrait photographers often used to flip the image so that we see our faces as we see ourselves in the mirror and not as we are seen by others...

Hand-coloured or digitally colourised? I'm not using the F word.

I would like to encourage people to post images for discussion without imputing blame. We don't know who created the picture posted on FB or why. I think with a view camera with movements you might be able to make a similar image in a darkroom. An image of the bus and horses might appear empty...

I think it is desirable that people put the source of posted photographs wherever possible. It is certainly useful to discuss the status of images in the spirit of friendly inquiry. Manipulated images are as old as photography itself, but AI introduces new or at least more intense issues. Once...

HS2 6 monthly report July 2025. Ministerial statement. https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/hs2-6-monthly-report-to-parliament-july-2025

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.