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Hope you don't mind a correction. His name is Fuchs (fox) and as he was arrested 2nd Feb 1950, he must have met his handler in Birmingham in the early 1940s. She was Ursula Kuczynski (Sonya). Fuchs went to the US at the end of 1943. While he worked at Harwell from 1946 he met his handler in...

Will try to get a better view of the sign when I can to replace this effort.

At the present, there are roadworks on the pavement there. I'll try to get a photo of the ghost sign when I can. Cafe is clear, but Kardomah less so.

Here's the current front of Newton Chambers from New Street.

42A New Street on the corner of Needless Alley was in recent years a shoe shop, Ecco. But now it is a cafe again, Gail's. I'm pleased that the Victorian fireplace described up the thread is insitu.

No idea, I'm afraid Dave. I would think that the NCB housing would continue for a long time after the mine closure. Nationally 170,000 houses were owned up to the miners' strike 1984-5 and after the NCB was ordered to sell the housing stock. I don't know the history of these houses in Hamstead.

Until 1965, Richard. The coal was very deep and it was said to be uneconomic to mine further. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamstead_Colliery

I'm wondering if your lecture was by Brian Griffin, who was born in Birmingham and became a well-known and successful photographer? He died last year unfortunately. I can't find the steels on line, but I think they feature in studies of modernist Birmingham? The facade of the Rep was changed...

Like many older men I don't have much of a sense of smell. This is often a blessing. I have smelled tallow candles, so if Aston Hall used these for authenticity, then they do smell horribly.

Dry rot perhaps? I visited many times in the early 1990s and didn't smell anything particularly. But I hope they have dealt with any rot and repaired timbers in recent years. A decaying mummy would certainly smell!

"For the festive season, Aston Hall will once again be lit up by LED candlelight for its Christmas by Candlelight tours. From Friday 12 December to Sunday 14 December, visitors can step back in time to find out how Christmas was celebrated in the past and learn about the origins of traditions...

Apparently the Beaufighter cockpit section can be seen at Midland Air Museum, Baginton where it is on long term loan which occurred before the building of Think Tank. At least it will be seen by many aircraft enthusiasts there. Discussed at...

Happy Birthday, Janice. Have a lovely day!

https://memorial-loire42.fr/le-memorial/les-fondateurs/ Ado RAIMOND (1921-2013) is remembered in a Resistance memorial. (Trans) 'Adolphe Louis Raimond, known as Ado, is 20 years old in 1941. "I condemned the Vichy policy and I wanted to settlescores with the enemy." My father was a member of...

Hello Quibell, Have you seen this thread? https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/forum/threads/grandfathers-house-mr-albert-raimond-handsworth-and-cyclo-gear-difficulty-in-finding-correct-address.52251/ Albert Raimond returned to France before the war. He was in the Resistance with his son Ado and...

Milk Street is still there Dianne as you may know. And there's a Back-to-Backs museum in Hurst Street https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/birmingham-west-midlands/birmingham-back-to-backs. Well worth a visit if you haven't been.

Welcome to BHF, Dianne. How lovely to visit your UK family so often. There must have been a few GI brides. I was surprised to discover years later that I'd grown up near USAAF Station 522 in Beakes Road Smethwick which supplied and repaired radio and radar equipment. All kept hush-hush so no-one...

I was in the scouts with lad whose family were Jowett enthusiasts in the late 60s early 70s. A fabulous looking car and I remember those 'suicide' front doors.

Ansells went for a Burton in 1981. I'm surprised that's 44 years ago! The cask conditioned mild stopped being produced in 2012.

Sylvia posted about this #216 in https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/forum/threads/old-saying.188/page-8 Was your dad ever in the forces, Maria? It seems to describe the row in a canteen. Chow came to English from Chinese for food. Doubling the sound or word is a common way of making new words. I've...