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I don't doubt the commercial logic but if Leeds - Birmingham had been completed first Birmingham - London would have certainly followed. Starting from London the distant destinations were always going to be at risk. Older members will recall that the M1 never got to go to Birmingham, stopping...

Eric, they should have started from Leeds and Manchester then it might have been done as they raced to reach London.

Seems to have come back?

Surely there were fewer landowners in the 19th century and some, not all, thought they would benefit. The opposition to HS2, I imagine, would mostly come from educated, well-off, literate freeholders, people who have a lot to lose but armed with the tools to fight back. One of the arguments for...

The 'wireless' is an abbreviation for 'Wireless Telegraphy', a term still used as in The Wireless Telegraphy Act 2006, the law that obliges TV watchers to have a licence. Isn't it strange though how post-war, possibly as a result of American influence, 'wireless' came to be thought...

I recall a similar joke in which a newly arrived African in England speaks but with various clicks and whistles interposed in his otherwise perfect RP English. The punch line was that he had learned his English from the BBC World Service on the short wave band.

Woolworth's Recreation Ground? Would it have been near Smethwick? From an old slide of mine that I have long forgotten taking.

It is inevitable that one will be reminded of people and events that haven't been written down but that wouldn't have happened if nothing had been written down. One can always add an annex. I would be surprised if your account doesn't become more interesting to even more people as the years go...

Now 'The William Tyler' operated by Wetherspoons. I don't think they do 6d and 1/- drinks though! Ray's Wallpapers, at the end of the row was still operating until a few years ago. Fine Fare is now Iceland.

Card box holding modelling tools, razor saw, craft knife, mini-drill etc. Still working through envelopes and writing paper, (writing? what's that?), polypockets, essential for genealogy and 'useful' printouts, mega carrier bag doing sterling service keeping lesser carrier bags tidy. Lots of...

The first electric milk floats that I remember were bright red three-wheelers operated by Slater's and serving the Sheldon area in the late 1950s. I think they were taken over by Midland Counties but I only remember them operating four-wheelers. I was late getting back to school one lunchtime...

I registered a death by phone in March and the registrar sent a long list of required documentation. However my memory is that not much was used in the end. (Possible a case of those organisations that carelessly ask for a Driving Licence AND Passport when they mean Driving Licence OR...

Last time I registered a death I was asked for a birth certificate, perhaps to avoid another The Day of the Jackal? Even with a birth certificate 'the authorities' don't get it right. We had a relative born in a place with, at the time, a Roman name, Holme, the coroner was adamant that they...

It was rumoured that Dr. Hetherington would extract the individuals from the school photo for his files, if so he would have spotted the run-arounds!

There sems to have been a quite a few (Socialist) Clarion Cycling Clubs around the country, at least three in Birmingham: Birmingham Premier Birmingham Aston Birmingham Selly Oak Tthere were also various clubhouses called 'Clarion House' around the country. If there was one in Sheldon I would...

I don't think there was a written rule about no photography at the time but I never saw anyone else bring in a camera. My camera fitted a blazer pocket nicely and I don't think anyone was aware that they were being photographed. I have taken photographs in several places where photography very...

Second thoughts, more likely 6 Maths as 5 Maths' form room was the first classroom in the New Block on the ground floor. Note the better quality tie and coloured-in blazer badge. Didn't we get to stop wearing caps too.

Probably 5 Maths at play. Ground floor of the New Block. Seddon keeping his cards to his chest, Seddon and Jeromes play against each other.

I think this might be Mrs Maurice Bulpitt, taken at the old Solihull Council House in Poplar Road. She was an American lady and both she and her husband died in the USA.

Miss Hulse was a dark-haired PE teacher. One lunchtime she brought out a netball class to the centre playground where we boys had been playing touch rugby with a folded cap. I bravely asked if we could use the forbidden tennis courts instead and she said , "Yes". The practical classes were...