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The other day I was in a very noisy tea room and remembered my dad referring to such a noise (clattering cutlery, excited children, shouting adults, etc.) as a chow-row. Is it a real word, or did he invent it?

In the 1911 census I found a couple of relatives I wasn't really aware of with this description (which is horrible). There's no way now of knowing what this actually meant, and anyone who would have known is no longer here, but it raises questions like did they go to an ordinary school and what...

I found an ancestor in the 1911 census whose occupation was Twister. Apparently, this was to do with the rag and bone trade, and twister referred to the motion of the hands as the person turned over the items.

He died a couple of days ago and the reason I'm mentioning it is that he played Hamlet at the Rep in 1969 and was apparently very good. (I didn't see it and rather wish I had but saw the revival with Alec McCowen).

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0028q8y/influential-with-katty-kay-series-3-derek-jacobi It's a short interview and he says a little about his time at the Rep in the 1960s.

One of the items was a clocking-in clock from a factory in Birmingham that manufactured street lighting. The name was Crawford. Another was a bicycle used for bicycle polo, brought in by members of (unless I misheard) the Solihull Bicycle Polo Club.

My husband found this record in a charity shop, and it has very little information, no date, for instance. There is nothing about it on Discogs but the label is Pathe and it sounds like a recording from the 1950s or 1960s. Any advice on how to find out something about it, the artists on it, etc...

This film from the 1990s about three hair salons in Blackpool is brilliant https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0d2pngh It reminded me of Hilda's salon in Small Heath where I used to be taken as a small girl. Are there any salons like this now, with hairdryers with hoods? Such a friendly...

A friend applied for his father's army service record, and after a very long time was told that because of certain information it contains, the record can't be released until well into the next decade. He knows that his father was in Italy and North Africa but would like to know details like...

I mentioned these to my husband yesterday and neither of us could remember the name. They came in a long thin plastic tube and I can remember a blue one - what could have been in it?!

There was a short item about Peaky Blinders, how it has made people aware of Birmingham, and how it has revivified the British film industry. They interviewed someone who works at the Black Country Museum. It was at about 8.20 a.m. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m00162lx I know the thread...

This is the occupation of a relative in the 1939 Register. Does anyone have any ideas about what it means? maria

Several weeks ago a cat started to visit us, and we began (perhaps wrongly) to give her treats. Then, as she seemed so ravenous, we started to give her sachets of Sheba. We think she has a home somewhere, though we’re not experienced with cats, but she does seem to need food, and turns up at the...

The writer of the play 'Not About Heroes' which is about Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen, was brought up and educated in Birmingham. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_MacDonald

He plays, among many other parts, the hapless Kevin in 'Motherland.' Wikipedia describes him as from Birmingham, growing up in "the town of Harborne"!

Not actually of Birmingham, but he spent time in Winson Green Prison as a Conscientious Objector during the Second World War. I was leafing through an anthology called 'Don't You Know There's A War On' by Jonathan Croall and found a chapter written by his wife Olive. It sounds pretty awful, but...

Could someone remind me how to find the report of an inquest? An ancestor of my husband's was killed in an accident in Islington in 1928. I've found lots of newspaper reports of the accident, but we would like to know what actually happened. (That sounds a bit odd!)

Anyone watching this? It's the usual structure, a family travels through time, on this occasion running a corner shop in Sheffield. I don't think we really had a corner shop, though perhaps I just can't remember.

My memories of The Newcomers are very vague. I think Gladys Henson was in it?

It's on Talking Pictures TV at 7.00. p.m. today (probably at other times as well). It's about the annual Road Patrol and lasts 15 minutes.