This 1921 image of Hudson's on New Street is pretty much how I remember it, even into the 1960s/70s. The tables piled up with books in the centre of the shop was still the layout 40 years after this image. It gave the impression of a long, thin shop. You can see a banner drawing your attention to the annex to the rear of the shop across the arcade. Note the ghostly figure up the ladder to the right.
Sophia Loren did a book signing there in 1979. Here's the Birmingham Mail cartoonist's (Whittock) record of the occasion. The caption to the cartoon was " Crafty Wotsit. I wondered why you suddenly became so interested in shopping in town ......" although the main message to me seems to be the man collecting for the miner's strike whilst Sophia Loren is to host a cocktail party at the Grand! Viv
Sophia Loren did a book signing there in 1979. Here's the Birmingham Mail cartoonist's (Whittock) record of the occasion. The caption to the cartoon was " Crafty Wotsit. I wondered why you suddenly became so interested in shopping in town ......" although the main message to me seems to be the man collecting for the miner's strike whilst Sophia Loren is to host a cocktail party at the Grand! Viv
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