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Humorous And Interesting Newspaper Stories about Birmingham

Pedrocut said:
The Birmingham Gazette from 8 April 1940 reports…

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Skywriting was banned in the UK in 1960. It appears in Virginia Woolf's novel Mrs Dalloway (1925) when the message is apparently Kreemo. I think I recall skywriting over Bearwood on a sunny day before the ban. Mom explained what the plane was doing as she'd seen it in earlier times. I was four so an early memory.
 
Pedrocut said:
Cathedral Railings go for war effort in early July.
(Birmingham Gazette)

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Pedro, there's a story on many places of the internet that the railings collected could not be used in the war effort as the iron was unsuitable or there was simply too much collected. Some say railings were sent down the Thames to be dumped at sea. Some say that the whole thing was staged simply to improve morale by involving the home front in the war effort. I could provide links, but given this could simply be a conspiracy theory, I won't amplify it here. I wonder if members have heard this story before (especially in pre-internet days) or have any evidence one way or the other? The earliest reference in print I found was in London Evening Standard 1984 - so the day before yesterday in historical terms!
Derek
 
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I have heard, before the internet, though cannot give a reference, that the whole thing was mainly aimed at making the normal citizen think they were helping the war effort, rather than becausalof the necessity of obtaining the materiAL
 
Stokkie said:
The Iron Bloke, David S Mitchell, quotes Christopher Long in 1984, but makes the point that ferrous scrap always has value and no vast dumps have been found. https://www.theironbloke.com/about-1
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I remember well those cut off railings! When I studied strength of materials in college the light went on. The only thing that material was useful for (and not very) was ballast weights :) !
 
On the 21 July 1940 the Birmingham Gazette reports something that causes quite a stir in the Council. Councillor Tiptaft calls out the Earl of Dudley…

A.R.P. CHIEFS ACCUSE LORD DUDLEY OF DISCOURTESY.
Men Inspected: City Not Told.
Strong letter of protest.

“ALLEGATIONS that the Earl of Dudley, Midland Regional Commissioner for Civil Defence, had been "gravely discourteous " to Birmingham in arranging an inspection of the city's air-raid precautions by M.P.s last Friday without advising the Lord Mayor, the Controller of the Services (Sir Frank Wiltshire) or the chairman of the A.R.P. Committee (Councillor N.Tiptaft) provoked a lively discussion at yesterday's meeting of the City Council.”

…."If the same thing happens again I shall make the same protest." Councillor Tiptaft in reply. “I shall not shut up from making it so long as I have the confidence of my committee. and in this matter it is absolutely unanimous,"
 
Evening Despatch, February 1947… Wayfarer ponders on place names names in the Rambling section. Many close to Birmingham.

Cutthroat Coppice, Solihull…Bedlams End, Knowle…Foul End, Kingsbury.
And a foreign tour California, Cape of Good Hope, Botany Bay…

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Not poison pills but as a child, during WW2, I was taught by my guardian never to kick or touch anything metal that was lying around as it might be something corrosive at at the worst explosive.
 
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