20 Facts You Might Not Know About Birmingham

7420564702 f09800968a o 20 Facts You Might Not Know About Birmingham

20 Facts You Might Not Know About Birmingham

  1. Victoria Square hosts one of the largest fountains in Europe, nicknamed “The Floozie in the Jacuzzi”.

  2. The Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery has the world’s largest collection of Pre-Raphaelite paintings.

  3. Birmingham’s Spaghetti junction is famous around the world.

  4. The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings were inspired by places and people in Birmingham. Their author, J.R.R. Tolkien, was from Brum.

  5. The city was founded in the Anglo-Saxon era.

  6. James Watt, a Scot who lived in Birmingham from 1775-1819, developed the steam engine

  7. Birmingham’s Central Library is Europe’s largest public library.

  8. Birmingham Cathedral has stained glass windows designed by the British master of stained glass himself, Edward Burne-Jones, who was himself from Birmingham.

  9. The Birmingham Jewellery Quarter produces 40% of all jewellery produced in the UK.

  10. Bird’s Custard, Cadbury Chocolate, Bournville Drinking Chocolate, HP Sauce and Typhoon Tea are all from Birmingham.

  11. The world’s top racquet sport, tennis, began at Edgbaston in the 1850’s.

  12. It has more canals than Venice and is the centre of the UK’s canal network

  13. Locals are nicknamed ‘Brummies’.

  14. The 18th century Industrial Revolution put Birmingham on the map as a manufacturing powerhouse.

  15. Birmingham is the 2nd largest city in the United Kingdom after London, and in the top 20 biggest cities in Europe by population.

  16. There are 30 other Birmingham’s around the world, but Birmingham, United Kingdom is the original one.

  17. Sprint 100 metres in under 10 seconds in Birmingham. It worked for Usain Bolt, the world-record holder from Jamaica, training here before his 2012 Olympic gold medal feat.

  18. Birmingham is the farthest from the sea of any major UK city, about 190 km.

  19. Birmingham is the birthplace of Heavy Metal.

  20. The Electric Cinema in Station Street at the back of Birmingham’s revamped New Street Railway Station is the UK’s oldest working cinema dating from 1909.