Birmingham's Heritage
Mike Higginbottom
- Region:
- Anywhere
- Notice Period:
- Emergency (maybe less than one week's notice)
- Type:
- Architectural and social history
- Fee:
- Paid: Dependent on size of audience and distance travelled from South Yorkshire
- Category:
- History
- Updated:
- 23rd November 2017
- Tagged:
- Birmingham | Terra-Cotta | Victorian Architecture | Industrial Cities
Birmingham is the capital of the English Midlands, the heart of British manufacturing, with more canals than Venice and a cornucopia of nineteenth- and twentieth-century architecture.
The city is the heartland of the English midlands and of British industrial history, the centre of the canal system, the headquarters of the steam-engine pioneers Matthew Boulton and James Watt, home of a myriad of small craft industries and the historic focus for much of the British motor-industry.
Its surviving Victorian heritage is a monument to the prosperity and civic pride of the nineteenth century and its modern development is a continuing saga of conflicting ideas about the built environment.
This lecture provides an introduction to the Birmingham's major historic buildings, including its two cathedrals and the Town Hall, its best modern buildings, such as Symphony Hall and the new Library of Birmingham, and examples of the fine terracotta architecture for which the city is famous.
Views: 1158 | Enquiries: 0About Mike Higginbottom
I am a freelance history lecturer specialising in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries with a background in university extramural education.
I offer distinctive, life-enhancing insights into the past, particularly the recent past, for people who enjoy visiting places and recognising the human stories behind this historical heritage.
I lecture for the Arts Society (formerly the National Association of Decorative & Fine Arts Societies [NADFAS]) in the UK, Spain, Australia and New Zealand.
Whether lecturing, writing or guiding tours, I provide detailed information in a lucid and entertaining way. My publications and lectures are copiously illustrated, as much as possible using my own photography.
Mike Higginbottom Interesting Times is the brand for my history education work – tours, lectures and publications. My blog is a fund of interesting, sometimes quirky insights into places, people and historical events.
I'm based in Sheffield and willing to travel anywhere in the UK or further afield.
Other Talks on SpeakerNet by Mike Higginbottom
- The Big Apple: the architecture of New York City
- Windy City: the architecture of Chicago
- St Pancras Station & Hotel
- Liverpool's Heritage
- Manchester's Heritage
- Fun Palaces: the history and architecture of the entertainment industry
- All the World's a Stage: the development of theatre buildings
- Dream Palaces: an introduction to cinema architecture
- Away from it all: the heritage of holiday resorts
- Beside the Seaside: the architecture of British coastal resorts
- Blackpool's Seaside Heritage
- Yorkshire's Seaside Heritage
- Victorian Cemeteries
- Victorian Sewerage
- Temples of Sanitation
- English Country Houses – not quite what they seem
- Sheffield's Cinema Heritage
- Demolished Sheffield
- A Look Round Attercliffe
- Waterways and Railways across the Derbyshire Peak
- Waterways and Railways across the Northern Pennines
- Waterways and Railways between Thames and Severn
- The Derbyshire Derwent Valley
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