We are Birmingham Sitting there in that seat whilst the talk was on. I felt like the hidden aspect of Birmingham was being unraveled before our eyes.What was normal in daily life has become more valuable with the history of how it came into existence become known, that was revealed by R J Ellory. During his talk of Birmingham he has mentioned that people arrive in Birmingham and see something they don’t expect. Maybe it’s because of it’s continuous changes that makes Birmingham a worthy place of inspiration and enlightenment.

R J ElloryThis talk was given by R J Ellory who is a crime thrillers writer, who was born and raised in Birmingham. During his question and answer slot he says he had visited 49 countries and when people ask him where was he from he would say Birmingham, not many would proudly say Birmingham, but he is loyal to his roots. However, his famous work is not as well known in Birmingham as it is in other countries, as they have ordered it to be translated into 29 languages. Nonetheless, he still continues to advertise his work because he wants people to know more about the place that has inspired him to be a writer.

His journey in becoming a writer wasn’t easy, his works has been rejected by many editors, not because his work isn’t good enough but because he wrote it in an American style. Not many would expect an English men be able to write in an American tone, nor was this a common trend.

He sent over 600 letters and many did not reply and those who did he sent photocopies of his novels, this lead him being head over heels in debt from all the printing credit, at that time e-mail wasn’t invented yet, of course, he tried to get his printed copies back, only 35 copies came back. He then stopped writing for 8 years as he was rejected too many times, although he had to continue to work to pay off his printing credit debt.

He worked and was married, his wife who has been with him through all the rejections supported him. Then the 9/11 happened. After the 9/11 he started writing again because he was emotionally and mentally shocked being able to clearly see the mass scale of consequences from the single act. He snapped out of his own depression and was able to write books that has meaning. Like those accounts from individuals who had died were people who had everything going for in life, a man who was in love with a office worker three floors above him was going to ask her out that weekend, a woman was going to tell her husband that she was pregnant, there were so many more stories like this that has ended by a single act of violence. This moment in life motivated him to write again, his wife said ‘what took you so long,’ she never rushed him but let him gradually find his passion again.

I also think he was strongly influenced by his grandmother who told him, ‘never be one of those people who live a what if life’ and that was a dim fire, that never truly burnt out.

His past is also his futureA human being, in terms of how they think and act, are strongly influenced by their past; because we learn the things we are taught or self taught through experience and understanding in various situations.This is similar for everyone expect we all come from different backgrounds, for Ellory he lived in a restricted place but had grand parents who are great readers and would recommend books for him to read. You could even say he was exposed to literature at a very young age, and that is important. He knows the value of books and it’s ability to let one person live millions of lives. He was arrested for poaching chickens and was sentence to a three month jail sentence and that moment he knew, he had to change life for the better and attended school and art college (but dropped halfway) as he finally understood he wanted to be a writer, he was inspired to be one after talking to a guy who was reading a book at a corridor. That boy who spoke so emotionally about a fictional book, lit a flame in Ellory, that was the moment when he understood he wanted to write books that can make others feel emotions that weren’t there before.

To conclude his personal experience, that it does affect his perspective on life and he may portray this within the characters he creates in stories. Many even think he could do a book based on his own life.

His own personal life and Birmingham is what made this writer and think in a certain way.What he says about Birmingham is influenced by his lifestyle as well:

“What happens here matters,We may not brag or boost our success,We are part of it.”

Facts of Birmingham Famous food brands that originated in Birmingham include

Typhoo tea, Birds Custard, Blue Bird Toffee, Bournville cocoa, HP Sauce and Cadbury chocolate.

Birmingham Hippodrome is the UK’s busiest theatre outside of London’s West End, welcoming audiences averaging almost 500,000 per year.

In its manufacturing heyday, Birmingham was known as ‘the city of 1000 trades’, including the manufacture of guns, jewelry and pens.

The city has a rich religious heritage and boasts three important churches: St Paul’s Cathedral, St Paul’s Church and St Martin’s Church (is the most famous one in Birmingham as it’s in the center of town).

The Electric in Station Street is the UK’s oldest working art deco cinema and is 101 years old. The music library at Birmingham Conservatoire houses

95,000 individual scores and 10,000 sound recordings.

Many famous brands were created in Birmingham and all those things were made by people of Birmingham, it took guts and determination. Those who don’t know Birmingham’s people may have underestimated and even went against us at war or try to take over like the Romans. But that wasn’t possible because we English people have fought many battles in terms of human rights to freedom, equality and voting etc. Many people have asked us for help at times in war, that is how strong we are, we created spite fire that is still used to this day, railway for transport, trading and bringing people across seas together and becoming a multi cultural city.

Hidden CityWhen we were creating our articles we wanted to reveal certain aspects of hidden stories of Birmingham and our group choose to raise awareness for individuals good deeds and independent charities or relevant company stories. But we also decided to keep hidden aspects as well, by not revealing faces or concentrate on the outcome rather then who did it, so it becomes more personal to readers, because it shows anyone could do it.

Going around Birmingham and through our charities research we were able to find things we are interested in. Plus doing face to face interviews helped a lot in terms of collecting people’s good deeds stories enable us to do a double page spread on it.

There were visually hidden aspects that were unknown, which we hope this article had given access to that knowledge about Birmingham.

Two core things about Birmingham is

1. ‘What happened in the past can be set as a bench mark for the future’.

As we continue to have bright young designers, creators, developers, techs who can go further setting new bench marks on a daily basis.

2. Our cities unwillingness to boost, To be undifferentiated,

So very proud to be different,Never to be upstaged,

Never to be taken down.

A thing to keep in mind is ‘what we were known and what we’re known for in the past is different.’

Root of creationR J Elloy said ‘The worst book is written for others to enjoy, the best books is written for yourself to enjoy.

When we were creating our Esteem magazine, each person has to do an individual article base on a topic they enjoy writing about. For me, was animals, I’ve never had any pets so it was a great opportunity to know how the dogs’ home work with animals. I enjoyed the research and visiting the Dogs’ Home, but writing at the end, being able to share something so beautiful was what kept me going. And I think it’s the same for writers, they want to share something or leave a record for their deepest thoughts. Even if no one reads it, to be able to create something that you yourself enjoy reading is a fantastic feeling.

Therefore, the root of creation does come from our own upbringing and how we choose to act in terms of what we have learnt in life. Ellory choose to write books, and I plan to visually communicate to everyone through my graphics communication designs.

Karen Pang