1. 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.

2. This 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.

3. A 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.”

4. Birmingham Hippodrome is the UK’s busiest theatre outside
of London’s West End, welcoming audiences averaging
almost 500,000 per year.
Famous food brands that originated in Birmingham include
Typhoo tea, Birds Custard, Blue Bird Toffee, Bournville cocoa,
HP Sauce and Cadbury chocolate.
In its manufacturing heyday, Birmingham was known as
‘the city of 1000 trades’, including the manufacture of
guns, jewelry and pens.
The Electric in Station Street is the UK’s oldest working
art deco cinema and is 101 years old.
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 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.

5. When 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.

6. 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.’

7. R 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