Hiltler's impact on the urban landscape and the people of Birmingham can not be underestimated. During World War 2, Birmingham's industrial contribution to the war effort made it a prime target. Planes, tanks and army vehicles rolled off the production lines of the city's factories while smaller factories produced guns and ammunition. Around 1,852 tons of bombs were dropped on Birmingham. This made it the third most heavily bombed city in the United Kingdom

India’s connections with Birmingham date back hundreds of years. Probably the most lasting contribution the Indian sub-continent has made to the city is its food.  Down in London in 1810, Sake Dean Mohammed, a Bengali surgeon, opened Britain’s first Curry house.

Birmingham's love affair with the jewellery industry goes as far back as the early 16th century, with evidence that local goldsmith Roger Pemberton was one of the city's first jewellers in 1553. However, it was in the mid-1770s that Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter grew up in the Northwest corner of the city.

Steven Knight says he based the Shelby Family in his fictional work "The Peaky Blinders" on his father's maternal uncles, John, Samuel and Joseph Sheldon, but how close were the real life Sheldons to the fictional Shelbys?

Birmingham's rapid expansion brought a huge influx of people, with the population increasing threefold over 50 years. However, the demand for housing could not be met, so back-to-back houses with poor sanitary conditions sprung up over the city, and the resulting slums were an embarrassment to Victorian Society and led to a violent underclass like those in the slogging gangs. In the 1890s, Victorian entrepreneurs and philanthropists tried to find solutions to these problems.  One of these philanthropic families was the Cadbury Family.

As in the TV show of the same name, women in the real-life Peaky Blinders were just as strong and capable as the men of the Slogging Gangs. In many of the larger scale gang confrontations, there are numerous reports of women backing up and fighting side by side with the men.

In the Saxon 6th Century, Birmingham was only a tiny settlement in a thick forest. It was the home of a tribe led by Birm, so its name literally translates to Birm's tribe's (ing) home (ham). By 1150 the de Bermingham family held the Lordship of the Manor of Birmingham, and in 1166 Peter de Birmingham obtained a charter from Henry II to hold a market in the town. Birmingham had become an important metalworking centre by 1327 when many of its inhabitants were listed as metal craftsmen.

Birmingham's first canal, the Duke of Bridgwater's Canal, was planned and supervised by engineer James Brindley and carried the Duke's coal from his mines in Worsley to Manchester. This was the first of many canals built in the 1700s and 1800s, which were essential for the growth of the City of a Thousand Trades.