Birmingham

Birmingham Synopsis

In the 1950s and '60s, aware of what was about to happen to Birmingham, Dennis Norton took his camera and went to work. Photographing buildings along the route of the forthcoming inner ring road, around New Street station and in other areas of the city due for redevelopment, he captured a Birmingha, that is now long gone but fondly remembered by many. Almost half a century later Mark Norton discovered these photographs, taken by the father he never knew: Dennis died just nine weeks before his son was born. Mark set about retracing his father's footsteps, to discover what has been lost and to compare past with present. In the process he gained a respect for Birmingham that had been missing when he grew up amid the concrete, subways and urban motorways of the 1970s.

Anyone who remembers Birmingham as it was in the 1950s and '60s will be fascinated by these recently rediscovered photographs, while those who only know the city of today will be astonished to see the changes that have taken place.