Becoming a Brummie - A sound journey of a family’s move to Birmingham

One of Birmingham’s best known historians and broadcasters, Carl Chinn, follows the story of his family’s move from the lives of prosperous tenant farmers in Warwickshire to the industrial poverty of the back-to-backs of Birmingham.

Carl takes us into rural Warwickshire to trace the Chinns’ lives in the Forest of Arden where their roots may be Anglo-Saxon and where they lived in the village of Rowington.

It was from here that they migrated to the rapidly growing town of Birmingham and particularly the adjacent village of Kings Norton. Carl takes listeners on a sound journey across the centuries. Along the way we meet yeoman farmers, cordwainers and illegal bookies as well as sharing his early memories of growing up in Moseley.

The story is told in Carl’s unique style which vividly brings the characters of his family to life.

KEYWORDS: Migration, Immigrants, Birmingham, Carl Chinn, Walks, Books