0

Spaghetti Junction at 50

Today (24/5/22) marks 50 years since the opening of the iconic Spaghetti Junction (Gravelly Hill interchange). It covers 30 acres (12 ha), serves 18 routes and includes 4 km (2.5 mi) of slip roads, but only 1 km (0.6 mi) of the M6 itself. Across five different levels, it has 559 concrete columns, reaching up to 24.4 m (80 ft). The engineers had … Continue reading “Spaghetti Junction at 50”

24 May 2022 by
0

Happy Birthday, Lady Barber!

The founder of the Barber Institute, Lady Barber, was born on 16 May 1869 as Martha Constance Hattie Onions. After an education at Cheltenham Ladies College, she married the Birmingham solicitor and property developer, William Henry Barber. Learn more about her, and the University art gallery and concert hall that bear her name, by visiting … Continue reading “Happy Birthday, Lady Barber!”

17 May 2022 by
0

Mass Observation Day

One day a year, there’s a call for people in Britain to send their anonymous diary accounts of their day http://www.massobs.org.uk/write-for-us/12th-may. After over a year of living through a global pandemic, this year’s contributions will be very telling. Mass Observation is a UK social research project, started in 1937 by three former Cambridge students – … Continue reading “Mass Observation Day”

12 May 2022 by
0

Eid al-Fitr

From the evening of 2 May to the evening of 3 May Eid al-Fitr, also called the “Festival of Breaking the Fast”, is a religious holiday celebrated by Muslims worldwide that marks the end of the month-long dawn-to-sunset fasting of Ramadan, as well being as a time for spiritual reflection and prayer. This religious Eid … Continue reading “Eid al-Fitr”

2 May 2022 by