Many people i teach don't come from Birmingham but i've lived around here all my life so i thought i'd make this page of fun facts about the city. It's a wonderful place to live, work and learn to drive!
Cluedo was invented by a Birmingham man who lived on Brighton road just south of the city centre.
Other famous people from Birmingham include Nigel Mansell, Murray Walker, Jasper Carrot, Cat Deeley, Tony hitchcock and Toyah Wilcox
The name Birmingham comes from followers of the Inga's of Birm in the year 700 A.D who formed a hamlet, hence Birm-ing-ham
Birmingham has the highest proportion of obese women of any European city
It has the most lap dancing clubs of any UK city
It has more canals than Venice and is the centre of the UK's canal network. The canals range from taking you high above houses in the suburbs to deep below the buildings in the city centre and offer some wonderful views. The photo below shows the clock tower at Birmingham Uni as seen from the canal.
Birmingham has the 5th busiest Mcdonalds in the world and one of the few in the UK to open on Christmas day.
Cadbury's chocolate is made in the city not far from Birmingham Uni.
Birmingham is the most landlocked city in the UK. The nearest beach is around 120 miles away from the city centre in Weston-super-Mare which is known locally as Birmingham-by-the-sea due to the large number of brummies that go there each year.
Birmingham hosted the 1998 Eurovision song contest, the first ever to be won by a transsexual.
An area called next to Birmingham called Solihull got it's name from it's original name "Soily Hill". It was a hill where the people of Birmingham dumped rubbish and soil.
Birmingham used to be the biggest producer of guns in the UK and part of the city close to the centre is still called The gun quarter
Birmingham city council is the largest council in Europe.
We have one of the largest and best hospitals in the UK, the brand new Queen Elizabeth II. Birmingham hospitals specialise in burns and treat almost all soldiers that are injured while on duty abroad in places such as Iraq and Afghanistan. We also have a leading and world famous childrens hospital.
The Bull ring shopping centre is one of the largest in Europe and houses the famous Birmingham Bull, the symbol of our city.
Birmingham driving facts
Birmingham's famous Spaghetti junction
Birmingham is officially the most congested area of the UK with more cars per square mile than anywhere else (yes, even London).
If you drove every road in the city you'd have covered more than 2000 miles.
Birmingham has over 1000 driving instructors and is one of the busiest places in the UK for learning to drive
Birmingham has the highest number of uninsured drivers in the UK.
Birmingham has the highest number of personal injury claims from road accidents in the UK
Birmingham was the first place in the UK to have a hydrogen fill up point for cars. It was at one point the only hydrogen fill up point in the UK.
Birmingham's Spaghetti junction is famous around the world. People travel here from across the globe just to drive around it!
From 1986 to 1990 Birmingham held the Halfords superprix, a car race held on the city streets. It helped launch the careers of several Formula one drivers such as Jean Alesi and Heinz-Harald Frentzen. Some of the old circuit can still be driven around today and you can tell it used to be a racing track because of it's layout. If you go there late at night you'll see huge meetings of car enthusiasts who show their modified cars. You can see some action from one of the last races held here in the video below.
