Celebration of Imagination

Matthew Boulton

Known by many as manufacturer to the world, Matthew Boulton was born in Birmingham and died two hundred years ago this year. In his 81 years of life, he changed the face of manufacturing and became one of Birmingham’s brightest sons.

Boulton established the huge, pioneering Soho Manufactory in Handsworth, Birmingham in 1761. This factory used production methods so revolutionary it became a tourist attraction, with a tea house for visitors built in the grounds.

But that wasn't all Boulton achieved:

• With James Watt and William Murdock, he created Boulton & Watt steam engines - the driving force of the Industrial Revolution in Britain and throughout the world

• He won the contract to produce Britain's copper coins at his Soho Mint

• He introduced employees' sickness insurance, with a scheme which became the model for other employers

• Founds the Lunar Society with Dr. Erasmus Darwin, Matthew Boulton and Dr. William Small

A man of many talents deserves many events to commemorate him, and there will be plenty in Birmingham this year.

Soho House will house an exhibition from 4 April – 1 November.
Made in Birmingham 20 June – 30 August, an exhibition presented by Birmingham Library and Archives Services looks at one of the most important public demonstrations of Birmingham’s industrial prowess:  The Exhibition of Local Manufactures and Natural History held at the Bingley Hall in 1886.
Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery will host the centerpiece of the city’s celebrations. 30 May – 27 September 2009 sees the ‘Matthew Boulton – selling what all the world desires’ exhibition which will showcase important material from Birmingham Museum’s and the City Archives’ own world-famous collections, but will also feature significant loans from national museums, Birmingham Assay Office, private collectors and other external partners

The Mini

The first Mini rolled off the production line at Longbridge, Birmingham, in 1959. For the next 41 years, the mini had a massive impact on motoring, car design, and popular culture.

Designed with revolutionary front-wheel drive by Alec Issigonis, the original Mini became a cultural icon of the Swinging Sixties with celebrity owners such as The Beatles. With an original selling price of just £536 for its deluxe model, it’s not hard to see why by the time production ended, there had been 5 387 862 minis built.

William Shakespeare

Perhaps one of the greatest playwrights and poets of all time, William Shakespeare was born and died in Stratford-Upon-Avon.

Centuries later his plays are still performed, and his words (he invented nearly 3,000 new ones) still spoken. His poems are still read too, and this year sees the 400th anniversary of the publication of his famous Sonnets.

Charles Darwin

Born in Shrewsbury in 1809, Charles Darwin changed many things - from the way we think about ourselves, to our view of our place in the Universe.
Shrewsbury was where Darwin first began to observe the natural world. And it was where he came back to after almost six years sailing on The Beagle, the voyage that inspired much of the thinking behind Darwin's famous book, Origin of Species, published 150 years ago this year.

Samuel Jackson

Quoted almost as often as Shakespeare, Samuel Johnson was born three hundred years ago this year, in Lichfield.

Although he wrote many essays, poems, and a novel, he is best known for his Dictionary. Johnson's Dictionary, which took him nine years to research and write and was considered the leading English dictionary for 150 years after it was published in 1755.

Jerome K Jerome

Born in Walsall 150 years ago, Jerome K Jerome is a much celebrated English humourist who is best known for his play 'Three Men in a Boat', published in 1889. It's a story of classical whimsical humour which records a calamitous trip up the River Thames by rowing boat.

For more information about local innovators and their achievements and details on the events and exhibitions throughout the region to celebrate these visit www.acelebrationofimagination.com