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• 
  

• 
  Aldridge
  Coordinates: 52°36′22″N 1°55′04″W / 52.606°N 1.91787°W / 52.606; -1.91787
  Aldridge is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, in the West Midlands, England. Historically it was part of the county of Staffordshire, but in 1974 it was incorporated into the Walsall borough as well as the West Midlands county.
  Aldridge was recorded as a settlement in the Domesday Book of 1086, though the now much larger settlement of Walsall was not. It was valued at 15 shillings under the name of "Alrewic", which may have originated from an abundance of Alder trees in the area.
  Aldridge began as a small agricultural settlement, with farming being the most common occupation up until the 19th century.
  In the 1800s, Aldridge became an industrial town with coal mines and lime kilns. The coal and clay in the area prompted many to set up collieries and brickworks. Aldridge clay is especially useful in the manufacture of blue bricks. The 1881 census shows that the mines and brick works were major employers. Because the coal and clay beneath the eastern side of Aldridge (towards Stonnall) is located much deeper under the surface, extraction of this coal and clay would not have been economically viable. As a result farms continued to dominate the eastern part, though a sand quarry was set up and still remains on Birch Lane.
  
  wn.com/Aldridge
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  Amblecote
  Coordinates: 52°28′N 2°10′W / 52.46°N 2.16°W / 52.46; -02.16
  Amblecote is an urban village in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley in the West Midlands, England. It lies immediately north of the historic town of Stourbridge, extending about one and a half miles from it. As such, it is on the southwestern edge of the West Midlands urban area. Historically, Amblecote was in the parish of Oldswinford, but (unlike the rest of the parish) was in Staffordshire. This meant that the township of Amblecote was administered separately from the rest of the parish.
  In 1966, the part of the Urban District to the east of the railway line became part of Brierley Hill, which became part of the County Borough of Dudley, while the rest was added to the Municipal Borough of Stourbridge and the county of Worcestershire. This is reflected in the postcodes in the area with part of Amblecote being covered by the DY8 postcode area, which is used for Stourbridge addresses, and the north eastern part of Amblecote over the railway line having the DY5 (Brierley Hill) postcodes. However, in 1974 it became part of the expanded Dudley, along with the rest of Stourbridge and Halesowen, which formed part of the new West Midlands county.
  
  wn.com/Amblecote
• Bedales School
  Bedales School is a co-educational independent school situated in Hampshire, in the south east of England. Founded in 1893 by John Haden Badley in reaction to the limitations of conventional Victorian schools.
  Bedales is renowned for its liberal ethos and relaxed attitude. The Tatler Schools Guide cites Bedales as "a bohemian idyll with bite", and the Good Schools Guide states that, although the school is "less distinctive than in the past", it is "still good for 'individuals', articulate nonconformists, and people who admire such qualities".
  Since 1899 the school has been located on an 120-acre (0.49 km²) estate in the village of Steep, near Petersfield, Hampshire. As well as playing fields, orchards, woodland, pasture and a nature reserve, the campus also boasts two Grade 1 listed arts and crafts buildings designed by Ernest Gimson, the Lupton Hall (completed in 1911) and the Memorial Library (1921), and two contemporary award-winning buildings: the Olivier Theatre (1997) and the Orchard Building (2005).
  
  wn.com/Bedales_School
• 
  Bilston
  Coordinates: 52°33′58″N 2°04′22″W / 52.56605°N 2.07281°W / 52.56605; -2.07281
  Bilston is a town in the English county of West Midlands, situated in the southeastern corner of the City of Wolverhampton. Historically within Staffordshire, three wards of Wolverhampton City Council cover the town: Bilston East and Bilston North, which almost entirely comprise parts of the historic Borough of Bilston, and Ettingshall which comprise a part of Bilston and parts of Wolverhampton.
  Bilston was first referred to in AD 985 as Bilsatena when Wolverhampton was granted to Wulfrun then in 996 as Bilsetnatun in the grant charter of St. Mary's Church (now St. Peter's Collegiate Church, Wolverhampton). It is later mentioned in the Domesday Book as a village called Billestune, being a largely rural area until the 19th century. Bilsetnatun can be interpreted as meaning the settlement (ton) of the folk (saetan) of the ridge (bill).
  Situated just two miles southeast of Wolverhampton, it was extensively developed for factories and coal mining. Many houses were constructed in the Bilston area. Between 1920 and 1966, the council replaced most of the 19th century terraced houses with rented modern houses and flats on developments like Stowlawn, The Lunt and Bunker's Hill. Bilston has had a market in the town centre for many years.
  
  wn.com/Bilston
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  Birmingham
  Birmingham (ⁱ/ˈbɜrmɪŋəm/ BUR-ming-əm, locally /ˈbɜrmɪŋɡəm/ BUR-ming-gəm) is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 (2010 estimate), and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a population of 2,284,093 (2001 census). Birmingham's metropolitan area is also the United Kingdom's second most populous with a population of 3,683,000.
  A medium-sized market town during the medieval period, Birmingham grew to international prominence in the 18th century at the heart of the Midlands Enlightenment and subsequent Industrial Revolution, which saw the town at the forefront of worldwide developments in science, technology and economic organisation, producing a series of innovations that laid many of the foundations of modern industrial society. By 1791 it was being hailed as "the first manufacturing town in the world". Birmingham's distinctive economic profile, with thousands of small workshops practising a wide variety of specialised and highly-skilled trades, encouraged exceptional levels of creativity and innovation and provided a diverse and resilient economic base for industrial prosperity that was to last into the final quarter of the 20th century. Its resulting high level of social mobility also fostered a culture of broad-based political radicalism, that under leaders from Thomas Attwood to Joseph Chamberlain was to give it a political influence unparalleled in Britain outside London and a pivotal role in the development of British democracy.
  
  wn.com/Birmingham
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  Black Country Museum
  The Black Country Living Museum (formerly The Black Country Museum) is an open-air museum of rebuilt historic buildings, located in Dudley in the West Midlands of England. It is close to Dudley Castle in the centre of the Black Country conurbation. The museum occupies 105,000 square metres (26 acres) of former industrial land partly reclaimed from a former railway goods yard, disused lime kilns and former coal pits. It was first opened in 1978, and since then many more exhibits have been added to it.
  The Museum preserves some important buildings from around the Metropolitan Boroughs of Dudley, Sandwell and Walsall and the City of Wolverhampton; mainly in a specially built village. Most of the buildings are original, relocated from their original sites. As a living museum, these form a base from which knowledgeable, local demonstrators portray life in the period from the 1850s to the 1950s.
  The Museum is constantly changing as new exhibits, especially buildings in the village, are being added.
  
  wn.com/Black_Country_Museum
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  Blackpool
  Blackpool ⁱ/ˈblækpuːl/ is a borough, seaside town, and unitary authority area of Lancashire, in North West England. It is situated along England's west coast by the Irish Sea, between the Ribble and Wyre estuaries, 17.5 miles (28.2 km) northwest of Preston, 27 miles (43 km) north of Liverpool, 30 miles (48 km) northwest of Bolton and 40 miles (64 km) northwest of Manchester. It has an estimated population of 140,000, making it the third most populous settlement in North West England after Manchester and Liverpool, and a population density that makes it the fourth most densely populated borough of England and Wales outside Greater London.
  Throughout the Middle Ages and Early Modern period, Blackpool was a coastal hamlet in Lancashire's Hundred of Amounderness, and remained such until the mid-18th century when it became fashionable in England to travel to the coast during the summer to bathe in sea water to improve well-being. In 1781, visitors attracted to Blackpool's 7-mile (11 km) sandy beach were able to use a newly built private road, built by Thomas Clifton and Sir Henry Hoghton. Stagecoaches began running to Blackpool from Manchester in the same year, and from Halifax in 1782. In the early 19th century, Henry Banks and his son-in-law John Cocker erected new buildings in Blackpool such that its population grew from less than 500 in 1801 to over 2,500 in 1851. St John's Church in Blackpool was consecrated in 1821.
  
  wn.com/Blackpool
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  Bloxwich
  Coordinates: 52°36′57″N 2°00′58″W / 52.61577°N 2.01620°W / 52.61577; -2.01620
  Bloxwich is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, West Midlands, England, with a population of around 40,000 people.
  Bloxwich has its origins at least as early as the Anglo-Saxon period, when the place name evidence suggests it was a small Mercian settlement named after the family of Bloc (Bloxwich, earlier Blochescwic, meaning "Bloc's village").
  Some 19th century works suggest that at one time Bloxwich was a settlement in the ancient manor of Wednesbury. There is no conclusive evidence for this and Bloxwich has since at least medieval times been associated with the manor and town of Walsall (which for reasons unknown does not appear in the Domesday Book of 1086). Bloxwich itself is however mentioned in this book under the name 'Blockeswich'.
  Traditionally there has been a strong rivalry between Bloxwich and Walsall with origins as early as the English Civil War, when Walsall was Parliamentarian in sympathy and Bloxwich, centre of the Foreign of Walsall, was Royalist. This situation was exacerbated by disputes over local taxation for the poor rate in the 17th and 18th centuries.
  
  wn.com/Bloxwich
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  Bridgnorth
  Coordinates: 52°32′02″N 2°25′04″W / 52.534°N 2.4179°W / 52.534; -2.4179
  Bridgnorth is a town in Shropshire, England, along the Severn Valley. It is split into Low Town and High Town, named on account of their elevations relative to the River Severn, which separates the upper town on the right bank from the lower on the left. The population of the town of Bridgnorth was 11,891 at the 2001 Census and a 2008 estimate puts it at 12,216.
  Bridgnorth is named after a bridge over the River Severn, that was built further north than an earlier bridge at Quatford. The earliest historical reference to the town is in 895, at which time it is recorded that the Danes created a camp at Cwatbridge, and subsequently in 912, Æthelfleda constructed a mound on the west bank of the River Severn, or possibly on the site of Bridgnorth Castle, as part of an offensive against the Danes.
  After the Norman Conquest, William the Conqueror granted the manor of Bridgnorth to Roger de Montgomerie. The town itself was not created until 1101, when Robert de Belesme, the son of Roger de Montgomerie, moved from Quatford, constructing a castle and church on the site of the modern-day town. The castle's purpose was to defend against attacks from Wales. On Robert's attainder, in 1102 the town became a royal borough. Bridgnorth's town walls were initially constructed in timber between 1216 and 1223; murage grants allowed them to be upgraded to stone between the 13th and 15th centuries. By the 16th century, the antiquarian John Leland reported them in ruins and of the five gates, only one survives today.
  
  wn.com/Bridgnorth
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  Brierley Hill
  Coordinates: 52°28′46″N 2°07′28″W / 52.4795°N 2.1245°W / 52.4795; -2.1245
  Brierley Hill is a town and electoral ward of the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, West Midlands, England. It is one of the larger Black Country towns with a population of 9,631 and is heavily industrialised, best known for glass and steel manufacturing, although the industry has declined considerably since the 1970s. One of the largest factories in the area was the Round Oak Steelworks which closed down and redeveloped to become the Merry Hill Shopping Centre. Brierley Hill was originally in Staffordshire, but was transferred to the West Midlands metropolitan county upon its creation in 1974.
  The name Brierley Hill was formed from three Anglo-Saxon or Old English words; 'brier' meaning the place where the Briar Rose (Rosa rubiginosa) grew, 'leah' or 'ley' meaning a woodland clearing and 'Hill'. The name Merry Hill is derived from the word 'gemeare' which means the boundary, indicating that it was on the boundary of the parish of Kingswinford.
  
  wn.com/Brierley_Hill
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  Brownhills
  Coordinates: 52°38′49″N 1°55′59″W / 52.647°N 1.933°W / 52.647; -1.933
  Brownhills is a town in the West Midlands, England. Located on the edge of Cannock Chase near the large artificial lake Chasewater, it is 6 miles (9.7 km) north-east of Walsall and a similar distance south-west of Lichfield. It is part of the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall and the Aldridge-Brownhills parliamentary constituency and neighbours the ancient villages of Pelsall and Stonnall. Before boundary changes in 1974, it was in the county of Staffordshire.
  The town lies on the ancient Watling Street, but is not recorded before the 17th century, although Ogley Hay, which in modern times is a district of the town, is recorded as a settlement in the Domesday Book. Brownhills quickly grew around the coal mining industry, especially after it became linked to the canal and railway networks in the mid-19th century, and by the end of the century had grown from a hamlet of only 300 inhabitants to a town with a population of over 13,000, of whom the vast majority were employed in the coal industry. Mining remained the town's principal industry until the 1950s, but the subsequent closure of the area's pits led to a severe economic decline which has continued until the present day. The local authority has instituted a regeneration programme which it is hoped will revive the town's fortunes, providing better transport and leisure facilities.
  
  wn.com/Brownhills
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  Coseley
  Coordinates: 52°33′00″N 2°04′59″W / 52.55°N 2.083°W / 52.55; -2.083
  Coseley is a village in the north of the Dudley Metropolitan Borough, in the English West Midlands. Part of the Black Country, it is situated on the border with Wolverhampton, approximately three miles north of Dudley itself.
  Coseley railway station is on the West Coast Main Line and is served by London Midland. It is within the Bilston WV14 and Tipton DY4 postal districts.
  Coseley was originally a village area in the ancient manor of Sedgley. In 1867, it, with the village areas of Brierley, Woodsetton, and Ettingshall, broke away from the parish of Sedgley and, together, formed Lower Sedgley Local Board District. In 1875, the name was changed to Coseley Local Board District by order of the Council and, in 1895, became Coseley Urban District. At this stage, most of the Coseley area was occupied by industrial and agricultural land.
  Coseley Urban District Council built several thousand council houses and flats over a 40-year period from the mid-1920s which changed the face of the area. Most of these were built around Woodcross, Lanesfield, Wallbrook and Brierley.
  
  wn.com/Coseley
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  Coventry
  Coventry (ⁱ/ˈkɒvəntri/) is a city and metropolitan borough in the county of West Midlands in England. Coventry is the 9th largest city in England and the 11th largest in the United Kingdom. It is also the second largest city in the English Midlands, after Birmingham, with a population of 300,848, although Stoke-on-Trent, Leicester and Nottingham have larger urban areas. The population of Coventry had risen to 315,800 as of 2010, according to the Office of National Statistics.
  Historically within Warwickshire, Coventry is situated 95 miles (153 km) northwest of central London and 19 miles (31 km) east-southeast of Birmingham, and is further from the coast than any other city in Britain. Although harbouring a population of almost a third of a million inhabitants, Coventry is not amongst the English Core Cities Group due to its proximity to Birmingham.
  Coventry was the world's first twin city when it formed a twinning relationship with the Russian city of Stalingrad (now Volgograd) during World War II. The relationship developed through ordinary people in Coventry who wanted to show their support for the Soviet Red Army during the Battle of Stalingrad. The city is now also twinned with Dresden, Lidice and 23 other cities around the world.
  
  wn.com/Coventry
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  Cradley Heath
  Coordinates: 52°28′23″N 2°04′45″W / 52.47302°N 2.07908°W / 52.47302; -2.07908
  Cradley Heath ((pronunciation: /ˌkreɪdli ˈhiːθ/) is a town in the Black Country, located in Sandwell metropolitan borough, England. Cradley Heath is often confused with neighbouring Cradley in Halesowen, although the two places have long been in separate local authorities.
  Cradley Heath is one of several towns in central England still recognisable from their early 20th century appearance. Many of the shops and houses in the town's High Street are still standing after 100 years. Some of these were demolished in the mid-2000s to make way for a long-awaited by-pass, which finally opened in 2007 to relieve the town's severe congestion problem which had been getting worse for decades.
  Cradley Heath was originally an area of heath, between Cradley, Netherton and Old Hill, in the Staffordshire parish of Rowley Regis, which subsequently received borough status in 1933. The residents of Cradley had grazing rights, subject to an annual payment to the lord of the manor. The River Stour forms the boundary to the south between Cradley and Cradley Heath. To the north, Mousesweet Brook (which feeds into the River Stour near to Cradley Heath Railway Station) forms the border next to Quarry Bank and Netherton. Both also act between the modern MBCs of Sandwell and Dudley.
  
  wn.com/Cradley_Heath
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  Darlaston
  Coordinates: 52°34′15″N 2°02′45″W / 52.5708°N 2.0457°W / 52.5708; -2.0457
  Darlaston is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall in the West Midlands of England.
  Archaeological evidence of the history of Darlaston has been destroyed by The de Darlaston family owned Darlaston and lived in the manor between the 12th century and 15th century. When the de Darlaston family died out, the manor was taken over by the Hayes family and renamed Great Croft. The exact location of the manor is not known. It is believed that the site is covered by the new Asda car park, slightly south west of the original parish church, which is now the location for St Lawrence's Church.
  Due to being located on the South Staffordshire Coalfield, Darlaston became industrialised very early in its history. The first industries were cottage industries and anyone wishing to mine the coal had to apply for a copyhold from the lord of the manor. In 1698, Timothy Woodhouse was manager of the coal mines belonging to Mrs Mary Offley, who was the lady of the manor. In the first year he sold 3,000 sacks of coal and later went into partnership in his own business. Darlaston also had a windmill which is mentioned in a map of 1695. The mill continued to be in use until about 1860.
  
  wn.com/Darlaston
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  Dudley
  Coordinates: 52°30′43″N 2°05′45″W / 52.5119°N 2.0957°W / 52.5119; -2.0957
  Dudley (ⁱ/ˈdʌdli/ DUD-lee) is a large town in the West Midlands county of England, and the administrative centre of the wider Metropolitan Borough of Dudley. At the 2001 census (according to the Office of National Statistics), the Dudley Urban Sub Area had a population of 194,919, making it the one of the largest settlements in England, the second largest town in the United Kingdom behind Reading, and the largest settlement in the UK without its own university.
  Dudley is part of the West Midlands conurbation, and is located south of the city of Wolverhampton. It is the largest town in the Black Country region of England, and for many years the town (but not the castle, which was classed as part of Staffordshire) formed part of an exclave of the county of Worcestershire. Despite the more recent changes in county borders, the town still remains part of the Anglican Diocese of Worcester.
  Dudley unsuccessfully bid to receive city status in 2012, losing out to Chelmsford, Perth and St. Asaph.
  
  wn.com/Dudley
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  Dudley bus station
  Dudley Bus Station is a bus station in the town of Dudley, England. It is managed by Network West Midlands. Local bus and national coach services operated by various companies serve the bus station which has 19 departure stands.
  The arrival stand is A and also on surrounding streets and the departures stands are lettered B - U (excluding I and O). U is allocated to long distance coach services, which are mainly pre-booked. They are not included in the bus routes list below.
  The original bus station was constructed along Birmingham Street on a steep hill overlooking Dudley Castle in about 1950. It was complemented by an additional line of shelters along neighbouring Fisher Street. However, a series on incidents of buses rolling back injuring passengers led to widespread local criticism of its design. This resulted in West Midlands PTE rebuilding the bus station on a completely level site along Fisher Street. Construction of the new bus station began during 1985 and it was opened to the public in 1987.
  
  wn.com/Dudley_bus_station
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  Dudley College
  Coordinates: 52°30′54″N 2°04′59″W / 52.515°N 2.083°W / 52.515; -2.083
  Dudley College is a college of further education in Dudley, West Midlands, England.
  In 1862 the Dudley Public Hall and Mechanics Institute was built. In 1896 this was expanded to become the Dudley Technical School, which became Dudley Technical College in 1926. Dudley College was opened in 1936 as a single-site establishment on The Broadway, located in the shadow of Dudley Castle.
  During the 1970s, Dudley College took over the former Coseley UDC offices in Sedgley Road West and converted them into an annexe. This facility closed in July 1993, as Dudley College had taken over the former Mons Hill School on the Priory Estate in September 1990 and had now opened a multi-million pound extension on the site which contained replacement facilities for those at Sedgley Road West.
  In September 2002, Dudley College took over the bulk of University of Wolverhampton's redundant Castle View Campus in the Eve Hill area of Dudley. The newer buildings were retained as part of the college, but the oldest building (dating from 1905) was demolished and is now occupied by a development of private houses and flats.
  
  wn.com/Dudley_College
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  Dudley Priory
  Dudley Priory is a dissolved priory in Dudley, West Midlands (formerly Worcestershire), England. The ruins of the priory are located within Priory Park, alongside the Priory Estate, and is both a Scheduled Ancient Monument and Grade I listed. The ruins received this status on September 14, 1949.
  The priory was founded in 1160 by Gervase Paganel, Lord of Dudley, in memory of his father. It was established as a dependency of the Cluniac Priory of Much Wenlock and was dedicated to Saint James. The priory was built from local limestone, quarried from Wren's Nest. A bull was issued by Pope Lucius III and the possessions included the Church of St. Edmund, Church of St. Thomas and the churches of Sedgley and Northfield with the chapel of Cofton Hackett. In obedience to a papal mandate in 1238, the bishops of Worcester, Coventry and Lichfield came to an agreement as to the bounds of their respective dioceses whereby it was decreed that the town of Dudley, with its churches and appurtenances, should belong to Worcester, while the castle and priory should remain under the jurisdiction of the bishop of Coventry and Lichfield. The priory was dissolved in 1395, but refounded as a denizen priory soon after.
  
  wn.com/Dudley_Priory
• Dudley Sports Centre
  Dudley Sports Centre was an outdoor sports centre located in Dudley, England. It was laid out at the end of the 19th century and expanded in 1928 on the construction of a football ground on the site; which became the home of the town's football team. There was also a cricket pitch, athletics field and public playing field.
  Parts of the ground were affected by mining subsidence for much of the centre's existence. It was finally shut down on 25 May 1985 when a 40-foot wide hole appeared on the cricket pitch. All subsequent plans for sports to return to the centre had to be shelved due to ongoing problems with subsidence.
  By the early 1990s, Dudley Sports Centre was heavily overgrown and the site was fenced off for safety reasons, though no demolition work had yet taken place. On at least one occasion, gypsies moved onto the site before the local authority forced them to move on.
  Clearance of the site began in 1998, in preparation for the construction of the Castle Gate complex; which would operate as a business and leisure park. This project had been on the council's agenda for at least six years. In 2001, a McDonald's and Showcase cinema opened on the site, with Pizza Hut opening an outlet the following year. The site now also consists of a bowling alley, hotel and American restaurant (Frankie & Benny's) as well as several units for commercial use.
  
  wn.com/Dudley_Sports_Centre
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  DY postcode area
  Coordinates: 52°27′11″N 2°10′52″W / 52.453°N 2.181°W / 52.453; -2.181
  The DY postcode area, also known as the Dudley postcode area, is a group of postcode districts around Bewdley, Brierley Hill, Dudley, Kidderminster, Kingswinford, Stourbridge, Stourport-on-Severn and Tipton in England.The mail is sorted at the North West Midlands Mail centre in Wolverhampton.
  The approximate coverage of the postcode districts:
  Clockwise from the east, the adjacent postcode areas are: B (Birmingham), WR (Worcester), SY (Shrewsbury), WV (Wolverhampton), WS (Walsall).
  
  wn.com/DY_postcode_area
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  England
  England ⁱ/ˈɪŋɡlənd/ is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, while the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separate it from continental Europe. Most of England comprises the central and southern part of the island of Great Britain in the North Atlantic. The country also includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly and the Isle of Wight.
  The area now called England was first inhabited by modern humans during the Upper Palaeolithic period, but it takes its name from the Angles, one of the Germanic tribes who settled during the 5th and 6th centuries. England became a unified state in AD 927, and since the Age of Discovery, which began during the 15th century, has had a significant cultural and legal impact on the wider world. The English language, the Anglican Church, and English law—the basis for the common law legal systems of many other countries around the world—developed in England, and the country's parliamentary system of government has been widely adopted by other nations. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the world's first industrialised nation. England's Royal Society laid the foundations of modern experimental science.
  
  wn.com/England
• 
  Fordbridge
  Coordinates: 52°29′06″N 1°44′24″W / 52.48512°N 1.74006°W / 52.48512; -1.74006
  Fordbridge is a civil parish and suburb between Kingshurst and Chelmsley Wood in the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull, which is in the West Midlands county, and also part of the West Midlands conurbation. It is 8 miles (13 km) east of Birmingham City Centre. It has a town council. According to the 2001 census the parish had a population of 8,748.
  Fordbridge is near to Marston Green and features a new £32 million secondary school, called the 'Grace Academy'. The area falls within the borders of North Solihull, which is now subject to a £1.8 billion regeneration project.
  According to statistics, Fordbridge is one of the more poorer areas of the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull. However, Cooks Lane and surrounding areas differ in that there is more expensive housing (well above the average house price for that area), less crime and are different in housing architecture compared to the surrounding areas of Smith's Wood, Kingshurst and Chelmsley wood.
  
  wn.com/Fordbridge
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  Germany
  Germany (ⁱ/ˈdʒɜrməni/), officially the Federal Republic of Germany (German: Bundesrepublik Deutschland, pronounced [ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant] ( listen)), is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km² and has a largely temperate seasonal climate. With 81.8 million inhabitants, it is the most populous member state and the largest economy in the European Union. It is one of the major political powers of the European continent and a technological leader in many fields.
  A region named Germania, inhabited by several Germanic peoples, was documented before AD 100. During the Migration Period, the Germanic tribes expanded southward, and established successor kingdoms throughout much of Europe. Beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 16th century, northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation while southern and western parts remained dominated by Roman Catholic denominations, with the two factions clashing in the Thirty Years' War, marking the beginning of the Catholic–Protestant divide that has characterized German society ever since. Occupied during the Napoleonic Wars, the rise of Pan-Germanism inside the German Confederation resulted in the unification of most of the German states into the German Empire in 1871 which was Prussian dominated. After the German Revolution of 1918–1919 and the subsequent military surrender in World War I, the Empire was replaced by the Weimar Republic in 1918, and partitioned in the Treaty of Versailles. Amidst the Great Depression, the Third Reich was proclaimed in 1933. The latter period was marked by Fascism and World War II. After 1945, Germany was divided by allied occupation, and evolved into two states, East Germany and West Germany. In 1990 Germany was reunified.
  
  wn.com/Germany
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  Halesowen
  Coordinates: 52°27′01″N 2°03′03″W / 52.450164°N 2.050935°W / 52.450164; -2.050935
  Halesowen ( /heɪlzˈoʊ.ɨn/) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, in the West Midlands, England. After the construction of the M5 motorway a part of Halesowen's Lapal suburb, Carters Lane to the east of the M5 and the roads which culminate on it, were separated from the rest of it and thus fell within Birmingham City Council's boundary. It is now included in the city's Woodgate ward but retains Halesowen as its post town and the B62 postcode.
  The population, as measured by the United Kingdom Census 2001, was 55,273. Halesowen is included in the Halesowen and Rowley Regis constituency which is held by the Conservative James Morris.
  Halesowen was a detached part of the county of Shropshire but was incorporated into Worcestershire in 1844 by the Counties (Detached Parts) Act. Since the local government reorganisation of 1974 it has formed a part of the West Midlands Metropolitan County and Conurbation, in the Dudley Metropolitan Borough, which it joined at the same time as neighbouring Stourbridge.
  
  wn.com/Halesowen
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  Halesowen Town F.C.
  Halesowen Town is an English association football club formed in 1873, that play in Halesowen and since 2011 have been playing in the Southern League Division One South & West. The team is nicknamed "The Yeltz".
  Halesowen Town FC was formed in 1873, making it one of the oldest clubs in the Midlands, and initially played in the Birmingham Combination. In 1946, it joined the Birmingham and District League and was champions in its very first season. The 1960s saw it consistently finish high in the league, but by contrast the 1970s saw it struggle, finishing bottom of the table twice.
  In the 1980s there was a sudden reversal of the Yeltz' fortunes, with four successive championship titles between 1983 and 1986, as well as three appearances at Wembley Stadium in the final of the FA Vase. The 1983 final saw the club lose 1–0 to VS Rugby, but in 1985 it returned to Wembley and beat Fleetwood Town 3–1 to win the Vase, before retaining it the following year with a 3–0 win over Southall.
  In 1983, the club also beat Heybridge Swifts in the final of the Thorn EMI six-a-side tournament at the Alexandra Stadium and won a £20,000 set of floodlights for their ground.
  
  wn.com/Halesowen_Town_F.C.
• Kates Hill
  Kates Hill is a residential area in Dudley, West Midlands, England.
  Kates Hill was the scene of chaos in 1648 when parliamentarians used it as their base in the Civil War against King Charles I. As a result, many roads in the area are named in honour of parliamentary figures from that era and afterwards; these include Oliver Cromwell (Oliver Close and Cromwell Street) and Robert Peel (Peel Street).
  It is alleged that from Cromwell Street, Cromwell fired his canons at Dudley's Norman Castle.
  Kates Hill was not developed as a residential area until the 1830s, when houses were built to accommodate people moving to the Black Country in hope of landing jobs in the ever-growing number of factories and coalpits that were being created in the region at this time. In 1840, St John's Parish Church was laid out and an adjoining church school was built soon afterwards.
  As recently as World War II, Kates Hill was surrounded by a substantial amount of farmland. There is still standing a historic grade II listed farm house, dating from the 17th century, at the top of Watsons Green Road; it is now solely a residential property as its farmland has long since been built on.
  
  wn.com/Kates_Hill
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  Kingswinford
  Coordinates: 52°29′53″N 2°09′57″W / 52.498105°N 2.165740°W / 52.498105; -2.165740
  Kingswinford is a suburban area (formerly a large village) in the West Midlands. Historically within Staffordshire, the area is mentioned in the Domesday Book its name relates to a ford for the King's swine (Kingswin(e)ford) - Latin Swinford Regis. The current significance is probably in tourism, education and housing. Positioned at the western edge of the West Midlands it borders on a rural area extending past the River Severn, which explains recent changes. But its position at the edge of the Black Country and its long standing in the area means it has had significant influence in the past. This is illustrated by the influence in creating local workhouses which shows a population of 15,000 plus in the 1831 census.
  The ancient parish of Kingswinford included Wordsley, Brierley Hill and Quarry Bank. The parishes of Kingswinford and Amblecote formed the Kingswinford rural district in 1894. It gave its name to a Parliamentary constituency of Kingswinford from 1885 until 1950. However, Amblecote became an urban district in 1898, leaving Kingswinford one of only a few single-parish rural districts. It was added to the Brierley Hill urban district in 1935, which became part of the County Borough of Dudley in 1966 and then the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley in 1974. However, the rural part of the parish was added to Kinver in 1935, becoming part of Seisdon in 1966 and since 1974 part of South Staffordshire.
  
  wn.com/Kingswinford
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  London
  London ⁱ/ˈlʌndən/ is the capital city of England and the United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its founding by the Romans, who named it Londinium. London's ancient core, the City of London, largely retains its square-mile mediaeval boundaries. Since at least the 19th century, the name London has also referred to the metropolis developed around this core. The bulk of this conurbation forms the London region and the Greater London administrative area, governed by the elected Mayor of London and the London Assembly.
  London is a leading global city, with strengths in the arts, commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, professional services, research and development, tourism and transport all contributing to its prominence. It is the world's leading financial centre alongside New York City and has the fifth-largest city GDP in the world (and the largest in Europe). London has been described as a world cultural capital. It was the world's most visited city during 2011 and London Heathrow is the world's busiest airport by number of international passengers. London's 43 universities form the largest concentration of higher education in Europe. In 2012 London will become the first city to host the modern Summer Olympic Games three times.
  
  wn.com/London
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  London Gatwick
  Gatwick Airport (IATA: LGW, ICAO: EGKK) is located 3.1 mi (5.0 km) north of the centre of Crawley,West Sussex, and 29.5 mi (47.5 km) south of Central London. Also known as London Gatwick, it is London's second largest international airport and second busiest by total passenger traffic in the United Kingdom after Heathrow. Furthermore, Gatwick is Europe's leading airport for point-to-point flights and has the world's busiest single-use runway averaging 52 aircraft movements an hour. Its two terminals – North and South – cover an area of 810,000 sq ft (75,000 m²) and 1,300,000 sq ft (120,000 m²) respectively.
  In 2011, over 33.6 million passengers passed through Gatwick.
  Charter airlines generally prefer Gatwick over Heathrow as a base for London and the South East of England. From 1978 to 2008, many flights to and from the United States used Gatwick because of restrictions on the use of Heathrow implemented in the Bermuda II agreement between the UK and the US.. Under the agreement Heathrow allowed the right for only two US carrier and two UK carrier to serve flights to the United States. Currently, US Airways is the only US carrier that still serves Gatwick from the US. The airport is a base for scheduled operators Aer Lingus, British Airways (BA), EasyJet, Flybe, Monarch Airlines and Virgin Atlantic, as well as charter airlines including Thomas Cook Airlines and Thomson Airways. Gatwick is unique amongst London's airports in having a significant airline presence representing each of the three main airline business models: full service, low/no frills and charter. As of January 2011, these respectively accounted for 37, 51 and 12% of total passenger traffic.
  
  wn.com/London_Gatwick
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  London Heathrow
  London Heathrow Airport or Heathrow (IATA: LHR, ICAO: EGLL) is a major airport serving London, England, United Kingdom. Located in the London Borough of Hillingdon, in West London, Heathrow is the busiest airport in the United Kingdom and the third busiest airport in the world (as of 2011) in terms of total passenger traffic, handling more international passengers than any other airport around the globe. It is also the busiest airport in the EU by passenger traffic and the third busiest in Europe given the number of traffic movements, with a figure surpassed only by Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport and Frankfurt Airport. Heathrow is London's main airport, having replaced RAF Northolt, and together with Gatwick, Southend, Stansted, Luton and London City, London is the busiest city airport system in the world by passenger traffic (with 133,666,888 passengers travelling through the five airports); and second only to New York City in terms of traffic movements. The airport sustains 76,600 jobs directly and around 116,000 indirectly in the immediate area, and this, together with the large number of global corporations with offices close to the airport, makes Heathrow a modern aerotropolis which contributes an estimated 2.7% to London's total GVA.
  
  wn.com/London_Heathrow
• Mons Hill School
  There are many minor secondary schools in the Wollaston, Russells Hall Estate, Wren's Nest Estate, Kingswinford, Stourbridge, Pedmore, Coseley, Wordsley, and Dudley districts of the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley. While their individual histories and roles in society are only minor they have as a whole, like all the more noted local secondary schools, contributed greatly to the general enlightenment of the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley.
  Holly Hall School is a foundation comprehensive secondary school located in Dudley, West Midlands, England. It is situated in Stourbridge Road on the edge of the Russells Hall Estate, by the Scotts Green Close roundabout and was opened in 1966 to replace a smaller building several hundred yards along the road towards Brierley Hill. Most of that building has now been demolished.
  Holly Hall School is now independent from Dudley MBC and is grant maintained. The school received Mathematics and Computing College specialist status in September 2002. In the past four years, the school has constructed a £3 million building and had a major refurbishment.
  
  wn.com/Mons_Hill_School
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  Old Hill
  Old Hill is a locality in the metropolitan borough of Sandwell in West Midlands, England. It is a district of Cradley Heath.
  Old Hill is a parish in the Birmingham borough of Sandwell on the Halesowen Road about 2 miles north of Halesowen and is home of the famous Old Hill Cricket Ground.
  It was historically in the urban district and later county borough of Rowley Regis, and in the country of Staffordshire. However, local government reorganisation in 1966 saw it become part of the new County Borough of Warley, and transferred into the county of Worcestershire. This arrangement lasted until 1974, since when it has been part of the borough of Sandwell and the county of the West Midlands.
  The chains for the infamous White Star Line RMS Titanic were made at Old Hill.
  Old Hill High Street is home to several takeaways, ladies clothes shop, pet food shop, former butchers, KFC (opened in 2005 on the site of a former public house) and six different churches. Old Hill has undergone redevelopment.
  The Eliza Tinsley factory was sold off in 2005 due to the firm's financial difficulties and has now become a housing estate.
  
  wn.com/Old_Hill
• Old Park School
  There are many primary schools in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, including the Netherton, Halesowen, Brierley Hill, Gornal, Wrens Nest Estate, Kates Hill estate, Russells Hall Estate, Kingswinford, Dudley and Sedgley areas of the borough.
  St Chad's Roman Catholic Primary School is a primary school in Sedgley, a town in the West Midlands of England that since 1966 has been located within the borough of Dudley. It is twinned with St Chad's Roman Catholic Church, though non-Catholic pupils are allowed to attend. Many pupils from St Chad's later attend Bishop Milner Roman Catholic School in Dudley.
  The first part of the school on Catholic Lane was opened in the late 1950s, with further sections being added during the 1960s, 1970s and up to present day. This was to replace a 19th century building which still remains on parish grounds.
  Roberts Primary School is a primary school located in Sedgley, West Midlands, England, on the border with Dudley. It was opened in 1894 as Robert Street School (taking its name from the street in which it was located) and in 1972 became Roberts First and Middle Schools with the leaving age increased from 11 to 12.
  
  wn.com/Old_Park_School
• Pensnett
  Pensnett is an area of the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, West Midlands, England. It is situated three miles south-west of Dudley and two miles north of Brierley Hill. In 1966, Pensnett joined the County Borough of Dudley which became part of the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley in 1974.
  Pensnett Chase, in the countryside of south Staffordshire, was an area mentioned in the Domesday book, part of the Dudley estate. The name is from the Celtic 'pen', for hill and the Anglo-Saxon 'snaed' for 'a piece of woodland'. For many years, it was used as common ground, for animal grazing although officially a hunting reserve., although was known as an area where coal and iron could be found. Pensnett Close was first enclosed in 1744, with the Pensnett Chase Act being passed in 1784 to enclose it further, which included a clause to compensate people for mining subsidence, indicating the industry was well established in the area.
  Pensnett was made part of the parish of St Mark's in 1844. Towards the end of the 19th century the face of the area began a period of dramatic change. Several factories were built in Pensnett and the factory workers were mostly employed in the iron and steel industries. Many terraced houses with shop fronts were developed along the village's High Street around the turn of the 20th century, but the biggest changes were yet to come.
  
  wn.com/Pensnett
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  Perth, Scotland
  Coordinates: 56°23′49″N 3°26′14″W / 56.396911°N 3.437262°W / 56.396911; -3.437262
  Perth (Scottish Gaelic: Peairt) is a city in central Scotland, located on the banks of the River Tay. It is the administrative centre of Perth and Kinross council area and the historic county town of Perthshire. According to a 2008 estimate, Perth has a population of 44,820. Perth has been known as The Fair City since the publication of the story Fair Maid of Perth by Scottish writer Sir Walter Scott in 1828. During the later medieval period the town was also called St John's Toun or Saint Johnstoun by its inhabitants in reference to the main church dedicated to St John the Baptist.
  The name Perth comes from a Pictish word for wood or copse. There has been a settlement at Perth since prehistoric times, on a natural mound raised slightly above the flood plain of the Tay, where the river could be crossed at low tide. The area surrounding the modern city is known to have been occupied by Mesolithic hunter-gatherers since their arrival more than 8000 years ago. Nearby Neolithic standing stones and circles also exist, dating from about 4000 BC, following the introduction of farming in the area.
  
  wn.com/Perth,_Scotland
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  Priory Estate
  The Priory Estate is a housing estate in Dudley, West Midlands, England, which has largely been developed since 1929.
  The Priory Estate is so named because it is located near the Priory ruins and Priory Park. It stands on land which once straddled the border of Dudley County Borough and Sedgley Urban District, which were in the counties of Worcestershire and Staffordshire respectively.
  The borders were moved back several hundred yards in 1926 when Dudley Council purchased the land with a view to building council houses to rehouse more than 2,000 families from town centre slums. Several hundred council houses had already been built in Dudley since 1920, mostly in the Kates Hill area and on small developments around Netherton, but the Priory Estate was to be the largest council housing development yet in the area as the town's slum problem was still far from being solved.
  The boundary changes also meant that Dudley Castle was finally transferred to the borough of Dudley after centuries in Sedgley.
  
  wn.com/Priory_Estate
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  Quarry Bank
  Coordinates: 52°28′20″N 2°06′28″W / 52.4721°N 2.1078°W / 52.4721; -2.1078
  Quarry Bank is a village in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, West Midlands, England, which exists within the Brierley Hill DY5 postal district.
  Locally, the name is often pronounced, "Quarry Bonk" (In Black Country Dialect) The Black Country Bugle local newspaper
  Originally the area was a remote part of the parish of Kingswinford, included in Pensnett Chase. The earliest settlements in Quarry Bank were smallholdings, where an industrial worker such as a nailer lived. Early industrial development took place the early 17th century around the Cradley Forge.
  Quarry Bank acquired its own parish status in September 1844. It had an urban sanitory authority and so became an urban district of Staffordshire from 1894. However in 1934, it amalgamated with the Brierley Hill urban district. This became part of the county borough of Dudley in 1966 and then the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley in West Midlands since 1974.
  Quarry Bank has become greatly affected by the adjacent Merry Hill Shopping Centre (which was developed between 1984 and 1989) which has bought high volumes of traffic along the High Street. This has meant demolition of more than 30 homes on the main Merry Hill road in 1997, the closure of the top end of the former High Street (now Sun Street) in 1998, and construction of a new replacement section of High Street to try and cope with traffic.
  
  wn.com/Quarry_Bank
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  Reading, Berkshire
  Reading (ⁱ/ˈrɛdɪŋ/ RED-ing) is a large town and unitary authority area in England. It is located in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the River Thames and River Kennet, and on both the Great Western Main Line railway and the M4 motorway, some 40 miles (64 km) west of London.
  The Borough of Reading has a population of 145,700 (2008 estimate) and the town formed the largest part of the Reading/Wokingham Urban Area which had a population of 369,804 (2001 census). The town is currently represented in the UK parliament by two members, and has been continuously represented there since 1295. For ceremonial purposes the town is in the county of Berkshire and has served as its county town since 1867, previously sharing this status with Abingdon.
  The first evidence for Reading as a settlement dates from the 8th century. Reading was an important centre in the medieval period, as the site of Reading Abbey, a monastery with strong royal connections. The town was seriously impacted by the Civil War, with a major siege and loss of trade, and played a pivotal role in the Revolution of 1688, with that revolution's only significant military action fought on the streets of the town. The 19th century saw the coming of the Great Western Railway and the development of the town's brewing, baking and seed growing businesses.
  
  wn.com/Reading,_Berkshire
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  Rowley Regis
  Coordinates: 52°29′N 2°04′W / 52.48°N 2.06°W / 52.48; -2.06
  Rowley Regis is a town in the Sandwell metropolitan borough of the West Midlands county and a part of the Black Country in the United Kingdom. Being part of the Black Country, locals speak with the traditional dialect, though in a form regarded by many as the quickest and the hardest to understand.
  The history of Rowley Regis began centuries ago when a small village grew around the parish church of St Giles approximately two miles south-east of Dudley. It began to develop as a town between the two world wars, when thousands of privately owned and local authority houses were built in the surrounding area. During that time, Rowley Regis became a borough and incorporated the neighbouring communities of Blackheath, Old Hill and Cradley Heath. These places were all within the ancient parish of Rowley Regis, which (despite being in the county of Staffordshire) was in the diocese of Worcester. The parish contained the manors of Rowley Regis and Rowley Somery, the latter being part of the barony of Dudley, but the extents of these manors and the relationship between them are not clear.
  
  wn.com/Rowley_Regis
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  Sandwell
  Sandwell is a metropolitan borough of the West Midlands with a population of around 289,100, and an area of 33 square miles (85 km²). The borough is named after Sandwell Priory, and spans a densely populated part of both the Black Country, and the West Midlands conurbation, encompassing the urban towns of Blackheath, Cradley Heath, Oldbury, Rowley Regis, Smethwick, Tipton, Tividale, Wednesbury, and West Bromwich. West Bromwich is the most populous town in Sandwell, but Sandwell Council House (the headquarters of Sandwell's local government) is located at Oldbury.
  The Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell was formed in 1974 as part of the provisions of the Local Government Act 1972 and is an amalgamation of the former County Borough of Warley and County Borough of West Bromwich. For its first 12 years Sandwell had a two-tier system of local government; Sandwell Council shared power with the West Midlands County Council. Since the Local Government Act 1985 Sandwell Council has effectively been a unitary authority, serving as the sole executive, deliberative and legislative body responsible for local policy, setting council tax, and allocating budget in the district.
  
  wn.com/Sandwell
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  Scotland
  Scotland (Scottish Gaelic: Alba ([ˈalˠ̪apə]  listen (help·info))) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the southwest. In addition to the mainland, Scotland constitutes over 790 islands including the Northern Isles and the Hebrides.
  Edinburgh, the country's capital and second largest city, is one of Europe's largest financial centres. Edinburgh was the hub of the Scottish Enlightenment of the 18th century, which transformed Scotland into one of the commercial, intellectual and industrial powerhouses of Europe. Glasgow, Scotland's largest city, was once one of the world's leading industrial cities and now lies at the centre of the Greater Glasgow conurbation. Scottish waters consist of a large sector of the North Atlantic and the North Sea, containing the largest oil reserves in the European Union. This has given Aberdeen, the third largest city in Scotland, the title of Europe's oil capital.
  
  wn.com/Scotland
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  Smethwick
  Coordinates: 52°29′34″N 1°58′06″W / 52.492854°N 1.968226°W / 52.492854; -1.968226
  Smethwick ( /ˈsmɛðɨk/ SMEDH-ick) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell, in the West Midlands of England. It is situated on the edge of the city of Birmingham, within the historic boundaries of Staffordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire.
  Originally the area was an urban district and from 1894 a municipal borough in the county of Staffordshire. In 1907 it became a county borough. In 1966, Smethwick was merged with the boroughs of Oldbury and Rowley Regis to form the new County Borough of Warley, and was transferred into the county of Worcestershire. This in turn was merged with West Bromwich in 1974 to form the Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell, which was incorporated into the new West Midlands county.
  In 1888, there had been plans for Smethwick to be incorporated into the city of Birmingham, but the urban district council voted against these plans by a single vote.
  Smethwick had always had strong economic links to Birmingham (even after its independence of county control following the creation of Smethwick County Borough in 1907), although like most areas and towns of the West Midlands has a strong sense of its own identity. The Warley County Borough was placed entirely in Worcestershire on its creation, but Smethwick has also been in Warwickshire and Staffordshire, and since 1974 has formed part of the West Midlands county. The former boundary of Staffordshire, and detached parts of Worcestershire and Shropshire could be found at the Three Shires Oak, in Bearwood.
  
  wn.com/Smethwick
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  Solihull
  Coordinates: 52°24′46″N 1°46′20″W / 52.412903°N 1.772094°W / 52.412903; -1.772094
  Solihull ( /ˈsɒlɨhʌl/ or /ˈsoʊliːhʌl/ or /soʊliˈhʌl/) is a town in the West Midlands of England with a population of 94,753. It is a part of the West Midlands conurbation and is located 9 miles (14.5 km) southeast of Birmingham city centre. It is the largest town in, and administrative centre of, the larger Metropolitan Borough of Solihull, which itself has a population of 200,400.
  Historically part of Warwickshire, Solihull is one of the most prosperous towns in the English Midlands. Residents of Solihull and those born in the town are referred to as Silhillians The motto of Solihull is Urbs in Rure (Town in Country)
  Solihull is "commonly thought" to have derived its name from the position of St Alphege parish church – on a “soily” hill. The church was built on a hill of stiff red marl, which turned to sticky mud in wet weather.
  
  wn.com/Solihull
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  Staffordshire
  Staffordshire (/ˈstæfərdʃɪər/ or  /ˈstæfərdʃaɪər/; abbreviated Staffs) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. Part of the National Forest lies within its borders. It adjoins the ceremonial counties of Cheshire (to the north west), Derbyshire (to the east), Leicestershire (to the east), Warwickshire (to the south east), West Midlands (to the south), Worcestershire (to the south), and Shropshire (to the west).
  The largest city in Staffordshire is Stoke-on-Trent, which is administered separately from the rest of the county as an independent unitary authority. Lichfield also has city status, although this is a considerably smaller cathedral city. Major towns include Stafford (the county town), Burton upon Trent, Cannock, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Leek and Tamworth.
  Wolverhampton, Walsall, West Bromwich and Smethwick were also in Staffordshire until local government reorganisation in 1974, but are now within the West Midlands County in the West Midlands Conurbation.
  With the exception of Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire is divided into the districts of Cannock Chase, East Staffordshire, Lichfield, Newcastle-under-Lyme, South Staffordshire, Stafford, Staffordshire Moorlands, and Tamworth.
  
  wn.com/Staffordshire
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  Stourbridge
  Coordinates: 52°27′27″N 2°08′52″W / 52.4575°N 2.1479°W / 52.4575; -2.1479
  Stourbridge  /ˈstaʊərbrɪdʒ/ is a large town in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, in the West Midlands of England. Historically a part of Worcestershire, Stourbridge was a centre of glass making, and today includes the suburbs of Amblecote, Lye, Norton, Oldswinford, Pedmore, Wollaston, Wollescote and Wordsley.
  The population, as recorded in the United Kingdom Census 2001, was 55,480. Stourbridge is included in the Stourbridge parliamentary constituency, currently held by Margot James of the Conservative Party.
  Stourbridge is a part of the West Midlands metropolitan county and conurbation, in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley. Stourbridge is located about 13 miles west of Birmingham, at the edge of the industrial Midlands, located between Kidderminster and Dudley.
  Much of the town consists of suburban streets, interspersed with green spaces. Stourbridge borders on green belt land, and is close to unspoiled countryside with rural Shropshire close by to the west. The Clent Hills, Kinver Edge and large areas of farmland lie to the south and west.
  
  wn.com/Stourbridge
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  Sutton Coldfield
  Coordinates: 52°33′47″N 1°49′19″W / 52.563°N 1.822°W / 52.563; -1.822
  Sutton Coldfield ( pronunciation (help·info)) is a town within the city of Birmingham, in the West Midlands of England. Sutton (as it is often abbreviated) is located about 8 miles (13 km) from central Birmingham; it has borders with North Warwickshire, Lichfield, Erdington, Kingstanding and Castle Vale. Sutton is in the northeast of Birmingham, with a population of 105,000 recorded in the 2001 census. It forms part of the West Midlands conurbation.
  Historically within Warwickshire, the town has a historical connection to the Royal Family, resulting in it receiving the title of Royal Town when it was a municipal borough in its own right and part of Warwickshire. When the Local Government Act 1972 came into force in 1974, Sutton Coldfield became part of Birmingham and the wider West Midlands County.
  The Etymology of the name Sutton appears to be from South Town.
  The name "Sutton Coldfield" appears to come from this time, being the "south town" (i.e. south of Tamworth and/or Lichfield) on the edge of the "col field". "Col" is usually derived from "charcoal", charcoal burners presumably being active in the area.
  
  wn.com/Sutton_Coldfield
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  Telford
  Coordinates: 52°40′36″N 2°26′49″W / 52.6766°N 2.4469°W / 52.6766; -2.4469
  Telford ⁱ/ˈtɛlfərd/ is a large new town in the borough of Telford and Wrekin and ceremonial county of Shropshire, England, about 13 miles (21 km) east of Shrewsbury, and 30 miles (48 km) west of Birmingham. With an estimated population of 162,300 in 2009, Telford is by far the largest town in Shropshire, and one of the fastest growing towns in the United Kingdom.
  It is named after Thomas Telford, the famous civil engineer. The town was built in the 1960s and 1970s as a new town on previously industrial and agricultural land. Like other planned towns of the era, Telford was created from the merger of other, smaller settlements, most notably the towns of Wellington, Oakengates, Madeley and Dawley. Telford Shopping Centre, a modern shopping mall, was constructed at the new town's geographical centre, along with an extensive Town Park. The M54 motorway was completed in 1983, connecting the town with the West Midlands conurbation.
  
  wn.com/Telford
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  Tipton
  Coordinates: 52°31′33″N 2°04′30″W / 52.5259°N 2.0751°W / 52.5259; -2.0751
  Tipton is a town in the Sandwell borough of the West Midlands, England, with a population of around 47,000. Tipton is located about halfway between Birmingham and Wolverhampton. It is a part of the West Midlands conurbation and is a part of the Black Country.
  Historically within Staffordshire, Tipton was an urban district until 1938, when it became a municipal borough. The vast majority of the Borough of Tipton was transferred into West Bromwich County Borough in 1966, although the Tividale part of the town became part of Warley. Along with the rest of West Bromwich and Warley, Tipton became part of the Sandwell Metropolitan Borough in 1974 and remains within this local authority to this day.
  Tipton was once one of the most heavily industrialised towns in the Black Country.^{[citation needed]} But most of its factories closed during the 1980s and new housing estates have been built on the site of many former factories, the new private homes have seen an upturn in Tipton's fortunes by rising house prices.
  
  wn.com/Tipton
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  Tividale
  Coordinates: 52°30′45″N 2°03′11″W / 52.51238°N 2.05300°W / 52.51238; -2.05300
  Tividale is a village in Sandwell, West Midlands.
  The village was in the parish of St Michael named after the church built there. It was created in 1878 as an extension of the town of Tipton in the county of Staffordshire, England. It was originally set around the main Dudley to Oldbury road, with several hundred terraced houses with shop fronts on the main road, as well as many more on the side streets running off.
  Tividale began to expand during the 1930s and was developed beyond Tipton's borders into Dudley, namely with the Tividale Hall Estate (private) and the Grace Mary Estate (council). After the Second World War, further housing developments, mostly by the local authority, saw these two housing estates effectively merged.
  Tividale Tram workshops opened along the main Tividale Road (a tram route) in 1907, and operated until 1930. The tramway closed in 1939, as trams were phased out in favour of motor buses.
  
  wn.com/Tividale
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  United Kingdom
  The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK, or Britain) is a sovereign state located off the north-western coast of continental Europe. The country includes the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands. Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. Apart from this land border the UK is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea, the English Channel and the Irish Sea.
  The United Kingdom is a unitary state governed under a constitutional monarchy and a parliamentary system, with its seat of government in the capital city of London. It is a country in its own right and consists of four countries: England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. There are three devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in Belfast, Edinburgh and Cardiff, the capitals of Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Associated with the UK, but not constitutionally part of it, are three Crown Dependencies. The United Kingdom has fourteen overseas territories. These are remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in 1922, encompassed almost a quarter of the world's land surface and was the largest empire in history. British influence can still be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former territories.
  
  wn.com/United_Kingdom
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  Wall Heath
  Coordinates: 52°30′22″N 2°10′52″W / 52.506°N 2.181°W / 52.506; -2.181
  Wall Heath is a village in the Dudley Metropolitan Borough in the West Midlands of England. It is located on the A449 road, approximately 5 miles west of Dudley Town Centre and 9 miles north of Kidderminster.
  
  Geography== Wall Heath is situated on the edge of the West Midlands conurbation, bordering Staffordshire to the west.
  It was formerly a part of the Kingswinford Rural District until its merger with the Brierley Hill Urban District in 1934. Since 1966 it has been a part of the Dudley County Borough, now the metropolitan borough.
  There are approximately 5,000 inhabitants in the village.^{[citation needed]}
  
  
  
  
  
  
  The village contains numerous outlets providing varied services; including a Co-op supermarket, Boots Local Pharmacy, a podiatrist and a private dental surgery. There are four public houses, two Indian restaurants, two Chinese take-aways, a Chinese restaurant, a pizza delivery/take-away and a catering company. There was, until recently, a small public library, which was closed by Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council for economic reasons. The local authority states that the money from the closure of Wall Heath Library and four other Dudley libraries will be used for a £2.3 million scheme to update services in the borough. There are currently plans to improve Kingswinford Library. The other libraries in the borough which fell victim of the council policy were Quarry Bank, Amblecote, Dudley Wood and Woodside.
  
  wn.com/Wall_Heath
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  Walsall
  Coordinates: 52°35′N 1°59′W / 52.58°N 1.98°W / 52.58; -1.98
  Walsall ( pronunciation (help·info)) is a large industrial town in the West Midlands of England. It is located northwest of Birmingham and east of Wolverhampton. Historically a part of Staffordshire, Walsall is a component area of the West Midlands conurbation and part of the Black Country.
  Walsall is the administrative headquarters of the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, though it has changed its name to Walsall Council. In the 2001 census, the town had a population of 170,994 with the wider borough having a population of 253,500. Neighbouring towns in the borough include Brownhills, Willenhall, Bloxwich and Aldridge.
  The name Walsall is thought to have derived from the words "Walh halh", meaning "valley of the Welsh speakers" (referring to the Brythons). Walsall is first referenced as 'Walesho' in a document dated 1002. Possibly as a result of a clerical error, it is not referenced in the Domesday Book, while the settlements of Aldridge, Bescot, Shelfield, Pelsall, Bloxwich, Great Barr and Rushall within the Metropolitan Borough are. However, it is believed that a manor was held here by William FitzAnsculf, who held numerous manors in the Midlands. By the first part of the 13th century, Walsall was a small market town, with the weekly market being introduced in 1220 and held on Tuesdays. The mayor of Walsall was created as a political position in the 14th century. Walsall is known as "the town of a hundred trades". (This appellation is a nod to the fact that nearby Birmingham is known as "the city of a thousand trades".)
  
  wn.com/Walsall
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  Wednesbury
  Coordinates: 52°33′11″N 2°01′12″W / 52.553°N 2.020°W / 52.553; -2.020
  Wednesbury (/ˈwɛnzbᵊri/WENZ-bər-ee) is a market town in England's Black Country, part of the Sandwell metropolitan borough in West Midlands, near the source of the River Tame.
  It is believed that Wednesbury was originally founded as an Iron Age hill fort. The first authenticated spelling of the name was Wodensbyri, written in an endorsement on the back of the copy of the will of Wulfric Spot, dated 1004. Wednesbury is one of the few places in England to be named after a pre-Christian deity.
  Wednesbury is one of the oldest parts of the Black Country. The ending "-bury" comes from the old English word "burgh" meaning a hill or barrow. So "Wednesbury" may mean "Woden's Hill" or "Woden's barrow". It could also mean Woden's fortification, although the former description is often accepted.
  During the Anglo-Saxon period there are believed to have been two battles fought in Wednesbury, one in A.D. 592 and one in 715. According to The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle there was "a great slaughter" in 592 and "Ceawlin was driven out". Ceawlin was a king of Wessex and the second Bretwalda, or overlord of all Britain. The second battle, in 715, was fought between Mercia (of which Wednesbury was part) and the kingdom of Wessex. Both sides allegedly claimed to have won the battle, although it is believed that the victory inclined to Wessex.
  
  wn.com/Wednesbury
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  Wednesfield
  Coordinates: 52°35′59″N 2°04′54″W / 52.5998°N 2.0817°W / 52.5998; -2.0817
  Wednesfield is a town within the city of Wolverhampton, West Midlands. It is 2 miles (3.2 km) east-northeast of Wolverhampton city centre, and is part of the West Midlands conurbation. It is historically within the county of Staffordshire.
  Its name comes from the Old English Wōdnesfeld meaning Woden's Field, open land belonging to, or holy to, the high god of the Germanic Pantheon.
  It is reported by the Englisj Dialectal Society in the publication "A Glossary of dialectal place-nomenclature" available on-line in the Internet Archive of The University of Toronto Library, that the place name "Wednesfield" is pronounced by the local populace as "Wedgefield". Indeed, The 1871 Census enumerators have used the name "Wedgefield" rather than "Wednesfield" when recording the place of birth of some of those persons enumerated.
  Local areas include Ashmore Park and Wood End. There is also a formal garden at Wednesfield Park.
  Wednesfield lies at 52°35′59″N 2°04′54″W / 52.5998°N 2.0817°W / 52.5998; -2.0817 (52.5998°, -2.0817°), and is located to the northeast of Wolverhampton city centre on the northern fringe of the West Midlands conurbation. It is historically part of the county of Staffordshire, and since 1974 has been part of the West Midlands metropolitan county.
  
  wn.com/Wednesfield
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  West Bromwich
  Coordinates: 52°31′30″N 2°00′58″W / 52.525°N 2.016°W / 52.525; -2.016
  West Bromwich ⁱ/wɛst ˈbrɒmɪtʃ/ is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell, in the West Midlands, England. It is 5 miles (8 km) northwest of Birmingham lying on the A41 London-to-Birkenhead road and is part of the Black Country. Historically within Staffordshire, West Bromwich is the largest town within Sandwell, with a population of 136,940 at the time of the 2001 census.
  The Latin motto on the town's coat of arms translates as "Work Conquers All".
  West Bromwich was first mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086, the name meaning "the little village on the heath of broom" (broom being a particular type of bush). It is believed that it may have originally been part of the Handsworth parish. A Benedictine priory existed in West Bromwich from the 12th century around which the settlement of Broomwich Heath grew. In 1727, the town became a stop on the coaching road between London and Shrewsbury and its growth began.
  
  wn.com/West_Bromwich
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  Willenhall
  Coordinates: 52°34′47″N 2°03′38″W / 52.57980°N 2.06046°W / 52.57980; -2.06046
  Willenhall is a town in the Black Country area of the West Midlands of England, with a population of approximately 40,000. It is situated between Wolverhampton and Walsall, historically in the county of Staffordshire. It lies upon the River Tame.
  The urban district of Willenhall (established by the Local Government Act 1894) was partitioned in 1966 between the county boroughs of Walsall and Wolverhampton (since 1974 the metropolitan boroughs of Walsall and Wolverhampton).
  The northern border of Willenhall has always been adjoining green belt land, although Willenhall has expanded so much in the last 100 years that its northern border has been moved by about two miles. This is mostly due to housing developments in the Short Heath and New Invention areas.
  As a town it is historically famous for the manufacture of locks and keys. As early as 1770 Willenhall contained 148 skilled locksmiths and its coat of arms reflects the importance of this industry to its growth. Its motto is "Salus Populi Suprema Lex" - The welfare of the people is the highest law.
  
  wn.com/Willenhall
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  Wolverhampton
  Wolverhampton ⁱ/ˌwʊlvərˈhæmptən/ is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands, England. For Eurostat purposes Walsall and Wolverhampton is a NUTS 3 region (code UKG35) and is one of five boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "West Midlands" NUTS 2 region. In 2004, the local government district had an estimated population of 239,100. Wolverhampton is part of the West Midlands Urban Area which had a population of 2.3 million in the 2001 census which makes it part of the second largest urban area in the United Kingdom.
  Historically a part of Staffordshire, and forming part of the metropolitan county of the West Midlands from 1974, the city is commonly recognised as being named after King Wulfhere, who established an abbey in 659. The original name being from Wulfereēantūn = "Wulfhere's high or principal enclosure or farm" after the Mercian King. The name Wulfrun is used to denote a later nun who established a church in the city – for example, for the Wulfrun Centre or for Wulfrun Hall.
  
  wn.com/Wolverhampton
• Woodside, Dudley
  Woodside is a residential area of Dudley in the West Midlands of England.
  It was originally a separate manor from Dudley in a once rural area south-west of the town in the direction of Brierley Hill, but development along the main Dudley to Stourbridge towards the end of the 19th century saw it merged into Dudley County Borough.
  It grew substantially after World War I, with significant private housing developments taking place along Stourbridge Road, as well as council housing in the 1920s and 1930s to rehouse families from slums.
  Since the mid 1980s, the main roads around Woodside have been plagued with congestion due to its close proximity to the Merry Hill Shopping Centre, and the fact that the centre's road links are very much the same to how they existed at the time of its opening.
  The footballer William Ball was born at Woodside in 1886.
  Duncan Edwards, who played for Manchester United and England, and died in the Munich air disaster of 1958, was born in a house on Malvern Crescent on 1 October 1936, but grew up two miles away on the Priory Estate.
  
  wn.com/Woodside,_Dudley
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  Worcestershire
  Worcestershire (ⁱ/ˈwʊstərʃər/ WUUS-tər-shər or /ˈwʊstərʃɪər/ WUUS-tər-sheer ; abbreviated Worcs) is a non-metropolitan county in the West Midlands of England. In 1974, it merged with the neighbouring county of Herefordshire to form Hereford and Worcester. This was divided in 1998, re-establishing Worcestershire as a county. The Malvern Hills forms the east–west border between the two counties, with the exception of West Malvern in Worcestershire.
  The county borders Herefordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, West Midlands, Warwickshire and Gloucestershire. To the west, the county is bordered by the Malvern Hills and the spa town of Malvern. The southern part of the county is bordered by Gloucestershire and the northern edge of the Cotswolds; to the east is Warwickshire. There are two major rivers flowing through the county, the Severn and the Avon.
  The cathedral city of Worcester is the largest settlement and administrative seat of the county, which includes the principal settlements of Bromsgrove, Stourport-on-Severn, Droitwich, Evesham, Kidderminster, Malvern, and the largest town, Redditch, and a number of smaller towns such as Pershore, Tenbury Wells and Upton upon Severn. The north of the county includes part of the industrial West Midlands conurbation while the south of the county is largely rural. The average salary is £20,300.
  
  wn.com/Worcestershire
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  Wordsley
  Coordinates: 52°28′59″N 2°09′00″W / 52.483°N 2.150°W / 52.483; -2.150
  Wordsley with Buckpool is a village south of Kingswinford although is the most northern suburb of Stourbridge in the West Midlands, England. Wordsley still retains its rural character because it abuts open countryside (the "green belt"). It is administered as part of the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley Wordsley falls into the Stourbridge (DY8) postcode and address area.
  Wordsley lies in the far south of the historic boundaries of Staffordshire and, with neighbouring Amblecote, it is one of several villages just north of the River Stour that forms the historic border with the county of Worcestershire to the south. It formed part of the extensive manor of Kingswinford.
  A 610-mile (982 km) long-distance footpath runs nearby. The path loosely follows the escape of the future Charles II during the English Civil War. He is said to have stopped at a house (which has since been demolished) on the corner of Kinver Street and the main Stourbridge road in Wordsley, during the night following the battle of Worcester on 3 September 1651, and taken bread and beer for himself and his party of about 60 cavaliers.
  
  wn.com/Wordsley
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  Wordsley Hospital
  Wordsley Hospital was a NHS-owned hospital located in Wordsley, near Dudley, West Midlands (formerly Staffordshire), England.
  Wordsley Hospital was built as a workhouse in 1903, and became a hospital after the Great War. It was substantially expanded between 1930 and 1990 and even includes a separate hospital - Ridge Hill Hospital - which specialises in learning support and social care, without providing casualty or out patient facilities.
  The most recent addition to Wordsley Hospital was a maternity unit that cost £6million to build and opened in May 1988 after three years of construction work. It replaced the maternity wings of the existing Wordsley Hospital as well as the 60-year-old maternity home at Burton Road Hospital. It stood on the site of an old hospital building and tennis courts. The maternity unit was officially opened by The Princess Royal on 24 November 1988.
  However, in the early 1990s plans were unveiled for Wordsley Hospital, Dudley Guest Hospital and parts of the Corbett Hospital to be closed and the services relocated to an expanded Russells Hall Hospital. There was later a change of plan which would have seen maternity services kept at Wordsley and the remaining services transferred to Russells Hall, but in 1998 it was decided to close down Wordsley completely and keep only in-patient services and Dudley Guest and Corbett.
  
  wn.com/Wordsley_Hospital
• Wren's Nest Estate
  The Wren's Nest Estate is a housing estate located to the north west of the town centre of Dudley, West Midlands, England.
  Local industrialisation was considerable in the early 20th century, as the district had become highly industrialised in the then heyday of the Black Country's industrial past.
  The Wren's Nest Estate was originally council housing and was largely built between 1935 and 1939 to rehouse families from town centre slum clearances, along with the adjoining Priory Estate which was built around the same time. The land was historically in Sedgley (in the county of Staffordshire), but was transferred to Dudley in 1926 in order for the housing estates to be built.
  Old Park Farm was added in the early 1950s.
  The estate has been served by a primary school, Wren's Nest Primary School on Marigold Crescent, since 14 October 1936. This initially served the 5–11 age ranges, later incorporating a nursery unit for 3- and 4-year-olds. Reorganisation saw the school extended to serve 12-year-olds from September 1972, only for it to revert to a 3–11 school from September 1990.
  
  wn.com/Wren's_Nest_Estate

• Abraham Darby I
  Abraham Darby I (14 April 1678 – 8 March 1717) was the first, and most famous, of three generations with that name in an English Quaker family that played an important role in the Industrial Revolution. He developed a method of producing pig iron in a blast furnace fuelled by coke rather than charcoal. This was a major step forward in the production of iron as a raw material for the Industrial Revolution.
  Abraham Darby was the son of John Darby, a yeoman farmer and locksmith by trade, and his wife Ann Baylies. He was born at Wren's Nest, Woodsetton, Staffordshire, just across the county boundary from Dudley, Worcestershire. He was descended from nobility; his great-grandmother Jane was an illegitimate child of Edward Sutton, 5th Baron Dudley.
  Abraham's great-grandmother was a sister of the whole blood to Dud Dudley, who claimed to have smelted iron using coke as a fuel. Unfortunately, the iron that Dudley produced was not acceptable to the charcoal ironmasters. However, this may have inspired his great-grandnephew Darby to perfect this novel method of smelting.
  
  wn.com/Abraham_Darby_I
• Ben Black
  Ben Black (11 December 1889 – 26 December 1950) was an English composer of popular song and an impresario.
  Born in Dudley, England, Black worked as music director in Paramount Pictures' cinemas across the US, before moving on to theatrical production in his own right. He became a member of the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers in 1926.
  
  
  
  
  
  wn.com/Ben_Black
• Bert Bissell
  Bert Bissell (9 January 1902 - 2 November 1998) was a mountain climber and peace campaigner.
  Born at Dudley, Worcestershire, in January 1902, he founded the Young Men's Bible Class at Vicar Street Methodist Church in the town in 1925. The bible class remained at the church for 83 years, relocating to nearby Dixons Green Methodist Church after 31 August 2008 due to the building's deteriorating condition in spite of local opposition to its closure.
  Bissell, who worked as a probation officer, led a pilgrimage party from the Bible Class to the summit of Ben Nevis on VJ Day in 1945 and constructed a "Peace Cairn", in later years the subject of some controversy; the expedition from Dudley to Fort William was repeated annually thereafter, a tradition which continued for some 50 years.
  At the age of 88, he opened Dudley's new Milking Bank Primary School on 6 November 1990, 12 months after it first opened to pupils.
  He was the subject in 1995 of a biographical article by Stan Hill in The Blackcountryman magazine. In 1997 he published a book, "God's Mountaineer" (Methodist Publishing House, ISBN 1-85852-085-1).
  
  wn.com/Bert_Bissell
• Billy Dainty
  William Hooper Frank John (Billy) Dainty (22 February 1927 – 19 November 1986) was a British comedian, dancer, physical comedian and pantomime and television star.
  Dainty was born at Wolverhampton Street, Dudley, Worcestershire. His father kept a shop at the front of the family home. He made his stage debut as the only boy dancer in a troupe of girls. Later, his family moved to London, where the young Billy received tap-dancing lessons from the American-born hoofer Buddy Bradley. He then won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art where he trained as a comedian. From childhood he had the ambition to be a professional dancer, but he became well known for the funny walks which formed part of his well-loved comedy act.
  In 1942 at the age of 15, he made his stage debut in the pantomime Mother Goose, starring Norman Evans and Patricia Burke, where he played the back end of a dancing pantomime donkey called "Asbestos". His next part was as a chorus boy in Strike a New Note at the Prince of Wales Theatre, with Sid Field and Jerry Desmonde, along with the newly formed pairing of Morecambe and Wise.
  
  wn.com/Billy_Dainty
• Charles Coulson
  Charles Alfred Coulson FRS (13 December 1910, Dudley, England – 7 January 1974, Oxford, England) was an applied mathematician, theoretical chemist and religious author.
  His major scientific work was as a pioneer of the application of the quantum theory of valency to problems of molecular structure, dynamics and reactivity. He shared his deep religious belief, as a Methodist lay preacher, with the general public in radio broadcasts, served on the World Council of Churches from 1962 to 1968 and was Chairman of Oxfam from 1965 to 1971.
  Coulson went up to Trinity College, Cambridge in 1928, graduated in mathematics in 1931 and natural sciences in 1932, going on to receive a Ph.D. in 1936. He married Eileen Florence Burrett in 1938.
  Coulson was a Senior Lecturer in the Mathematics Department of University College, Dundee, which was administratively part of the University of St. Andrews from 1938 to 1945. He held a Fellowship at the University of Oxford from 1945 to 1947, when he took up the newly appointed Chair of Theoretical Physics at King's College London. He returned to Oxford in 1952 as Rouse Ball Professor of Mathematics and Fellow of Wadham College. He set up and directed the Mathematical Institute. In 1972 he was appointed to the newly created Chair of Theoretical Chemistry, which has since been named for him.
  
  wn.com/Charles_Coulson
• Dorothy Round
  Dorothy Edith Round Little (13 July 1908 – 12 November 1982) was a World No. 1 British female tennis player. She was born in Dudley, Worcestershire, England, where she attended the Dudley Girls High School.
  Little was a rival of Helen Wills Moody and won the singles title at Wimbledon in 1934 and 1937, when Moody was absent, and the Australian Championships in 1935, which Moody never played.
  According to Wallis Myers of The Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail, Little was ranked in the world top ten from 1933 through 1937, reaching a career high of World No. 1 in those rankings in 1934.
  A = did not participate in the tournament.
  SR = the ratio of the number of Grand Slam singles tournaments won to the number of those tournaments played.
  
  
  
  wn.com/Dorothy_Round
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  Duncan Edwards
  Duncan Edwards (1 October 1936 – 21 February 1958) was an English footballer who played for Manchester United and the England national team. He was one of the Busby Babes, the young United team formed under manager Matt Busby in the mid 1950s, and one of eight players who died as a result of the Munich air disaster.
  Born in Dudley, Edwards signed for Manchester United as a teenager and went on to become the youngest player to play in the Football League First Division and the then youngest England player since the Second World War. In a professional career of less than five years he helped United to win two Football League championships and reach the semi-finals of the European Cup.
  Edwards was born on 1 October 1936 at a house on Malvern Crescent in the Woodside district of Dudley, which at the time was part of the county of Worcestershire. He was the first child of Gladstone and Sarah Anne Edwards and their only child to survive to adulthood, his younger sister Carol Anne dying in 1947 at the age of 14 weeks. The family later moved to 31 Elm Road on the Priory Estate, also in Dudley. Edwards attended Priory Primary School from 1941 to 1948, and Wolverhampton Street Secondary School from 1948 to 1952. He played football for his school as well as for Dudley Schools, Worcestershire and Birmingham and District teams, and also represented his school at morris dancing. He was selected to compete in the National Morris and Sword Dancing Festival, but was also offered a trial for the English Schools Football Association's under-14 team, which fell on the same day, and opted to attend the latter.
  
  wn.com/Duncan_Edwards
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  Edmund the Martyr
  Edmund the Martyr (Old English: Eadmund, ēad, "prosperity", "riches"; and mund, "protector"); also known as St Edmund or Edmund of East Anglia (died 20 November 869) was king of East Anglia from about 855 until his death.
  Almost nothing is known of Edmund. He is thought to be of East Anglian origin and was first mentioned in an annal of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, written some years after his death. His kingdom was devastated by the Vikings, who destroyed any contemporary evidence of his reign. Later writers produced fictitious accounts of his life, asserting that he was born in 841, the son of Æthelweard, an obscure East Anglian king, whom it was said he succeeded when he was fourteen (or alternatively that he was the youngest son of a Germanic king named 'Alcmund'). Later versions of his life relate that he was crowned on 25 December 855 at Burna, an unidentified location, and that he became a model king.
  In 869, the Great Heathen Army advanced on East Anglia and killed Edmund. He may have been slain by the Danes in battle, but by tradition he met his death at an unidentified place known as Haegelisdun, after he refused the Danes' demand that he renounce Christ: the Danes beat him, shot him with arrows and then beheaded him, on the orders of Ivar the Boneless and his brother Ubbe Ragnarsson. According to one legend, his head was then thrown into the forest, but was found safe by searchers after following the cries of a wolf that was calling, "Hic, Hic, Hic" – 'Here, Here, Here'. Commentators have noted how Edmund's death bears resemblances to the fate suffered by Saint Sebastian, St Denis and St Mary of Egypt.
  
  wn.com/Edmund_the_Martyr
• Ian Messiter
  Ian Cassan Messiter (2 April 1920 – 22 November 1999) was a BBC Radio producer and the creator of a number of panel games, including Just a Minute, and Many a Slip. He was also the Programme Associate on Family Fortunes. Messiter was born in Dudley, Worcestershire and educated at Sherborne School in Dorset. He acted as whistle blower on both One Minute Please and Just a Minute. He published his autobiography My Life and Other Games in 1990.
  Ian Messiter married Enid, née Senior. They had two children; a daughter Susan, who owns a campsite in Wimblington, Cambridgeshire and a son, Malcolm Messiter, who is a world-renowned oboist, and four grandchildren; James, Toby and Emily Beaumont and Helen Messiter.
  
  
  
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  James Whale
  James Whale (22 July 1889 – 29 May 1957) was an English film director, theatre director and actor. He is best remembered for his work in the horror film genre, having directed such classics as Frankenstein (1931), The Old Dark House (1932), The Invisible Man (1933) and Bride of Frankenstein (1935). Whale directed over a dozen films in other genres, including what is considered the definitive film version of the musical Show Boat (1936). He became increasingly disenchanted with his association with horror, but many of his non-horror films have fallen into obscurity.
  Born into a large family in Dudley, England, Whale early discovered his artistic talent and studied art. With the outbreak of World War I, Whale enlisted in the British Army and became an officer. He was captured by the Germans and during his time as a prisoner of war he realized he was interested in drama. Following his release at the end of the war he became an actor, set designer and director. His success directing the 1928 play Journey's End led to his move to the United States, first to direct the play on Broadway and then to Hollywood to direct motion pictures. Whale lived in Hollywood for the rest of his life, most of that time with his longtime companion, producer David Lewis. Including Journey's End (1930), Whale directed a dozen films for Universal Studios between 1930 and 1936, developing a style characterized by the influence of German Expressionism and a highly mobile camera.
  
  wn.com/James_Whale
• Jas Mann
  Jasbinder Singh "Jas" Mann (born 24 April 1971, Dudley, West Midlands) is a British song-writer, musician, singer and record producer.
  Mann formed his first band at the age of 15 with friend Adam Toussaint called The Glove Puppets, and personally funded a 7" vinyl single, sold through local record shops in 1987.
  The Sandkings, another Wolverhampton band with a strong following, were keen to sign Mann as their vocalist, and he joined them in 1988. The Sandkings, named after a 1981 collection of sci-fi short stories by George R. R. Martin (called Sandkings), released seven singles and an EP with Mann between 1988 and 1992 as well as an album. They were moderately successful, scoring three Top 10 hits in the UK indie single chart.
  They were the opening act for Happy Mondays and The Stone Roses in the early 1990s, but Mann left the band in 1992 because of creative differences.
  In 1993, a three-track demo from Mann's next project Babylon Zoo earned him a contract from Phonogram Records. In 1996 Levi's used "Spaceman", their first single for a TV advert after hearing the song on a UK radio station. The single went straight to Number 1 on the UK Singles Chart on 21 January 1996. An album entitled The Boy With the X-Ray Eyes was produced at Mann's New Atlantis Productions music/artwork/video centre. It was released in 1996 and peaked at number 6 in the album chart, though it did not match the success of "Spaceman" which reached number 1 in 23 countries. Three years later, 1999, a follow up album was released entitled King Kong Groover. The album did not chart well, suffering from poor promotion from their record label, EMI, and from little press coverage. The New Musical Express called it a "slickly produced machiavellian plundering of pop classics" and a "clumsy effort to resurrect a career that was a fluke in the first place."
  
  wn.com/Jas_Mann
• 
  Jason Bonham
  Jason John Bonham (born 15 July 1966) is an English drummer. Jason's parents are Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham and Pat Phillips. After his father's death in 1980, he played with Led Zeppelin on different occasions, including the Ahmet Ertegün Tribute Concert at The O2 Arena in London in 2007.
  He first began playing drums at the age of four, and appeared with his father in the film The Song Remains the Same, drumming on a scaled-down kit. At 17, he joined his first band, Airrace. In 1985, he joined Virginia Wolf, making two albums and touring the U.S. supporting the Firm.
  In 1988, Bonham joined former Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page for his Outrider album and tour. In May of the same year, Bonham appeared with the three surviving members of Led Zeppelin for a performance at Atlantic Records 40th Anniversary concert in New York.
  In 1989, Bonham appeared as a special guest at the Moscow Music Peace Festival, performing the song "Rock and Roll" with many major rock stars of the day. That same year, he formed his own band, Bonham, whose Zeppelin-inflected first release The Disregard of Timekeeping had a hit single, "Wait for You" and the music video for the subsequent single "Guilty" did get some play. However, after a lukewarm reception for their 1992 release, Mad Hatter, the band was dissolved, and Bonham concentrated on session work and guest appearances.
  
  wn.com/Jason_Bonham
• Jim MacCool
  Jim MacCool (born 1963) is a British dramatic poet in the shanachie or travelling bard tradition. MacCool is the author of Ionan Tales, a series of twelve lengthy tales in verse inspired by the Canterbury Tales and which he has performed more than a thousand times in places from Brisbane to Chicago since their premiere at a Sunday Times–sponsred Literary Festival at the 2000 Millennium. His shows typically combine his singing of Irish or Scots folk ballads, such as The Belle of Belfast City or Whiskey in the Jar, a poetic recitation and a Celtic drum performance. MacCool is the founder and patron of Britain's National Poetry Month and in August 2006 was named poet-in-residence for Dudley, West Midlands.
  On 13 November 2004, he presented two of his stories "The Boxer's Tale" and the "Story of Sawney Bean" in Pember Heath Village Hall, along with his renditions of Irish and Scottish folk ballads. One story told of a boxer's greed, drug abuse and the revenge of his lover that left him in a wheelchair, while the second told of Sawney Bean and his wife Black Agnes, who dabbled in witchcraft and cannibalism at the time of King James VI of Scotland.
  
  wn.com/Jim_MacCool
• John Coulson
  John Metcalfe Coulson, born 13 December 1910 in Dudley, died 6 January 1990, was a British chemical engineering academic particularly known for co-writing a textbook on chemical engineering with Jack Richardson (published in 1954), which became an established series of texts now known as Coulson & Richardson's Chemical Engineering.
  John Coulson was the twin brother of Charles Alfred Coulson, the noted chemist. Their father was Alfred Coulson (who became Principal of Dudley Technical College) and their mother was Annie Sincere Hancock, a school headmistress.
  He did his first degree at Cambridge, then a postgraduate course in Chemical Engineering at Imperial College followed by research, achieving a PhD in 1935. He joined the academic staff, achieving the status of Reader. In 1954 he became the first head of the Department of Chemical Engineering at Newcastle University, where he remained until his retirement in 1975, apart from a secondment to Heriot Watt University during its formation of a separate department of chemical engineering.
  
  wn.com/John_Coulson
• John Haden Badley
  John Haden Badley (21 February 1865 – 6 March 1967), author, educator, and founder of Bedales School, which claims to have become the first coeducational public boarding school in England in 1893.
  Born in Dudley, Worcestershire, West Midlands, England, son of Dr. James Payton Badley and Laura Elizabeth Best his wife. He was the grandson of John Badley, one of the original 300 fellows of the Royal College of Surgeons. Early in life he saw the poverty and squalor of many working class in the Midlands. When fifteen he entered the Upper School at Rugby.
  These early experiences were very influential in shaping his ideas of what education should not be. While a student at Trinity College Cambridge he gained the appreciation of a standard of music and theater and he described King's Chapel as providing "a standard of loveliness of trained voices in that architectural setting of something near perfection." His autobiography describes a tea with Oscar Wilde at which they discussed the English Poets. Here too his friendship with Edmund Garrett encouraged him to join the small minority of men who supported the women's movement for socio-political equality. In 1892 he married Garrett's sister Amy who would be a strong partner until her death in 1956, and the drive behind one of Bedales's most important innovations - successful co-education. A school, he felt, should be organized like a family, with willing cooperation for common ends as the main motive rather than on the basis of mere competition. He felt that the training for social usefulness held equal importance with the fullest possible development of the individual.
  
  wn.com/John_Haden_Badley
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  Kaleigh Grainger
  Kaleigh Michelle Grainger (born Dudley, England, 28 February 1986) is a British unicyclist. She won a gold medal at Unicon X in 2000 when only 14 years old (performing with Roger Davies in the pairs freestyle 30+ age group category).
  Kaleigh Grainger, the daughter of Stephen and Elaine Grainger, has been unicycling since she was four years old and learned many skills from her father, a circus skills veteran who currently operates his own travelling circus school . Her mother died in December 2004, aged 46, after a five-year battle against cancer.
  In 2001, just after her 15th birthday, Kaleigh became the first unicyclist to appear on Aster and Keli - one of Iceland's most popular children's TV programmes. That year, she also made an appearance at the British Juggling Convention held in Cardiff and performed for the British Ambassador in Washington DC .
  In November 2008 Kaleigh qualified as a barrister gaining the BVC from the College of Law, London and being called at Inner Temple where she is a member. Kaleigh gained her law degree from Lancaster University, Lancashire, in 2007, and is a former pupil of Sledmere Primary School in Dudley and St Michael's Church of England High School in nearby Rowley Regis.
  
  wn.com/Kaleigh_Grainger
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  Lenny Henry
  Lenworth George "Lenny" Henry, CBE (born 29 August 1958) is a British actor, writer, comedian and occasional television presenter.
  Henry, the son of Jamaican immigrants, was born at Burton Road Hospital in Dudley in 1958. He was a pupil at St John's Primary School and later The Blue Coat School outside Dudley, before completing his school education at W.R. Tuson College (now Preston College).
  His first manager was Robert Luff, who signed him in 1975 and gave him the opportunity to perform as part of the Luff-produced touring stage version of The Black and White Minstrel Show. In July 2009, Lenny Henry stated he was contractually obliged to perform and regretted his part in the show.
  Shortly before this, on 17 December 1974, the then 16-year-old Henry had been voted Britain's top non-smoker for his declaration aimed at teenagers that smoking was not fashionable.
  His earliest television appearance was on the New Faces talent show, which he won in 1975 with an impersonation of Stevie Wonder. The following year he appeared with Norman Beaton in LWT's sitcom The Fosters, Britain's first comedy series with predominantly black performers. His formative years were spent in working men's clubs, where his act was as a young black man impersonating white characters such as the Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em character Frank Spencer (whom he impersonated on New Faces). He also made guest appearances on television programmes including Celebrity Squares, Seaside Special and The Ronnie Corbett Show.
  
  wn.com/Lenny_Henry
• 
  London Gatwick
  Gatwick Airport (IATA: LGW, ICAO: EGKK) is located 3.1 mi (5.0 km) north of the centre of Crawley,West Sussex, and 29.5 mi (47.5 km) south of Central London. Also known as London Gatwick, it is London's second largest international airport and second busiest by total passenger traffic in the United Kingdom after Heathrow. Furthermore, Gatwick is Europe's leading airport for point-to-point flights and has the world's busiest single-use runway averaging 52 aircraft movements an hour. Its two terminals – North and South – cover an area of 810,000 sq ft (75,000 m²) and 1,300,000 sq ft (120,000 m²) respectively.
  In 2011, over 33.6 million passengers passed through Gatwick.
  Charter airlines generally prefer Gatwick over Heathrow as a base for London and the South East of England. From 1978 to 2008, many flights to and from the United States used Gatwick because of restrictions on the use of Heathrow implemented in the Bermuda II agreement between the UK and the US.. Under the agreement Heathrow allowed the right for only two US carrier and two UK carrier to serve flights to the United States. Currently, US Airways is the only US carrier that still serves Gatwick from the US. The airport is a base for scheduled operators Aer Lingus, British Airways (BA), EasyJet, Flybe, Monarch Airlines and Virgin Atlantic, as well as charter airlines including Thomas Cook Airlines and Thomson Airways. Gatwick is unique amongst London's airports in having a significant airline presence representing each of the three main airline business models: full service, low/no frills and charter. As of January 2011, these respectively accounted for 37, 51 and 12% of total passenger traffic.
  
  wn.com/London_Gatwick
• Nigel Mazlyn Jones
  Nigel Mazlyn Jones is an English guitarist, singer and songwriter.
  Jones was born in Dudley, England, where he did part time work at Dudley Zoo from the age of 12. In 1969, he moved to Jersey, to work full time with the apes at Jersey Zoo (now Durrell Wildlife Park), but "became fed up of watching people watching animals" and relocated to north Cornwall, to make his living as a musician.
  He has collaborated with many notable musicians, including Guy Evans of Van der Graaf Generator, Roy Harper, Steve Jolliffe of Tangerine Dream, Steve Hillage and Nik Turner from Hawkwind.
  He is an active campaigner on local community issues in Cornwall, notably as part of the Lowermoor Support Group for people affected by the Camelford water pollution incident.
  
  wn.com/Nigel_Mazlyn_Jones
• Norman Pace
  Norman Pace (born 17 February 1953 in Dudley, West Midlands) is an English actor and comedian, best known as one half of the comedy duo Hale and Pace with his friend and comic partner Gareth Hale. Former teachers, their comedy partnership has fronted several television programmes, most notably Hale and Pace, Pushing Up Daisies, h&p@bbc and Jobs for the Boys.
  He grew up in Newark-on-Trent in Nottinghamshire. He attended the Magnus Grammar School (now called the Magnus C of E School). He then went to Avery Hill College, now the Avery Hill Campus of the University of Greenwich, in Eltham where he gained a BEd in 1975.
  As straight actors, they also fronted the original TV dramatisation of Dalziel and Pascoe; and in 1989 guest-starred together in the Doctor Who serial Survival. Also in 1989, Hale and Pace won the Golden Rose of Montreux. In 2007 they appeared in the Christmas Special of Extras, called The Extra Special Series Finale, playing themselves.
  Recently, Norman Pace has taken a direction towards theatre and has starred in 'Chicago' (Adelphi), 'Breakfast with Jonny Wilkinson' and Our Man in Havana at the Nottingham Playhouse. Currently, (summer 2010) he is appearing as the detective in a touring production of Peter Gordon comedy 'Murdered to Death'.
  
  wn.com/Norman_Pace
• Percy Shakespeare
  Percy Shakespeare (1906–1943) was an English painter, born in the slums of Dudley, West Midlands, England, he rose from his humble beginnings to be a celebrated artist.
  In 1920, after a chance meeting at the Dudley Museum and Art Gallery with Ivo Shaw, the principal of Dudley Art School, the young Percy Shakespeare was offered a place at the school where his fees were waived. Here he showed a talent for figure drawing and portraits. Eventually he attended Birmingham School of Art, where he qualified as a teacher. In 1933, he had his first exhibit at the Royal Academy, ‘A Mulatto’, a portrait of a lady, which was later bought by the Dudley Art Gallery. Throughout the 30’s he continued to paint and produced a number of paintings each year (mainly in oil) that were submitted to the Royal Academy, and often accepted for exhibition. He also exhibited at the Paris Salon and the RBSA. When war broke out in 1939, he was called up into the Royal Navy. In 1943, whilst stationed ashore in Brighton, East Sussex, he was killed in an air raid. He left behind many paintings and drawings showing life in the 30’s, many of which are held at the Dudley Museum and Art Gallery.
  
  wn.com/Percy_Shakespeare
• Reanne Evans
  Reanne Evans (born 25 October 1985 in Dudley, West Midlands) is a female English professional snooker player. She is the reigning WLBSA World Ladies Snooker Champion, having won the title for the seventh successive year in April 2011. She was awarded a wild card on the professional main tour for the 2010–11 season, enabling her to enter at the qualifying stage for all ranking events. After finishing the season at the bottom of the pro ranking, she had to requalify for the pro tour (the top 64 stay on the tour). She entered Q-School, but was unable to qualify for the pro tour 2011-12.
  Reanne was educated at Bishop Milner RC School, Dudley. Reanne has a daughter with her ex-partner, current world number 12, Mark Allen.
  Number of titles listed (27)
  
  
  
  wn.com/Reanne_Evans
• 
  Roderick Murchison
  Sir Roderick Impey Murchison, 1st Baronet KCB DCL FRS FRSE FLS PRGS PBA MRIA (22 February 1792 – 22 October 1871) was a Scottish geologist who first described and investigated the Silurian system.
  Murchison was born at Tarradale House, Muir of Ord, Ross-shire, the son of Kenneth Murchison. His wealthy father died in 1796, when Roderick was 4 years old, and he was sent to Durham School 3 years later, and then the military college at Great Marlow to be trained for the army. In 1808 he landed with Wellesley in Galicia, and was present at the actions of Roliça and Vimeiro. Subsequently under Sir John Moore, he took part in the retreat to Corunna and the final battle there.
  After eight years of service Murchison left the army, and married Charlotte Hugonin (8 April 1788 – 9 February 1869), the only daughter of General Hugonin, of Nursted House, Hampshire. Murchison and his wife spent two years in mainland Europe, particularly in Italy. They then settled in Barnard Castle, County Durham, England in 1818 where Murchison made the acquaintance of Sir Humphry Davy. Davy urged Murchison to turn his energy to science, after hearing that he wasted his time riding to hounds and shooting. Murchison became fascinated by the young science of geology and joined the Geological Society of London, soon becoming one of its most active members. His colleagues there included Adam Sedgwick, William Conybeare, William Buckland, William Fitton, Charles Lyell and Charles Darwin.
  
  wn.com/Roderick_Murchison
• Sue Lawley
  Sue Lawley (born 14 July 1946) is an English broadcaster.
  Born in Sedgley, Staffordshire, England and brought up in the Black Country, she was educated at Dudley Girls High School and graduated in modern languages from the University of Bristol and some time later started her career at the BBC in Plymouth. Whilst at university, due to peer pressure, she changed or moderated her "Dudley accent" to one more closely associated with received pronunciation.
  She began her professional career as a trainee reporter on the Western Mail and South Wales Echo between 1967 and 1970, during which she shared a house in Cardiff with Michael Buerk. She then moved to BBC Plymouth as a subeditor and Freelance reporter from 1970 until 1972. In 1972, she gained prominence as one of the reporters/presenters of the BBC TV's news magazine Nationwide which she appeared on until 1975, when she was offered the main anchor role on the nightly news show Tonight. Lawley left Tonight on maternity leave shortly after its launch and did not return to the show. Instead she rejoined Nationwide as one of the two main anchors, alongside Frank Bough. Lawley remained with the show until it came to a close in 1983. After Nationwide, Lawley became the anchor of the Nine O'Clock News bulletin on BBC1, and then moved to the newly launched Six O'Clock News in 1984. Lawley was praised after a broadcast on 23 May 1988, when the studio was invaded by protesters opposed to Section 28; Lawley continued to read the news whilst co-presenter Nicholas Witchell restrained one of them.
  
  wn.com/Sue_Lawley