Early history of Birmingham

The town of Birmingham came into existence in the 1160s, but people have lived in this area for hundredof thousands of years.

The earliest authentic notice of Birmingham occurs in Domesday Book of 1086, where it was describe as a small village in which it is called Bermengeham.

The de Bermingham family held the Lordship of the manor of Birmingham for four hundred years from around 1150. In 1156 Peter de Birmingham obtained a market charter from Henry II, but it was not until the 14th century that it emerged as a settlement of any significance.

During the last four centuries it has been variously written Brumwycheham, Bromwycham, Brummagen and Burmyngham.

Pottery was being made in Birmingham by the thirteenth century. The kilns were positioned on the edge of the town to keep them away from wooden buildings, because of the fire risk. Birmingham pottery has become known as ‘Deritend ware’ because of the area in which it was made.

Birmingham established itself in the field of industry, starting off with the wool trade in the thirteenth century, and becoming an important center for the metal and iron industries from the sixteenth century onwards.

Between 1550 and1700 Birmingham’s population grew from 1,500 to11,500. By 1700it was the fifth largest town in England with a national reputation for metal working.
Early history of Birmingham

Apple cider in England

The word ‘cider’ has its roots in ancient Hebrew. Sheker, which means strong drink, was translated into the Greek sikera, the Latin sicera, and then the French cidre.  The English called it cyder or cider.

The Spanish were making sidra when the Romans invaded Britain in 55 BC and found the Celts fermenting the juice of native crab apples to make cider.

Interest in cider in Britain faded after the fall of Rome because many orchards were abandoned when invading Jutes and Danes attacked British settlements.

After the Norman Conquest on 1066, cider consumption became widespread in England and orchards were established specifically to produce cider apples. The Normans had developed a number of apple varieties which they then introduced to England. In the 15th century, real progress was made in its presentation. Cider is a way of life.

During medieval times, cider was used to pay workers at the monasteries.

An English noble, Lord Scudamore, is credited worth having bottles cider as early as the 1640s, when almost all cider was stored in wooden barrels and drawn off ‘on draft’ as needed.

By the seventeenth century it was so beloved that the English wrote poems and songs about cider.

Cider production in England was estimated at 55 million gallons in 1900.  In the early 1980s cider sales had risen to over 60 million gallons per year.
Apple cider in England

Vodafone in history

Headquartered in Newbury, Berkshire, England, Vodafone Group plc is the largest mobile telecommunications network company in the world.

It holds equity interests in over 30 countries and has franchise agreements in 40 more. Vodafone was the first carrier to launch in the UK, and its pitch for the business market dovetailed nicely with rise of Margaret Thatcher’s enterprise culture.

Vodafone was formed in 1984 as a subsidiary of Racal Electronics Plc. In 1982, Gerald Whent, chairman of Racal Radio Group, created a new division, Racal telecoms after convincing Racal board to bid on a private sector cellular license being offered the British government. Approximately 20% of the Companies capital was offered to the public in October 1988.

The new division, Racal Telecoms was to develop and implement the analog network, which was named Vodafone to convey the transmission of voice and data services over mobile phones.

Vodafone made history with the first UK mobile on 1 January 1985. The call was made by comedian Ernie Wise form Katherine’s Dock in London to Vodafone’s base in Newbury. Since then has gone on to became one of the largest communications companies in the world.

Vodafone was an early participant in the second generation GSM cell phone network, first in the UK in 1991.

Vodafone collaborated with Telecom Finland in the world’s first international roaming call in 1992.

In September 1991 Racal and Vodafone were fully demerged and Vodafone Group Plc was listed in the New York NA London Stock Exchange.
Vodafone in history