Member Section ...any other business A roundup of news from Chamber members
Ambassador’s historical links…
Richard Spooner, our columnist who writes for ChamberlinkDaily on Fridays, takes a trained observer’s look at what might not always have been obvious during the British American Business Council’s (BABC) annual transatlantic conference at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and the city Town Hall.
The US ambassador was delighted that he was standing on the same stage as where the Beatles performed when he delivered his speech at the BABC conference gala dinner. Robert ‘Woody’ Johnson noted
that the Fab Four had performed there in 1963. On 4 June to be precise – exactly 51 years and three days before to be even more precise. It reminded me that there is a
famous picture of the Beatles in the Birmingham Post and Mail library of John, Paul, George and Ringo donning policemen’s helmets in order to smuggle them out of the back door as fans mobbed the area. However, there was perhaps a far
more fitting point of history for Woody to have mentioned. He was standing at the very spot
when a contemporary of mine, Charles Dickens, gave his first public reading – on 27 December, 1853. Fittingly, he read from A Christmas Carol on a freezing, snowy evening to a family audience of 1,700. Charles Dickens was a regular visitor to Birmingham and he offered to do three fundraising
readings for the Birmingham and Midland Institute. A notice appeared in the Birmingham Journal advising that “Mr Dickens having particularly desired that one of the Readings should be given to an Audience composed of the Working Classes... the Friday Evening shall be devoted to that purpose”. It worked because the Institute
was founded by Act of Parliament in 1854 for the ‘Diffusion and Advancement of Science, Literature and Art amongst all Classes of Persons resident in Birmingham and Midland Counties’. So Woody was indeed
performing on a stage that has made history over the years.
One of the first things that struck me when I walked into the Conservatoire concert hall, where the main body of the conference was taking place, was the American flag. From the comments I received it
had also struck a number of other people. For all the world, it looked as if the Stars and Stripes, displayed vertically, were wrong. But we were wrong.
Etiquette for the US flag dictates
that the stars should remain top left even when it is displayed vertically. Fooled some people, including me.
There was also the wonderful irony of conference links with a little known American TV reality show. Professor Julian Beer, BABC
Midlands president, was watching Pawn Stars, which chronicles the daily activities of a Las Vegas pawn shop when it featured a rare coin, called the Large Eagle Washington Cent. He was captivated by its history
and Birmingham’s involvement (see page 5) and decided to have 400 reproduced by the University’s School of Jewellery for delegates attending the BABC transatlantic conference in Birmingham.
And the event got off to a storming start with a cocktail reception at Birmingham Cathedral. Yes, Birmingham Cathedral. What a treat to see delegates
from both sides of the Atlantic – including Canada because the BABC represents North America – having a tipple in these august surroundings. But, no fear, our Bishop David Urquhart was his usual hospitable self and assured me that the Cathedral was often used for such occasions.
During a session on the Future of Design-driven Innovation, there was a fascinating insight into what we can expect in the world of taxis – a far cry from the horse-drawn area of my days. The presentation came from Chris Gubbey, chief executive of the London EV (Electric Vehicle) Company Limited, who still manufacture taxis in Coventry. They are manufactured from glued-together aluminium
78 CHAMBERLINK July/August 2018
Stars and gripes: Robert ‘Woody’ Johnson, framed in the United States flag which fooled quite a few conference-goers
components, which, said Chris, are much stronger and safer than traditional materials. The cabs are driven 100 per cent
by electricity and have their range extended through an on-board petrol-driven charger. The cabs have many more
comfort features, especially for disabled passengers – and cyclists in cities love ‘em because they are no longer breathing in their fumes in traffic queues. Other elements of innovation
came from Raj Rall, director of Hidden Fashion, which is driven by online marketing and selling in which he can have a garment manufactured in China and delivered to the United States within 24 hours. His products are aimed at women in the 18 to 25 age group and he closely follows what the likes of the Kardashians (whoever they are!) are wearing. And Dr Faz Chowdhury, chief
executive of Nemaura Pharmacy, described how his company was changing the world of drugs by delivering them in solid form through a multi-needle device. As the Beatles sang, it’s getting better all the time…
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