The Fifties were a decade that was mainly focused on the recovery from World War Two with Birmingham being far from an attractive place with slum housing conditions being visible across the city.
Health remained poor in the city with Birmingham with illnesses like tuberculosis being rife ahead of the nationwide BCG immunisation programme. It wasn’t an easy decade to grow up in, but many who experience these times do look back on them with fondness.
It was a decade that saw the birth of rock and roll with figures such as Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry and Buddy Holly becoming recognisable with the dawn of the Cold War and the crowning of Queen Elizabeth II.
There were huge advances in infrastructure with the first motorway between Birmingham and London being opened. Aston Villa won the FA Cup beating Manchester United 2-1 and a Blues player was in the England team.
The following 39 pictures show life in Birmingham during the Fifties and the changing landscape, fashions and transport.
1. Schoolchildren in Birmingham in 1953
(Photo by Erich Auerbach/Getty Images)
2. The Town Hall in 1950
The Town Hall in Birmingham (left). Its forty Corinthian columns are based on the design of the Temple of Jupiter in Rome. (Photo by Three Lions/Getty Images)
3. Pin factory workers in 1950
The shop floor at a major pin manufacturing plant in Birmingham. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)
4. British Industries Fair in Castle Browmich, 1950
Exhibitors in the Electrical Engineering section of the British Industries Fair in Castle Bromwich, Birmingham, West Midlands, England, 9th May 1950. (Photo by E. Round/Fox Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
5. Edgbaston Cricket Ground in 1950
6. British Industries Fair in Castle Bromwich in 1950
Heavy engineering exhibits too large for the covered exhibition of the British Industries Fair in Castle Bromwich, Birmingham, 9th May 1950. The exhbition’s tallest exhibit is visible in the background. (Photo by E. Round/Fox Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
7. Villa Park in 1951
An aerial view of the Villa Park football ground, home to the Aston Villa football team and the streets and houses surrounding it on 1 May 1951 at the Villa Park football stadium in Aston, Birmingham, United Kingdom. (Photo by Fox Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images).
8. Birmingham MP for Sparkbrook Leopold Amery in 1951
Leopold S Amery (1873 – 1955) British statesman, born in Gorakpur, India. Conservative MP for Sparkbrook, Birmingham, a seat which he held for 34 years. He served as colonial under-secretary, First Lord of the Admiralty, and colonial secretary between 1919 and 1929, then returned to office in Churchill’s wartime administration as secretary of state for India and Burma. (Photo by Baron/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
