The shock of new Birmingham (ATV Today, 1976)

This is one of the most curious clips I've posted. Taken from local Midlands ITV news programme ATV Today in 1976, presenter Chris Tarrant shows a man round the city centre who hadn't visited for 25 years.

Worcestershire countryman Arthur Jones is astounded by what he sees, all the changes since 1951. The film starts on a central reservation outside the Bull Ring shopping centre. Arthur, when provoked, describes the towers surrounding him as 'not natural'. The Rotunda isn't fit for people, it's a pigeon coup. But his tone isn't hostile or angry, just a bit bemused by it all, by the speeding cars and crowds. Tarrant tries to get some more extreme reactions from Arthur, but he's not having it. Instead he takes to singing sad old folk songs, which gives the film an unexpected twist of humanity and soul, beyond what the production team might have anticipated. A walk alongside a polluted canal is particulary poignant. Tarrant, initially trying to prod Arthur into outragous behavour, instead settles into the more informative role of a tour guide, explaining the wonders and purpose of Spaghetti Junction and parking meters. Arthur's reaction at the crazy driving around the junction is particularly funny, to which Tarrant's response that you get used to it seems rather lame.

This cheap bit of magazine telly, seen years later when another Birmingham redevelopment apocalypse has occured and many of these structures have been swept away in their turn, seems doubly poignant, and filled with unexpected charm.

Another great film from the Mace archive. You can view it here.