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Born in Stratford-upon-Avon, William Shakespeare continues to be one of the most important literary figures in the world. The renowned poet, playwright and actor wrote 38 plays and 154 sonnets, creating 1,700 words in the process. The Birmingham Shakespeare Memorial Library is the first, oldest and largest collection in any public library in the world.
Warwickshire-born George Eliot was the pen name of Mary Ann Evans, whose novel Middlemarch has been described as the greatest in the English language, while JRR Tolkien’s time in Birmingham influenced one of the best-selling novels ever written, The Lord of the Rings.
Today, the West Midlands continues to boast a thriving creative and media sector, with more than 10,000 companies based at venues including Birmingham's Custard Factory and Leamington’s Creative Quarter.
One of the hit television series of the last decade, Peaky Blinders is the brainchild of Birmingham-born screenwriter and film director Steven Knight. The gangster family drama begins in 1919 in post-war Birmingham and has spawned tours, clothing ranges, festivals and cocktails, as well as a host of television awards and critical acclaim. Many scenes are filmed at the Black Country Living Museum.
BBC Radio 4 soap opera The Archers is the world’s longest running drama. The “everyday story of country folk” has been made in Birmingham since it was first broadcast in January 1951 and attracts more than five million listeners.
While the patent for the popular board game 'Cluedo' was taken out by Birmingham's Anthony Ernest Pratt, the West Midlands now boasts several prominent crime fiction authors. Coventry’s Jim Grant – known by his pen name Lee Child – is famous for his Jack Reacher series, with debut book Killing Floor winning the Anthony Award for best first novel. Solihull’s Mark Billingham writes the best-selling Tom Thorne novels, while Wolverhampton's Lindsay Ashford and Angela Marsons write the Megan Rhys and D.I. Kim Stone series respectively.
Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Napalm Death and Led Zeppelin are bands from Birmingham and the West Midlands that pioneered the heavy metal music genre. Influenced by the industrial, urban environment of the West Midlands region at the time, the unique sound inspired successive bands such as Iron Maiden, Metallica and Nirvana.
Ozzy Osbourne and his bandmates have sold more than 70 million records worldwide and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006, alongside Elvis, Buddy Holly and The Beatles. Today's music scene is led by Walsall soul singer Jorja Smith, who won Best British Female at the 2019 Brit Awards and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best New Artist in 2019.
The two-tone music genre was developed in Coventry during the late 1970s. West Midlands bands such as The Specials, The Beat and The Selecter were at the forefront of the two-tone scene – a fusion of ska, reggae and rocksteady with elements of punk rock and new wave.
The genre promoted and celebrated multiracialism, bringing ska and reggae to new heights of popularity across the country and dominating the pop charts.
The West Midlands' art scene includes the world's largest collection of Pre-Raphaelite art at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery; and one of the UK's best collections of British and American pop art at Wolverhampton Art Gallery. The world-famous Garman Ryan collection at the New Art Gallery Walsall was one of the first new attractions to open in the UK in the 21st century.
More than a million people visit the West Midlands' art galleries each year.
Writers and creative talents Meera Syal, Sathnam Sanghera and Caitlin Moran all rely on their childhoods growing up in Wolverhampton to produce vibrant, thought-provoking stories, novels and screenplays. Their most popular titles include Anita and Me, The Boy with the Topknot and How to Build a Girl.
The West Midlands can claim the first ever female journalist and the first ever female commentator on Match of The Day.
Birmingham-born Marie Beauclerc pioneered the verbatim note taking skill, becoming a dedicated British journalist and later teaching at the Perry Barr Institute. In 2007, Wolverhampton-born Jacqui Oatley opened doors for women in the broadcasting world when she became the first female to commentate on BBC's Match of the Day.
Walsall’s John Byrne is a comic book writer who has co-created a number of Marvel characters such as Kitty Pryde, Emma Frost, Sabretooth, Shadow King, Ant-Man, Bishop, Omega Red and Rachel Summers. In 2015, the first instalment of Ant-Man was released in cinemas and made more than half-a-billion dollars at the box office.
Sir Lenny Henry is a stand-up comedian, actor, singer, writer, and television presenter who was born in Dudley. He is known for co-founding charity Comic Relief and presenting and starring in a variety of television programmes and stage productions. Henry was given the Freedom of the Borough in 2013 and remains a regular visitor.
The National Exhibition Centre (NEC) in Solihull is one of Europe’s leading exhibition and event centres. From BBC's Good Food Show to Spring Fair and Resorts World, the NEC welcomes more than 2.4 million visitors and some 39,000 exhibiting companies each year.
The West Midlands is also home to key entertainment venues such as Birmingham’s Symphony Hall, Warwick Arts Centre, the Wolverhampton Grand Theatre, the Birmingham Hippodrome and Dudley Town Hall.
Discover great places to visit, our leading business sectors, and all the information you need about holding your next conference or event in the region. Find out more about our successful Universities of the West Midlands and how to travel comfortably and easily around the region by West Midlands Railway.
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