Birmingham Post - Life & Leisure - Post Features

Christian Aid Week: Malawi's painful road to realising potential

Birmingham Post — Fri, 17 May 2013 12:00:00 GMT

Once labelled the bread basket of southern Africa, Malawi was the continent's agricultural success story. But today, people are queueing for food in a country that's carpeted with cornfields. To mark Christian Aid Week Mary Griffin visits south east Africa to find out why.

Adopted Brummie Leonard Lord and how he gave the world the Mini

Birmingham Post — Fri, 17 May 2013 12:00:00 GMT

A new book is aiming to lift the lid on Leonard Lord, the man who ran Longbridge in the wake of Herbert Austin, but who remains an unsung hero of 20th century industry. Enda Mullen reports.

Birmingham war hero kept his silence on saving hundreds of lives

Birmingham Post — Fri, 17 May 2013 05:00:00 GMT

Birmingham businessman Charles Horton helped to save many lives as a stretcher bearer in the First World War. Zoe Chamberlain talks to his granddaughter about a new book on his memoirs.

Landmark inn was the inspiration for writer's dark tale

Birmingham Post — Fri, 17 May 2013 05:00:00 GMT

A former Worcestershire pub became the setting for a historical novel. Chris Upton reports.

Convicted drug smuggler Billy Hayes is making a new film in Birmingham

Birmingham Post — Thu, 16 May 2013 14:43:00 GMT

“I enjoyed prison. I enjoyed living in the moment. I had my act down in jail. Friends in jail is ‘you don’t f**k with me and I don’t f**k with you’.The notion that being banged up in prison could ever be perceived as a pleasurable experience is a staggering one.Particularly when it is a prison as grim as the one that Billy Hayes found himself trapped in following his brazen and ill-conceived attempt to fly out of Turkey with four pounds of hashish strapped under his armpits.This wasn’t the comfy confinement of modern prisons where the privileged can enjoy gyms, TVs in their rooms and the freedom to protest if they feel their human rights are being violated.This was a brutal place. Prisoners were kept cowed by actual beatings or the threat of them and a legal system so arbitrary that it saw Billy’s four year sentence suddenly changed to life only weeks before he was due to get out.When a factionalised version of his experiences and eventual escape, written by Oliver Stone and directed by Alan Parker, was portrayed in the now infamous film Midnight Express, it so terrified the audiences that Turkey’s desirability as a tourist destination plummeted faster than Billy’s heart when security started frisking him at the airport.It may be nearly 40 years since he spent those five years in jail, but they have moulded the rest of Billy’s life.They also led him onto a path to become an actor, director and writer, which in turn has led to our meeting today, in a living room in Hollywood (Birmingham).He is in the Midlands for a few days to shoot a small but meaningful part in The Truth, an independent movie being made by local producer/writer/director Tony Clarke – whose living room it is.Although Tony is using mostly local talent in the film, he was introduced to Billy by a mutual friend in California. Billy and his wife were due to come to the UK for the premiere of Midnight Express The Ballet and Tony persuaded them to come up to Birmingham to take this pivotal role in his project, tweaking it so it could be played by an American.“I read the script and loved it. It has so much heart. I said I’d love to get involved in this and next thing you know we’re here,” enthuses Billy.Now 66, he is a live wire of barely contained energy. The only thing that helps to keep him calm is yoga which he used to do every day when he was in prison.“It kept me balanced. It still does. I’d be a basket case without it.”It was this restlessness and thirst for new adventures that led to him throwing in his studies in order to travel. He embraced the pot smoking drug culture of the late 60s and 70s, recklessly concocting his plan to take some hashish back from Turkey to enjoy at home, his armour of youthful arrogance letting him believe he’d get away with it.His incarceration was a lesson he felt he had to learn.“I needed prison to stop me. To force me to reassess to re-evaluate and to grow up, to take responsibility for what you do and deal with the consequences. So that was a good thing.”At first he thought of nothing but escaping – taking the Midnight Express. However, after a friend who was going to help him was killed he “turned the escape switch off” and knuckled down to finishing his original sentence.“Escape was the driving thing but it doesn’t let you live in the moment. Once I turned that switch off my perception of things changed and I discovered what was really important to me. It made all years of prison worth it to discover these little simple truths. I was rushing too fast.” It was only when, with the end in sight, the sentence was suddenly changed to a 30 year life sentence that the switch flipped back on.“All these hard earned lessons about peace and learning to deal with things were sorely tested. I just knew one way or the other I was going to get out.”He eventua

How the Dam Busters mission became a British wartime legend

Birmingham Post — Thu, 16 May 2013 12:43:00 GMT

Dr Peter Gray from the University of Birmingham looks at the myths surrounding the Dam Busters mission.

My father, the bouncing bomb Dam Buster genius Barnes Wallis

Birmingham Post — Thu, 16 May 2013 06:31:00 GMT

Katy Hallam speaks to the daughter of inventor of the bouncing bomb Barnes Wallis on the 70th anniversary of the Dam Busters mission.

The birthplace of the 'diversion of fair sex'

Birmingham Post — Fri, 10 May 2013 05:00:00 GMT

The headmaster of a boys' school played a leading role in gender equality more than 300 years ago. Chris Upton reports.

Birmingham sitcom star Jo Enright goes back to her past for new show

Birmingham Post — Fri, 03 May 2013 05:00:00 GMT

Actress Jo Enright talks about how real-life work experience has helped prepare her for a role in new sitcom The Job Lot. Roz Laws reports.

Jewel in the crown of Ironbridge celebrates milestone

Birmingham Post — Fri, 03 May 2013 05:00:00 GMT

Blists Hill Victorian Town in Ironbridge, Shropshire, is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. Shirley Mann looks at how the museum was developed.

Do you ever wonder where that far-off world has gone?

Birmingham Post — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 11:00:00 GMT

A Shropshire museum has become the final resting place for some of our treasured household items from times gone by. Chris Upton visits the Land of Lost Content.

A tribute to women who were backbone for victory

Birmingham Post — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 05:00:00 GMT

Birmingham's unsung war heroines are being recognised in a new online archive. Zoe Chamberlain takes a look over 75 years of the women's voluntary service.

Midlanders help BBC show The Great British Sewing Bee revive the craft

Birmingham Post — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 05:00:00 GMT

Making her own clothes has always been a passion for Birmingham sewer Lauren Guthrie. She talks to Betti Hunter about starring in BBC2's Great British Sewing Bee and her plans for a new shop to encourage others to take up the craft.

Bourton House hides a sordid tale of adultery, betrayal and murder

Birmingham Post — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 04:00:00 GMT

A beautiful Cotswold mansion hides a dark secret from the past. Chris Upton looks at how a failed marriage led to a murder plot within 17th century aristocracy.

The Solihull writer sharing a joke or two with Peter Kay

Birmingham Post — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 12:00:00 GMT

Smash hit comedian Peter Kay is set to appear on BBC One in a Midland writer’s first ever sitcom.

Step inside a lost world - undisturbed, tranquil and magical

Birmingham Post — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 05:00:00 GMT

Chris Upton discovers two delightful secret gardens in Warwick.

Lord Clive's is a tale of triumph and tragedy

Birmingham Post — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 05:00:00 GMT

The accumulation of wealth dominated the life and mysterious death of Lord Clive of India, writes Chris Upton.

Setting the record straight on Gothic architect Augustus Pugin

Birmingham Post — Sat, 23 Mar 2013 06:21:00 GMT

In an age when we preserve landmark buildings with a passion, it seems inconceivable that the greatest Birmingham work of architect Augustus Pugin was saved from oblivion by just one vote at a council meeting.

Acrobat Joe Fearn is a man with plenty of tricks up his sleeve

Birmingham Post — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 10:00:00 GMT

After years of working in circuses, acrobat Joe Fearn is bringing his techniques to the masses. Graham Young reports.

War on veggie bores at the Edible Garden Show

Birmingham Post — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 06:00:00 GMT

Forget carrots and potatoes, gardeners could sample more exotic plants, says celebrity botanist James Wong. He talks to Mary Griffin.