Carl Chinn

{{Short description|British historian, author and broadcaster}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2023}} {{Infobox person | name = Carl Chinn | honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|MBE|DL}} | image = Carl Chinn 2011-06-12.jpg | caption = Chinn in 2011 | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=yes|1956|09|06}} | birth_place = [[Moseley|Moseley, Birmingham]], England | death_date =  | death_place = | death_cause = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates =  | monuments = | other_names = | education = | alma_mater = | occupation = {{flatlist| *Historian *author *radio presenter *magazine editor *newspaper columnist }} | years_active = | spouse = {{marriage|Kathleen Doyle|1978}} | partner = | children = 4 | parents = | relatives = | website = [https://web.archive.org/web/20110201131543/http://carlchinnsbrum.com/ Carl Chinn’s Brum]<ref name="carlchinnsbrum-Welcome">{{cite web |title=Welcome |url=http://carlchinnsbrum.com/ |website=Carl Chinn’s Brum |access-date=10 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110201131543/http://carlchinnsbrum.com/ |archive-date=1 February 2011}}</ref> | module = {{listen | embed = yes | title = Chinn's voice | filename = Carl Chinn with Bernice Ellis on Birmingham's Markets.flac | type = speech | description = On the significance of Birmingham's marketplaces<br>First published 7 September 2011}} }}

'''Carl Steven Alfred Chinn''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|MBE|DL}} (born 6 September 1956) is an English historian, author and radio presenter whose working life has been devoted to the study and popularisation of the city of [[Birmingham]]. He broadcast a programme on the [[BBC News|BBC]] from the mid-1990s focusing on Birmingham's history.

In 1990, he was contracted to lecture<ref name="expressandstar-chinn-axed">{{cite news |title=Professor Carl Chinn axed from university history post |url=https://www.expressandstar.com/news/education/2015/01/17/professor-carl-chinn-axed-from-university-history-post/ |access-date=10 April 2022 |work=[[Express & Star]] |date=2015-01-17 |location=[[Wolverhampton]], England |language=en}}</ref> at the [[University of Birmingham]], where he subsequently became a full professor in 2002. During this year he was appointed a Member of the [[Order of the British Empire]] (MBE) for his "services to local history and to charities".<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/carl-chinns-sadness-university-birmingham-8454113|title=Carl Chinn's sadness as his University of Birmingham role is axed|last=Griffin|first=Jon|date=2015-01-15|work=birminghammail|access-date=2017-12-29}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|last=Tom Bushnell|title=BBC WM Radio Carl Chinn MBE & Tom Bushnell talk about the psychology of New Year Re-solutions|date=2011-01-05|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcXaXEpkkMM |website=YouTube|archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211213/UcXaXEpkkMM| archive-date=2021-12-13 |url-status=live|accessdate=2017-12-29}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

==Early life== Chinn was born at Sorrento Hospital in [[Moseley|Moseley, Birmingham]].<ref name="UoB1">{{cite web|url=http://www.historycultures.bham.ac.uk/staff/chinn.shtml|title=Professor Carl Chinn|publisher=[[University of Birmingham]]|accessdate=11 June 2011}}</ref> His father, Alfred (died 26 April 2010), was known as "Buck"<ref name="Buck">{{cite web|url=http://www.birminghammail.net/news/birmingham-news/2010/04 |title=Buck Chinn loses fight against cancer |date=27 April 2010 |work=Birmingham Mail |accessdate=29 April 2010 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120925092406/http://www.birminghammail.net/news/birmingham-news/2010/04 |archivedate=25 September 2012 }}</ref> and was a notable football supporter and local activist<ref name="Buck" /> from [[Sparkbrook]].<ref name="UoB1" /> His mother, Sylvia, was known as "Sylvie"<ref name="Buck" /> and was from [[Aston]].<ref name="UoB1" /> Chinn grew up in [[Birmingham]] and was educated at [[Moseley School]] and the [[University of Birmingham]].

==Career== Chinn initially followed his father and grandfather into [[bookmaker|bookmaking]] before entering academia, gaining his PhD in 1986.<ref name="BBC-bio">{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p001d7j8|title=BBC – BBC WM Programmes – Carl Chinn|publisher=[[BBC]]|access-date=11 June 2011}}</ref>

His work in the community made him a popular figure, and in 1994 he was invited by the ''[[Birmingham Evening Mail]]'' to write a two-page feature on local history. This proved extremely popular and Chinn wrote a weekly column for the paper until 2016.<ref name="BBC-bio" />

Chinn held the position of Professor of Community History at the [[University of Birmingham]] until 2015 and is now Emeritus Professor.<ref name="UoB1" /> He was also Director of the ''Birmingham Lives'' multimedia archive at UoB (formerly at [[South Birmingham College]]).<ref name="BBC-bio" /> He is the author of over thirty books on the history of Birmingham and the urban working class in England. He often appears on local television programmes such as ''[[BBC Midlands Today|Midlands Today]]''; and wrote a weekly local history column for the ''[[Express & Star]]''.<ref name="BBC-bio" /> He presented a weekly radio programme on [[BBC Radio WM]] from 1994 until it was axed in 2013. He has made three videos and provided spoken links on two CDs of songs about Birmingham.<ref name="BBC-bio" />

In 2000 Chinn was a leading figure in the temporarily successful, but eventually doomed, campaign to save the [[Longbridge plant|Longbridge car factory]] from closure. In the [[2001 Birthday Honours]], he was appointed [[Member of the Order of the British Empire]] (MBE) "for services to the community, especially Local History, in the West Midlands."<ref name="UoB1" /><ref>United Kingdom {{London Gazette| issue=56237 |date=16 June 2001|pages=15 |supp=1}}</ref> When the rebuilt [[Bull Ring, Birmingham|Bull Ring]] was opened in 2003 Chinn criticised it for the lack of concern its developers and planners had shown towards market traders who had been the mainstay of the Bull Ring for the 800 years up to 1964, when the much-criticised previous shopping centre was built on the site.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/west_midlands/3078514.stm | publisher=BBC News | title=Historian says Bullring lacks heart | date=4 September 2003}}</ref> Chinn has also been prominent in the campaigns to save [[Birmingham Back to Backs|the last back-to-back houses in Birmingham]], now a [[National Trust]] museum in Inge Street; and for a memorial to the victims of the Second World War Blitz on the city, sited in Edgbaston Street in the Bull Ring. In October 2007 he became patron of the St John's Church Preservation Group, which is{{update inline|date=July 2020}} campaigning for the reopening of [[St John's Church, Dudley]].<ref name="SJCPG-home">{{cite web|url=http://savestjohnschurch.zoomshare.com|title=Save St John's Church|publisher=St John's Church Preservation Group|accessdate=2 July 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120509185647/http://www.savestjohnschurch.zoomshare.com/|archive-date=9 May 2012}}</ref>

In December 2010 he appeared on [[Ian Hislop]]'s BBC television show ''Age of the Do-Gooders'', in which he championed [[George Dawson (preacher)|George Dawson]]; a "non-conformist preacher, and a bit of a showman". He has also appeared on the BBC's ''[[Question Time (TV series)|Question Time]]''. In 2020 appeared in 'Britains' Biggest Dig' in BBC 4 television mini series exploring HS2 archaeology dig in Birmingham.

==Politics== In the 1980s he was briefly a member of the [[Social Democratic Party (UK)|Social Democratic Party]],{{Citation needed|date=June 2011}} which broke from [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]] in protest at its perceived [[left-wing politics|left]]ward shift, and later went on to merge with the [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal Party]] to form the [[Liberal Democrats (UK)|Liberal Democrats]]. He stood in the [[1983 United Kingdom general election|1983 general election]] in [[Birmingham Sparkbrook]] as an independent, campaigning for import controls to protect local industry, and more investment in council housing. He came last with 281 votes (0.9%).<ref>{{cite web |title=1983 General Election - Birmingham Sparkbrook |url=https://api.parliament.uk/uk-general-elections/elections/21232 |website=[[Parliament.uk]] |access-date=19 October 2023}}</ref>

==Personal life== Chinn married Kathleen Doyle in 1978; they have a son and three daughters, one of whom, Tara, has sung professionally on stage with her father.<ref name="Brummies" />

Chinn is a supporter of [[Aston Villa F.C.|Aston Villa FC]]<ref name="Brummies">''Brummies'' (video), Carl Chinn & [[Malcolm Stent]], Pennslake Productions, 1995</ref> and has a season ticket at [[Villa Park]].

Chinn is a descendant of [[Peaky Blinders]] [[gangster]] Edward Derrick.<ref name="thesciencesurvey-peaky-blinders-descendant">{{cite news |last1=Ahmed |first1=Ryan |title=The Legacy of the Peaky Blinders: A Conversation with a Descendant |url=https://thesciencesurvey.com/arts-entertainment/2021/12/02/the-legacy-of-the-peaky-blinders-a-conversation-with-a-descendant/ |access-date=10 April 2022 |work=[[The Science Survey]] |publisher=[[Bronx High School of Science]]}}</ref> In 2023, he was appointed a [[deputy lieutenant]] of the [[West Midlands (county)|West Midlands]].<ref name="DL">{{cite web|title=West Midlands Lieutenancy – Deputy Lieutenant Commissions|url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/notice/4321583|work=The London Gazette|access-date=31 March 2023|date=31 March 2023}}</ref>

==Bibliography== * ''They Worked All Their Lives: Women of the Urban Poor in England, 1880–1939'' (1988). Manchester University Press. {{ISBN|0-7190-2437-4}}. * ''Homes For People: Council Housing and Urban Renewal in Birmingham 1840–1999'' (1989). Birmingham Books. Expanded and revised edition (1999). Brewin Books. {{ISBN|1-85858-138-9}}. * ''Keeping the City Alive: Twenty-one years of Urban Renewal in Birmingham'' (1993). Birmingham City Council. * ''Birmingham: The Great Working City'' (1994). Birmingham City Council. * ''Poverty Amidst Prosperity: Urban Poor in England, 1834–1914'' (1995). Manchester University Press. {{ISBN|0-7190-3990-8}}. * ''Brum Undaunted: Birmingham During the Blitz'' (1996). Birmingham Library Services. * ''Our Brum'' (1997). Birmingham Evening Mail. * ''The Cadbury Story: A Short History'' (1998). Brewin Books. {{ISBN|1-85858-105-2}}. * ''Our Brum: Volume 2'' (1998). Birmingham Evening Mail. {{ISBN|0-9534316-0-6}}. * ''1,000 Years of Brum'' (1999). Birmingham Evening Mail. * ''From Little Acorns Grow: History of the West Bromwich Building Society'' (1999). Brewin Books. {{ISBN|1-85858-124-9}}. * ''Our Brum: Volume 3'' (1999). Birmingham Evening Mail. * ''Brum and Brummies'' (2000). Brewin Books. {{ISBN|1-85858-181-8}}. * ''We Ain't Going Away!: The Battle for Longbridge'' (2000). Brewin Books. Co-authored with Steve Dyson. {{ISBN|1-85858-174-5}}. * ''Proper Brummie: A Dictionary of Birmingham Words and Sayings'' (2001). Brewin Books. Co-authored with Stephen Thorne. {{ISBN|1-85858-227-X}}. * ''Brum and Brummies: Volume 2'' (2001). Brewin Books. {{ISBN|1-85858-202-4}}. * ''Birmingham: Bibliography of a City'' (ed.) (2001). University of Birmingham Press. {{ISBN|1-902459-24-5}}. * ''Brum and Brummies: Volume 3'' (2002). Brewin Books. {{ISBN|1-85858-213-X}}. * ''Birmingham Irish: Making Our Mark'' (2003). Birmingham City Council. {{ISBN|0-7093-0241-X}}. * ''The Streets of Brum: Part One'' (2003). Brewin Books. {{ISBN|1-85858-245-8}}. * ''Better Betting with a Decent Feller: A Social History of Bookmaking'' (2004). Aurum Press. {{ISBN|1-84513-009-X}}. * ''Black Country Memories'' (2004). Brewin Books. {{ISBN|1-85858-266-0}}. * ''The Streets of Brum: Part Two'' (2004). Brewin Books. {{ISBN|1-85858-262-8}}. * {{cite book  |title=Peaky Blinders: The Real Story – The new true history of Birmingham's most notorious gangs |date=2019 |publisher=[[John Blake Publishing Ltd]] |location=[[London]] |isbn=9781789461725 |oclc=1136540063}} * {{cite book  |title=Peaky Blinders: The Legacy – The real story of Britain's most notorious 1920's gangs |date=2020 |publisher=[[John Blake Publishing Ltd]] |location=[[London]] |isbn=9781789462937}} * {{cite book  |title=Peaky Blinders: The Aftermath – The real story behind the next generation of British gangsters |date=2021 |publisher=[[John Blake Publishing Ltd]] |location=[[London]] |isbn=9781789464511 |oclc=1309300519}}

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== * [https://web.archive.org/web/20050114091041/http://www.virtualbrum.co.uk/ Virtual Brum (Birmingham)] articles by Carl Chinn (archived) * [https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/authors/carl-chinn/ birmingham mail articles] by Carl Chinn * [https://etheses.bham.ac.uk/id/eprint/239/1/Chinn86PhD.pdf Chinn's PHD thesis]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chinn, Carl}} [[Category:1956 births]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:Academics of the University of Birmingham]] [[Category:Alumni of the University of Birmingham]] [[Category:British radio presenters]] [[Category:Members of the Order of the British Empire]] [[Category:Deputy lieutenants of the West Midlands (county)]] [[Category:People from Moseley]] [[Category:People educated at Moseley School]] [[Category:Independent British political candidates]]