Midlands news over last 50 years

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-28407391

Version 0 of 1.

As BBC Midlands Today celebrates its 50th anniversary, we look back at some of the main stories it has covered.

The programme was broadcast to a much wider area before the launch in 1991 of East Midlands Today. We reflect on the main stories in 10-year segments, which start on the launch date of 28 September 1964.

1964 - 1974: Hixon rail crash

Eight passengers died when a train hit a lorry carrying an electrical transformer at a level crossing at a village, in 1968.

Three rail workers were also killed and 27 were seriously injured at Hixon near Stafford.

Hixon Parish Council chairman Brendan McKeown said: "While it was a terrible accident, it really enabled the people of Hixon to shine in the face of that tragedy, providing comfort to those injured, providing cups of tea and blankets, etc.

"There was another fatality in 2003 on the same level crossing and that (led) us to put up a road bridge over the level crossing. It cost £1.9m (and) we persuaded Network Rail to pay for it.

"People forget how dangerous that level crossing was."

Other headlines

1974 - 1984: Birmingham pub bombings

Julie Hambleton, whose sister Maxine was killed, has described the Birmingham pub bombings as England's "biggest unsolved murder of the 20th Century".

Twenty-one people were killed and 182 injured when two bombs exploded at the Mulberry Bush and the Tavern in the Town in November 1974. A third bomb outside a bank on the Hagley Road failed to explode.

Six people were jailed in 1975 but their convictions were quashed in 1991 following one of the worst miscarriages of justice seen in Britain.

In April this year police said there would be no new inquiry into the bombings after evidence was re-examined.

Other headlines

1984 - 1994: Kegworth air disaster

Travelling at about 130mph on 8 January 1989 British Midland Flight 92 hit a field on the southbound side of the M1 before plunging through trees and smashing into the embankment on the opposite carriageway.

The Kegworth air disaster killed 47 people and left wreckage strewn across the motorway.

The plane came down yards from the village of Kegworth, just a few hundred feet short of the runway at East Midlands Airport, 45 minutes after taking off from Heathrow.

Survivor Chris Thompson, who was pulled unconscious from the mangled remains of the plane, said: "I can see the lines of lights down below from roads and this thing suddenly lurches and there's a big bang. And then there's another big bang.

"At that point it started lurching around all over the sky. That was horrendous and my skin just absolutely crawled because… we weren't on the ground, we weren't anywhere near the ground."

Other headlines

1994 - 2004: The Rover crisis

Just three months into the new millennium, BMW rocked the West Midlands when it announced it was selling Rover.

A rally of up to 80,000 protesters was held at Cannon Hill Park in Birmingham after tens of thousands of people followed a convoy of Rover cars through the city centre.

The Phoenix Consortium stepped in and the company was saved, as MG Rover was sold to the consortium for a tenner.

But in 2005, a century after car production began in the West Midlands, the famous name of Rover disappeared from the city's Longbridge site, resulting in about 6,000 job losses. MG Rover had gone into administration and the company was broken up, with parts and equipment shipped to China.

Other headlines

2004 - 2014: Floods

"In some parts there was over three months' worth of rainfall in one day".

Anthony Perry, from the Environment Agency, remembered the flooding devastation of 2007, when flooding "above door frame height" at his parents' home at Sedgeberrow, Worcestershire, "broke open doors (and) swept a TV out of the house".

The area flood risk manager in the West Midlands region said: "Within the village 110 properties flooded - (in) 80% of them I knew the people from growing up.

"The rainfall events have become more intense from 2004 ish to 2014 and the 2007 event highlights that as being the highest intensity of rainfall on record."

In July 2007 about 5,000 properties in Gloucestershire and about 4,500 in Worcestershire were flooded. This compares to just under 400 across the two counties during flooding in January and February this year, after the agency invested more than £30m in the two areas building new flood defences from 2007.

Other headlines