Packed with facts and dates, this book covers the entire history of Birmingham from prehistoric times to the dawn of the new Millennium. In 12 bite-sized chapters, Peter Leather, writer of the "Hidden City" column in Birmingham MetroNews, tells the tale of Birmingham's rise from insignificant hamlet to international metropolis. He also pays tribute to the people, great and small, who made this possible - from Peter de Bermingham, founder of the Bull Ring market, to Matthew Boulton and Joseph Chamberlin - but most of all to the real heroes of the story: Brummies.