Let the games begin: Birmingham then and now – in pictures

1. The Bull Ring Market

January 1939 Street vendors display their wares at the open-air market. The heart of Birmingham's commercial center since medieval times, the Bull Ring referred to a green in the middle of the market where bulls were tethered to be baited before slaughter. Archaeological digs in 2000 as part of its redevelopment revealed a large moat where Selfridges and the Park Street car park now stand. Garbage thrown into the ditch included pottery fragments, indicating that there were kilns here in the 13th century.

2. Edgbaston cricket ground

July 1963 West Indies supporters outside Edgbaston cricket ground before the third test match against England. The sports venue was built in the early 19th century, after the Calthorpe Estate donated the ground to the Warwickshire County Cricket Club. The first Test match was held in 1886 and the Ashes' first Test match in 1902. It became the first English ground outside of Lord's to host one of the world's biggest cricket tournaments in 2013 - the Champions League Final. ICC Champions.

3. Muhammad Ali, Bull Street

June 1979 Muhammad Ali, arguably the world's greatest boxer, had close ties to the city and visited the city on several occasions. The 1979 visit was to be his last appearance in the British ring, when he hosted a boxing exhibition with fellow American Jimmy Ellis. According to reports in the Birmingham Mail, a fan of the match received Ali's shorts with the message: 'To Leslie Ward of Muhammad Ali, three times world champion. Enjoy life, it's later than you think."

4. Victoria Law Courts, Birmingham Explosions on November 21, 1974 left 21 dead, making it the deadliest attack on English soil during the Troubles. The men were convicted in August 1975 and sentenced to life imprisonment. However, after a long campaign, an appeal court overturned all six convictions in 1991.

5 Primark in the Bull Ring, Birmingham

August 1969 Around 3,000 men, women and children took part in the civil rights march in Northern Ireland, including 13-year-old Robert Daly, his 10-year-old son- older sister Rita and Bernadette Barnett, 11. The three youngsters were all cousins ​​of 15-year-old Gerald McAuley, who was shot dead in Belfast a week earlier Walkers sat in Colmore Row to observe a two-minute silence in memory of the teenager.

6. Baskerville House, Centenary Square

1953 The Dagenham Girl Pipers perform on the green in front of the town landmark. Baskerville House, now somewhat overshadowed by the new Library of Birmingham, was once occupied by businessman John Baskerville, who is buried nearby. It remains an office building today.

7. Rookery Road, Handsworth

June 1977 Cyclists lead the Africa Liberation Day rally. The photograph was taken by Vanley Burke, now 71, who has spent most of his life documenting black life in the city. Burke, who moved to the West Midlands from a farm in the foothills of Jamaica's Blue Mountains in 1965, received his first camera - a Brownie box - when he was 10. Speaking of photographing the black experience, Burke once told the Guardian that such events were not covered by the press. "The only way for black people to get in the news," he said, "is if they've committed a crime."

8. Alexander Stadium

2002 and 2021 Two female athletes competing at the Perry Barr International Athletics Stadium - triple jumper Ashia Hansen in 2001 and heptathlete Katarina Johnson-Thompson in 2021. The arena is one of the 2022 Major Venues of the Commonwealth Games.

9. New Street

May 1931 New Street is at the heart of one of the city's main shopping and entertainment districts and connects Victoria Square to the Bullring shopping centre. It is believed to have existed since medieval times and one of its earliest mentions, as Novus Vicus, is found in the borough's tenancy records from 1296. p>10. Town Hall

October 1940 Crowds gather...