Great British Railway Journeys: Birmingham to the Potteries

Armed with his Bradshaw's guide, Michael Portillo reaches Birmingham and discovers how a radical reformer made his mark on the `city of a thousand trades". At Highbury Hall, he finds Joseph Chamberlain's mansion home and hears how he established a political dynasty including a prime minister and a foreign secretary. Next stop is Cradley Heath, once one of five chain-making towns in the West Midlands. At the centre of Britain's ceramic industry in Stoke-on-Trent, Michael visits Wedgwood, established by `Queen's Potter" Josiah Wedgwood in 1759 and visited in 1913 by King George V and Queen Mary