Now ok, the water won't come from Welsh reservoirs - rather from boreholes beneath Birmingham - but, so the argument goes, without the Welsh water, they wouldn't have 30 million litres a day to spare for Anglian.

BBC: Highly politicised liquid assets

Bowyer has received one other yellow card so far this season - in Birmingham's 2-2 draw against Bolton on 29 August.

BBC: Lee Bowyer issues apology to West Brom fan

There have been plenty of other surprises since she was elected an MP in 1983 for Ladywood in Birmingham but none more so when she revealed she had a fully grown son - a fact that had previously escaped everybody's attention.

BBC: Clare Short

After I qualified for the high school Jeopardy try-outs, it was my dad who drove me down to Birmingham, Alabama so that I could give it a whirl.

FORBES: Thanks, Dad.

So the 2, 000 odd cars being built in Birmingham this year - which should rise to 4, 000 next year - can be put together by just 30 or 40 employees.

BBC: Chinese Premier backing the euro and the UK