The Wolverhampton You Thought You Knew

A new book by local author Lee Brickley takes an A to Z look at Wolverhampton’s people, industries, music, sport and some of the stranger moments in the city’s past.

The Unofficial Wolverhampton: An A-Z of People, Machines, Music and Trouble is a 334-page collection of stories about the city and the people connected to it.

Lee, who lives in Cannock, has previously written books about local history, true crime and unusual stories from across the West Midlands.

The idea for the book came from Lee’s feeling that Wolverhampton has made a much bigger contribution to British life than it is often given credit for.

He wanted to put the famous names alongside the forgotten ones, and to include the odd, funny and occasionally chaotic stories that would never fit into a standard history book.

Readers can expect entries on industry, football, politics, music, inventions and local characters. The book includes AJS motorcycles, Slade, Goldie, Beverley Knight, Meera Syal, Capital Letters and Wolverhampton’s early traffic lights, along with many less familiar stories.

Did you know that in September 1862, aeronauts James Glaisher and Henry Coxwell took off from the Stafford Road gasworks in Wolverhampton and rose so high that the flight nearly killed them? Glaisher lost consciousness, while Coxwell’s hands became useless with cold. He eventually managed to open the balloon’s gas valve with his teeth and bring them back down.

Another story concerns the Stone Roses. In 1990, members of the band went to the Wolverhampton offices of their former record company on Goldthorn Hill and covered the building, the company owner and his partner in blue and white paint.

The incident became part of British music folklore and ended in a widely reported court case.

Lee said: “I wanted the book to feel like Wolverhampton itself. It is full of invention, big personalities, music, industry, humour and a bit of trouble.

Some stories will be familiar, but I hope there are plenty that make local readers stop and say, ‘I never knew that.'”

The Unofficial Wolverhampton: An A-Z of People, Machines, Music and Trouble was published on 21 July 2026 and is available now in paperback from Amazon.

ISBN-13: 979-8188393120

Amazon: https://amzn.eu/d/0cwskihc