Kay is a local resident whose interest in history has enabled him to expand his hobby into a successful career as a popular speaker at venues all over the city.
As an historian he specialises in Crime and Punishment, Capital Punishment and the lives of hangmen. One of his most popular lectures is on the Last Public Hanging in Birmingham. Kay is at pains to explain that he always assures his audiences that he will take care not to be too explicit in his descriptions, however he tells me that most people want to hear everything he is able to tell them. There is a plaque commemorating the hanging on the site in Great Charles Street, close to the railway bridge.
From an early age he has researched and studied his interest and spends a lot of his spare time restoring old documents and he has newspapers going back to the 1700s.
It was after talking to local historian Carl Chinn and Peter Leather,a senior lecturer at Birmingham University that Kay was persuaded that a wider audience would appreciate his stories and he is now a Local History speaker in the city.
His lectures are booked up well in advance though he has a few spaces in his diary until September 2009. The talks last for around 25 minutes, leaving time for the extensive questions which usually follow.
Kay can be reached by email at
38, Johnson Drive, Castle Vale, Birmingham B356DS
0121 749 7514 mob. 07899861422
activearts.wordpress.com 
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