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About fourteen hundred years ago a hoard of golden treasure was buried in a field in Staffordshire. It is likely to never be known why it was buried in a place remote from any archaeological markers, nor by whom, nor the source of the treasure. The treasure had been buried deep. Centuries of farming progressively thinned the protective cover of earth, till eventually, ploughing started to dismember the treasure, unnoticed by the farmers. In 2009 the fossicker Terry Herbert, trawling the area with a metal detector, discovered a few pieces of gold jewellery. The more he looked, the more he found. Badly mangled, but never-the-less, finely worked pure gold jewellery. Herbert drew the attention of the find to the authorities and the resulting archaeological dig uncovered some 4000 pieces amounting to 5 kg of golden booty. Some of which is on permanent display in the Birmingham Museum. The simple beauty of the work belies the technical issues involved. To do this work, they must have had a fine selection of very interesting tools.

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Back in Birmingham, it all happens within reach of the Bullring. Current thrill ride for the kiddies is the Mercedes Petronas F1 racing car simulator with voice over by Lewis Hamilton. Down the road a grand old bank building is reincarnated as an Apple store. Some of the hub-caps are starting to fall off the iconic Selfridges building. But nearby, Jamie’s Italian is still the best place to do lunch. Great food, great service, great vibe. And the church of St Martin in the Bullring presides over all. The boys took me to the Avengers Endgame movie which has just opened at the Odeon. The expected mix of mega violence with mushy sentimental moralising. But the best part was the Incredible Hulk trying to master the mysteries of the time travel machine.

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