"The Two Towers" of Birmingham University: Part I

I mentioned in a previous post that although J.R.R. Tolkien was likely inspired by other twin towers, my own experience has drawn me into a different conflict altogether. We all know that the saga of Middle Earth is a fantasy myth, set in a time long passed. But this epic battle is waging as you read this, and has been for a timeless age...

...Well, not so timeless in fact. But preceding my entrance into the world by over 100 years. This story begins in 1825, when a nobleman by the name of William Sands Cox established a uniquely Christian establishment for the education of medicine (in contrast with the abomination of London Medical Schools). In 1841 Queen's Hospital was opened, and the medical school flourished. There was brief rivalry from nearby in the guise of Syndenham College 10 years later, but the competition was simply absorbed with Queen's College into the great Mason Science College which bore forth Birmingham University at the turn of the century. The Medical School was now independent from London qualifications, and led by the DEAN, awarding the noble title of MBChB to anyone bold enough to dare embark on the challenges and tribulations a medical degree had to offer.

But peace did not last forever. At the Medical School's moment of glory, during 1933-8, the Queen Elizabeth Hospital was built. The crowning glory of its glazed terracotta brickwork was the towering Clock Tower - built as a sign of Christian hope amid the increasing secularism of Birmingham. But new powers were rising in the South...

The great CHANCELLOR of the University was discontent with being the DEAN's pawn... He wanted greater glory and dominion over the city, and so constructed a great 100 foot clock tower in the centre of his kingdom, to rival the bold gesture of the DEAN's hospital. This huge conduit of power was used to harness the heavenly dark powers, from Joseph Chamberlain himself, the original Chancellor, who even after death desired greater glory than William Sands Cox (who was truly responsible for the establishment of higher education in the city).

The CHANCELLOR constructed an array of palaces using his soldiers Aston Webb and Ingress Bell. The semicircular structure secretly provided a mystical forcefield through which the DEAN could not pass. This protected the pinnacle of power, the Chamberlain Clock Tower, through which all Chamberlain's power was derived. Chamberlain's dark spirit was now present in the world, and was a force to be reckoned with after decades of hiding in isolation.

Around this turning point in Birmingham history a great War broke out on mainland Europe, known widely as World War II. History will one day show that this was merely a diversion created by the CHANCELLOR to detract from the power struggle: The Two Clock Towers of Edgbaston.

In his broad and impenetrable clock tower, the DEAN of the medical school surveyed all. He knew that this tip in the balance would result in certain doom for his establishment. The only way for him to continue his great and traditional education of doctors was to submit to the powers-that-be and form a union... The age of the Two Towers had begun...

To be continued...