Richard Twentyman was a fine mid-twentieth century architect who deserves this good book. He came from, and worked in, Wolverhampton, the least regarded of large Midlands towns. (It was the largest place in England that was not a city, until it finally gained that status in 2000.) His training was unusual for the area.

Most local architects between the wars went to the Birmingham school. Twentyman, from a wealthy family, read engineering at Cambridge and trained as an architect at the Architectural Association from 1932. The attitudes he developed from this, as well as an engineering approach and a progressive architectural outlook, lasted him a lifetime.

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