Birmingham pen trade same time Osmiroid International had a large production plant in the city. Birmingham pen trade The Birmingham pen trade evolved in the Birmingham Jewellery Quarter and its surrounding area in the 19th century; for many years, the city was the centre of the world's pen trade. In Newhall Street, John Mitchell manufactured pens; he pioneered mass production of steel pens (prior to this, the quill pen was the most common form of writing instrument). Mitchells are credited as being the first manufacturers to use machines to cut pen nibs, greatly speeding up the process. John's brother William later set up
20th-century music Hymns and Spirituals, Minstrel music and work songs. Mostly instrumental pieces creating sounds of a soothing, romantic, mood-elevating or generally relaxing nature. Steven Halpern's "Spectrum Suite", released in 1975, is generally credited as the album that began the new-age music movement. The polka, which first appeared in Prague in 1837, continued to be a popular form of dance music through the 20th century, especially in Czechoslovakia, Poland, and areas of the United States with a large population of central-European descent. A particularly well-known 20th-century example is Jaromír Vejvoda’s "Modřanská polka" (1927), which became popular during World War II in Czechoslovakia