Birmingham BT Tower is 40

Happy birthday to Birmingham's tallest building, the BT Tower is 40 today.

Conceived in 1963 by the Ministry of Public works, the young blighter was immediately marked out as a tough one capable of surviving a 1 megaton nuclear explosion set off a mile from the tower although time would show it wasn't as hard as people thought. Childhood was fast and by 1966 construction had stopped and he was fully grown.

Despite being for many years the tallest building outside London at 152 metres, it has always lived in the shadow of the much more famous and well-known bigger brother, the BT Tower in London. Although the siblings have spent their lifetimes apart they remain in constant contact thanks to the telecommunications they both host.

At the age of 37 it got a make-over, as many of those anxiously approaching middle age do, with a life of grime having built up between it's cracks and wrinkles as the youthful toughness deteriorated. Giving it a lick of new paint and a white and purple look, not to mention some pink lighting, the tower brushed up nicely for locals who thought age was causing it to slip.

The new makeover hasn’t faded and the good old BT Tower now approaches the next 40 years of his life in better shape than ever.