Joe Lycett hails International Day of Birmingham

Comedian Joe Lycett has hosted the first International Day of Birmingham - which he says honours the shared heritage of all cities named Birmingham.

Lycett travelled to all 18 locations in North America and asked their leaders to sign friendship agreements, forming the "United States of Birmingham".

To commemorate the occasion, the Brummie organised a parade, music, and dancing in Victoria Square on Tuesday, as well as a flag-raising ceremony for the new United States of Birmingham flag.

Representatives from the other namesake cities flew in to mark the occasion.

"There’s so many other Birminghams, 18 other Birminghams," he said.

"One in Canada, 17 in the US…once you’ve discovered that, you’ve got to go and see as many of them as you can.

"We got all of the mayors and representatives of the Birminghams to read out: 'Alright bab?', and there’s lots of different ways of pronouncing it."

Lycett said he noticed similar attitudes across the places named Birmingham.

"They all feel a bit under-doggy...none of them are the major city or town in their local area, and there's something kind of beautiful about that.

"There is something about the name that sticks with all the places."

He hopes the celebration will be an annual event.

"I think it shows that spirit of Birmingham. People do love this city, and they're kind of almost ashamed to say it," said Lycett.

"But we should love this city, it’s a brilliant city, and we are having tough times at the minute."

He told BBC Radio WM that more could be done to help, in the wake of Birmingham City Council declaring bankruptcy.

"If they [the government] wanted to look after Birmingham, if they wanted Birmingham to thrive I think they could do it," he said.

The Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, said there was no "magic wand" to solve the financial crisis.

"I think anything that boosts the morale here, and makes us feel like we’ve got some sort of purpose, and we’ve got history and value, is really good," added the comedian.

Shouting out his home town is not unusual for Lycett, who hosts his Channel 4 television programme, Late Night Lycett, in the Digbeth area of the city.

He previously expressed pride in recruiting local people to work on the show, and made the owners of his local corner shop in Kings Heath stars, after featuring them on the programme.

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