Birmingham village raises a laugh with name 'enhancement' with search on to find author

The hunt is on to find a creative culprit who has ‘enhanced’ a street sign for a village just outside Birmingham - much to the amusement of the internet.

Historian Dr Helen Ingram posted a picture of the doctores road sign for Frankley, near south Birmingham, yesterday on X (formerly Twitter), with seven words added to it’s name.

Following the famous line from Clark Gable’s character Rhett Butler in Gone With The Wind the sign now reads: “Frankley my dear I don’t give a damn.”

More than 12,000 people have liked the post, with hundreds commenting on the witty take on the place name - including those who claim they would have preferred a reference to 80s rock band The Smiths hit song Frankly, Mr Shankly.

Dr Ingram is among those who is keen to find out who the creative sign scribe could be - with one suggesting it was ‘the butler’! Others have suggested other areas of Birmingham with names that also could be creatively enhanced.

The renowned road sign for Dogpool Lane in Stirchley with the ‘l’ whitened out is among those that has been posted. Others have flagged up other striking West Midlands place names such as Lickey End and Twatling Road near Barnt Green. And, of course, Frankley isn’t too far away from Hollywood and California in Birmingham - but that isn’t where Gone With The Wind was filmed.

Unusual place names in and around Birmingham frequently hit the headlines with BirminghamWorld recently paying a visit to Love Lane in the city centre around Valentine’s Day. The West Midlands is also home to:

• Tittensor – village in Staffordshire

• Tittensore Hill – 163m hill in Staffordshire

• Tittensor Chase – public garden in Staffordshire

• The Hempbutts, Stone – street in Staffordshire village

• Ten Butts Crescent – street in Stafford

• Cock Lane, Bednall – street in Staffordshire

• Beaver Close, Wolverhampton – street in Wolverhampton

• Doctor’s Piece, Willenhall - street in West Midlands

• Angel Passage, Willenhall – alleyway in West Midlands

• Gloryhole, Bilston – sculpture in West Midlands

• Bell End, Rowley Regis – street in Sandwell, West Midlands

• Bumble Hole – nature reserve in Dudley, West Midlands

• Bell End – village in Worcestershire

• Lickey Hills – country park in Worcestershire