Frank Price (politician)

Sir Frank Leslie Price DL (1922 – 29/30 December 2017) was a Labour Party politician and former Lord Mayor of Birmingham.

He was raised in the slums of Hockley, Birmingham, and briefly joined the Communist Party of Great Britain.

Price was elected to Birmingham City Council in 1949, representing part of Sandwell for the Labour Party.

[1] As Chairman, Price was involved in the planning of new council housing and worked with playwrights John English and Mollie Randle to establish the Midlands Arts Centre.

Price secured Dutch support to provide staff, cut flowers and bulbs and also placed an order for a hot air balloon display.

The Tulip Festival also featured open air theatre, a performance by Roy Castle (early in his career), a closing speech by Max Bygraves and a fireworks display.

The profits from the event paid for the installation of hot water showers at the city's rugby and football pitches.

Price went on to run three more tulip festivals, leaving in a hot air balloon with Peter O’Toole at the close of one.

[3] In the 1960s Price also managed, as chair of its development corporation, the establishment of the new town of Telford by the merger of Wellington, Oakengates, Madeley and Dawley.

[9] From 1971 to 1974 Price sat on the city council's NEC development committee, planning the construction of the National Exhibition Centre.

[4] He worked alongside former Field Marshal Claude Auchinleck at Murrayfield Developments to construct offices and shopping centres in London, northern England and New York.

He later established Alexander Stevens and Company, headquartered in Birmingham, to construct developments across the United Kingdom including studios for Associated Television.