Brierly Hill 90210 presents... 1996 v3

I had just started a 3-year secondment to my company's office in the United States. My first assignment was just north of Los Angeles in California. That's where I came up with the name of my podcast, Brierly Hill 90210. It was an amalgam of old and new, moving from the West Midlands of England to the home of American television and movies. Episodes of shows such as Melrose Place, Power Rangers and Beverley Hills 90210 were filmed in the office complex where I worked and one night, after one too many margaritas, I imagined how different these shows would be with a Black Country accent, and the Brierly Hill 90210 brand was born! There were many such drunken nights, frequently with coworkers but more often on my own, as I traveled America through work assignments in Columbus Ohio, Phoenix Arizona, Chicago and Oklahoma City. I had rented an apartment in southern New Jersey, just outside Philadelphia, and the year started with me trying to get there from England but running into a spot of weather...