DISCOVER COVENTRY

Coventry is a city and metropolitan borough in the county of West Midlands in England. Coventry is the 9th largest city in England and the 11th largest in the United Kingdom.

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Coventry is situated 95 miles (153 km) northwest of London and 19 miles (30 km) east of Birmingham, and is notable for being further inland from the coast than any other city in Britain. Although harbouring a population of almost a third of a million inhabitants, Coventry is not amongst the English Core Cities Group due to its proximity to Birmingham.

Coventry was also the world's first 'twin city' when it formed a twinning relationship with the Russian city of Stalingrad (now Volgograd) during World War II. The city is also subsequently twinned with Dresden, as a gesture of peace and reconciliation, and 27 others around the world.

Coventry Cathedral is notable by way of it being amongst the most modern cathedrals in the world, having been built following the World War II bombing of the ancient cathedral by the Luftwaffe.

Coventry has since developed an international reputation as one of Europe's major cities of peace and reconciliation, centred around its Cathedral, and holds an annual Peace Month

Coventry is also notable because Coventry motor companies have contributed significantly to the British motor industry, and also because it has two universities, the city centre-based Coventry University and the University of Warwick on the southern outskirts.

Coventry is also famous for the legendary 11th century exploits of Lady Godiva.

Their football team is Coventry City F.C. who are in the Coca-Cola Championship and were founded in 1883.


PLACES OF INTEREST

St. Michael's Cathedral is Coventry's best-known landmark and visitor attraction. The original 14th century cathedral was largely destroyed by German bombing during World War II, leaving only the outer walls and spire. The new Coventry Cathedral was opened in 1962 next to the ruins of the old. It was designed by Sir Basil Spence. The cathedral contains the tapestry Christ in Glory by Graham Sutherland. The bronze statue St Michael's Victory over the Devil by Jacob Epstein is mounted on the exterior of the new cathedral near the entrance. Benjamin Britten's War Requiem, regarded by some as his masterpiece, was written for the opening of the new Cathedral.

The spire of the ruined cathedral forms one of the Three Spires which have dominated the city skyline since the 14th century, the others being those of Christ Church (of which only the spire survives) and Holy Trinity Church (which is still in use).

Another major visitor attraction in Coventry city centre is the free-to-enter Coventry Transport Museum, which has the largest collection of British-made road vehicles in the world. The most notable exhibits are the world speed record-breaking cars, Thrust2 and ThrustSSC. The museum received a major refurbishment in 2004 which included the creation of a striking new entrance as part of the city's Phoenix Initiative project. The revamp saw the museum exceed its projected five-year visitor numbers within the first year alone, and it was a finalist for the 2005 Gulbenkian Prize.

The Herbert Art Gallery and Museum is a major art gallery in the city centre. About four miles from the city centre and just outside Coventry in Baginton is the Lunt Fort, a reconstructed Roman fort. The Midland Air Museum is situated just within the perimeter of Coventry on land adjacent to Coventry Airport and near Baginton.

Coventry was one of the main centres of watchmaking during the 18th and 19th centuries and as the industry declined the skilled workers were key to setting up the cycle trade. A group of local enthusiasts are in the process of setting up a museum in Spon Street.

The city's main police station in Little Park Street also hosts a museum of Coventry's Police Force. The museum, based underground, is split into two sections - one representing the history of the city's police force, and the other compiling some of the more unusual, interesting and grisly cases from the force's history. The museum is funded from charity donations - viewings can be made by appointment.

Coventry City Football Club have recently started playing at their new home, the Ricoh Arena, a 32,000 capacity stadium in Foleshill in north Coventry, and their football academy is now based at The Alan Higgs Centre, a leisure centre in south-east Coventry opened in 2004. The Highfield Road stadium has been demolished making way for new housing and a small green.

Coventry City Farm is a small farm in an urban setting. It is mainly to educate city children who might not get out to the countryside very often. The farm closed in 2008 due to funding problems.

The river Sherbourne runs under Coventry's city centre; the river was paved over during the rebuilding after WWII and is not commonly known.


COVENTRY IN ARTS & CULTURE

• During the early 19th century, Coventry was well-known due to author George Eliot who was born near Nuneaton. The city was the model for her famous novel Middlemarch (1871).
  
  
• The Coventry Carol is named after the city of Coventry. It was a carol performed in the play The Pageant of The Shearman and Tailors, written in the 15th century as one of the Coventry Cycle Mystery Plays. These plays depicted the nativity story, the lyrics of the Coventry Carol referring to the Annunciation to the Massacre of the Innocents, which was the basis of the Pageant of the Shearmen and Tailors. These plays were traditionally performed on the steps of the (old) Cathedral, and the plays are believed to have been performed for both Richard III in 1484 and Henry VII in 1584.
  
  
• The Belgrade Theatre was Britain's first purpose-built civic theatre, opened in 1958. In 1965 the world's first Theatre-in-Education (TiE) company was formed to develop theatre as a way of inspiring learning in schools. The TiE movement spread worldwide, but many UK companies were closed in the 1980s and 1990s, including the Belgrade TiE company which was closed by the theatre's management and the city council in 1996.
  
  
• During the late-1970s and early-1980s, Coventry was the centre of the Two Tone musical phenomenon, with bands such as The Specials and The Selecter coming from the city, spawning several major hit singles and albums. The Specials achieved two UK #1 hit singles between 1979 - 1981, namely "Too Much Too Young" and "Ghost Town". Notable singles by The Selecter included "On My Radio" and "Three Minute Hero".
  
  
• Today Coventry is recognised for its range of music events including one of the UK's foremost international jazz programmes, The Coventry Jazz Festival, and the award-winning Godiva Festival. On the Saturday of the Godiva Festival, a carnival parade also starts in the city centre and makes its way to the War Memorial Park where the festival is held.
  
  
• In the film The Italian Job, the famous scene of Mini Coopers being driven at speed through Turin's catacombs was actually filmed in Coventry, using what were then the country's biggest sewer pipes. More recently various locations in Coventry have been used in the BAFTA nominated film "Bouncer" starring Ray Winstone, All in the Game, also starring Ray Winstone (Ricoh Arena), the medical TV series Angels (Walsgrave Hospital), the BBC sitcom Keeping Up Appearances (Stoke Aldermoor and Binley Woods districts) and in August 2006 scenes from "The Shakespeare Code", an episode of the third series of Doctor Who, were filmed in the grounds of Ford's Hospital.

COVENTRY HOTELS & ACCOMMODATION

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