About Coventry

Coventry is a city in the West Midlands of England. Coventry is the ninth largest city in England and the eleventh largest in the United Kingdom. It is also the second largest city after Birmingham in the Midlands by population. Coventry is 95 miles northwest of London and 19 miles east of Birmingham, and it is further from the coast than any other city in Britain.

Coventry suffered severe bomb damage during World War II, most notoriously from a massive German air raid (the "Coventry Blitz") on November 14, 1940. This destroyed most of the historic city centre and Coventry's historic Cathedral. Aside from London, Hull and Plymouth, Coventry suffered more damage than any other British city during the Luftwaffe attacks, with huge firestorms devastating most of the city centre. The city was targeted due to its high concentration of armaments, munitions and engine plants which contributed greatly to the British war effort. Following the raids, the majority of Coventry's historic buildings could not be saved as they were in ruinous states or were deemed unsafe for any future use, although several were later demolished simply to make way for modern developments.

Coventry Cathedral was rebuilt and opened in 1962 next to and incorporating the ruins of the old cathedral. It was designed by Basil Spence and contains the tapestry, "Christ in Majesty" by Graham Sutherland and the bronze statue "St. Michael and the Devil" by Jacob Epstein.

Coventry is famous for its 3 spires, Holy Trinity Church, St. Michael's, and Christ Church spires makes up the three spires of the city of Coventry skyline.

In the postwar years Coventry was largely rebuilt under the general direction of the Gibson Plan, gaining a new pedestrianised shopping precinct (the first of its kind in Europe on such a scale).

Coventry is also famour for Lady Godiva who was an Anglo-Saxon noblewoman who, according to legend, rode naked through the streets of Coventry in England in order to gain a remission of the oppressive toll imposed by her husband on his tenants. The name "peeping Tom" for a voyeur comes from later versions of this legend in which a man named Tom watched her ride and was struck blind.

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 southeast Coventry opened in 2004 . The Highfield Road stadium has been demolished making way for new housing and a small green.

Coventry has two universities; Coventry University situated on a modern city centre campus and the University of Warwick, which lies 6 km (3.5 miles) to the south of the city centre on the border with Warwickshire. The University of Warwick is one of only five universities never to have been rated outside the top ten in terms of teaching excellence and research and is a member of the prestigious Russell Group. It won the prestigious BBC TV University Challenge trophy in April 2007.

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