Editing Coventry (section)

==Arts and culture==
On 7 December 2017 it was announced that the city would be the 2021 [[UK City of Culture]], being the third such place to hold the title after [[Derry]] in 2013 and [[Kingston upon Hull|Hull]] in 2017.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-42272675|title=UK City of Culture 2021: Coventry wins|publisher=[[BBC]]|access-date=8 December 2017|work=BBC News|date=7 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171207235057/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-42272675|archive-date=7 December 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> After the financial collapse of the Coventry City of Culture Trust,<ref>{{cite news |date=28 February 2023 |title=Coventry City of Culture Trust calls in administrators |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-coventry-warwickshire-64797580 |access-date=8 October 2024 |work=BBC News }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=25 February 2023 |title=Coventry City of Culture Trust's finances probed by watchdog |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-coventry-warwickshire-64771774 |access-date=8 October 2024 |work=BBC News }}</ref> set up to run legacy projects following Coventry's year as [[UK City of Culture]] in 2021, local MP [[Taiwo Owatemi]] raised an adjournment debate in the House of Commons.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2023-06-11 |title=Parliament to hold debate on Coventry City of Culture Trust |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-coventry-warwickshire-65866024 |access-date=2024-10-26 |work=BBC News |language=en-GB}}</ref>

===Literature and drama===
* The African American actor [[Ira Aldridge]] managed Coventry Theatre after impressing the people of the city with his acting during a tour in 1828. He was born in New York in 1807, but moved to England when he was18, and is considered the UK's first black Shakespearean performer.<ref>{{cite news |date=3 August 2017 |title=First black Shakespearean actor Ira Aldridge honoured |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-coventry-warwickshire-40802072 |access-date=6 June 2024 |work=BBC News }}</ref> 
* The poet [[Philip Larkin]] was born and brought up in Coventry,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/coventry/content/articles/2009/06/02/philip_larkin_feature.shtml|title=Larkin around Coventry|work=bbc.co.uk|access-date=18 December 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924203228/http://www.bbc.co.uk/coventry/content/articles/2009/06/02/philip_larkin_feature.shtml|archive-date=24 September 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> where his father was the City Treasurer.
* During the early 19th&nbsp;century, Coventry was well known due to author [[George Eliot]] who was born near [[Nuneaton]], Warwickshire. 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&nbsp;century as one of the [[Coventry Mystery Plays|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. The [[Belgrade Theatre]] brought back the Coventry Mystery Plays in 2000 to mark the city's millennium celebrations: the theatre now produces the Mystery Plays every three years.
* 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, the theatre still offers a number of programmes for young people across Coventry and has been widely recognised as a leader in the field. It was reopened in 2007 following a period of refurbishment.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.belgrade.co.uk/about-us/history/|title=History|work=Belgrade Theatre|access-date=18 December 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141129170901/http://www.belgrade.co.uk/about-us/history/|archive-date=29 November 2014|url-status=live}}</ref>
* Novelist [[Graham Joyce]], winner of the [[O. Henry Award]] is from [[Keresley]]. His [[World Fantasy Award]]-winning novel "[[The Facts of Life (Joyce novel)|The Facts of Life]]" is set in Coventry during the blitz and in the post-war rebuilding period.
* The playwright Alan Pollock<ref>{{cite web |title= Alan Pollock Interview|url=https://www.whatsonlive.co.uk/shropshire/interviews/alan-pollock-interview/15327|access-date=4 May 2022}}</ref> was brought up in Coventry. Other playwrights associated with the city include Nick Walker and Chris O'Connell – founder of the city's Theatre Absolute.
* Brian Saunders lived in Coventry and was featured, along with his partner Andrew Stuart Sutton and Pete and Les Cardy, in the series A Place In Greece in 2004 and 2005.
[[File:The Specials crop.jpg|thumb|The Specials.]]

===Music and cinema===
During the late-1970s and early 1980s, Coventry was the centre of the [[2 Tone (music genre)|Two Tone]] musical phenomenon, with bands such as [[The Specials]] and [[The Selecter]] coming from the city.<ref name="Petridis">{{cite news |last=Petridis |first=Alexis |date=8 March 2002 |title=Ska for the madding crowd |url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2002/mar/08/artsfeatures.popandrock |access-date=8 October 2024 |work=The Guardian |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> The Specials achieved two UK number 1 hit singles between 1979 and 1981, namely "[[Too Much Too Young (The Specials song)|Too Much Too Young]]" and "[[Ghost Town (The Specials song)|Ghost Town]]".

Coventry has a range of music events including an international jazz programme, the Coventry Jazz Festival, and the [[Godiva Festival]]. On the Saturday of the Godiva Festival, a carnival parade starts in the city centre and makes its way to [[War Memorial Park, Coventry|War Memorial Park]] where the festival is held. Coventry's music is celebrated at The [[Coventry Music Museum]], part of the 2-Tone Village complex.[[File:Godiva Festival -Electric Main Stage-3July2009.jpg|right|thumb|[[Godiva Festival]], a major event on the Coventry arts and culture calendar]]

In the 1969 film ''[[The Italian Job]]'', the famous scene of [[Mini Cooper]]s being driven at speed through [[Turin]]'s sewers was actually filmed in Coventry, using what were then the country's biggest sewer pipes, that were accessible because they were being installed. The [[BBC]] medical TV drama series ''[[Angels (TV series)|Angels]],'' which ran from 1975 to 1983 was filmed at Walsgrave Hospital.<ref>{{cite web |last=Blackburn |first=Tom |date=8 April 2023 |title=Major movies and TV shows filmed in Coventry |url=https://www.coventrytelegraph.net/whats-on/whats-on-news/movies-tv-shows-filmed-coventry-26649756 |access-date=8 October 2024 |website=Coventry Live }}</ref>

More recently various locations in Coventry have been used in the [[BAFTA]] nominated film ''The Bouncer'' starring [[Ray Winstone]], ''All in the Game'', also starring Ray Winstone (Ricoh Arena),  the BBC sitcom ''[[Keeping Up Appearances]]'' (Stoke Aldermoor and Binley Woods districts). 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]]. The 2013 ITV comedy-drama ''[[Love and Marriage (2013 TV series)|Love and Marriage]]'' was also set in the city. Coventry is home to three major feature films the [[Nativity!|Nativity]]! franchise which are all shot and set in the city.<ref name=":0">{{cite web |last1=McMullen |first1=Marion |last2=Mullen |first2=Enda |date=20 November 2009 |title=Nativity! saw Cov take centre stage in a Christmas film classic |url=http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/whats-on/film-tv/how-nativity-turned-coventry-film-3073630 |access-date=6 June 2024 |website=Coventry Live }}</ref> These Christmas films have all reached top box office spots on their release in UK cinemas. Their writer and director the [[British Academy of Film and Television Arts|Bafta]] award-winning [[Debbie Isitt]] is resident in the city. In 2023, the 10 part TV series ''[[Phoenix Rise (TV series)|Phoenix Rise]]'' was set and filmed in Coventry.<ref>{{cite web |title=Phoenix Rise – Meet the characters and creators of the bold new school drama |url=https://www.bbc.com/mediacentre/mediapacks/phoenix-rise |access-date=8 October 2024 |website=www.bbc.com }}</ref>

[[BBC Radio 1]] has announced that its [[BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend|BBC Radio One's Big Weekend]] will take place in Coventry at the end of May 2022, as part of the closing ceremony for the [[UK City of Culture]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Radio 1 Big Weekend|url=https://www.visitcoventry.co.uk/homepage/21/radio-1-big-weekend|access-date=12 May 2022|archive-date=26 May 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220526115544/https://www.visitcoventry.co.uk/homepage/21/radio-1-big-weekend|url-status=dead}}</ref>

=== Customs and traditions ===
[[Coventry Godcakes]] are a regional delicacy, originating from the 14th&nbsp;century and are still baked today.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.birminghampost.co.uk/lifestyle/food-drink/leigh-waite-women-behind-revival-6941331|title=God-ly treats that deserve a big revival|last=Griffin|first=Mary|date=11 April 2014|work=birminghampost|access-date=28 April 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170803211854/http://www.birminghampost.co.uk/lifestyle/food-drink/leigh-waite-women-behind-revival-6941331|archive-date=3 August 2017|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Rodger |first=James |date=1 May 2015 |title=The world famous Cov cake you've probably never heard of |url=https://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/coventry-news/what-is-a-coventry-godcake-9164756 |access-date=5 September 2024 |website=Coventry Live }}</ref>

=== The Coventry Flag ===
[[File:Coventry city flag.svg|thumb|Coventry flag]]
The Coventry Flag,<ref name="auto1">{{cite web|url=https://www.flaginstitute.org/wp/flags/coventry-flag/|title=Coventry Flag |publisher= UK Flag Registry|access-date=8 June 2023}}</ref> designed by Simon Wyatt,<ref name="auto">{{cite web|url=https://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/coventry-news/coventry-flag-city-of-culture-15516206|title=Look: One of these six designs is Coventry's new flag|first=Elis|last=Sandford|date=7 December 2018|website=CoventryLive|access-date=8 June 2023}}</ref> was adopted through a popular vote on 7 December 2018. The Coventry Flag represents the unique identity of the Warwickshire city and its residents. It emerged as the winner in a competition organised by [[BBC CWR|BBC Coventry & Warwickshire]]<ref name="auto"/> and proudly flew during Coventry's tenure as the UK City of Culture in 2021. The design features [[Lady Godiva]], a local heroine, depicted in black on a white pale, symbolising Coventry's history, principles, and its reputation as a city of peace. Sky blue panels on either side of Lady Godiva represent "Coventry Blue," reminiscent of the historic local textile industry and Coventry City Football Club, known as the "Sky Blues."