Coventry was the first City in the UK to have an Ikea.
Fed up with her husband’s high taxes on the people of Coventry, Lady Godiva rode through the town naked so he would revoke them. No-one looked at her, apart from some fellow called Tom, and this is where the term Peeping Tom comes from. Although in reality, it never happened, and the story was invented by Benedictine monks 250 years after her death.
The name Coventry originated from the word Coventre. The word Coventre is derived from the two words ‘Covent’, which stands in for Convent, and ‘tre’, which stands for settlement.
Britain's car industry was founded by Daimler in a disused Coventry cotton mill in 1896.
All modern bicycles are descended from John Kemp Starley's Rover safety cycle, invented in Coventry in 1885.
The first £5 note in a worker's peacetime wage was paid in Coventry during the 1950's.
The city was the birthplace of jet pioneer Sir Frank Whittle, the poet Philip Larkin and the pop impresario Pete Waterman.
The expression 'true blue' has Coventry origins and dates from the 14th century, when cloth dyed Coventry blue became very fashionable and expensive.
The first tank, the first traffic indicators for cars and the first dumper truck were built in Coventry. The first motorised funeral was held in the city.
The phrase 'sent to Coventry' originated during the English Civil War, when captured Royalists were imprisoned in the heavily fortified and strongly pro-Parliament city. They were given a hard time by the local people.
Dick Whittington was member of one of Coventry's mediaeval craft guilds.
Chuck Berry recorded his number one hit 'My Ding-A-Ling' at a Coventry dance hall.
Coventry Transport Museum has the biggest collection of British made cars, motorcycles and bicycles in the world.
The minis in the sewer scenes in The Italian Job, were filmed in Coventry.
Two-Tone music, British Ska, came out of Coventry in the late 1970s, through bands like The Specials and Selecter. Ghost Town, the Specials’ biggest hit, was actually written about Glasgow, not Coventry.
In 1948, work started on Coventry’s traffic-free shopping centre, the first in Europe. Rotterdam’s opened for business months later.
Legend has it the dragon-slayer and patron saint of England was born in Coventry and was a central figure for the city.
