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Midlands Leasing

Midlands Did You Know?

Sir Henry Parkes, five times Premier of New South Wales and the father of modern Australia, was born at Canley, then just outside the old city, in 1815. Parkes in New South Wales is one of Coventry’s twin towns.

Lady Godiva was a real person but never rode naked through the streets to free the people from taxation. The story emerged 250 years after her death, probably invented by Benedictine monks.

Legend has it that the city was the birthplace of St George, dragon-slayer and patron saint of England. St George was a central figure in Coventry’s medieval processions, long before Godiva featured.

Coventry pioneered town twinning in Europe and now has 26 towns and cities, including Volgograd (formerly Stalingrad), Dresden and Jinan in China. Its first German twin city was Kiel in 1947.

The first smokeless zone in Britain was introduced in Coventry in 1948 and the city is also the birthplace of the Green Party in this country, originally called the People Party and founded by two solicitors.

The 1969 hit film ‘The Italian Job’ features a legendary car chase that took place, partly, in Coventry. The iconic scene involves three patriotically coloured Minis driving through huge sewer pipes in an attempt to escape. These same pipes can be found at Stoke Aldermoor

All modern bicycles are descended from JK Starley’s Rover safety cycle, invented in Coventry in 1885. A decade later the city became the birthplace of the British motor industry, producing the first cars under licence from Gottlieb Daimler in Germany.

Film star Clive Owen and pop impresario Pete Waterman were born in Coventry, while Labour politician Mo Mowlam, architect of the historic Northern Ireland peace accord, spent her childhood in the city.