Historical Stories of Coventry & Warwickshire

[Lex]

I've just read this article of a tragedy at the coal pit in Exhall, and realised that there is a lot of C&W history I don't know about (eg, the 1939 IRA bomb in Coventry and the Nuneaton rail crash mentioned elsewhere on WOL):

http://www.nuneaton-news.co.uk/disaster-victims-remembered/story-27839344-detail/story.html

Does anyone have any stories of the history of Coventry & Warwickshire, be they ancient or modern, that have been forgotten about, or are just obscure?

[rebbonk]

The telephone exchange bomb in the 70s?

The bomb making priest (70s as well)

Just to start the ball rolling

[rebbonk]

OK, here's some more to whet your appetite (I've not checked any dates, I'm relying on memory so please verify before repeating)

Coventry had a thriving and advanced aviation industry. The flying wing first flew in 1947. (Search AW52 and AW 52g)

Coventry designed and developed the sea slug guided missile at Whitley. The design was 60s and it was still operational during the Falklands conflict ('82).

A massive fire ripped through Jaguar cars production site in the late 50s.

There was an air crash at Exhall, late 40s.

Coventry fire engines used to be yellow and we even had one that was pink!

Coventry had a thriving watchmaking industry that morphed into making car instruments when the car industry took off.

Starley gave the world what we recognise as the bicycle.

Rover cars started in Coventry. - Land Rover was a sub-brand of Rover.

Coventry is associated with the colour blue. That's because we gave the world a blue dye that didn't fade. - Hence the expression, 'as true as a Coventry blue'.

Coventry had the first black police officer in the UK (late 60s early 70s).

Coventry has an unsolved murder from about 70 years ago. The Ring Of Bells public house landlady was murdered and nobody has ever been brought to book.

[cathidaw]

What about the lady who lived in a room in Far Gosford Sreet mid 19th century who drank so much she self combusted.
I got this from my Benjamin Poole's History of Coventry

[rebbonk]

This the case cathidaw?

Link (http://brianlangston.hubpages.com/hub/The-Curious-Case-of-the-Combustion-of-Mrs-Clue-from-Coventry)