Editing Coventry (section)

===History and politics===
[[File:Godiva Statue Coventry 1.JPG|thumb|upright|Statue of [[Lady Godiva]]]]Coventry is well known for the mythical 11th century exploits of [[Lady Godiva]] who, according to legend, rode through the city naked on horseback in protest at high taxes being levied on the city folk by her husband [[Leofric, Earl of Mercia]].<ref>{{cite web |title=The City of Coventry: The legend of Lady Godiva {{!}} British History Online |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/warks/vol8/pp242-247 |access-date=5 September 2024 |website=www.british-history.ac.uk}}</ref> Contemporary historians do not dispute that lady Godiva was a real figure, as she was the first woman to be mentioned in the ''[[Domesday Book]]'' (1086), however her ride is considered mythical.<ref>{{cite web|title=Did Lady Godiva ride naked in Coventry?|url=https://www.historyextra.com/period/anglo-saxon/who-lady-godiva-did-she-ride-naked-through-coventry-streets/|access-date=16 January 2022|website=HistoryExtra}}</ref> The residents of the city were commanded to look away as she rode, but one man did not and was allegedly struck blind. He became known as [[Voyeurism|Peeping Tom]] thus originating a new idiom, or metonym, in English. There is a Grade II* [[listed building|listed]] statue<ref>{{NHLE |num=1031589 |desc=Bronze statue of Lady Godiva – Grade II* |access-date=12 March 2009}}</ref> of her in the city centre, which for 18 years had been underneath a Cathedral Lanes shopping centre canopy, removed in October 2008.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/coventry_warwickshire/7697036.stm|title=Godiva statue canopy comes down|work=BBC News Online|publisher=BBC|date=29 October 2008|access-date=30 October 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081101132321/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/coventry_warwickshire/7697036.stm|archive-date=1 November 2008|url-status=live}}</ref> There is also a bust of Peeping Tom looking out across Hertford Street shopping precinct, and overlooking Broadgate and the statue of Godiva is a clock where, at every hour, Lady Godiva appears on her horse while being watched by Peeping Tom.

[[Julins Palmer]], the English Protestant martyr who was burned at the stake in 1556 during the reign of [[Mary I of England|Mary I]], was a native of Coventry.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Colvile |first=Frederick Leigh |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e99UAAAAcAAJ&q=palmer |title=The Worthies of Warwickshire who Lived Between 1500 and 1800 |date=1870 |publisher=H.T. Cooke and son |pages=561 |language=en}}</ref> [[Christopher Davenport]] the 17th century [[Catholic Church in England and Wales|Catholic]] theologian, religious controversialist, and royal [[chaplain]] was born in Coventry.<ref>{{Cite ODNB |last=Chambers |first=A. P. |title=Davenport, Christopher [name in religion Franciscus à Sancta Clara] (c. 1595–1680), Franciscan friar and religious controversialist |url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/display/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-7199 |access-date=2024-10-14 |date=2004 |language=en |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/7199}}</ref>

The statesman and founder of modern Australia, [[Sir Henry Parkes]], was born in [[Canley]] in 1815.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1896-05-09 |title=Burial of Sir Henry Parkes AN IMPRESSIVE CEREMONY. |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/71245263 |access-date=2024-10-14 |work=Australian Town and Country Journal}}</ref> Other international politicians from Coventry include [[Brian Mitchell (politician)|Brian Mitchell]], the [[Australian Labor Party]] member for [[Division of Lyons|Lyons]] in the [[Australian House of Representatives]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=Brian Mitchell – Labor for Lyons |url=https://www.alp.org.au/brian_mitchell |access-date=2024-10-15 |website=www.alp.org.au |language=en}}</ref> and the Canadian parliamentarian [[Jocelyn Burgener]], who was a Member of the [[Legislative Assembly of Alberta]] from 1993 to 2001.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cOSIAAAAMAAJ&q=%22BURGENER,+Mary+Jocelyn%22 |title=The Canadian Parliamentary Guide |date=1997 |publisher=P. G. Normandin |isbn=978-1-896413-43-3 |language=fr}}</ref> [[Evelyn Evans]], a British librarian who founded libraries in [[Ghana]], was also from Coventry.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sturges |first=Paul |date=2001-03-01 |title=The Poverty of Librarianship: An Historical Critique of Public Librarianship in Anglophone Africa |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/LIBR.2001.38/html |journal=Libri |language=en |volume=51 |issue=1 |pages=38–48 |doi=10.1515/LIBR.2001.38|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

[[Pearl Hyde]] was a Labour councillor, the head of the Coventry [[Women's Voluntary Service]] during the [[World War II|Second World War]], and became the first female [[Lord Mayor of Coventry]] in 1957.<ref>{{cite web |title=Pearl Hyde (1904–1963) Long Biography |url=https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/history/research/projects/coventry_lives/biographies/pearl_hyde/long_biography/ |access-date=6 June 2024 |website=warwick.ac.uk}}</ref><ref>{{cite ODNB |title=Hyde, Pearl Marguerite (1904–1963), leader of women's voluntary work and politician |url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/display/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-73538 |access-date=6 June 2024 |date=2004 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/73538 |last1=Hinton |first1=James |isbn=978-0-19-861412-8 }}</ref>

[[Dave Nellist]], a [[Militant tendency]] politician in the Labour Party, Member of Parliament who gave away half of his salary and the National Chair of the [[Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition]] (TUSC) is from Coventry.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Socialist and ex-Coventry MP Dave Nellist on why he and others applied to rejoin Labour |url=https://www.coventryobserver.co.uk/news/socialist-and-ex-coventry-mp-dave-nellist-on-why-he-and-others-applied-to-rejoin-labour/ |access-date=2024-10-15 |website=Coventry Observer |language=en}}</ref> Trade union organiser [[Tom Mann]] and [[Nazism|National Socialist Movement]] leader [[Colin Jordan]] also came from Coventry.

[[Tony Whittaker]], the solicitor and politician, was from Coventry. He was a co-founder and the first leader of [[PEOPLE]], the forerunner of the Ecology Party and [[Green Party (UK)|Green Party UK]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Vidal |first=John |date=2016-04-27 |title=Tony Whittaker obituary |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/apr/27/tony-whittaker-obituary |access-date=2024-10-15 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> In 1995, [[Animal rights activism|animal rights activist]] [[Death of Jill Phipps|Jill Phipps]] died during a protest to stop the air export of live calves for veal from Coventry Airport.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Pearce |first=Vanessa |date=2021-07-17 |title=Coventry City of Culture: The women who helped shape a 'city of justice' |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-coventry-warwickshire-57555779 |access-date=2024-10-14 |work=BBC News |language=en-GB}}</ref> Her passing drew international attention and for many years, animal rights protests have been held around the anniversary date of Phipps' death.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2005-02-05 |title=March to honour animal campaigner |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/coventry_warwickshire/4239087.stm |access-date=2024-10-14 |work=BBC News |language=en-GB}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Griffin |first=Mary |date=2015-01-31 |title=Coventry campaigner Jill Phipps remembered 20 years after her death |url=https://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/coventry-news/jill-phipps-remembered-20-years-8551338 |access-date=2024-10-14 |website=Coventry Live |language=en}}</ref>

Labour Party politician [[Mo Mowlam]], who oversaw the talks which led to the 1998 [[Good Friday Agreement]] in her role as [[Secretary of State for Northern Ireland|Northern Ireland secretary]], was educated in Coventry.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/business/citys-mo-speak-confidence-3164474|title=City's Mo to speak on confidence|date=18 May 2003|work=Coventry Telegraph|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141218142128/http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/business/citys-mo-speak-confidence-3164474|archive-date=18 December 2014|url-status=live}}</ref> Another Labour politician, [[Bob Ainsworth]] was the [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] for [[Coventry North East (UK Parliament constituency)|Coventry North East]] and was the [[Secretary of State for Defence]] from 2009 to 2010.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Waller |first1=Robert |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=amqVCts7MMUC&dq=bob+ainsworth+coventry+Jaguar+MSF&pg=PA190 |title=The Almanac of British Politics |last2=Criddle |first2=Byron |date=1999 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-18541-7 |pages=190 |language=en}}</ref>