Skip to main content
NEU job vacancy
Sent to Coventry
JOHN GREEN pays tribute to the West Midlands city that’s to become Britain’s city of culture in 2021

I WAS very pleased to hear that Coventry has been chosen to become Britain’s city of culture in 2021. 

But then I’m biased, being an Old Coventrian, having spent my childhood and teenage years in this medieval city. 

It is said that the expression “being sent to Coventry” originated from the 17th century, when royalist prisoners were kept there during the English revolution and were ostracised by the staunchly republican citizens.

In the late ’50s the great Afro-American Bass Paul Robeson sang to an enthralled audience at the city’s Hippodrome

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
The sculpture Reconciliation by Josefina Vasconcellos showing two former enemies embracing each other was erected in 1995 in the north aisle of the ruins of St Michael's Cathedral, Coventry. An identical sculpture has been placed on behalf of the people of Coventry in Peace Garden, Hiroshima, Japan Pic: Martinvl/CC
Features / 6 August 2025
6 August 2025

Today Coventry’s Hiroshima Day Remembrance marks 80 years since the atomic bomb was dropped in 1945. Statement from Coventry Lord Mayor’s Committee of Peace and Reconciliation

CONTESTED HISTORY: The Neue Wache (“the New Watchhouse”) was rebuilt by the GDR in 1957 and reopened in 1960 as a Memorial to the Victims of Fascism and Militarism — then, in 1993, it was rededicated to the ‘victims of war and tyranny’
Features / 26 May 2025
26 May 2025

JOHN GREEN observes how Berlin’s transformation from socialist aspiration to imperial nostalgia mirrors Germany’s dangerous trajectory under Chancellor Merz — a BlackRock millionaire and anti-communist preparing for a new war with Russia

A drawing made at the event Scottish Circus, Fruitmarket Gal
Best of 2024 / 3 January 2025
3 January 2025
A landmark work of gay ethnography, an avant-garde fusion of folk and modernity, and a chance comment in a great interview
DISTINGUISHED: Portrait of Hans Hess c1962 (photographer unk
Features / 23 November 2024
23 November 2024
PAUL MACGEE highlights a new series of books that brings together a treasure trove of writings by a Jewish Marxist art historian who offers readers a refreshingly grounded theory of art