now on bbc news, curtain—up on coventry. this summer, coventry�*s streets were transformed into a giant stage as it finally got to celebrate the start of a covid—delayed year as uk city of culture 2021. good morning, happy saturday, this is rachel and i hope you have had some caffeine in you already because today is going to be a very big day. the start of a summer weekend in coventry. but this is no ordinary saturday. today, the whole city will become a giant stage to mark the start of a big year. as the uk city of culture. stay with us all day because we're going to make sure that you not miss a moment of this. coventry. it's been a long time coming. coventry won the honour back in 2017, way back before covid—19 forced their artistic director to change all of her plans. you see the truck, it is down here. we cannot be bringing audiences together in large numbers or even participants, and we have had to think very differently. for a start, what is about to take place on the streets has had to be kept a complete secret. one of you is not from here... to avoid large crowds gathering to watch, surprise events cropping up in neighbourhoods across the whole city. we thought if people cannot come in to us, we will go out to them. it may be that they have popped out for a bit of shopping and they encounter something running past them through the city centre. it may be something turns up on the street. this cultural event also streaming online and social media for people to enjoy at home. we've created an event that runs from almost dawn to dusk and is animating the entire city. high rise above, river flow... it's eight o'clock and the city of culture celebrations begin. live on a bridge in a part of town knows as spon end. with a smattering of early birds treated to a dawn chorus featuring pauline black, lead singer of the ska revival band the selecter. coventry through and through. # riverflow... i've lived in coventry for very many years and to even be in a city that is coventry city of culture was good, but to be asked to perform at the opening ceremony, i just thought was, wow. that was fantastic. good, it was really, it was brilliant as well in this one end and the colours, lovely, and i'm glad it stayed dry for them! not pouring down rain. action! i'm bringing the hands up and opening them out. and bringing one in front of you. l i'm singing the river song, i am the river as you can see, with all of this wonderful kind of blue make up and all of this flowing veil. because there is a river that runs underneath the city. and of course that's kind of the life spring, the well of everything, that was the reason why they settled, because there was a river. it's like ms haversham! i know this area and i know the people around here, or some of the people around here, and to have them actually contribute to the lyrics, i just thought wow, that's wonderful. one of those local lyricists is mark gibbons, better known as gibbo. i've lived in spon end now for about, i think, over 35 years, and it gets a bit of a bad rap, people believe all the hype that they hear about it, you know, but you come around here at night and you can hear a pin drop. the river sherbourne, it flows right past my house. all the way around, winding me through the estate, comes right past the community centre and it's just, you know, if there were brick wall there i could throw a stone on it from here. he's at the community centre that runs a men's mental health support group. it's a place where men can come along and speak freely about whatever issues are affecting them at that time in their life. and to help him come up with some good lyrics, give turned to one of the group. yeah, so the bit... two sentences. tommy is actually a client. we brainstormed a session so he came up with loads of words and some actual lines, i mean, tommy was throbbing with poetry, you know, he was freestyling, like, you know, he was really good. when speaking turns to hate is recognition of a past... you know, i've got it, i've got a few, you know, potential good bits that i think you know. my tree away. it's lovely, that. nice one. it's good for me, isn't it? it's just nice to have the opportunity to actually speak about the area that i live in. and to highlight spon end, you know, and what, you know, what a great area it is to me. inspired by pauline's song, a group of young people followed the course of the river as it flows underneath the city. of course most towns and cities were built up by a river but in coventry the river was covered over in the city centre so you might say to people oh, yeah, there's a river that runs through coventry and people would say they've never seen one. so a group of young people followed thatjourney of the river, having encountered pauline singing her song on the bridge. starring in a film of the river journey are two dancers, childhood friends nancy and louis. good? we met at school, it was the induction days we were in year 6, maybe 10 or 11 years old at this point. i asked her to be my girlfriend. my reply was of value in september. and i literally set it like that. september! she walked out of the gate and looked over her shoulder, i had to wait a whole summer to find the answer, and it was worth it because i got yes. i grew up born and bred in coventry, the city of villains, yeah! yeah, and i knew i wanted more, i knew there was a greater calling and a purpose for me out there, and i've come across dancing on the tv and i wasn't exposed to these kind of things, it wasn't, like, it wasn't not acceptable, but it was so unconventional and so far away from me, you know? i'm from coventry and being able to be a part of it here and especially being with louis as well, like, it's just crazy. some people put coventry down and i think you have to leave it to really appreciate kind of like the resilience of the city and how strong we all are, and how diverse everyone is and how, just, we're a community. on their way into the city centre, the river runners encounter six exotically dressed energies making up the spirit of the city. all well—known coventry faces like paralympian sprinter harriet hannigan. i'm the energy of resilience, and coventry has a history of resilience linked to the blitz, so it's a great way to celebrate that and embody that. carrie and her fellow energies offer poetic pearls of wisdom. when you feel like stopping, know that your city persisted. when you feel alone, know that those who have come before you are cheering you on. they walked so you can run and you will run so that those after you will be able to fly. another of the energies is the artist and model daniel lismore, embodying the spirit of innovation. i grew up in a small village just on the border of coventry and all of my family are in coventry and i went to school in coventry as well and this is kind of where i grew up. it's been amazing actually. my life is so crazy and i've been travelling the world constantly and all of a sudden i'm back with my mum. close your eyes for a moment and imagine a place where creation is constant, where there is courage and space to transcend and protest. i think compared 18 years ago, it's been very different, people have been very positive. i rememberjust outside there i was bullied at the bus stop being, you know, queer. all the time. and now i canjust happily walk across the city without, you know, a few smiles, a few glares but... we need to start appreciating each other. and i hope that city of culture does that. it's time that we kind of accept each other because we are all here. meanwhile, somewhere in the suburbs, people and horses are gathering. modern day lady godivas are preparing to ride into town from the four corners of the city. 11! women who do extraordinary things across the city. making change within the cities with some of the city's most disadvantaged communities. people who are active, particularly during the pandemic. the original lady godiva rode naked through the streets of an 11th century coventry in protest at high taxes for the townsfolk. today's 21st century riders are more modestly dressed and most of them had to learn how to ride a horse. rena, a teaching assistant who has also founded her own theatre company, is one of them. here we go, this is delaware. i'm the kind of person that probably would ride on a horse naked if it was to fight social injustice. and kind of protest in a creative way, like a lady godiva, so i think that's probably why i was nominated and selected. i've come from a community that's considered to be the lowest of the low, we're very downtrodden, we're seen as subhuman and those kind of ideas and ideologies carried on here in the uk, and caste discrimination is still an issue and that is where my activism started. enjoy it where you can and try not to be as panicked - and scared as you might look, try to flick a switch. _ i thought i had horse riding experience but no, what i rode 13 years ago was a donkey, i'm sure it was! i am excited but i'm a bit nervous because, you know, riding a horse on the streets in a procession? a lot of these ladies have never sat on a horse before, they've not even sat on a donkey on blackpool beach. so to get them on a real horse that's moving in a parade environment, with drums and trumpets and flags and people, it's going to be a challenge. so, this is toby. he's... well, he's been my mate since the start. i've been on him every time. i think we're very well matched. when i first saw him, i thought, he looks a bit slower, so i thought, please give me that one. so, yeah. good mates now. i feel really honoured to be involved, i really do feel privileged. it's exciting. an apple for you, nice granny smith. as the lady godivas get ready, the streets reverberate to a different sound. cars, all of them at one time or another made in coventry. the motorcade stops at various points on its journey through the city. myriad dancers: irish, caribbean, bollywood, each routine a tribute to the different migrant communities that came to coventry to help rebuild after the destruction of the war. i think everybody on the street really needed that, after the past 18 months. and just to have that happen on our street, it has cheered everyone up. i love it. i've lived on the street all my life, my parents live just six doors up. we've never seen anything like that. it's always been a friendly multicultural street, but that was just brilliant, just brought everybody together. the irish settled first, and brought with them their love of dance. two of the motorcade performers are sisters. 17—year—old grace and 14—year—old molly. we've got a very irish background, and most of ourfamily is irish, and our mum, also, irish danced at the same school but we dance as well. so it was just inevitable we were going to dance, really, and carry on the tradition in the family. i placed second at the world championships and in the top five in all major competitions. i won the american nationals twice, i won the scottish nationals, the all scotlands, the great britains, and yeah, i've been very successful. their rehearsal studio is tucked in behind the old standard triumph club, a social hub surrounded by production lines churning out cars with household names. a reminder of an industry that once employed generations of coventry workers. our grandparents came over to work in the building industry, over 50 years ago. and one of the things that they were involved in building was the ring road. and they set their roots here, built theirfamily here, and our whole family has just been in coventry ever since. can ijust see you pointing at the person you're going to have a connection with? during rehearsals, the sisters find themselves sharing their skills with their fellow dancers. we do our irish dancing, then we also, there is barn dancing, ska dancing, and then there's a matchup at the end, we get to learn parts of our dancing, which has been really fun. it's like walking for us. because we're doing it for so long. doing the steps, being taught the steps without music, it's like, yeah, i can do this. then the music comes on and you realise how fast it is. i suppose if you've trained for years and years it's easy, but i think if i don't have to do it to the music, it's fine. and then actually having to go back to the basics and teach from the very first steps, you can see the challenge on theirface. it was very difficult, but i think if i did it in slow motion, i would always get it. it was just great to watch her. i think being a part of the city of culture is an amazing opportunity, and to be a part of something that is going to be so worldwide, and hopefully that will go down in history is something that was amazing, to be a part of that is something that hopefully i could show that my family in the future and they would be proud of me. rena and her fellow godivas are now on their way into the city centre, on their mission to deliver their manifesto to the city's politicians. i have been so proud, i hope i represent all the voices of everybody in coventry, notjust women, absolutely everybody. so i am representing the whole city. on the opposite side of the city, streets are streaming with bikes and tricycles. pedal power, one of many lifechanging innovations that coventry can take credit for. the first place to mass—produce a bicycle. that is something that feels really important in terms of the city's democratic heritage. we produce bicycles that mean people all over the world can cycle from a to b in a much speedier way than if they were walking. on the road and in the air inspiration strikes everywhere! it was brilliant, really good. you don't see that kind of thing here, ever. - so it was just nice _ and refreshing to see something different. what did you think? it was really good. laughter. rena and her horse both reach their destination in one piece. and these modern—day godivas present their vision of the future to the city's political leaders. living together in cultural understanding, and embracing diversity. # remember the trees so deeply rooted # and spread the roots of the tree... pauline black's day comes to an end in broadgate, underneath the river and canopy of coffa's tree. # shelter from the storm, shade from the sun... words of hope written on the ribbons by the people of coventry. their aspirations for the future of the city. legend has it that coffa's tree was a tree planted by a man named coffa, by the settlement when it was first built up by the river, so people all around could see where the settlement was and come to it with ease, and "coffa's tree" over the years apparently became "cove ntry. " the banners on the approaches are designed by local schoolchildren, reflecting the themes of today's event. three of them, daniel, frankie and christian, along with teacher nina, are from the coventry extended learning centre, a pupil referral unit for children struggling in mainstream education. they helped design the banner on the theme of socialjustice. i drew my mouth, to project the way everybody should have the freedom of speech. a lot of our students have come here because they have been either manage moved or permanently excluded. the mainstream has not worked with them for whatever reason. for them to come here and be part of the banner creation is great pride for me, for them, and for their parents. they had such a difficult journey, butjust to be seen in a difficult light is really amazing. it makes us look like we have a really great achievement in our lives, like, showing people that we can do a lot of great stuff. that's your banner! that's your banner, the third one down. socialjustice, the eyes ofjustice. that's brilliant. doesn't that look great? yeah, yeah! seeing their banner up for the first time, a magic moment. i feel proud because i've - actually worked on something that's actually going to be put up and so loads of people - can see it. i feel fantastic. brilliant. all my hard work and time into that. i just want them to be seen as these amazing young people that they are. i'm really happy the banner. is up there because whenever i take my friends outside in the park, i can say, i look what i did, - are you proud of me? high five! 12 hours after it began, and this day of cultural celebration is reaching its climax, a musical moment designed to unite everyone across the city. can we run it again? that would be lovely, please. composer danjones is famous for making epic compositions using ice cream vans and hot air balloons. we strategised about how we were going to deliver a piece of music. we could reach all coventry citizens in the space of seven or eight minutes. so we came up with this idea of working with different radio stations, so that each radio station had a layer of music, and if people came together with all seven of those radio stations playing, they would hear the full composition. it's kind of in the model of clapping for carers. people going into their front door, going out into the garden and into the street, and sensing that communality of making something happen to get there. in the run—up to the premiere, some of the children who gave their voices for the composition get a sneak preview. we went into schools with a microphone and did two things. we interviewed them about the future, talking about the future. we also recorded them singing their own musical ideas. so rather than me telling them what to sing, i wanted them to tell me what to write. i then had thejob of managing to weave together all those different musical lines, and so today, it was the first time they heard that, the fruits of their labour. there we go. ready? three, two, one! i want to be a famous singer. i wish that i could sing every day. i wish that i could sing my whole life. and maybe also be a paramedic. it was loud and i liked it and i really loved it. i hears myself and i said, i "i hope singing never goes away. it was good that people showed that they liked their community, the whole entire world. i was so proud of myself. i was smiling. basically, the children of coventry are taking over all of coventry�*s independent radio stations. and hopefully it will spread all the way across coventry, from the centre outwards into the beautiful suburbs. time then for the people of coventry to come together in their musicalfinale. we're having the street party to end all street parties. the residents of stanley road determined to make their contribution as loud as possible. we've got the street decorated, we're celebrating, it is the city of culture. i think it will be really fascinating to see how all the different streams come together, and work as one. i'm really excited to see how that's going to play. like a symphony of radios, . to create one piece of music. a bit anxious, but fingers crossed it's going to sound amazing. we've got our own devices, we're ready, we're coming out of covid and we are embracing our community, embracing our city. who cares if it doesn't sound good? we're here, we are doing it. at exactly 20:21, it is time to close the show. like when you're trying to whistle and you can't. when it's quiet i like to imagine that the wind swishes the leaves of the trees. when it's peace and quiet, l i like to hear relaxing music. when it's quiet my mind is so relaxed. and we just stood in the middle of the road and we could hear all the different pieces of music, and yeah, it made me feel really emotional. it made me feel massively proud that i am from coventry. i was like, yes, we've got our place on the map now. you know, sometimes people or places can get caught up in the past, but i think it is really important to focus on the future. and i think coventry has got loads of things that are happening in the pipelines. in coventry, there will be parties everywhere, - day and night. there will be less people getting sick. no more coronavirus. we all should hope that we all have happy lives. hello, there, and a very merry christmas to you. we've been seeing a band of rain and hill snow working its way northwards across the country to end christmas day and into the early hours of boxing day. most of that rain and hill snow will become confined to the north of the country, certainly across scotland through the day, and then we'll see something a little bit brighter with some showers following in across the south. so this weather front has continued to journey northwards as it bumped into the cold air which has been sitting across the north and east of the country — that's where we've been seeing the rain turn to snow initially across the hills of north wales, the north midlands, and also northern ireland, but very much so across the pennines and in towards central and southern scotland, some drifting with the strong winds as we head through the course of boxing day morning. into the afternoon, that rain and hill snow become confined to the hills of scotland. something a little bit drier further south — a legacy of cloud, mind you. and there will be some brightness for northern ireland, wales, the south—west. winds light here but still strong and gusty further north, closer to that weather front. and again, it's going to another cold day across northern areas, particularly where we have any lying snow over the hills, versus something much milder across the south and south—west. as we move out of boxing day, that weather front in the north begins to fizzle out, taking the rain and the hill snow with it. elsewhere, a lot of dry weather, lighter winds, clear spells — a recipe for some mist and fog — but further south, into the south—west, we've got a new weather front working its way in. so some milder, wetter, windier weather arriving here. instead, a cold night to come across the north. so here it is, this new area of low pressure is a weather front swiping the south—west and then the south of the country as we move through the day. i think most of the impact will be felt across france, but we'll still have enough wind and rain for it to be noticeable. initially, south wales, south west england, pushing into the midlands and across in towards the south—east through the day. it'll turn mild and windy with it. further north, not a bad day to come, particularly across scotland and northern england. it will be chilly but it'll be bright with plenty of sunshine. those temperatures struggling to get much above six oi’ seven degrees. but again, double—figure values across the south. and the mild air really wins out as we move through the new week in the run—up to new year. it could turn very mild for a time — those winds coming up from the south or south—west — but low pressure will always be nearby and, in fact, it will be quite wet and windy at times. but it could become balmy mild for a while across southern areas, even into the first part of january. see you later. good morning. welcome to breakfast with rogerjohnson. our headlines today: police question a suspected armed intruder who was arrested at windsor castle — where the queen was spending christmas day. on her first christmas without prince philip, her majesty paid tribute to her husband in her traditional annual message. his sense of service, intellectual curiosity, and capacity to squeeze fun out of any situation were all irrepressible. new covid restrictions come into place in wales, scotland, and northern ireland in a bid to slow the spread of the omicron variant. another dreadful day for england in the ashes.