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. radio: good morning. happy saturday. - this is rachel. 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 track, it's down here. because we can't be bringing audiences together in large numbers or even participants, we've had to think very differently. for a start, what is about to take place on these streets has had to be kept a complete secret. one of you is not from... to avoid large crowds gathering to watch with surprise events cropping up in neighbourhoods across the whole city. we thought if people can't come in to us, we'll go out to them. it may be that they've popped out for a bit of shopping and they encounter something running past them through the city centre. it may be that something turns up on their 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 8:00, and the city of culture celebrations begin. live on a bridge in a part of town known 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, 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 brilliant, and to have it in spon end and the colours, lovely, and i'm glad it stayed dry for them! not pouring down rain. action! bringing the hands upi 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 this wonderful kind of blue make up and all 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 miss haversham! i know this area and i know the people �*round here, or some of the people �*round here, and to have them actually contribute 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 it is. 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 it's quiet, you can hear a pin drop. the river sherbourne, it flows right past my house, all the way around, windingly through the estate, comes right past the community centre and it's just, you know, if there weren't a brick wall there, i could throw a stone on it from here, you know. he's at the community centre that gibbo 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, gibbo turned to one of the group. yeah, so the bit there... two sentences. tommy's actually a client. we did a brainstorming session and we came up with loads of words and some actual lines, i mean, tommy was flowing with poetry, you know, he was freestyling, like, you know, he was really good. when speaking turns to hate as recognition of a past... you know, i struggled a bit, but i got a few, you know, potential good bits out that i think were good, 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, 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 follow that journey of the river, having encountered pauline singing her song on the bridge. starring in a film of the river runners' journey are two dancers, childhood friends nancy and louis. good? we met at school, it was the induction day, so we were in year 6, maybe 10 or 11 years old at this point. by the end of the day, i asked her to be my girlfriend. my reply was, "i'll tell you in september." and i literally said it like that — "septemba"! 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 a yes. i grew up born and bred in coventry, the city of villains, yeah! and ijust knew i wanted more, i knew there was a greater calling and there was 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 cov, 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 are 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 denigan. 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 up 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 to test. i think compared to 18 years ago, it's been very different, people have been very positive. i rememberjust outside there, i was bullied at the bus stop for 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 the city of culture does that. it's time that we kind of accept each other because we're 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. we have 1a 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 really active, particularly during the pandemic. the original lady godiva rode naked through the streets of 11th—century coventry in protest at high taxes for the townsfolk. today's 21st—century equivalents are more modestly dressed and most of them have 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, rena, this is del boy or delaware. i'm the kind of person that would probably ride on a horse naked if it was to fight social injustice. and kind of protest in a creative way, like lady godiva, so i think that's probably why i was nominated and selected. i've come from a community that are 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 — that's where my activism started. just enjoy it where you can and try not to be as panicked i and scared as you might look, try and flick the 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 too, 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 is moving in a parade environment with drummers and trumpets and flags and people, it's going to be a challenge. so, this is toby. he ism - well, he's been my mate since the start. i've been on him every time. i think we are 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 in city of culture, i really do feel privileged. it's exciting! we've got some apples for you, nice granny smiths. as the lady godivas make 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. 0ut leap dancers — irish, caribbean, bollywood, each routine a tribute to different migrant communities that came to coventry to help rebuild after the destruction of the war. i think everyone 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 and, yeah, i love it. i've lived on this street all my life, my parents live just six doors up. and it'sjust — we've never seen anything like that. it's always been a friendly, multicultural street, but that was just brilliant, that 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 that we dance at 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 once surrounded by production lines churning out cars with household names. a reminder of an industry that once employed generations of coventry workers. 0ur 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, they built their family here, and our whole family has just been thriving in coventry ever since. can ijust see you pointing at the person that 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 banghra dancing, ska dancing, and then there's a mash—up at the end, we get to learn parts of their 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 as something that was amazing, to be a part of that is something that hopefully i could share with 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 that i represent all the voices of everybody in coventry, notjust women, absolutely everybody. so, iam representing the whole city. 0n the opposite side of the city, the streets are streaming with bikes and tricycles. pedal power — one of many lifechanging innovations that coventry can take credit for. it was the first place to mass—produce a bicycle. that is something that feels really important in terms of the city's democratic heritage. we produced bicycles that mean people all over the world could cycle from a to b in a much speedier way than if they were walking. 0n 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. and to not know it was coming. 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. # it spread the whole town wide. 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 that people from 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 a mouth to project why everyone should have the freedom of speech. a lot of our students have come here because they have been either manage—moved or permanently excluded. mainstream has not worked for 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. because they've 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 our banner! that's our banner, the third one down. "social justice, 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 will take my friends outside in the park, i i can say, look what i did, are you proud of me? - ours is the best! 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 that could reach all coventry�*s 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 to their front door, going out into their front garden and into the street, and sensing that communality of making something happen together. in the run—up to the premiere, some of the children who gave their voices for the composition gave 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 that they've heard that, the fruits of their labour. here 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 a 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, 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're embracing our community, embracing our city. who cares if it doesn't sound good? we're here, we're doing it. at exactly 20:21, it's time to close the show. when it's quiet, i like to imagine that the wind swishes the leaves of the trees. i always hear the wind whistling. like when you're trying to whistle and you can't. when it's peace and quiet, l i like to hear relaxing music. when it's quiet, i like it because it's peaceful. 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'm 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 every thursday night. there will be less people getting sick. in the future there wouldn't be a coronavirus. no more coronavirus. we all should hope that we all have happy lives in our country. the run—up to the new year is going to be really exceptionally mild, near record breaking in fact. and notjust on one or two days, but really quite a prolonged spell of very mild weather, some four days or so. it's not really going to cool off until around january 3 or 4. but this is the map showing the warmth in the atmosphere. if you look at the subtropical atlantic here, just to the west of the canaries, south of the azores, there is a current of warm air that's spreading in our direction, it'll spread across western parts of europe and then deeper into more central and eastern parts of europe. in england, for example, this is how mild or warm it could actually get — 17 degrees. compare that to the average of 8 degrees celsius. now, at the moment, it's not quite so mild. in fact, in scotland, with the clear skies in some eastern areas, quite a nippy start to the day. i mean, not desperately cold for this time of the year. but still, temperatures, i think, around freezing or below in some of the glenns, 5 degrees in some of the eastern parts of england. but 1a degrees in plymouth at 6am, so that's the mild air which is following this warm front here, which will be moving across the uk, bringing a spell of rainy weather for many of us. then that weather front will clear to the north, the skies should also brighten up a little bit. and temperatures mid teens — mid teens widely across england, wales, a little bit fresher in the north, but they could max out at around 17 degrees celsius in the south—east of the country on wednesday and also on thursday. now, here's another weather front that's coming in from the south, some wet weather particularly reaching parts of wales. in fact, that warmer weather moves further north too. we are talking about 16 degrees in hull, 17 degrees in the east and the south—east of the country. now, here's new year's eve, and it does look as though we are on track for one of the mildest new year's eves on record. i mean, it remains to be seen how mild it will be, but by day, we're talking around 15, 16 degrees. you get the sense that it's notjust the one day that's going to be mild. we are talking about multiple days here with mid teens across many parts of the country. so a new record—breaking, i think, new year's eve on the way. bye— bye. this is bbc news. i'm david eades. our top stories: russia's supreme court bans one of the country'smost renowned human rights organisations, sparking protests in moscow. the us records its highest daily numbers of covid cases since the start of the pandemic. china says its astronauts are being put in danger of a collision with satellites launched by elon musk. and once upon a time it was like that. but can broadway survive the closures this festive season, as covid wrecks the shows?