Cars, bicycles … and 14 Lady Godivas: Coventry kicks off year of culture

We are a city built on ashes, this is our chance to rebuild again,' say organisers as celebrations get under way

As they rode through the streets of Coventry on horseback, 14 local women channelled the same spirit of social justice as Lady Godiva supposedly did on those streets about 900 years ago - only this time they did it fully clothed.

These modern-day Godivas, following in the footsteps of the woman who legend says rode naked through the city to force her husband to lower taxes, have created a new manifesto for Coventry which they presented to the elected women of the city.