What happened on THIS day in Coventry's history?

26th Jan 1857 Spon End Viaduct - 23 of the 28 sandstone arches collapsed overnight, but fortunately nobody was hurt. The railway line was not reopened until 1860 when the replacement arches were reconstructed with blue bricks.

27th Jan 2001 C&A in the Lower Precinct closed. Eventually all C&A stores in the UK will close due to falling profits.

28th Jan 2014 Nissan announce that they will use Coventry company, ADV Manufacturing, for the final assembly of their new London Taxi.

29th Jan 1935 ARP Sub-Committee set up by the Council in readiness for the possible coming war. 29th Jan 2014 The end of production for Cash's, the ribbon manufacturer, which started out in 1846. However, the following month the company was given a reprive, being taken on by a Hong Kong based company and given the new title 'Cash's Apparel Solutions'.

30th Jan 2010 Coventry City legend and longstanding member of the Former Players Association, Tommy Hutchison, was the top guest of the club and the association at the Ricoh Arena for the Blackpool home game.

31st Jan 1868 The old library in Hertford Street (photo) was closed pending its replacement by a Free Library. A few days later its contents of 17,000 books were sold at auction for £130 - averaging a penny and three farthings per book. 31st Jan 1917 A German Zeppelin airship skirted the city on its route to Staffordshire.

1st Feb 1850 The first trial trip was made along the Coventry and Nuneaton Railway. The line, however, was not opened for passenger trains until about two months afterwards. 1st Feb 1995 Animal Rights campaigner Jill Phipps sadly died after being crushed by a lorry near Baginton Airport during a protest.

2nd Feb 1345 From 1345 until 1556, this was the day (Candlemas Day) that Coventry's new mayor traditionally took office.

3rd Feb 1843 In the aftermath of Coventry losing its status as a county, Warwickshire was split into two divisions - the "Warwick Division" and the "Coventry Division" - for the purposes of "assize", or the administration of local laws. The Coventry Division comprised the City of Coventry, together with the Atherstone and Coleshill Divisions of the Hundred of Hemlingford; and the Kirby and Rugby Divisions of the Knightlow Hundred.

4th Feb 1942 Florence Weston, Coventry artist and author, dies at Warwick Hospital. 4th Feb 1945 Air Commodore Frank Whittle takes the salute as the Coventry ATC marches past the Council House to celebrate the fourth anniversary of their founding.

5th Feb 1943 A pair of Corporation buses collided in Broadgate as they crossed paths - one travelling from Hertford Street into Broadgate, the other from High Street into Smithford Street, which also hit a lamp-post. One passenger fractured a thigh, whilst others got away with slight cuts.

6th Feb 1932 On this Saturday afternoon at Highfield Road over 11,000 fans watched Coventry City beat Crystal Palace 8-0 in League Division Three South. The score was all the more surprising as that season Palace had one of the league's strongest defences and were 6 points clear of Coventry.

7th Feb 1267 The earliest known charter relating to Leofric's foundation of the monastery, and confirmed by Henry III, is made - later found to be a forgery. 7th Feb 1699 The top of Greyfriars' spire and its globe blew down under 'a dreadful tempest of wind'. It wasn't repaired until July 1771.

8th Feb 1555 Lawrence Saunders burned at the stake in the sand hollow in the Little Park during the reign of 'Bloody' Mary. 8th Feb 1937 The Rex Cinema was opened by mayor Arthur Henry Barnacle. Just three and a half years later it would be destroyed in a WW2 air-raid (see 25th August).

9th Feb 1636 Philemon Holland, the 'Translator General' and headmaster of the Free School, died. (I wonder if any KHVIII ex-pupils can tell me if Philemon was remembered or celebrated at the school in some way?)