John Phipps

The Sunday Feature is one of the most consistently interesting things on Radio 3

The latest edition, How to Rebuild a City, about Donald Gibson's transformation of Coventry, was detailed, thoughtful broadcasting

See it while you can: Coventry city centre, 1973. Photo: June Fairbrother / Mirrorpix / Getty Images 
issue 09 October 2021

The story is likely apocryphal — and so disgraceful I almost hesitate to tell it — but it goes like this. On the night of 14 November 1940, as more than 500 Luftwaffe rained bombs on the people of Coventry, the newly appointed city architect Donald Gibson was watching the fires.

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