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Rugby School is one of England's oldest and most prestigious public schools, and was the setting of Thomas Hughes's semi-autobiographical novel Tom Brown's Schooldays. A substantial part of the 2004 dramatisation, starring Stephen Fry, was filmed on location at Rugby School.
In 1823
William Webb Ellis
allegedly took the ball in his
arms and ran with it
towards the
goal during a game
of football,
thus creating the game rugby.
There is no evidence to
support
this myth - even the 1895 Inquiry, which
immortalised Ellis, found no proof. Running with
the
ball became common in 1830s at Rugby School and Rugby School
football became popular throughout the UK in the 1850s and 1860s.
Rugby is
also birthplace of the jet
engine. In April 1937
Frank Whittle
built the world's first prototype jet engine at the British
Thomson-Houston works in Rugby, and between 1936-41 based himself at
Brownsover Hall
on the outskirts of the town,
where he designed
and developed early prototype engines. Much of his work was also carried
out at nearby Lutterworth.
Holography was also invented in Rugby by the Hungarian inventor
Dennis Gabor
in 1947. While in Rugby, Mr. Gabor lived at
Gilshaw Lodge
on Bilton Road,
which is a grade II listed Georgian building currently split into 8
flats. A blue plaque records his residence here.
In the 19th century, Rugby became famous for its once hugely important
railway junction which was the setting for
Charles Dickens's
story
Mugby Junction.
Famous or notable people born in Rugby include:
-
the
poet
Rupert Brooke,
- the scientist Norman Lockyer who discovered helium,
- athlete Katharine Merry.
Also, many famous names attended Rugby School, including:
In
2000
Rugby Library
was built costing £5million. It was designed by
CPMG
architects of Nottingham. The building
is also Rugby's Museum, art gallery and tourist information centre.
In the centre of the town is the imposing St. Andrew's church. It was originally built in the 14th Century but in the 1870's it was completely rebuilt by William Butterfield, who also built Rugby School.
It is the only church in the world with two sets of ringable bells and boasts one of the finest unpaid church choirs in the county.
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