Hippodrome / Coventry Theatre / Apollo show archive

n attempt to list all the shows ever performed at our Hippodromes, beginning with the temporary circus buildings, which from 1884 were specially erected on Pool Meadow for each visit - then, in 1903, to the first permanent, but short-lived, 'Tin' Hippodrome on the Priory Street side of Pool Meadow facing the old Swimming Baths. The popularity of these shows created the demand for a theatre worthy of our city, and so in 1906 began the construction in Hales Street, next to Swanswell Gate, of what we now regard as the Old Hippodrome.
Again, the success of this theatre meant that barely three decades later a greater capacity was required, and so we come to our lovely art-deco New Hippodrome in Hales Street, once known as the Showplace of the Midlands. Opening on the 1st November 1937, it was renamed Coventry Theatre in 1955, then from 1979 became The Apollo, giving its final performance in June 1985. After a short spell as a bingo hall it was eventually realised that such a building could not be put to any practical use, so, sadly, it was demolished in 2002. If anyone still has any tickets or programmes and would like to see them used to illustrate a show, please contact me.

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1978	Coventry Theatre, Hales Street
Date(s)	Show	Notes	Images
Sun 22nd Jan 1978	Judas Priest	Supported by UFO. One night only.
Sun 29th Jan 1978	Mary O'Hara	One night only.
Sun 5th Feb 1978	Be Bop Deluxe	One night only.
Sun 19th Feb 1978	Steeleye Span	One night only.
Sat 25th Feb 1978	Chris de Burgh	One night only.
Mon 27th Feb until Sat 4th Mar 1978	Big Sin City	Rock Musical - World Premiere, starring Jack Wild.
Mon 6th Mar 1978	Gallagher & Lyle	One night only.
Sat 11th Mar 1978	Pam Ayres	One night only.
Tue 14th Mar until Sat 18th Mar 1978	Coventry Scouts' 1978 Gang Show	Huge cast of Scouts and Leaders (plus me, for the final time!).
Sun 19th Mar 1978	Dennis Waterman	One night only.
Sat 25th Mar 1978	The Lenny The Lion Show	Featuring Terry Hall, Jacqueline Storey, and full supporting company. One night only.
Thu 30th Mar 1978	The Danny La Rue Show	Special Charity Performance in aid of the Scanner Appeal.
Fri 31st Mar until Sat 15th Apr 1978	The Danny La Rue Show	Variety, with Mike Goddard, Wayne King and David Ellen.
Sun 2nd Apr 1978	Merle Haggard	American country singer. One night only.
Sun 9th Apr 1978	The Stylistics	With Candi Staton. One night only.
Sun 16th Apr 1978	Hot Chocolate	One night only. (Tickets £1.50 to £3)
Sat 22nd Apr 1978	Rory Gallagher	One night only.	Image(s) courtesy of John Packer
Mon 24th Apr 1978	Max Boyce	One night only.
Wed 26th Apr 1978	Manhattan Transfer	One night only.
Thu 27th Apr 1978	Slade	One night only.
Tue 2nd May 1978	AC/DC	The "Powerage" tour. One night only.
Mon 8th May 1978	Don McLean	One night only.
Wed 10th May 1978	The Tubes	One night only.
Fri 12th May 1978	Elkie Brooks	One night only.
Sat 13th May 1978	Charley Pride	American singer. One night only.
Mon 15th May until Sat 20th May 1978	London Festival Ballet	A different Ballet each night.
Sun 21st May 1978	George Benson	One night only.
Sun 28th May 1978	Ian Dury and The Blockheads	One night only.
Tue 30th May 1978	Black Sabbath	With Van Halen. One night only.
Fri 2nd Jun 1978	Gerry Rafferty	One night only.
Tue 6th Jun until Sat 10th Jun 1978	The King And I	By the Coventry Musical Play Society. (Amateur production.)
Fri 8th Sep 1978	Tammy Wynette	One night only.
Fri 22nd Sep 1978	The Shadows	One night only.
Wed 27th Sep until Fri 29th Sep 1978	An Evening With Dave Allen	Comedian.
Sat 30th Sep 1978	Dr. Feelgood	One night only.
Sat 7th Oct 1978	Jack Jones	One night only.
Sun 8th Oct 1978	The Spinners	One night only.
Fri 13th Oct 1978	Smokie	One night only.
Sat 21st Oct 1978	Maheshkumar & Party	One night only.
Sun 22nd Oct 1978	Mary O'Hara	One night only.
Sat 28th Oct 1978	Snow White	Entirely new production.
Sun 29th Oct 1978	The Buzzcocks	One night only.
Thu 2nd Nov 1978	Wishbone Ash	One night only.
Fri 3rd Nov and Sat 4th Nov 1978	Jasper Carrott	Two nights.
Wed 8th Nov 1978	AC/DC	One night only.
Thu 9th Nov 1978	Leo Sayer	One night only.
Fri 10th Nov 1978	The Chieftains	One night only.
Sat 11th Nov 1978	Nashville Cavalcade	One night only.
Sun 12th Nov 1978	Gene Pitney	One night only.
Tue 14th Nov 1978	Mike Harding	One night only.
Wed 15th Nov 1978	The Jam	With The Dickies and Patrick Fitzgerald.
Fri 17th Nov 1978	Dolly Parton	One night only.
Mon 20th Nov until Sat 25th Nov 1978	The Lonnie Donegan Show	With Joe (Piano) Henderson, and strong support.
Wed 29th Nov 1978	Lindisfarne	With special guest Chris Rea. One night only.
Fri 1st Dec 1978	Showaddywaddy	One night only.
Tue 5th Dec until Sat 9th Dec 1978	Gigi	By the Coventry Amateur Operatic Society.
Mon 11th Dec until Sat 16th Dec 1978	Sadler's Wells Theatre Ballet	A different Ballet each night.
Tue 26th Dec 1978 until Sat 17th Feb 1979	Aladdin	Pantomime, starring Tom O'Connor, with Peter Butterworth, and big supporting company.

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1884 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985

Also of interest might be A short history of Coventry's Theatres and Cinemas, by Bill Birch.