Coordinates	37°46′45.48″N122°25′9.12″N
Name	Kevin Warwick
Birth date	February 09, 1954
Birth place	Coventry, UK
Nationality
Fields	Cybernetics, robotics
Workplaces	University of OxfordNewcastle UniversityUniversity of WarwickUniversity of Reading
Alma mater	Aston UniversityImperial College London
Doctoral advisor	John Hugh Westcott
Doctoral students	Mark Gasson
Known for	Project Cyborg
Signature
Footnotes	}}

Kevin Warwick (born 9 February 1954 Coventry, UK) is a British scientist and professor of cybernetics at the University of Reading, Reading, Berkshire, United Kingdom. He is known for his studies on direct interfaces between computer systems and the human nervous system, and has also done research in the field of robotics.

Biography

Kevin Warwick was born in 1954 in Coventry in the United Kingdom. He attended Lawrence Sheriff School in Rugby, Warwickshire. He left school in 1970 to join British Telecom, at the age of 16. In 1976 he took his first degree at Aston University, followed by a Ph.D and a research post at Imperial College London.

He subsequently held positions at Oxford, Newcastle and Warwick universities before being offered the Chair in Cybernetics at the University of Reading in 1987.

Warwick is a Chartered Engineer, a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology and a Fellow of the City and Guilds of London Institute. He is Visiting Professor at the Czech Technical University in Prague and in 2004 was Senior Beckman Fellow at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA. He is also Director of the University of Reading Knowledge Transfer Partnerships Centre, which links the University with Companies and is on the Advisory Boards of the Instinctive Computing Laboratory, Carnegie Mellon University and the Centre for Intermedia, University of Exeter.

By the age of 40 he had been awarded higher doctorates (D.Sc.) by both Imperial College and by the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague for his research output in completely separate areas.

Work

Warwick carries out research in artificial intelligence, biomedical engineering, control systems and robotics. Much of Warwick's early research was in the area of discrete time adaptive control. He introduced the first state space based self-tuning controller and unified discrete time state space representations of ARMA models. However he has also contributed in mathematics, power engineering and manufacturing production machinery.

Artificial intelligence

Warwick presently heads an Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council supported research project which investigates the use of machine learning and artificial intelligence techniques in order to suitably stimulate and translate patterns of electrical activity from living cultured neural networks in order to utilise the networks for the control of mobile robots. Hence a biological brain actually provides the behaviour process for each robot. It is expected that the method will be extended to the control of a robot head.

Previously Warwick was behind a Genetic algorithm called Gershwyn, which was able to exhibit creativity in producing pop songs, learning what makes a hit record by listening to examples of previous hit songs. Gershwyn appeared on BBC's Tomorrow's World having been successfully used to mix music for Manus, a group consisting of the four younger brothers of Elvis Costello.

Another Warwick project involving artificial intelligence is the robot head, Morgui. The head contains 5 senses (vision, sound, infrared, ultrasound and radar) and is being used to investigate sensor data fusion. The head was X-rated by the University of Reading Research and Ethics Committee due to its image storage capabilities – anyone under the age of 18 who wishes to interact with the robot must apriori obtain parental approval.

Warwick has very outspoken views on the future, particularly with respect to artificial intelligence and its impact on the human species, and argues that we will need to use technology to enhance ourselves in order to avoid being overtaken. He also points out that there are many limits, such as our sensorimotor abilities, that we can overcome with machines, and is on record as saying that he wants to gain these abilities: ''"There is no way I want to stay a mere human."''

Bioethics

Warwick heads the University of Reading team in a number of European Community projects such as FIDIS looking at issues concerned with the future of identity and ETHICBOTS which is considering the ethical aspects of robots and cyborgs. Warwick is also working with Daniela Cerqui, a social and cultural anthropologist from the University of Lausanne, to address the main social, ethical, philosophical and anthropological issues related to his research.

Warwick’s areas of interest have many ethical implications, some due to his Human enhancement experiments. The ethical dilemmas in his research are highlighted as a case study for schoolchildren and science teachers by the Institute of Physics as a part of their formal Advanced level and GCSE studies. His work has also been directly discussed by The President's Council on Bioethics and the President’s Panel on Forward Engagements.

His paper entitled ''Future issues with Robots and Cyborgs'' is ranked as the top paper, in terms of downloads per day, in the journal Studies in Ethics, Law and Technology.

Deep brain stimulation

Along with Tipu Aziz and his team at John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, and John Stein of the University of Oxford, Warwick is helping to design the next generation of Deep brain stimulation for Parkinson's disease. Instead of stimulating the brain all the time, the aim is for the device to predict when stimulation is needed and to apply the signals prior to any tremors occurring to stop them before they even start.

Public awareness

Warwick has headed a number of projects aimed at exciting schoolchildren about the technology with which he is involved. In 2000 he received the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council Millennium Award for his Schools Robot League. Meanwhile in 2007, 16 school teams were involved in designing a humanoid robot to dance and then complete an assault course—a final competition being held at the Science Museum (London). The project, entitled 'Androids Advance' was supported by EPSRC and was presented as an evening news item on Chinese television.

Warwick contributes significantly to the public understanding of science by giving regular public lectures, taking part in radio programmes and through popular writing. He has appeared in numerous television documentary programmes on artificial intelligence, robotics and the role of science fiction in science, such as ''How William Shatner Changed the World'', ''Future Fantastic'' and ''Explorations''. He has also guested on a number of TV chat shows, including ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'', ''Først & sist'', and ''Richard & Judy''. Warwick has appeared on the cover of a number of magazines, for example the February 2000 edition of ''Wired''.

In 2000 Warwick presented the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures entitled ''The Rise of the Robots''. The lectures were well received by some and were even felt to be inspirational. Meanwhile in a letter Simon Colton complained about the choice of Warwick, prior to his appearance. He claimed that Warwick ''is not a spokesman for our subject'' (Artificial Intelligence) and ''allowing him influence through the Christmas lectures is a danger to the public perception of science''.. In light of Warwick's claims that computers could be creative, Colton, who is a Reader in Computational Creativity, also said ''the AI community has done real science to reclaim words such as creativity and emotion which they claim computers will never have''. Subsequent letters were generally positive, Ralph Rayner wrote ''With my youngest son, I attended all of the lectures and found them balanced and thought-provoking. They were not sensationalist. I applaud Warwick for his lectures''.

In 2005 Warwick was congratulated for his work in attracting students to the field by Members of Parliament in the United Kingdom in an Early day motion for making ''the subject interesting and relevant so that more students will want to develop a career in science''.

Robotics

Warwick's claims that robots that can program themselves to avoid each other while operating in a group raise the issue of self-organisation, and as such might be the major impetus in following developments in this area. In particular, the works of Francisco Varela and Humberto Maturana, once in the province of pure speculation now have become immediately relevant with respect to synthetic intelligence.

Cyborg-type systems not only are homeostatic (meaning that they are able to preserve stable internal conditions in various environments) but adaptive, if they are to survive. Testing the claims of Varela and Maturana via synthetic devices is the larger and more serious concern in the discussion about Warwick and those involved in similar research. "Pulling the plug" on independent devices cannot be as simple as it appears, for if the device displays sufficient intelligence and assumes a diagnostic and prognostic stature, we may ultimately one day be forced to decide between what it could be telling us as counterintuitive (but correct) and our impulse to disconnect because of our limited and "intuitive" perceptions.

Warwick's robots seemed to have exhibited behaviour not anticipated by the research, one such robot "committing suicide" because it could not cope with its environment. In a more complex setting, it may be asked whether a "natural selection" may be possible, neural networks being the major operative.

The 1999 edition of the Guinness Book of Records recorded that Warwick carried out the first robot learning experiment across the internet. One robot, with an Artificial Neural Network brain in Reading, UK, learnt how to move around. It then taught, via the internet, another robot in SUNY Buffalo New York State, USA, to behave in the same way. The robot in the USA was therefore not taught or programmed by a human, but rather by another robot based on what it itself had learnt.

Hissing Sid was a robot cat which Warwick took on a British Council lecture tour of Russia, it being presented in lectures at such places as Moscow State University. Sid, which was put together as a student project, got its name from the noise made by the Pneumatic actuators used to drive its legs when walking. The robot also appeared on BBC TV's Blue Peter but became better known when it was refused a ticket by British Airways on the grounds that they did not allow animals in the cabin.

Warwick was also responsible for a robotic "magic chair" which Sir Jimmy Savile used on BBC TV's Jim'll Fix It. The chair provided Jim with tea and stored Jim'll Fix it badges for him to hand out to guests. Warwick even appeared on the programme himself for a Fix it involving robots.

Project Cyborg

Probably the most famous piece of research undertaken by Warwick (and the origin of the nickname, "Captain Cyborg", given to him by The Register) is the set of experiments known as Project Cyborg, in which he had a chip implanted into his arm, with the aim of "becoming a cyborg".

The first stage of this research, which began on 24 May 1998, involved a simple RFID transmitter being implanted beneath Warwick's skin, and used to control doors, lights, heaters, and other computer-controlled devices based on his proximity. The main purpose of this experiment was said to be to test the limits of what the body would accept, and how easy it would be to receive a meaningful signal from the chip.

The second stage involved a more complex neural interface which was designed and built especially for the experiment by Dr. Mark Gasson and his team at the University of Reading. This device consisted of an internal electrode array, connected to an external "gauntlet" that housed supporting electronics. It was implanted on 14 March 2002, and interfaced directly into Warwick's nervous system. The electrode array inserted contained 100 electrodes, of which 25 could be accessed at any one time, whereas the median nerve which it monitored carries many times that number of signals. The experiment proved successful, and the signal produced was detailed enough that a robot arm developed by Warwick's colleague, Dr Peter Kyberd, was able to mimic the actions of Warwick's own arm.

By means of the implant, Warwick's nervous system was connected onto the internet in Columbia University, New York. From there he was able to control the robot arm in the University of Reading and to obtain feedback from sensors in the finger tips. He also successfully connected ultrasonic sensors on a baseball cap and experienced a form of extra sensory input.

A highly publicised extension to the experiment, in which a simpler array was implanted into the arm of Warwick's wife—with the aim of creating a form of telepathy or empathy using the Internet to communicate the signal from afar—was also successful, resulting in the first purely electronic communication experiment between the nervous systems of two humans. Finally, the effect of the implant on Warwick's hand function was measured using the University of Southampton Hand Assessment Procedure (SHAP). It was feared that directly interfacing with the nervous system might cause some form of damage or interference, but no measurable effect nor rejection was found. Indeed, nerve tissue was seen to grow around the electrode array, enclosing the sensor

As well as the ''Project Cyborg'' work, Warwick has been involved in several of the major robotics developments within the Cybernetics Department at Reading. These include the "seven dwarves", a version of which was given away in kit form as "Cybot" on the cover of Real Robots magazine.

Implications of Project Cyborg

Warwick and his colleagues claim that the ''Project Cyborg'' research could lead to new medical tools for treating patients with damage to the nervous system, as well as opening the way for the more ambitious enhancements Warwick advocates. Some transhumanists even speculate that similar technologies could be used for technology-facilitated telepathy." Warwick himself asserts that his controversial work is important because it directly tests the boundaries of what is known about the human ability to integrate with computerised systems.

A controversy arose in August 2002, shortly after the Soham murders, when Warwick reportedly offered to implant a tracking device into an 11-year-old girl as an anti-abduction measure. The plan produced a mixed reaction, with support from many worried parents but ethical concerns from a number of children's societies. As a result, the idea did not go ahead.

Anti-theft RFID chips are common in jewelry or clothing in some Latin American countries due to a high abduction rate, and the company VeriChip announced plans in 2001 to expand its line of currently available medical information implants, to be GPS trackable when combined with a separate GPS device.

Turing Interrogator

Warwick has participated as a ''Turing Interrogator'', on two occasions, judging machines in the 2001 and 2006 Loebner Prize competitions, platforms for an 'imitation game' as devised by Alan Turing. The 2001 Prize, held at the Science Museum in London, featured Turing's 'jury service' or one-to-one Turing tests and was won by A.L.I.C.E. The 2006 contest staged parallel-paired Turing tests at University College London and was won by Rollo Carpenter. Kevin's findings can be found in a number of articles with co-author Huma Shah including ''Turing Test: Mindless Game? – A Reflection on the Loebner Prize'' – a paper presented at the 2007 European conference on computing and philosophy (ECAP), and ''Emotion in the Turing Test'' – a chapter in a new ''Handbook on Synthetic Emotions and Sociable Robotics: New Applications in Affective Computing and Artificial Intelligence''. He organised the 2008 Loebner Prize at the University of Reading; a report on the contest's 'theatre of two Turing tests' can be found here.

Other

Warwick was a member of the 2001 Higher Education Funding Council for England (unit 29) Research Assessment Exercise panel on Electrical and Electronic Engineering and was Deputy Chairman for the same panel (unit 24) in 2008. He also sits on the research committee of The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association. In March 2009, he was cited as being the inspiration of National Young Scientist of the Year, Peter Hatfield

Awards and recognition

Warwick was presented with The Future of Health Technology Award from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was made an Honorary Member of the Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, was awarded the University of Malta medal from the Edward de Bono Institute and in 2004 received The Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE) Senior Achievement Medal.

In 2008 Warwick was awarded the Mountbatten Medal. In 2009 he received the Marcellin Champagnat award from Universidad Marista Guadalajara and the Golden Eurydice Award

He has received Honorary Doctor of Science degrees from Aston University, Coventry University and Bradford University. He also received an Honorary Doctor of Technology degree from Robert Gordon University.

Quotations

“Shouldn’t I join the ranks of philosophers and merely make unsubstantiated claims about the wonders of human consciousness? Shouldn’t I stop trying to do some science and keep my head down? Indeed not”. “I feel that we are all philosophers, and that those who describe themselves as a ‘philosopher’ simply do not have a day job to go to”. On Human Consciousness: “John Searle put forward the view that a shoe is not conscious therefore a computer cannot be conscious. By the same sort of analogy though, a cabbage is not conscious therefore a human cannot be conscious”. On Machine Intelligence: “Our robots have roughly the equivalent of 50 to 100 brain cells. That means they are about as intelligent as a slug or snail or a Manchester United supporter”. “An actual robot walking machine which takes one step and then falls over is worth far more than a computer simulation of 29,000 robots running the London Marathon in record time”. “When comparing human memory and computer memory it is clear that the human version has two distinct disadvantages. Firstly, as indeed I have experienced myself, due to aging, human memory can exhibit very poor short term recall”. "There can be no absolute reality, there can be no absolute truth".

"Ask not what the surgeon can do for you – ask what you can do for the surgeon", Panel Discussion on Challenges & Opportunities in Biomedical Engineering at BIOSTEC 2008 Conference, Madeira, Portugal, 28 January 2008.

Trivia

Warwick's Erdős–Bacon number is 6: he co-authored a number of scholarly articles with Yakov Tsypkin, who has an Erdős number of 3 and has appeared in several documentaries alongside people who have a Bacon number of 1, examples being Laurence Fishburne, William Shatner and Steven Spielberg.

See also

Ray Kurzweil and ''The Age of Intelligent Machines''

Stelarc

Steve Mann

Transhumanism

Who's Who

Publications

Warwick has written several books, articles and papers. A selection of his books:

Lectures (inaugural and keynote lectures):

1998, Robert Boyle Lecture at Oxford University,

2000, Royal Institution Christmas Lectures. These lectures were repeated in 2001 in a tour of Japan, China and Korea.

2001, Gordon Higginson Lecture at Durham University, Hamilton institute inaugural lecture.

2003, Royal Academy of Engineering/Royal Society of Edinburgh Joint lecture in Edinburgh,

2003, IEEE (UK) Annual Lecture in London; Pittsburgh International Science and Technology Festival.

2004, Woolmer Lecture at University of York; Robert Hooke Lecture (Westminster)

2005, Einstein Lecture in Potsdam, Germany

2006, Bernard Price Lecture tour in South Africa; Institution of Mechanical Engineers Prestige Lecture in London.

2007, Techfest plenary lecture in Mumbai; Kshitij keynote in Kharagpur (India); Engineer Techfest plenary lecture in NITK Surathkal (India); Annual Science Faculty lecture at University of Leicester; Graduate School in Physical Sciences and Engineering Annual Lecture, Cardiff University.

2008, Leslie Oliver Oration at Queen's Hospital; Techkriti keynote in Kanpur.

2008, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, guest lecture "Four weddings and a Funeral" for the Microsoft Research Chair.

2009, Cardiff University, 125th Anniversary Lecture; Orwell Society, Eton College. 2010, Robert Gordon University launch of Research Institute for Innovation Design and Sustainability (IDEAS)

2011, Ellison-Cliffe Lecture, Royal Society of Medicine

He is a regular presenter at the annual Careers Scotland Space School, University of Strathclyde.

He appeared at the 2009 World Science Festival with Mary McDonnell, Nick Bostrom, Faith Salie and Hod Lipson.

References

External links

Kevin Warwick's official site

RTE Radio 1 debate with Kevin Warwick on Human Enhancement podcast link

Ananova story, with pictures of the chip and operation (dead link, see archive)

IET Robotics Network

List of articles mentioning "Captain Cyborg" at the Register

Interview with Kevin Warwick in The Future Fire 1 (2005)

Video of Kevin Warwick speaking at WhatTheHack

Interview with Kevin Warwick in mbr:points 1 (04.02.2008)

Interview with Kevin Warwick on cyborgs, viruses, Cyborg Rights and cyborg-identity (1 December 2008)

Interview with Kevin Warwick in IT-BHU Chronicle

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=self-experimenters on-line Scientific American article

Kevin Warwick at LIFT 08

Category:1954 births Category:Living people Category:Academics of Imperial College London Category:Academics of the University of Reading Category:Academics of the University of Warwick Category:Alumni of Aston University Category:Alumni of Imperial College London Category:Artificial intelligence researchers Category:British academics Category:British engineers Category:British scientists Category:Computer pioneers Category:Control theorists Category:Cyberneticists Category:Cyborgs Category:Futurologists Category:Fellows of the Institution of Engineering and Technology Category:Human-computer interaction researchers Category:Old Laurentians Category:People associated with Newcastle University Category:People from Coventry Category:People in information technology Category:Presenters of the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures Category:Roboticists Category:Systems scientists Category:Transhumanists

ar:كيفن وارويك cs:Kevin Warwick de:Kevin Warwick es:Kevin Warwick fr:Kevin Warwick he:קווין ווריק nl:Kevin Warwick no:Kevin Warwick pl:Kevin Warwick pt:Kevin Warwick ru:Уорик, Кевин sv:Kevin Warwick

Coordinates	37°46′45.48″N122°25′9.12″N
Country	England
Official name	Warwick
Latitude	52.28
Longitude	-1.59
Civil parish	Warwick
Population	23,350
Shire district	Warwick
Shire county	Warwickshire
Region	West Midlands
Constituency westminster	Warwick and Leamington
Post town	WARWICK
Postcode district	CV34 CV35
Postcode area	CV
Dial code	01926
Os grid reference	SP2865
Static image
Static image caption	A view over Warwick
London distance	}}

Warwick ( ) is the county town of Warwickshire, England. The town lies upon the River Avon, south of Coventry and just west of Leamington Spa and Whitnash with which it is conjoined. As of the 2001 United Kingdom census, it had a population of 23,350. There has been human activity at Warwick as early as the Neolithic, and constant habitation since the 6th century.

History

Human activity on the site of the town dates back to the Neolithic, when a settlement may have been established. From the 6th century onwards, Warwick has been continuously inhabited. According to the Anglo Saxon Chronicle, in the year 914 Anglo Saxon Ethelfleda Lady of the Mercians and sister of king Edward the Elder of Wessex built a burh or fortified dwelling at Warwick. It was one of ten burhs built to defence the kingdom of Mercia against the Danes. Warwick was chosen as the site for one of these fortifications because of its proximity to the important transport routes of the Fosse Way and the Avon. In the early 10th century a new shire was founded with Warwick as its administrative centre, giving the settlement new importance. The name 'Warwick' means "dwellings by the weir". In 1050 the Danes invaded Mercia and burned down much of Warwick including the nunnery (which stood on the site of the present day St Nicholas Church).

William the Conqueror founded Warwick Castle in 1068 on his way to Yorkshire to deal with rebellion in the north. Building a castle within a pre-existing settlement could require demolishing properties on the site, and in the case of Warwick four houses were pulled down. The castle was within the larger Anglo-Saxon burh and a new town wall was created close to the rampart of the burh.

In the medieval period Warwick remained under the control of various Earls of Warwick, mostly of the Beauchamp family, becoming a walled town. Today the only remains of the town walls are the east and west gatehouses. The eastern gatehouse now serves as part of the King's High School, a sister institution to Warwick School. Warwick was not incorporated as a borough until 1545. The town's Priory was founded in 1142 on the site of the current Priory Park.

During the English Civil War the town and castle were garrisoned for Parliament. The garrison, under Sir Edward Peyto, withstood a two week siege by the Royalists. Later musters from 1644 to 1646 record a garrison of up to 350 men under the command of Colonel William Purefoy and Major John Bridges. The middle of the 17th century also saw the founding of Castle Hill Baptist Church, one of the oldest Baptist churches in the world.

Fire

Much of the medieval town was destroyed in the Great Fire of Warwick which occurred in 1694. As a result, most of the buildings in the town centre are of late 17th and early 18th century origin, although a number of older medieval timber framed buildings survive, especially around the edges of the town centre.

The fire burnt down much of the medieval church of St Mary; both the chancel and the Beauchamp Chapel, however, survived, the latter having been built between 1443 and 1464 according to the wishes of Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick (who had died in Rouen in 1439). A full size reclining copper gilt effigy of the Earl lies upon his Purbeck marble tomb – a fine piece of medieval metalwork cast in 1459.

Governance

Population growth has led to Warwick becoming joined to its larger neighbouring town Leamington Spa with which it forms a small conurbation. Both towns are now, along with Kenilworth and Whitnash, administered as part of Warwick District, which has its headquarters in Leamington, although each retains a separate town council. Warwickshire County Council remains based in Warwick itself.

Warwick is represented in Parliament as part of the Warwick and Leamington constituency. It has been held by the Conservative Party since the 2010 general election; since then, Chris White has been the constituency's member of parliament. It was previously held by the Labour Party by James Plaskitt MP.

Geography

Antiquarian William Dugdale wrote in the 17th century that Warwick was "standing upon a rocky ascent from every side, and in a dry and fertile soil, having ... rich and pleasant meadows on the south part ... and ... woodland on the north". Two factors have effected Warwick's built environment: the Great Fire of 1694 and the lack of industrialisation. The fire destroyed much of the town, and the subsequent rebuilding was largely in one style. In the 19th century, when other towns were rapidly growing during the Industrial Revolution, Warwick did not experience the same growth. As a result, the factories and workers' housing largely passed Warwick by. Part of the reason Warwick did not develop as a centre of industry was that the town did not lie on important roads and the River Avon was not navigable as far as Warwick.

Suburbs

Suburbs of Warwick include Bridge End, Emscote, Forbes, Myton (connecting Warwick with Leamington Spa), Packmores, The Cape, Warwick Gates, Woodloes Park and the newly established Chase Meadow.

Warwick Gates

Warwick Gates is a newly developed housing estate and business park in Heathcote, south-west Warwick. Although separated from Warwick town centre by open fields, Warwick Gates falls within the Warwick South and Bishops Tachbrook parish. It is adjacent to Whitnash, a small town near Leamington Spa, and nearby the village of Bishops Tachbrook. The Tachbrook Park and Heathcote industrial estates are located nearby. The NHS Royal Leamington Spa Rehabilitation Hospital is adjacent to Warwick Gates.

Climate

Warwick, along with the rest of the British Isles, experiences a maritime climate, characterised by a narrow temperature range, mild winters and cool summers. The nearest official met office weather station is Wellesbourne, located about 6 miles south of Warwick town centre, and at a similar elevation.

The absolute maximum temperature (also the absolute maximum for the county of Warwickshire) stands at recorded in August 1990. During a typical year, the warmest day should reach , and 16.5 days should report a maximum of or higher.

The lowest recorded temperature is , recorded in January 1982. Typically, 53.3 air frosts are recorded in an 'average' year.

Rainfall averages out at per year, with over 114 days seeing 1mm or more falling. All averages refer to the 1971–00 period.

Demography

Warwick 23,350 93.9% 3.8% 0.4%

Warwick compared
2001 UK census	|	Warwick Local Authority	England
Total population	|	125,931	49,138,831
White	|	92.9%	90.9%
Asian	|	4.7%	4.6%
Black	|	0.5%	2.3%

As of the 2001 UK census, Warwick had a population of 23,350. The population density was , with a 100 to 95.7 female-to-male ratio. Of those over 16 years old, 29.0% were single (never married), 43.4% married, and 8.9% divorced. Warwick's 10,285 households included 33.1% one-person, 36.7% married couples living together, 8.6% were co-habiting couples, and 16.8% single parents with their children; these figures were similar to those of the wider district of Warwick, however both borough and town had higher rates of single parents than England (9.5%). Of those aged 16–74, 26.2% had no academic qualifications, above the figure for the district but below proportion nationally (22.2% and 28.9& respectively), and 26.2% had an educational qualification such as first degree, higher degree, qualified teacher status, qualified medical doctor, qualified dentist, qualified nurse, midwife, health visitor, etc. compared to 19.9% nationwide.

Population change

Before the 1801 census, populations were not directly recorded. However estimates can be based on other measures. Historians suggest that in 1086 the town had a population of around 1,500. Indicators for the following centuries are sparse, but the population in the mid-16th century has been guessed to be around 2,000. By the late 17th century this had increased to over 3,000. The 1801 census recorded that 5,592 people lived in Warwick.

Economy

Due to its proximity to north-south and east-west motorway routes, many companies have their head office in the town. Since November 2004, National Grid plc has had its National Gas Control Centre (NGCC) for the National Transmission System on the Warwick Technology Park south of the town between the A425 road and A452 road. ConocoPhillips and their petrol station group, JET, have their UK base also on the Technology Park as do lingerie company Bravissimo. IBM and Volvo Group UK have bases on the Wedgnock Industrial Estate in the north of the town, near to the A46 trunk road.

Culture

Warwick hosts annual festivals ranging from the Spoken Word to Classical and Contemporary Music to a Folk Festival and a Victorian Evening, held in late November or early December. St. Mary's Church hosts a series of Early Music concerts, and the Bridge House Theatre hosts the Music-in-Round concerts. Warwick Chamber of Trade helps to promote the town for visitors, residents and businesses. The town is also famous for Warwick Castle, the construction of which began in 1068. The town centre is also known for its historic architecture and contains a mixture of Tudor and 17th-century buildings. In recent years several high-profile national and international companies have set-up large office complexes in and around Warwick, notably National Grid plc and IBM.

Warwick is also known for Warwick Racecourse, near the west gate of the medieval town, which hosts several televised horse racing meetings a year. Within the racecourse is a small golf course. Warwick Hospital, Royal Leamington Spa Rehabilitation Hospital and St Michael's Hospital (a psychiatric that superseded Central Hospital, Hatton) are situated within the town.

J. R. R. Tolkien seems to have been very influenced by Warwick (where he was married in the Catholic Church of Saint Mary Immaculate) and by its Mercian connections: Lynn Forest-Hill, in an article in the ''Times Literary Supplement'' (TLS 8 July 2005 pp 12–13) argues cogently that two important settlements in Tolkien's work were modelled on Warwick — Edoras closely on the early town, and Minas Tirith more remotely on the Norman; and that aspects of the plot of ''The Lord of the Rings'' are paralleled in the romance known as Guy of Warwick.

Warwick and its historic buildings have featured in a number of television series, including the BBC's drama series ''Dangerfield'', the period dramas ''Pride and Prejudice'' and ''Tom Jones'' and Granada Television's ''Moll Flanders''. Parts of the town subbed for Elizabethan and Jacobean era London in the third-series episode two (The Shakespeare Code) of Doctor Who which ran 7 April 2007.

Warwick has many long established sports clubs including Warwick Hockey Club which was founded in 1920 and Racing Club Warwick F.C. founded a year earlier.

Education

Schools

There are a number of secondary schools located within Warwick, including Warwick School, an independent school for boys, The King's High School For Girls, an independent school for girls, Myton School and Aylesford School, both of which are state run co-educational schools. Campion School and Trinity Catholic School in Leamington Spa also include parts of Warwick in their priority areas.

Warwick School

Warwick School is an independent school for boys which claims to be the oldest boys' school in England. The actual date of its founding is unknown, although 914 has been quoted in some cases. For some years the school honoured the fact that King Edward the Confessor (c.1004–1066) chartered it, although there is no direct evidence for this, and King Henry VIII re-founded the school in 1545. Whatever the truth of the matter, there is no doubt that there has been a grammar school in the town of Warwick since before the Norman Conquest, and its successor, the present independent school, has been on its current site south of the River Avon since 1879.

University of Warwick

The University of Warwick is somewhat confusingly named after the county of Warwickshire, rather than the town, and is in fact situated several miles north of Warwick on the southern outskirts of Coventry, near Kenilworth. Adding to the location confusion is the fact that Coventry is no longer in the county of Warwickshire, but instead is in the West Midlands, leading to the current situation where the university straddles both counties.

Landmarks

Bridge House Theatre

Collegiate Church of St Mary

Lord Leycester hospital

Lord Leycester hotel

Market Hall

Guy's Cliffe House

The Dream Factory

St John's Museum

St Michael's Leper Hospital

St. Nicholas' Park

Saxon Mill

Warwick Castle

Warwick Hospital

Warwick Racecourse

Warwick School

Warwickshire County Council Shire Hall

Transport

Road

Warwick is on the M40 London-Birmingham motorway, connected to junctions 13, 14 and 15, and is on the A46 dual-carriageway trunk road positioned between Coventry and Stratford-upon-Avon. Warwick has several council off-street car parks in the town. There are also a few privately run car parks, including those at the railway station and the castle. There is also limited on-street parking in some streets, enforcement of which is the responsibility of council parking wardens.

Railway

The town has a railway station with direct rail services to Leamington Spa, London, Birmingham and Stratford-upon-Avon provided by Chiltern Railways. In addition, a few peak-hour trains to and from Birmingham are operated by London Midland. Warwick Parkway, an out-of-town station opened in 2000 a few miles from the town.

Bus

Bus services to Leamington Spa, Stratford-upon-Avon and Coventry are operated by Stagecoach in Warwickshire from the bus station in the town centre.

Coach

There is also a National Express coach stop in the town's bus station with limited services. The nearby Warwick Parkway railway station also has a coach stop with more frequent services.

Waterways

The Grand Union Canal and the River Avon also pass through the town. The restored Saltisford Canal Arm, is close to the town centre, and is a short branch of the Grand Union Canal. The arm is the remains of the original terminus of the Warwick and Birmingham Canal and dates back to 1799. The Saltisford Canal Trust have restored most of the surviving canal, which is now the mooring for colourful narrowboats and a waterside park open to the public. Over 800 visiting narrowboats come by water to Warwick each year and moor on the arm.

Air

The nearest international airport to Warwick is Birmingham Airport, about by road from the town centre.

Public services

Warwick Hospital, Royal Leamington Spa Rehabilitation Hospital and St Michael's Hospital (a psychiatric that superseded Central Hospital, Hatton) are situated within the town.

Twin towns

The town of Warwick has formal twinning arrangements with two European towns: Saumur in France (since 1976) and Verden in Germany (since 1989). Havelburg in Germany has been a friendship town since 1990 when it was adopted by Verden. There is also a friendship link with Bo District in Sierra Leone.

References

;Notes

;Bibliography

Further reading

External links

Building History entry for Warwick

Warwickshire's Railways – the history of the county's railways from 1838 to 1968

Saltisford Canal Trust: Warwick's local waterway charity

Photos of Warwick and surrounding area on geograph

Category:914 establishments Category:Populated places established in the 6th century

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