King Edward VI School, Lichfield Patriae, Scholae", is broadly translated as "for God, Country, and School". In the 18th century a number of eminent people were educated at the school. These included the great scholar and compiler of the first English dictionary, Dr. Samuel Johnson (the buildings of the former grammar school bear his name), David Garrick, the actor, and Joseph Addison, the essayist and politician. Two of the school's four houses are named after Addison and Garrick. (The other houses are named after Roger de Clinton who founded a priory in Lichfield in the 12th century and Erasmus Darwin, who lived in the City
The Lichfield Festival scope which saw events held at multiple venues around the city and running for four days. The 2010 event encompassed a week for the first time and included talks from comedian Jo Brand, Labour politicians Tony Benn and Roy Hattersley, actor Ron Moody and the team behind the BBC's smash-hit adaptation of Elizabeth Gaskell's Cranford Novels. The first instance of a local church being used as a concert venue for the Lichfield Festival occurred in 1992, when St. John's Hospital Chapel in Lichfield and St. Matthew's Hospital Chapel in Burntwood were added to the roster. From 1997–2007 the events in