According to a newspaper report dated 14 June 1862 which focuses on the extravagances of the fair, the fugitive slave John Anderson was described as being educated in the Corby British School,[7] giving the town an unusual link to slavery in the United States.

During the Second World War the Corby steelworks were expected to be a target for German bombers but in the event there were only a few bombs dropped by solitary planes and there were no casualties.

This may be because the whole area was blanketed in huge dense black, low-lying clouds created artificially by the intentional burning of oil and latex to hide the glowing Bessemer converter furnaces at the steelworks from German bomber crews.

[9] The only known remaining scars from German attacks can be found in the form of bullet holes visible on the front fascia of the old post office in Corby village (now known as Decades bar and restaurant).

The Corby steelworks made a notable contribution to the war effort by manufacturing the steel tubes used in Operation Pluto (Pipe Line Under the Ocean) to supply fuel to Allied forces on the European continent.

Corby is famous for its Scottish heritage based on decades of incoming steel workers and was for a time known locally as "Little Scotland".

Steelmaking was to be concentrated in five main areas: South Wales, Sheffield, Scunthorpe, Teesside and Scotland, most of which are coastal sites with access to economic supplies of iron rich imported ores.

[17][18] The enterprise zone was promoted by the Corby Industrial Development Centre through a prospectus that parodied The Economist, titled The Ecorbyist;[19][20] publication continued at least as late as 1994.

In 2012, Mensch resigned as an MP and the resulting by-election was won by Labour's Andy Sawford with a majority of 7,791 votes over the Conservatives.

[27] The constituency's MP at the time, Tom Pursglove, had also been in favour of the UK leaving the European Union being one of the founders of Grassroots Out, the pro-Brexit organisation largely supported by Conservative and UKIP politicians.

In July 2013, Conservative councillors Rob McKellar and David Sims handed the "suspicious" findings of an audit report to the police to see if a crime had been committed.

[39] In 2012, Corby bid to gain city status as part of Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee celebrations.

Many shops sell Scottish foods and a supermarket even introduced Gaelic signs[44] to their Corby store (but they have since removed them).

Recently the theatre started screening films, twice a week and including current mainstream releases and the best in world, independent and art house cinema.

[50] A report in 2012 revealed that the Cube was built with dangerous design flaws and almost double its original estimated costs and a capacity of only half of what was planned.

[51] A crater on Mars discovered in the late 1970s was named after Corby, in reference to a famous transcript of a conversation in June 1969 between the crew of the Apollo 11 mission and mission control, whereby world news was relayed to the crew, amongst it was the news that "in Corby, an Irishman named John Coyle won the World's Porridge Eating Championship by consuming 23 bowls of instant oatmeal in 10 minutes".

Corby has football, rugby union[55] cricket[56] and bowls clubs which are named after the original owners of the town’s former steelworks, Stewarts & Lloyds.

[61] Public facilities at Lodge Park Sports Centre and Priors Hall Golf Course are overseen by North Northamptonshire Council.

There are several dual carriageways, most of the principal roads have wide reservations and high speed limits and pedestrian crossings over them are often underpasses.

The three dual carriageways form an outer ring road around most of Corby,[63] however it only encircles suburbs south of the town centre and a small amount of countryside.

[64] Route X4 connects the town with Peterborough, Oundle, Weldon, Danesholme, Kettering, Isham, Wellingborough, Earls Barton, Northampton, It is also operated by Stagecoach Midlands.

[67] There is also a limited peak time service running north to Oakham, Melton Mowbray, East Midlands Parkway and Derby.

Taste Original (formerly Puredrive), part of Zwanenberg Food Group UK has operated from Corby since 1988 making cooked meat snacking products.

The Corby campus of Tresham Institute of Further and Higher Education provides a range of vocational courses for post-16 students and adult learners.

Brooke Weston CTC consistently achieved examination results in the top 5% of English state schools, and has been a City Academy since September 2008.

[75] In addition Parkland Gateway, the Borough's £50m investment situated adjacent to Willow Place and including a new Olympic-sized swimming pool and civic hub (due for completion in November 2010), is being built following its approval in January 2007.

Work began on the project in October 2007 and the Corby East Midlands International Pool was officially opened by Olympian Mark Foster in July 2009.

Although the Evolution Corby project is currently on hold, limited aesthetic augmentation work within the town centre continues.

Stephen Fry voiced an advertising campaign in London from 2010 to entice people to move to Corby and the surrounding area including Rushden, Kettering and Wellingborough.

[79][80] In July 2009 Corby Borough Council was found liable for negligently exposing pregnant women to toxic waste (dust) during the reclamation of the former British Steel Corporation steelworks, causing birth defects to their children.