AmeriCymru:  Hi Dennis and many thanks for agreeing to be interviewed by AmeriCymru. Care to introduce your new book ''A Tale of Sound & Fury'' for our readers and tell us how and why you came to write an autobiography?

Dennis:   Hello Ceri. First of all, it''s a real honour to be interviewed by you. I''ve been aware of Americymru for some time now, so it''s very gratifying that my compatriots or Cymru in America should invite me to speak about myself. Thank you for that.

I''d never seriously thought of writing an autobiography, although now I''ve started, I have to say that A Tale of Sound & Fury is the first of perhaps three such volumes, because it was impossible to put all the stories into one book and do them justice. The book came about by chance when I spoke separately to two friends late last summer, who both urged me to write it. One of them is Pete Mills, someone I''ve known since the early 1980s when I was living in London; he''s long been a highly respected archaeologist with his own consultancy in central London, but he''s also a born storyteller and I''ve lost count of the amount of times that he and I have swapped tales over a few pints late into the night in shady taverns around the country. He''s known me for around thirty years, so when someone like him suggested that I write down my own stories, it really made me think.

The other person is Vivian Widgery, someone else I met not long after I moved to London in 1979. She worked for Hansard for almost thirty years, so she spent most of her career in the corridors of power in Westminster, meeting and working with a vast array of lords, parliamentarians, journalists, consultants and other informed observers on a daily basis. Aside from any other consideration, I''d always been in awe of Vivian''s drinking prowess, so when she too urged me to write an autobiographical work, I was bound to take the idea seriously and I also invited her to write a postscript for the book, which she very kindly did and I''m grateful to her for her generous words of praise.

I also have a son named Jack who''s eighteen and a daughter named Tanith who''s sixteen. It is the way of things that people of that age should regard people of my age, and perhaps their parents, with pity or contempt, so I won''t deny that I wanted to commit to print one or two things that would make them sit up and take real notice, although it remains to be seen if they''re impressed or not! Then I thought about how I''d had an idyllic childhood in a small village in south Wales in the 1960s, so I realised I wanted to record this out of sheer gratitude, if nothing else. There were plenty of other elements involved in my decision to write this book, but I''m pretty sure I''ve told you the most important ones here. 

Dennis at his desk with ever present gargoyles

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AmeriCymru:   We learn from the product description that the book contains an account of your ''missing years'' after leaving school. Can you tell us a little more about that period in your life?

Dennis:   Yes, of course, but I suppose I should first explain something about the ''missing years'' reference. Over the last seven or eight years, I''ve had a lot of favourable media exposure on account of my investigations into what you might call ''ancient mysteries''. I''m not complaining about that and I didn''t write "A Tale of Sound & Fury" to ''set the record straight'' in any way, but all the writing I''ve done has meant that I''ve spent a lot of time locked away in my study alone by the dead of night and I''m aware that as a result, I have a certain reputation as an archaeologist, a man of letters or something similar. I''m grateful for all this, of course, but my life hasn''t always been like this by any means.

The bare bones of the matter are that I won a Jones Scholarship to Monmouth School in 1971 and I will be grateful for the education I received there until my dying day. It was the ordained scheme of things that I should go on to university, where I intended to study Egyptology and this was in 1977, before anyone had heard of Raiders of the Lost Ark.

However, as I''ve described in detail in the book, I ended up meeting all four members of Black Sabbath when they were writing material for their Never Say Die album at Rockfield, just outside Monmouth. I was an impressionable teenage kid, so to actually meet my idols in the form of Ozzy, Bill, Geezer and Tony, then to speak with them for around an hour, was a pivotal experience for me. They were the most warm-hearted, generous-spirited people anyone could wish to meet and this made a huge impression on me, to the extent that I pretty much lost interest in my studies, although they shouldn''t be blamed for this.

I left school and worked for a while in Wales while my friends all went on to university, then I moved to London to find work in the winter of 1979. I sang in rock bands for some years, both in London and in Wales, while I later spent five years travelling around Britain, Europe, Scandinavia and Russia as a knight on what was the world''s only touring mediaeval jousting tournament. In the first part of the 1990s, I had a career on television and I suppose the highlight was when I appeared as an actor in the last two series of the Crystal Maze, although there were plenty of other series, rock videos and programmes I appeared in and for the most part, I thoroughly enjoyed all this.

I did all this and a great deal more over the years, so I''ve written about as much of this time as I could in A Tale of Sound & Fury. My son Jack was born in 1995, after which we moved out of London to live on Salisbury Plain just a few miles away from Stonehenge, because I wanted him to have the benefit of a rural upbringing in a small village, just as I''d done. This was around the time I started working in archaeology again, but that''s another story.

Dennis Price as a Knight touring Scandinavia

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AmeriCymru:   In an appendix you have reproduced your interview with Captain Robert Fore, concerning his experiences during the 1981 rescue of the crew of the Primrose from North Sentinel Island. What can you tell us about this incident? How did you become interested in it?

Dennis:   I''ve been trying to remember precisely when I first learned about North Sentinel Island, but I can''t be sure, I''m afraid, although I''ve been mesmerised by the place for the past three or four years. It''s in the Bay of Bombay and it''s home to the last uncontacted island race on Earth, so this alone makes it unique and fascinating, long before we consider what little is known about this secluded realm and the people who live there.

I came to write about the place because I was writing an article on Stonehenge and trying to describe the difficulty of seeing the ruins through the eyes of the people who built it; our ancestors, who have been dead for around four and a half thousand years. As I''d learned about North Sentinel Island beforehand, it dawned on me that there were people alive today who are to all intents and purposes just as remote from us as our dead ancestors are, because the North Sentinelese are unrelentingly hostile to those outsiders they encounter, the most recent example being 2006 when they killed two Indian fishermen who had drifted ashore in their boat. We know next to nothing about the North Sentinelese - we don''t know what language they speak, what gods they worship, what their view of our world is, what they call themselves and so forth, but I don''t think we''ll ever have the answers to these questions.

After I''d written about these people on my Eternal Idol site, I was contacted by Captain Robert Fore, who had a fascinating story to tell that I vaguely remembered hearing about a long time before, back in the early 1980s. Very briefly, a freighter called the Primrose had been stranded on a coral reef just off North Sentinel Island in 1982, which led to the ship''s captain issuing a distress call because he feared that he and his crew of thirty-two sailors were about to be killed by "wild men", as he described them.

These were the North Sentinelese islanders, who were building boats on the shore and waving a variety of weapons in unmistakably hostile gestures, so this rapidly became world news at the time. Due to the appalling weather, the Indian Navy were unable to rescue the ship''s crew, so these otherwise doomed men were most fortunate that Captain Robert Fore was based nearby and immediately agreed to try to rescue them by helicopter, which he succeeded in doing despite the extremely adverse and hazardous circumstances.

Dennis Price with Captain Robert Fore

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AmeriCymru:   You were also involved with the search for missing estate agent Suzy Lamplugh. How did that come about?

Dennis:   Strictly speaking, I wasn''t involved with this search, because all investigations were a matter for the police. For those who haven''t heard about her, Suzy Lamplugh was a beautiful young woman who disappeared in broad daylight from a busy London street in 1986 and she has never been seen since, other than by the person or persons responsible for taking her away. All these years later and hers is Britain''s best-known or most notorious missing person''s case, as it''s never been resolved and she has never been found.

What I can only describe as a cosmic coincidence ultimately led to me meeting and speaking with a man who was suspected at the time of being involved with Suzy Lamplugh''s disappearance. He was and still is serving life in prison, having been convicted in 1989 of the murder of another young woman, so this is where I met him and spoke with him, as he''d invited me to visit him for reasons of his own. This is all described in what is by far the longest chapter in the book and it recounts certain events that made a great deal of news in what was a pre-internet age.

It was all a long time ago for me, but the circumstances of my peripheral involvement were so incredibly strange and they made such an impression on me for such a prolonged period of time that I felt I had to write about them. I''ve been scrupulously careful because I''m fully aware that I was writing about the disappearance and presumed murder of a beautiful young woman who is still remembered and mourned by her surviving family. I can''t do justice to such a prolonged and tragic episode in an interview, so everyone will make their own minds up about my memories of this bizarre episode in my life when they''ve read what I had to say about it.

AmeriCymru:   Your first book ''The Missing Years of Jesus'' evolved as a study of William Blake''s ''Jerusalem'' and explores the possibility that Jesus Christ may have visited Britain. Can you briefly outline the evidence for this theory?

Dennis:   To begin with, I think if there''d ever been a vote taken when I was at school in the 1970s to decide who was the pupil least likely to go on to write a book about Christ, I think I would have won by a unanimous decision! Thirty years down the line, however, and I found myself fascinated by the idea that Jesus, the most famous person ever to have lived, is unaccounted for during his teenage years and early adulthood, because the Bible stops writing about him when he''s aged twelve, then it resumes when he begins his famous ministry at the age of thirty or so. He was ''missing'' for something like eighteen years, which is over half his entire life, so when this dawned on me in 2004 or thereabouts, I became more and more intrigued by it.

To cut a very long story very short indeed, I found that William Blake''s poem was effectively the best-known expression of the many older legends in Britain that maintained that Jesus had once visited our small island. The more I looked into them, the more surprised I became at just how many legends there were, while they all consistently spoke of him coming ashore from a ship to find water, then working in mines in the West Country. Others were even more specific, telling of how he built what was in effect the world''s first church in Glastonbury that he dedicated to his mother, but I found there were still more legends and they all seemed perfectly credible to me. They were widely dismissed by most academics as being mediaeval fabrications, but I kept wondering why on Earth people of that era would invent what is the face of it the most unlikely story you can imagine.

So, I was hooked, and the more I looked into it, the more evidence I found and it was all absolutely fascinating. I learned of coins that had been struck by the ancient Dubunni tribe in the same area and at the same time that Jesus was said to be there, and these coins carried the name "Esus". I learned of evidence of ancient mariners travelling to Britain from the Middle East and a very great deal else besides, so from what I can judge, there''s an overwhelming case in favour of the idea that Jesus did indeed once visit and live in what is now the West of England and South Wales, but that''s just my personal opinion   and others will have to decide for themselves.  

Dennis with daughter Tanith at Stonehenge

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AmeriCymru:   You are recognised as an expert on Stonehenge. How and when did your interest in this subject develop?

Dennis:   My Mum and Dad took me and my little sister Carol there in 1969 when I was nine or ten and I can still remember it as if it were yesterday. At that time, we were free to wander among the stones and the ruins were so huge, so strange and so baffling that they made a profound impression on me. I read a lot about the place over the years, because there was no shortage of books and documentaries about the monument, then by pure chance, I ended up moving to a small village on Salisbury Plain just a few miles away from Stonehenge in 1996, with my young family. I quickly realised that I was eligible for a free local''s pass to the ruins, so I must have gone there roughly three times a week for ten years or so until we finally moved away from Salisbury Plain in 2005.

Jack and Tanith - my son and daughter - would sit in their pushchair eating icecream in the early days, then they virtually learned to walk on their later visits there, but I''d also take them for walks in the landscape to the surrounding barrows and other places. We went to every open access event, as well as to some private ones and the more I saw of the place, the more my fascination with it grew. I regularly spoke with the English Heritage custodians, who were all very helpful and a mine of information, while I also read more and more about the site. I made a short film about Stonehenge for ITV in 1997 or 1998, while I was also interviewed by other channels as someone who was knowledgeable about the extensive folklore connected with the monument.

From early 2000 onwards until around August 2003, I was employed by Wessex Archaeology, so I ended up working on the A303 Stonehenge Test Pit Project, which was a particularly enjoyable experience. I also worked in the Media and Communications Department when the world''s press descended on the place after the discoveries of the Amesbury Archer and Boscombe Bowmen in 2002 and 2003 respectively and of course, I ended up spending a great deal of time talking with other archaeologists who were extremely knowledgeable about all aspects of Stonehenge.

AmeriCymru:   Your site ''Eternal Idol'' contains a wealth of information and information about Stonehenge. Can you tell us a little about the history and purpose of the Eternal Idol site?

Dennis:   Well, I started Eternal Idol   in 2005, I think, because I felt I had original things to say about Stonehenge. This was at a time when it was believed that it was impossible to contribute to our sum total of knowledge about the ruins without recourse to excavation. I thought otherwise, so I started writing about the place in the face of almost universal scorn, but I was never remotely concerned by this. I regularly receive correspondence telling me that Eternal Idol''s the best Stonehenge site on the internet because there''s such a vast amount of information there and because it''s had such favourable coverage over the years in the media, while I also welcome anyone who has anything at all to contribute.

Eternal Idol long ago became so huge and so busy that it became impossible for me to manage on a day to day basis, so I''m fantastically lucky to have a lady from the USA by the name of Aynslie Hanna to help me run the site. Dan Johnston''s another friend of mine from the USA who regularly contributes and he actually published his own book on Stonehenge last year - Stonehenge Unhinged   - which is a superb investigation into the monument. Juris Ozols of Minnesota is another long-standing friend and contributor to Eternal Idol, but there are others in what I often refer to as the North American Chapter of Eternal Idol. Anyone is welcome to write in and I''m always happy to promote the work of other writers or investigators. I''m on cordial terms with many archaeologists, as well as with Druids and other pagans, but people of all faiths and none can write in and they frequently do.

There''s just so much there that it would be very hard for me to describe in an interview such as this, but of course I''m particularly interested in the Welsh origins of Stonehenge, such as the famous bluestones and more recently, the so-called "Lord of Stonehenge" from around 3,500 BC whose remains are now on display in the new Visitors Centre, a man who seems to have originated from what''s now Wales. Honestly, I could write about it all for days on end.

 Dennis Price at Stonehenge

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AmeriCymru:   You were born in Usk, south Wales and educated in Monmouth school. What memories do you have of those days? Can you describe the area a little for the benefit of our American readers?

Dennis:   Usk is a small village or town in south Wales that used to be the capital of the ancient Silures tribe, the one group of people in ancient Britain who were never actually defeated by the Romans, because the classical accounts hint at some agreement that the warring parties arrived at after around forty years of vicious conflict on a small island. It''s a lot more peaceful now, of course, with a still-inhabited castle on a hill in the centre of the town, a river, streams, outlying hills, fields and meadows, some churches and a ruined priory.

I can clearly remember growing up there in the 1960s and I loved the place. At one time, it had around thirteen pubs for a population of less than two thousand, but there was a rugby club, a cricket club, a football club, an amateur dramatics society and just about every other amenity you could imagine. It was like Heaven on Earth and I still can''t believe just how lucky I was to have been born and raised in such a place, so I''ve written about it at some length in my book.

By another cosmic coincidence, a friend of mine by the name of Isobel Brown   has recently started her own blog site dealing almost exclusively with Usk and its history. She''s a fantastic writer and photographer, so I''ll be featuring her writing on a regular basis on the Facebook site I''ve set up to help promote A Tale of Sound & Fury . If anyone''s curious about Usk, then you honestly couldn''t ask for a better place to visit online, although I''d hope that people will also choose to visit the place in person and of course, I''ve written about it fairly extensively in my book.

As for Monmouth, I won a Jones Scholarship there in 1971 and as one of the conditions of the scholarship, I had to board there, which was a huge culture shock to me as I''d lived literally within a stone''s throw of the schools I''d attended in Usk itself. The school was a wonderful place and I ended up specialising in Latin, Greek and Ancient History, although I studied many other subjects as well and in the last few years, I found myself sharing a house with Eddie Butler, who went on to captain the Welsh national team before becoming a regular commentator on the Five and Six Nations Championships.

The town itself was beautiful and interesting, with all manner of shops, alleyways, markets, museums and pubs, so it was always pleasant to take a stroll around the place after school. The River Monnow flowed past at the end of the town, joining the Wye which ran past the school itself, the other side of the dual carriageway, so this reminded me of my hometown of Usk. Towering over Monmouth itself is the huge bulk of the Kymin, a hill surmounted by a naval temple, oddly enough for such an inland location, but the whole setting was beautiful beyond words and I''ve tried to do the place justice in my book, as well as recording details of my time there. Both Usk and Monmouth are fascinating, enchanting places in their own ways and again, I consider myself very lucky to have been born and raised in the one place, and educated in the other.

AmeriCymru:  What''s next for Dennis Price? Are you working on any new projects at the moment?

Dennis: I''m working on another book as we speak and it deals with North Sentinel Island and Captain Robert Fore''s mission   in 1982 to save the crew of the Primrose. One reason for this is that I consider the word ''hero'' to have been overused in recent times to the point where it risks losing its currency, but what Captain Fore did that day was heroic in every sense of the word, so I feel I should do justice to the way he risked his life to save the lives of many others from what would have been an appalling and terrifying end.

I learned the details of all this a few years ago, but something about the whole event nagged at me, although I couldn''t pin it down. A little while ago, however, another aspect or way of looking at North Sentinel Island and the rescue of the crew of the Primrose finally dawned on me from out of the blue and it left me stunned, so I''m writing about it now.

The ''Primrose'' stranded off North Sentinel Island

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I''ve also started writing a fictional work with the provisional title of "Spirits from the Vasty Deep". I''ve spent the last decade or so intimately involved with non-fiction in various ways and I still enjoy what I do, but I feel driven to complete a work of imagination as best I can. I don''t think I''m a novelist, so this will be either a very long short story or else a novella, but as I''ve found myself dreaming repeatedly about the dark, sci-fi scenario, it''s something I want to capture in the form of the printed word.

Otherwise, I''ve been invited to appear in a documentary that''s due to start filming later this year. Some of the other guests who are scheduled to appear in it are giants in the worlds of entertainment and conservation, so I''m incredibly honoured by this, but I think I''ll wait until it''s officially announced before I say any more, as I wouldn''t want to tempt Fate. There are various other projects I''m involved in that may or may not come to fruition, but for now, these are the main three and I''m very pleased with them.

AmeriCymru:   Any final message for the readers and members of AmeriCymru?  

Dennis: I''m sorely tempted just to write "I am dreaming of the mountains of my home..."  or even simply "30 - 3", but I''m grateful to Ceri for inviting me to appear here on AmeriCymru because there''s something extremely heart-warming about recognition of any kind from a compatriot. I''m grateful to everyone who''s read this far, so I sincerely hope you found it worth your while and aside from recounting events like visiting vampire-infested graveyards in Britain, personally knighting Scandinavia''s biggest rock star and other unusual occurrences that came my way over the time recorded in my book, I''ve done my best to do justice to my hometown and homeland. Y Ddraig Goch has an almost mystical resonance for me and I suspect for many others, wherever they now live, so thank you all once again for your time and I wish you all a peaceful, pleasurable and prosperous 2014.

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Twin Town is a 1997 black comedy film made and set in Swansea, south Wales. The film was co-written by Paul Durden and Kevin Allen and is the most successful Welsh film ever made in commercial terms. It has enjoyed enormous success both inside and outside Wales and occasioned a fair degree of controversy. In this interview Paul Durden speaks to Americymru about  the film and shares his outspoken views on contemporary Welsh politics. For a selection of clips from ''Twin Town'' go HERE .

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Americymru: ''Twin Town'' is the most successful Welsh film ever. It has reached a massive audience both inside and outside Wales and is considered by many to be a masterpiece. What do you think accounts for its extraordinary success?

Paul: Twin Town on it’s day could be set in any Town in the U K. It’s just a universal tale of vengeance, just a story of how two dysfunctional lads come to terms with there families murders by the police and how they deal with it the only way they know how. Personally I feel the Lewis Twins subconsciously identified with the feelings and aspirations of a lot of Republican families in Northern Ireland who were being beaten up and murdered in there own homes by the British Army.

Americymru: How did it feel to see the completed film the first time?

Paul:   To be perfectly honest, and I’m usually not. Without a shadow of a doubt. In a Nutshell, Absolutely, Stunningly, Passionately, Outstandingly, F***ing Brilliant. 

Americymru: We read that there is a sequel to ''Twin Town'' currently in preparation. Care to tell us any more about that? How far advanced is the project?

Paul: Ask me this time next year. If any of us still exist then?

Americymru: You co-wrote "Twin Town" with Kevin Allen - Have you worked together on any other projects?

Paul: Me and Kevin go way back, a long way back, in the past we had collaborated on a few unsuccessful projects that never came to any real fruition. Our relationship is far more social than a work based friendship, it has more to do with hanging out together, binge drinking, showing off, and arguing about things that we both have major hang-ups about.

Americymru: It has been said that ''Twin Town'' is a movie about the Welsh ''underclass''. Do you think that is a fair description and how do you feel about the term ''underclass''?

Paul: Underclass is a word that does not strike any bells with me. If you mean poor, only this week research has revealed that over the last 40 years in the UK the rich/poor pide has widened. What hope is there of any social change and progress by us putting our faith and aspirations in politicians, all the evidence seems to prove that they can only feather there own more than comfortable nests. What a load of greedy self centred privileged bastards. But that is just my personal opinion.

Americymru: Liberal Democrat MP David Alton described ''Twin Town'' as - "sordid and squalid, plunging new depths of depravity". How do you respond to such ''criticism''?
　
Paul: For once in this creeps pathetic little life I think he is being fairly honest. The Liberal tradition in the UK is one of longer chains and bigger cages for us the masses, in the old days Liberals were federalists and free thinkers. Now they will do anything and pull any strokes just to get a mere smell of political power. I piss on there power hungry lust. As my farther once told me. Liberals are just an organized bunch of don’t knows.

Americymru: Do you think that historically Wales has been fairly or accurately represented in film?

Paul: How Green was my Valley, was made in Hollywood, and it must be set in the only place in the world where they can have a coal pit/mine resting on the top of a hill. All coal mines to my knowledge are to be found in valleys. I do like the Paul Robison film “This Proud Valley” which was made in Wales, before the USA government prevented him from leavening the Land of the Free because of his political leanings. Also the Peter Sellers, Mai Zeterling film “Only Two Can Play” set in Swansea, made in 1962. Written by Kingsly Amis. On a more modern note anything by Karl Francis, the little Devil.

Americymru: You have, from time to time, been an outspoken critic of the political status quo in Wales. What if anything do you think the Senedd has acheived for the people of Wales?

Paul: Sweet F*** All……For once in our lives we got rid of all the Tory MPs, Then what happens the Welsh Assembly bring in proportional representation, and bring them all back in. What a laugh. Then to cap it all they change there name to Government, what a f***ing palaver. But what really summed it all for me was when Rodri Morgan our leader went to the Queen mothers funeral. What for, was he Kowtowing or what, pray inform me, pleases.

Americymru: What is your writing process? How would you typically go about writing a script?

Paul: Have a few beers, roll a few joints, take a few Quaaludes “ Gorilla Biscuits”, put the kids to bed, watch the Big Labowski on DVD. The go for it……..to be continued.

Americymru: Are you involved in any other writing projects at the moment?

Paul: Yes thank you, nice of you to ask.

Americymru: Any final message for the members and readers of Americymru?

Paul: Yes, make damd bloody shure that your President gets the health care bill through Congress. It could change the whole face of the USA and how it is seen by the rest of the world. Good Luck, and try to cut back on the hunting…. 

Americymru: How''s your vindaloo?

AmeriCymru spoke to author and freelance drama and comedy director Griff Rowland about his first book ''The Search For Mr Lloyd''. Griff has worked on shows such as Coronation Street, Wizards vs Aliens (Russell T Davies), Pobol y Cwm and Beryl, Cheryl a Meryl - isio Chwerthin with Tudur Owen. He began writing his novel in between projects. Spanning Bangor and London, the novel tells the tale of Mostyn Price, a young pigeon fancier whose prized bird goes missing during his first international race. The story is his search to find him. The Search For Mr. Lloyd

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AmeriCymru: Hi Griff and many thanks for agreeing to talk to AmeriCymru. After a distinguished career as a TV drama and comedy director what made you decide to take up writing?

Griff: I work as a freelance director and as I made the leap from documentary to drama, I had to take a risk and turn a few job offers down. Waiting for the right project to turn up meant I had to fill my time constructively. I''d been in between jobs years earlier when I was working in front of the camera (as a presenter on S4C) and when I had quiet periods, I''d either be knocking on employers doors or watching mindless daytime television programmes. This time, I thought I wouldn''t waste a day. I''d had this idea for a book and I always wanted to write but fear that I didn’t have a good enough idea, let alone be able to see it through to the end got in the way. So, one day an idea came to me when a friend of mine, who was rather a reckless driver nearly ran over a pigeon. It sounds daft, but I looked into it, and got engrossed in the research and learning about Pigeon Fancying. I became fascinated with racing pigeons and especially what became of those that never make it home. Most of them gripped by the claws of birds of prey, but others lose their unique homing instinct and if not found become undomesticated. I liked this as a metaphor and with some initial research the seeds of a novel began to germinate. I used my directing experience then to outline some structure - as I like to know where I’m going! – and began writing the story in between jobs, and I soon got lost in the world.

AmeriCymru: Your book is about one man''s search for as missing race pigeon. The birds disappearance is a defining moment in the life of the main character, Mostyn. What suggested this theme to you?

Griff: Two reasons: As a lad growing up in Bangor and who went to London as a student I had always been interested in the idea of ''gadael cartref''. Second, the idea for this book came to life when I learnt that a racing pigeon’s homing instinct can be befuddled. Mostyn’s pigeon, Mister Lloyd loses his way in life, if you like and this was an attractive metaphor for me. You see, a few years earlier Mostyn’s dad disappeared from his life. Not that he was a missing person, just that one day he walked out on them and Mostyn never sees him again. The grandfather (Taid) breeds racing pigeons and to help him focus on other things gave one to Mostyn to train. After his first international race, when Mostyn is eleven years old, the bird is a no show. Naturally this stirs in him all those unhappy memories. Not finding his missing racing pigeon is not an option and he refuses to believe it has been killed. And yet how do you go looking for a bird so undistinguishable as a pigeon? It’s an absurd idea, but Mostyn is determined. And eventually when school holidays allow, Mostyn Price sets off from his home in Bangor, Wales to go and find him.

AmeriCymru: We learn from the initial press release that the book was written "in between projects". How easy/difficult has it been to find time to work on a novel whilst maintaining your other career commitments?

Griff: It was fine when I was not working, hours would fly by and it gave me a working structure to my days. But when working on directing projects, It’d be nigh on impossible to do the two. Directing is all consuming and you live and breath it day and night. But I carried around with me a little notebook that I would use to jot anything down. I think going out to earn a living while you’re writing naturally slows down the timescale from start to finish. But if it’s something dear to you heart, you find the time!

AmeriCymru: How do you think your career in television has affected and influenced your writing?

Griff: It has been a great influence. I was definitely writing as if I was editing my own pitures in my head. I’d plan things out as if, I need to here next, there after that. In TV I tell stories through words and pictures. I have to paint pictures in my head to tell the crew what we ant to capture in order to tell the story to the audience. Obviously I found it physically different when writing, but you’re still painting a picture and telling a story with words. The other thing my experience in TV has taught me is to not be scared of being ruthless. When you’re in the cutting room, you have to let go of things, shots you loved are maybe not needed when viewing a show in its entirety. Things you’ve filmed are not needed in the flow of the story. So you have to learn to say, get rid of it! It’s taught me not to be so precious and so, on each reading of the manuscript I didn’t mind cutting things. In a way you had to still write it to be able to say you didn’t need it. It helped me think that deleting chapters was not a big deal. And as Mostyn Price ultimately has to learn to let go, so did I. Gone!

AmeriCymru: Are you planning to write more? Any new titles in the pipeline?

Griff: I would like to write more. I loved writing The Search for Mister Lloyd. I’m looking for my next idea, but until that comes, maybe I will start adapting the book into a script. Seems obvious, really!

AmeriCymru: Where can our readers go to purchase the book online?

Griff: The book can be downloaded on Kindle.

AmeriCymru: Any final message for the members and readers of AmeriCymru?

Griff: Not that this is a message - as such - but I may have come across some of your readers when I travelled around the States for a month filming a documentary series for BBC Wales called Star Spangled Dragon which traced the Welsh influence on the shaping of America. this wqas in 2002 and I met so many wonderful people; it was a trip ‘na’i byth anghofio! Diolch am y croeso! And of course when working on it I learned the George Washington quote, Good Welshmen make good Americans’. Fair point!

Interview by Ceri Shaw Email

Gwenno Dafydd, professional broadcaster, singer, actress and leadership coach, writes the ultimate canon of female stand-up comics.

‘Funny is f u nny’ , as Joan Rivers said , regardless of gender—and with Stand Up and Sock it to t hem Sister , Gwenno Dafydd has finally managed to upend the old stereotype that women lack humour . She has tirelessly interviewed eighty four people working professionally in the comedy industry including numerous funny feisty females of all ages and backgrounds who share their success stories about their love affair with comedy and the challenges they faced and overcame in the male-dominated , aggressively competitive world of stand-up comedy.

A product of 20 years of research, Stand Up and Sock it to t hem Sister , an empowering story with resonance for every woman who wants to make it in a ny man’s world, was long overdue. Through thorough research with plenty of laughs interspersed, Dafydd looks at the genesis of female comedy from the time of music hall and supper clubs in Victorian London through to the excitement and challenge of the international world of comedy today. Featuring a unique section of Tips for the Top and interviews with over sixty-five comics working world-wide, from the pioneering Joan Rivers, Jo Brand, Jenny Eclair, and Helen Lederer , to relative newcomers such as Nina Conti, Shazia Mirzah , and Amy Schumer, Stand Up and Sock it to them Sister offers a practical guide and invaluable advice on the practice and challen ges of being a stand-up comic and how to make it in the w orld of comedy. Stand Up & Sock It to Them Sister is a n inspiring and unique read for everybody who is interested in reading about th eir favourite stand-up comics and learning about the history of women and comedy. According to Roy Hudd , Author and world expert on the British Music Hall ‘It was about time that a book of this nature was written and female performers given the recognition that they deserve. These amazing Role Models from the last hundred and fifty years or so that Gwenno has compiled can only inspire future generations of funny women. She has done a great job.

The book will be launched at Edinburgh Fringe Festival o n 17 August 2016.

Publication date 1 August 2016

Paperback £11.99

978 1 910901 55 7

Find more abou t Gwenno on her website : www.gwennodafydd.co.uk .

Mae’r ddarlledwraig gantores actores ac annogydd arweinyddiaeth broffesiyniol Gwenno Dafydd wedi ysgrifennu casgliad di-guro o ferched sy’n creu comedi ‘dal dy dir', fel mae hi yn ei alw . ( stand-up )

‘ Digri yw Digri ’ fel wedodd Joan Rivers, s’dim ots beth yw r h yw y person sy’n creu y comedi a gyda Stand Up and Sock it to t hem Sister , mae Gwenno Dafydd wedi llwyddo unwaith ac am byth i chwalu’r myth wirion fod me rched ddim yn ddigri . Mae hi wedi cyfweld wyth deg pedwar o bobl sydd yn gweithio yn broffesiynol yn y diwidiant comedi , gan gynnwys nifer helaeth o ‘ Difas D igri a Genod G wirion ’ ( Enw trafodaeth ddiweddar Tafwyl gyda Jon Gower a m y llyfr ) o bob oedran a chefndiroedd sydd yn rhannu eu storiau o lwyddiant am eu carwriaethau gyda comedi a’r her barhaol sydd yn eu wynebu . Mae hi’n dangos sut mae nhw wedi llw y ddo i oresgyn y rhwystrau yn y byd yma sydd wedi ei boblogi yn hanesyddol gan ddynion – byd treisgar , cystadleuol a heriol – byd comedi ‘ dal dy dir ’ .

Bu Stand Up and Sock it to t hem Sister yn lafur cariad 20 mlynedd o waith ymchwil dwys a c mae ’ n llawn o storiau sy’n adleisio’n gryf iawn i unrhyw ddynes sydd eisiau creu llwyddiant mewn byd o reolau dynion . Hen bryd i’r stori au yma gael eu hadrodd . Ymysg y gwaith ymchwil gofalus mae digon o ddigrifwch a mae Gwenno Dafydd yn edrych ar gomedi me rched yn blaguro o gyfnod y ‘music halls’ a clwbiau swper yn Llundain hyd nes y dyddiau presennol a’r cyffro a’r her o’r byd comedi rhyngwladol . Gan gynnwys pennod arbennig o ‘ Ganllawiau i Lwyddo ’ (Tips for the Top) a chyfweliadau gyda dros ch w e deg pump o gomics benywaidd yn gweithio ar hyd y byd , o’r arloesol Joan Rivers, Jo Brand, Jenny Eclair a Helen Lederer , i gomics fwy diweddar megis Nina Conti, Shazia Mirzah , a’r anhygoel Amy Schumer( Trainwreck ) mae Stand Up and Sock it to them Sister yn cynnig canllawiau ymarferol a chyngor amhrisiadwy ar yr arfer a’r sialensau o fod yn gomic ‘ dal dy dir ’ a sut i lwyddo yn y byd comedi . Mae Stand Up & Sock It to Them Sister yn lyfr unigryw , llawn ysbrydoliaeth ar gyfer unrhywun sydd a diddordeb mewn darllen am eu hoff gomics benywaidd a dysgu mwy am hanes me rched mewn comedi . Yn ol Roy Hudd , ( Arbenigwr ac Awdur fyd eang ar Music Hall Prydeinig ) mae’n dweud , ‘ R’oedd hi’n hen bryd i lyfr fel hwn gael ei ysgrifennu ac i berfformwyr benywaidd i gael y clod haeddiannol . Mae’ r Rol Fod e l au anhygoel yma o ’ r ganrif a hanner ddiwethaf a mwy mae Gwenno wedi eu casglu ond yn mynd i ysbrydoli cenedlaethau o ferched digri sydd i ddod . Mae hi wedi gneud job wych!

Caiff y llyfr ei lawnsio yng Ngwyl Ymylol Gomedi Caeredin ar y’r 17eg o Awst 2016

Diwrnod cyhoeddi 1 af o A wst 2016

Clawr med d al £11.99

978 1 910901 55 7

The Welsh Choir of Southern California is seeking a new Music Director. Founded in 1997, the choir is a mixed SATB group of varied ethnic backgrounds, dedicated to the glories of the Welsh choral tradition, with a core group of experienced amateurs.

The successful applicant will have a strong background in choral music and the ambition and ability to challenge the choir to excel. Our new music director (he/she) will be willing to explore traditional Welsh repertoire and contemporary Welsh choral music. About a third of the choir’s repertoire is sung in Welsh, and the director will need to become familiar with Welsh pronunciation (instruction is available).

The choir rehearses for two hours on Sunday afternoons in Westchester from September through June, with occasional free Sundays, on occasions to be determined. The choir aims at performing at least one public concert in the Fall and one in the Spring (generally close to St. David’s Day, March 1 st ).

Interested applicants should submit a resume and letter of interest to the choir President, Larry Dunlop at LDu59@aol.com .

Auditions for finalists will be held on Sunday afternoons in September. Pob lwc * Good luck

There are many books available to help learners but few discuss issues linked with using the language outside class.

Speak Welsh Outside Class – You Can Do It  by Dr Lynda Pritchard Newcombe is a book for Welsh learners which gives tips on how to be more confident speaking Welsh outside the classroom and in the community. It offers tips on how to overcome these types of obstacles as learners progress with their Welsh.

The book is suitable for Welsh learners of all ages, Welsh for Adults tutors and there is also plenty of advice for Welsh speakers who would like to help learners develop and grow in confidence. 

Dr Lynda Pritchard Newcombe was born in Dowlais, Merthyr Tydfil and has lived in Cardiff since 1970. She became fluent in Welsh as an adult.
‘Despite a family background in Welsh – my grandparents on my father’s side were from Llanllechid and on my mother’s side from the Gwendraeth valley - I lacked confidence to speak Welsh until I attended WLPAN and further courses at Cardiff University in 1990.’ says Lynda.

She has written many articles and books about learning Welsh and has many years’ experience teaching adults languages and has also been involved in several research projects on bilingualism and worked for Cardiff University and the Open University.

‘This is not a situation unique to Wales but experienced by second language learners in many other countries’ says Lynda, ‘Catalan learners in Spain for instance and farther afield Maori learners in New Zealand as well as Javanese learners in Indonesia.’

‘There are many books available to help learners but few discuss issues linked with using the language outside class.’ explains Lynda, ‘My experiences as a tutor and a researcher has led me to believe that many learners give up using Welsh in the community as they lack self-belief and may not always feel supported by Welsh-speakers.’

‘This is a complex issue and blame should not be apportioned to fluent speakers or learners.’ she explains,  ‘This book aims to help learners and Cymry Cymraeg understand one another.’

‘The Welsh language is a treasure to use, share and enjoy,’ added Welsh tutor Nia Parry, ‘This book gives invaluable advice and guidance to learners and Welsh speakers on their learning journey and to use Welsh at every opportunity.’

Dr Lynda Pritchard Newcombe will be at Maes D in the National Eisteddfod of Wales at 11am on Tuesday the 2 ^nd of August discussing her book.

Speak Welsh Outside Class – You Can Do It! by Dr Lynda Pritchard Newcombe (£5.99, Y Lolfa) is available now.

Born and brought up in Bangor and now living in Cardiff, Griff Rowland is a freelance drama and comedy director working on shows such as Coronation Street, Wizards vs Aliens (Russell T Davies), Pobol y Cwm and Beryl, Cheryl a Meryl - isio Chwerthin with Tudur Owen. He began writing his novel in between projects. Spanning Bangor and London, the novel tells the tale of Mostyn Price, a young pigeon fancier whose prized bird goes missing during his first international race. The story is his search to find him. The Search For Mr. Lloyd

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Mister Lloyd fails to return home from his first international race and much to the distress of Mostyn Price, a young pigeon fancier from north Wales. Devoured by a Falcon his grandfather presumes but Mostyn is hell bent on proving him wrong, determined to conquer his sense of loss, especially as his own dad also vanished a few years earlier.

Now nineteen and returning home to Bangor from a trip round Europe for a special occasion, Mostyn recalls the events of that fateful year which defined his life forever.

Cue a wild-card missing poster and an amateur search for a bird not many especially like let alone can tell apart. Yet it is this comic and preposterous premise that drives Mostyn in this bittersweet tale.

A mysterious tip-off suggests Mister Lloyd has landed in London and the search shifts to the metropolis where the eleven-year old hero finds himself increasingly isolated and in danger. But one man proves an unexpected ally. Maldwyn, a local handyman whose missing carrier pigeon did come home many moons ago, brings a glimmer of hope. Trouble is, he’s Mam’s new boyfriend and his presence threatens to fill someone else’s shoes: Dad’s.

Still, with Maldwyn, a local myth and a strange online chatroom ‘friend’ as his supporters, Mostyn embarks on the biggest risk of his life. But is it enough to bring Mister Lloyd home?

From the domesticated to the feral, Mostyn’s search for Mister Lloyd explores the tough-love lessons of leaving home and letting go, belonging, loss of innocence and the harsh reality of those who want to remain lost.

Inventive and eccentric, packed with drama and humour, this is a coming of age novel that will delight readers of all ages.

Kindle edition of The Search for Mister Lloyd is available to buy on Amazon

The Search For Mr Lloyd

A collection of Welsh wartime songs…

A unique collection of Welsh songs from the First World War will be launched at the National Eisteddfod in Abergavenny this year. The author, Meic Birtwistle, along with Welsh folk singer and harpist Siân James, will present Rhyfelgan   in a special event at the Tŷ Gwerin on Wednesday, 3 August at 3pm.

A century after the First World War, this book features Welsh-language songs composed and sung at the time, some in support of the war, others expressing vociferous opposition to it.

A number of the songs haven’t seen the light of day for a hundred years, and many of them are published here for the very first time.

The author’s interest in these compositions began when he learnt that one of his relatives, John Volander Jones – a minister, writer and keen supporter of David Lloyd George – was in fact the author of a number of popular Welsh songs about the war.

Meic Birtwistle says: “It’s often the case that soldiers who have been through war don’t want to discuss their experiences. This was true of my father and his experience of the Second World War. This is why it’s so important that such wars are not forgotten, and it’s our responsibility to ensure that this doesn’t happen”.

“A century after the Great War, I feel that there’s been a tendency to sanitize and moralize the war, and portray it as a just war. However, that’s not how I was taught about it in school, in college or by my community and family. One of the aims of this book is to

highlight the voices raised – in song – against this unnecessary fighting.”

“My family’s history has given me a distinct perspective and responsibility to study and declare my conclusions about the use of songs to support or oppose the war.”

As someone who was originally destined to be a soldier himself, Meic Birtwistle is aware of the danger of romanticizing the war, as happens in a number of the songs in the collection.

Following his research into the musical context of the time, Meic reveals some treasures that still resonate through the years. They are in the tradition of ‘Oh! What a lovely War’.

The new book Rhyfelgan by Meic Birtwistle will be available at your local bookshop or directly from the publisher, Gomer Press on www.gomer.co.uk

Bibliographical details

Rhyfelgan

Meic Birtwistle

Gomer Press

ISBN 9781848518872

paperback

134 pages

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

 Meic Birtwistle is an experienced journalist and

television producer.

 He studied for a BA and MA in History and Welsh

History at Swansea and Aberystwyth Universities.

 He lives in Mynydd Bach, Ceredigion and enjoys his

work, politics and rowing in his spare time.