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The Battle of Crecy took place on 26th August 1346.  

Edward III  had invaded France, during the Hundred Years War with 4,000 men-at-arms and 10,000 archers, many of whom, were Welsh.

Edward's son, The Black Prince, Prince of Wales took up a strategic position threatening Paris, where he waited for Phillip VI of France  with 12,000 men-at-arms and several thousand foot soldiers to attack him.  Edward positioned his knights in the centre surrounded by a crescent of archers and as the French attacked, they were cut to pieces by the arrows of the Welsh longbowmen. 

After the battle, it is said that Edward  found the helmet of a dead German mercenary that had  three ostrich plumes and the motto Ich Dein, meaning 'I serve'. which he adopted as his coat of arms.   The emblem of the Prince of Wales’remains the three feathers with the legend Ich Dein to this day.

Sixty women were widowed and 153 children left fatherless, when a huge explosion occurred at the Parc Slip Colliery at Aberkenfig near Tondu, on 26th August 1892, killing; 112 men and boys.   Only 39 survived, with some being trapped underground for a week before being rescued. 

The mine closed in 1904, but the coal seams were  later re-worked as part of the Parc Slip opencast coal mine.  There is a memorial to the disaster comprising of 112 stones, one for each life lost.

On 26th August 1967: The Beatles, along with Mick Jagger and his girlfriend Marianne Faithfull, attended a lecture from the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, at University College in Bangor.

Afterwards the group held a press conference to announce that they had become his disciples in the "Spiritual Regeneration Movement" and officially renounced the use of all drugs.

The following authors and contributions have been confirmed for inclusion in issue two of 'eto' our bi-annual fiction anthology featuring original short stories and poems by Welsh and Welsh American authors. If you wish to submit a story for inclusion in the autumn edition ( due for publication in late September ) please contact americymru@gmail.com . We will be considering new submissions until early September

Buy eto Issue one here

Original Poetry From Julie Samways

August 26th, 2013

Cardiff City, Swansea City, Celtic Studies And Welsh Boxers Categories Added

Check out the new categories here:-

• Celtic Studies
• Cardiff City FC
• Swansea City AFC
• Welsh Boxers

Privateer Henry Morgan (Harri Morgan) died on this day 1688 in Jamaica. 

Sir Henry Morgan (1635-1688) who is remembered as the greatest of all privateers, was born in Llanrumney.  He fought for the English against the Spanish in the Caribbean during the 1660’s and 1670’s.  He was knighted by King Charles II and died a rich man in Jamaica. 

Morgan was a legend who was loved by all social classes and helped establish Jamaica as a strong English colony in the Caribbean , but he also was guilty of the death and torture of innocent Spanish civilians and the spread terror far and wide. 

On 25th August 1945,  the children who had been evacuated from English cities to the comparative safety of Wales, were sent home. 

Evacuation began in September 1939, with an operation nicknamed 'Pied Piper' when approximately 110,000 children were sent to Wales.  The evacuees were all given a gas mask and food for the journey and had a  label stating the child’s name, home address, school and destination, pinned to their clothing. Most of the children adapted  well to country life staying in touch with their host family after the end of war.  

However, it wasn’t only children who were evacuated. Mothers of young babies, pregnant women and disabled people were also evacuated.   In some cases, teachers were evacuated andstayed in the same village as their pupils.   

Born on this day 1909 in Rhosllaerchrugog, near Wrexham

Arwel Hughes OBE -  orchestral conductor and composer.

Arwel Hughes, studied at the Royal College of Music, with Vaughan Williams and C. H. Kitson  and in 1935 returned to Wales to join the BBC, where he was appointed Head of Music of BBC Wales in 1965.  He was made an OBE in 1969 for his services to Welsh music and for organising the music for the Investiture of the Prince of Wales and is Honorary Music Director of Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod.  

On 25th August 1919, fire destroyed the Waterloo Hydro, Aberystwyth's largest hotel.

The hotel had been built in 1910 and had five floors with 127 bedrooms.  The balcony and bay windows gave the rooms the best sea views in the town.  On the cleared site, one of the most fantastic pieces of this town’s twentieth-century architecture was built; the King’s Hall, originally called Municipal Hall. Finished in 1933, it was a huge building that took up the entire plot and was constructed in the classic art deco style that the country loved at the time. A balcony balustrade ran around the flat roof, which was broken on the centre of the seafront side by a great clock tower topped with a flag pole.  However the building fell into disrepair and was demolished in 1989.

An industrial accident that occured on 24th August 1943, led to the foundation of Tenovus, Wales' leading cancer charity.

Little is known about the ten founders of Tenovus - not even their first names.  They were all Cardiff businessmen from a variety of backgrounds - one was an acorn and seed merchant and another was a ladies outfitter.  Mr Price was a haulier and Mr Edwards was the head of Prudential Insurance.

On August 24, 1943, Cardiff-based haulage contractor Eddie Price was unloading heavy machinery when one of the lathes fell on him, pinning him to the ground.  It led to him spending three months  in Cardiff Royal Infirmary, where he was visited regularly by eight friends - all businessmen - who he used to regularly dine with at the Angel Hotel in Cardiff.  They were joined by a Mr D R Edwards - the head of Prudential Insurance - who had traced Mr Price to thank him for the good deed he had done in giving him petrol for his car after he broke down.  Together the men were determined to find a distraction for their injured and bored friend.  They bought a radio for the hospital and invented headsets for the patients to listen to it and  even managed to broadcast Cardiff City football games from Ninian Park to the hospital.

It was an act of benevolence that sparked a lifetime of philanthropy for the men who decided to continue their fundraising under the name Tenovus - Ten of Us.  Between them they had contacts and they used them.  On the first Tuesday of the month, they would invite Cardiff dignitaries to a fund raising dinner at the Angel Hotel, where they would raise up to £10,000.  They would be told about people that needed help . "For example, they raised money to build the Sunshine House for Blind Babies just outside Cardiff and bought a washing machine for a widow with seven children.  Then towards the end of World War II they were asked to raise £26,000 for a rest home for injured soldiers in Burma who could not return home and they also funded research that led to expectant mothers being advised to take folic acid to prevent spina bifida in babies.

Since the 1960s, Tenovus have concentrated their efforts on cancer research and support and are now recognised for their pioneering work;

*  They built the Tenovus Institute for Cancer Research in Cardiff which carried out vital research into the causes of cancer.

*  They opened a network of fundraising shops across Wales and South West England.

*  Tenovus's scientists developed the use of Tamoxifen, now used worldwide to treat breast cancer, and Zoladex which treats prostate cancer.

* They have developed a system of cancer support services to help cancer patients and their families, including our Freephone Cancer Support Line (0808 808 1010), which is open 8 am - 8 pm, 7 days a week.

*  In 2009, they developed a Mobile Cancer Support Unit.which brings cancer care to the heart of the patient's community.

*  In 2011, they conducted research into the benefits of singing for cancer patients and their families and were awarded a £1m Big Lottery Grant to set up 15 choirs across Wales. 

*  In 2012 they were asked to put together a special choir of cancer patients, for a Channel 4 documentary 'Sing for your Life', which followed their journey from the very first rehearsal in Cardiff, all the way to the Royal Albert Hall.

*  2012 also saw the launch of Tenovus Cancer Callback; a world-first service which offers newly diagnosed cancer patients a series of regular calls from an experienced nurse.

178 people lost their lives on 24th August 1848, when the emigration ship, Ocean Monarch, caught fire and sank off Colwyn Bay. 

Ocean Monarch was on a voyage from Liverpool to Boston, USA, when between Abergele Bay and Great Orme's Head off Llandudno, she was seen to raise the flag of distress as flames rose towards the rear of the vessel.  In the resulting panic, many passengers threw themselves overboard and Fredrick Jerome, a sailor from one of the rescue ships, was later to be awarded the freedom of his home city, NewYork, for his heroic efforts in saving fifteen people.

The cause of the fire was believed to be passengers smoking, despite it being prohibited by the captain.  

Oliver Cromwell's chaplain

John Owen,  church leader, theologian, government adviser and writer, died on 24th August 1683.  He has been described as " the greatest theologian who has ever written in the English language"

Owen was born at Stadhampton, Oxfordshire,in 1616  of a Welsh father who was a pastor of a Nonconformist Presbyterian congregation.  He was educated at Queen's College, but because he disapproved of the inluence there of the "high-church", he left to become a chaplain at Fordham in Essex.

At this time, the nation was involved in civil war and Owen's powerful preaching brought him to the attention of Oliver Cromwell, who took him as his chaplain and a prominent advisor in religious and political matters.  Cromwell took Owen on his expeditions to both Ireland and Scotland (1649-1651) to preach to the soldiers and afterwards, Cromwell appointed him as Vice Chancellor of Oxford.

It is said of him, that Owen only allowed himself four hours of sleep each night, as the acquisition of knowledge consumed him.  In 1660, on  The Restoration of the Monarchy, Owen was relieved of his deanship and for the remainder of his life, he became a fugitive pastor in London, moving from one church to another and often being forced to preach in secret.   

Born on this day 1943 in Brynaman, Carmarthenshire

Dafydd Iwan -  singer - songwriter and politician, who was the president of Plaid Cymru (2003-2010) and whose paternal Grandfather - Fred Jones - was one of the founding members of  Plaid Cymru. 

Dafydd Iwan's earliest material was Welsh translations of tunes by American folk - protest singers: Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger and Bob Dylan.  But his popularity rose when he started to write his own ballads, such as "Carlo" (Charlie), written on the occasion of the investiture of the Prince of Wales in 1969 and "Yma O Hyd" (Still Here), released in 1981 and his  biggest hit to date.

Iwan's strong political beliefs led to him being imprisoned in 1970 as part of the fight for Welsh language rights and many of his songs are based on political themes, such as Pinochet's Chile, Welsh Devolution, the Vietnam War, the Northern Ireland Troubles, the Tiananmen Square massacre, the Gulf War and opencast mining in the South Wales valleys.

Dafydd Iwan was a founders of Recordiau Sain Cyf (Sain Records Ltd) and his  long service to the Welsh language led to his being made an honorary member of the Gorsedd of Bards at the National Eisteddfod at Bangor in 1971.

The Western Mail is the most radical and politically sophisticated newspaper in the world! Wales at it its best: local, incorruptible, indomitable! Respect! Chapeaux!

On 22nd August 1485, Henry Tudor defeated Richard III at The Battle of Bosworth in Leicestershire.

The death of Richard marked the beginning of the Tudor dynasty and would prove to have a major impact on British history.

 Henry was the son of Edmund Tudor, 1st Earl of Richmond, and Lady Margaret Beaufort, a descendant of John of Gaunt, the third son of Edward III.  Henry had been forced to flee to Brittany when Edward IV  regained the throne in 1471, but returned as a result of his mother and Elizabeth Woodville, Edward IV’s widow, conspiring to arrange a marriage between Henry and Elizabeth’s daughter, Elizabeth of York.

In 1485, Henry landed at Milford Haven, with the support of the French and gained more support as he travelled through Wales.   Henry managed to amass an army of around 5000 men and was intent on marching to London.  However, he was intercepted in Leicestershire, by Richard in command of a force of 12,000. 

Richard had the upper hand initially, as he held the higher ground, whilst Henry's men were caught in lower marshland.  However, the initiative swung Henry's way when Lord Thomas Stanley and his brother Sir William Stanley decided to fight with Henry.  Lord Thomas had married Henry's mother, but had also been a supporter of Richard, so it was uncertain as to which side he would fight with on the day.  

On August 22nd 1832, a pledge of abstinence from all strong drink, was drawn up by the leading temperance campaigner, Joseph Livesey of Preston, Lancashire

The temperance movement in Wales

Iolo Williams, television presenter and wildlife enthusiast, was born in Builth Wells on 22nd August 1962.

Iolo Williams, AKA Birdman; is one of Wales' most renowned nature and wildlife presenters who has fronted countless television programmes. Having begun his career working with the RSPB he soon became popular with producers and directors alike resulting in being Wales' leading bird and wildlife expert. He is bilingual (English and Welsh), has a degree in Ecology, and has presented over eight varying series for BBC and many for S4C also. When he is not travelling the world he is back home with his family in mid-Wales. 

Iolo is a passionate supporter of many high-profile charities such as Welsh Wildlife Trusts, Welsh Kite Trust, Butterfly Conservation, Plant Life, Sea Trust, Gower Bird Hospital and the Welsh Ornithological Society. In October  2008, Iolo led a team of 38 fundraisers on a trek in Patagonia in the aid of Mencap Cymru. Iolo also walked 270 miles from North to South Wales to raise funds for the children's hospices, Ty Hafan and Ty Gobaith.  

John Jones - chancellor of Llandaff Cathedral, medical practitioner and inventor, died on 22 August 1709

Jones, was from Pentyrch, Glamorgan and educated at Jesus College, Oxford.  In 1677,  he obtained a licence from Oxford University to practise medicine and wrote on fevers (De febribus intermittentibus) and The Mysteries of Opium Revealed.  He was appointed chancellor of Llandaff Cathedral in 1686 and also invented a paper lantern type clock operated by bellows.   

Born on this day 1973 in Pontypool

Lee Dainton - professional skateboarder and a member of the Dirty Sanchez daredevil crew.  

First released in the UK on 22nd August 2003, "Lara Croft Tomb Raider:The Cradle of Life" was partially shot in Wales. 

The scenes involving mainland China were filmed in the area surrounding Llyn Gwynant in North Wales.

On 22 August 1770, Captain Cook took formal possession of Possession Island, New South Wales.  

After an initial blaze of glory, during which they became (and still remain) the only non-English club ever to win the coveted FA Cup and came within a whisker of winning the old First Division title, Cardiff City began a slow, painful descent down the footballing hierarchy, into relative obscurity.. Sometimes, however, miracles do happen.

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