Blogs
Dan Curtis on 'Being There' ( Wales v England ) and the Welsh National Coal Mining Memorial ( pic )
By Ceri Shaw, 2013-03-22
AmeriCymru: Hi Dan...how did it feel to have your work performed at the Millennium Stadium before the recent historic clash between Wales and England? AmeriCymru: Can you tell us more about the Memorial? Has it reached the design stage yet?
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AmeriCymru: Where can people go to buy the CD?
AmeriCymru: What's next for Dan and Laura Curtis?
AmeriCymru: Any final message for the members and readers of Americymru?
I and my husband would like to determine if there is any interest among any of the Americymru members appertaining to developing a standard or set of criteria for recognition of Y Cymru or the Welsh people as an indigenous people. Although we are just beginning to explore our Welsh heritage we noticed that no such procedure exists although it would appear from our limited research that it should. The reasons are as follows:
1) The Welsh originate historically from a Brythonic or pre-Brythonic people from pre-Roman times which may go back millenia and are arguably the progenitors of the indigenous peoples of the British Isles.
2) The Welsh language and culture has attempted to keep its integrity intact although currently Welsh has been declared as an endangered language by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
3) Without a formal procedure for acknowledgement it disallows the Cymru from addressing their indigenous peoples circumstance pursuant to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples which affects their rights under various national and international legal standards. This puts the Welsh throughout the world at a decided disadvantage unlike other indigenous peoples of western European origin such as the Basque in Northern Spain and Southern France or the Sami in the Scandinavian regions who have developed such a standard and are entitled to such recognition.
4) This status for an individual so recognized as Welsh is apart from their nationality or legal citizenship. For example, a person of United States citizenship by virtue of being born in the United States can be acknowledged by the government of Canada as an indigenous person of Canada and issued a Certificate of Indian Status by the Canadian government or a person of Mexican nationality may be issued a Certificate of Degree of Indian Blood from the United States, Department of the Interior by virtue of having rights to enrollment in a federally recognized Indian tribe within the jurisdiction of the United States.
5) Upon completion of the standard or criteria having been developed a petition could be submitted to Cynulliad Cenedlaethol Cymru and to the United Nations ECOSOC for acknowledgement. A separate organization specifically addressing the cultural, linguistic and ideological factors and rights of the Welsh people might be necessitated to perfect this at this stage.
We have only recently become a part of your web site and would like your advice on whether this would be an appropriate topic to be addressed on this site.
Born on this day 1931 in Newport, Monmouthshire.
Leslie Thomas - author, who is best known for his novels about 1950s British National Service, notably "The Virgin Soldiers"
Thomas was orphaned at the age of 12 when his mother died shortly after his father being lost at sea and he was subsequently brought up in a Dr Barnardo's home.
In 1949, Thomas was called up for National Service and saw military action in Malaysia fighting communist rebel. He also began to write short articles for a newspaper group in North London and then worked for The Exchange Telegraph news agency, now Extel. He later worked for the London Evening News as a sub-editor and reporter, before embarking on a full-time writing career in 1965.
Born this day, 1949 in Cardiff.
John Toshack, former Wales soccer international and manager.
Toshack is best remembered as a player for his prolific partnership with Kevin Keegan for Liverpool and as a manager for taking Swansea City from the Fourth Division to the First in four seasons.
Born this day 1919 in St Asaph.
Air Marshal Sir Denis Crowley-Milling - Decorated Second World War pilot and squadron leader, who took part in the Battle of Britain under the leadership of Douglas Bader and twice escaped from occupied France.
Born this day, 1862 in Ystradyfodwg, Glamorganshire
Edward Treharne, former Wales rugby international, who is notable for being a member of the first Wales international team that played England in 1881, whilst still a student at Cowbridge Grammer School.
Wales lost the match heavily, with one of the reasons being the fact that several members of the Welsh team were played out of position. Treharne, for example, was normally a full-back but was played in the forwards.
Born this day, 1929 in Abercynon.
Malcolm Vaughan, pop singer and actor, who had a number of chart hits in the UK during the 1950s.
Vaughan first found work as a straight actor following his demobilisation from the army and later became the straight man in a comedy duo with Kennet Earle. However his strong tenor voice saw him embark on a solo singing career, during which he accumulated a long string of hits including "Ev'ry Day Of My Life" and "My Special Angel"
On 21st March 1795 the first Gorsedd was held in Wales, on Alban Eilir in Stalling Down near Cowbridge. A Gorsedd was also held there in 1995 to celebrate the 200th anniversary.
The first ever Gorsedd had been arranged by Iolo Morganwg with a ceremony on Primrose Hill in London in 1792. A circle of stones was formed, with the larger Gorsedd Stone in the centre. Iolo tied green, blue and white ribbons on the arms of the newly appointed Gorsedd members.
Born this day, 1713 in Llandaff
Francis Lewis, who was a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence as a representative of New York.
Lewis was orphaned at an early age, educated in Scotland and moved to New York in 1734, where he was taken prisoner and shipped in a box to France while serving as a British mercantile agent. He retur ned to America and was elected to the Continental Congress in 1775. His home and property were destroyed and his wife arrested by British soldiers in the American Revolutionary War.
In New York, "The Francis Lewis School", Francis Lewis Boulevard and Francis Lewis Park, are all named after him.
Born this day, 1964 in Pontarddulais
Ieuan Evans MBE, former Wales and Lions rugby international and former Wales captain.
Evans played the majority of his career with Llanelli, but won the Heineken cup with Bath in 1998 and was inducted into the International Rugby Hall of Fame in 2007.
Born this day, 1802 near Abergavenny.
Augusta Hall, Baroness Llanover - patron of the Arts in Wales.
Because of her interest in Celtic Studies, local bard, Thomas Price (Carnhuanawc) taught Baroness Llanover to speak Welsh and she took the bardic name "Gwenynen Gwent", ('the bee of Gwent'). She was a patron of the Welsh Manuscripts Society, funded a Welsh dictionary, helped found Y Gymraes ("The Welshwoman"), the first Welsh-language periodical for women and campaigned for church services to be conducted in Welsh. She was also instrumental in the adoption of the national costume of Wales.
Born this day 1933 in Swansea.
Michael Heseltine, politician and businessman, he was a prominent figure in the governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major. After graduating from Oxford he built up a property business and later made his fortune from the printing business. In 1959, he entered politics and enjoyed an illustrious career, which saw him serve as, Secretary of State for the Environment, Secretary of State for Defence, Secretary of State for the Environment, Secretary of State for Trade and Industry and Deputy Prime Minister.
His candidacy for the leadership of the Conservative Party in 1990 was instrumental in the fall of from power of Margaret Thatcher. He acquired the nickname Tarzan, after an incident in the Houses of Parliament which saw Heseltine seizing the mace and brandishing it towards Labour left-wingers who were celebrating their winning of a vote by singing the Red Flag.
Born this day 1946 in Colwyn Bay
Timothy Dalton, film and television actor. Best known for playing James Bond in the films The Living Daylights and Licence to Kill.
Born this day, 1967 in Swansea
Carwyn Jones, who became First Minister of Wales in December 2009.
Born this day, 1975 in Cwm, Ebbw Vale
Mark Williams, snooker player who was World Champion in 2000 and 2003.
Williams was the first left-handed player to win the World Championship and is regarded as one of the greatest long potters in the game. Interestingly, he is partially colour-blind and has difficulty distinguishing between the red and brown balls, once even potting the brown ball by mistake.
Born this day, 1959 in Gorseinon
Colin Jones boxer, former British, Commonwealth and European welterweight boxing champion, who was regarded as the hardest punching welterweight of his time.
I've been to confession.
'Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned: I doubted.'
I thought we could beat England; I didn't think we'd manage it by 7 points. It turned out to be 27.
It was awesome, a masterclass. Each and every player gave his absolute best. On a day like that we could have beaten the All Blacks.
Now apparently the English coaches are griping aboutthereferee. It's a shame as it does discredit to the English team. They're young and full of potential and will be ready by the world cup to provide a serious threat. That they were overcome by the sheer power, skill and experience of Wales and the full might of Welsh fans in fine voice wasn't surprising.
But for now let's forget the other team; let's focus on the wonder that was our boys. To each and every one a huge thank you for the boost you've given this little nation of ours.
Diolch yn fawr!
On this day 1345, a Saturn-Jupiter-Mars-conjunction occurred, which people at the time thought was the cause of the Black Death
The Black Death (The Plague) was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350, ranging between 75 million and 200 million people.
It is thought that the pathogen responsible was the Yersinia Pestis bacterium and is thought to have started in China or central Asia, before travelling along the trade route called the Silk Road, reaching the Crimea by 1346 and from there, carried by fleas on black rats on merchant ships into the Mediterranean and Europe
It struck Bristol in the summer of 1348 and arrived in Wales later that year, killing an estimated 30% of the population. Further outbreaks of the plague occurred in 1360 and 1369 though these were not so virulent, however, it took 150 years for Europe's population to recover .
Celtic Festivals
The Spring or Vernal Equinox.
An equinox occurs twice a year, around 20 March and 22 September, on which days, daytime and night are of approximately equal duration. The word comes from the Latin aequus (equal) and nox (night).
It is also known by the names;
Alban Eiler (Celtic), Ostara (Old English) and Ēastre ( Northumbrian)
Equinoxes were celebrated in Britain before Celtic times as shown by the illumination of Megalithic passages and chambers from the rising sun on the mornings of the equinoxes. The Celts continued the tradition, celebrating the renewal of life after the hard winter months, with large open fires and rowan twigs being used to make equal-armed crosses that symbolized divine and psychic protection.
It is thought that the Christian religion later adapted this festival as Easter, the time for celebrating Christ’s victory over death and several current Easter traditions including the Easter Bunny and the decorating of eggs being considered to have originated in the pre-Christian celebrations.
In the Mabinogion, this is the time when the God of Light conquers his darker twin and was presided over by Bran and Rhiannon.
Bran was a Welsh King who sought to bring enemies into peaceful accord and Rhiannon was as the mother goddess of fertility who also aided the growth of new vegetation.
Born this day, 1942 in Caernarfon
Wyn Davies, former Wales soccer international. Best known for playing for Newcastle United, with whom won the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup in 1969. He was regarded as the perfect target man, as he was brave and had fantastic aerial ability. Nicknamed 'Wyn the Leap' and 'The Mighty Wyn'
The crime drama film, Tiger Bay was released on 20th March 1959 , starring John Mills, his daughter Hayley and Horst Buchholz. The film was made mainly on location in Tiger Bay in Cardiff, at Newport Transporter Bridge and at Avonmouth Docks in Bristol.
On 20th March 1975 the Cleddau Bridge in Pembrokeshire was opened.
The River Cleddau divides Pembrokeshire in two and before the bridge was built the only means of crossing was by steam-driven ferry boats from the Admiralty's dockyard in Pembroke Dock to Neyland. However as the amount of traffic increased, it was decided in the mid 1960s to build a bridge.
Tragically, during construction, one of the box girder sections crashed to the ground, killing nine people and there could have been countless more as the bridge was almost directly above the village of Pembroke Ferry and the debris missed houses by only a few feet.
At the subsequent inquiry, it was found that the cause of the disaster was a combination of inadequate supports for the box girder sections and poor site organisation and communication
However, as a result, new requirements for the design and construction of Box Girder bridges were implemented.
On 20th March 1899, poet and tramp W H Davies lost a foot when attempting to jump from a freight train in Ontario.
Davies was born in Pillgwenlly, Newport in 1871 and at the age of 22, went to the United States to seek his fortune.
For the next five years he travelled widely including an attempt to make his fortune at the Klondike gold rush, but when he lost his foot and later had his leg below the knee amputated, he decided to return to Wales.
He began publishing his poetry in 1905 and later described his adventures in his autobiography entitled, Autobiography of a Super Tramp, from which it is alleged that the band Supertramp got its name.
Born on this day 1852 in Llanybydder in Carmarthenshire.
Reverend John Gwenogvryn Evans (20 March 1852 – 25 March 1930) - Welsh palaeographic expert.
After being forced to retire from being a Unitarian minister due to ill-health, Evans took up collecting and making copies of ancient Welsh manuscripts, such as the books of Aneirin and Taliesin.
He then became employed by the Historical Manuscripts Commission in Oxford, producing a significant report on manuscripts in the Welsh language. In 1905, he was instrumental in the purchase of the Peniarth manuscript collection from Sir John Williams, which is now kept at the National Library of Wales.
About The Production
Producer Jon Finn noted that half of the problem is that there's never enough sunshine in Britain to have the kind of campus life those American high school movies seem to thrive on, until he and Evans started talking about the long hot summer of 1976 in the UK. They also hit upon the fact that 1976 was also a very interesting time when you started to think about it musically, and it was also an era Evans remembered well as he was at high school in Wales at the time.
"I suppose you could say the film's autobiographical for me because it's set in 1976 and that was my last year in high school. I would say it's slightly autobiographical or perhaps therapeutic for everybody who was involved. When you start work on a script like this, everyone recalls their own schooldays. We found a great quote from Cameron Crowe who said "Nothing lasts forever except for high school" and I think he's right, there's something about high school, for better or for worse, whether you had a great time or a bad time it's a period you never forget, and it's very influential on the rest of your life".
Writer Laurence Coriat who co-scripted Hunky Dory with Evans, is French, but she came over to England in 1976 as French teaching assistant and there are elements of her in the French girl who shares a house with drama teacher Viv (Minnie Driver) in the film. "It was this really hot summer and punk music was just starting, and Laurence thought England was this wonderful hot place with punk music!" explains Evans, "that was a freak summer of course but nevertheless she remembered '76 very fondly and very indelibly".
Producer Jon Finn's film production career started over 25 years ago with Working Title Films. He went on to head up the company's low budget film label WT2, and the first project they developed was the critically acclaimed and commercially successful Billy Elliot. After leaving WT2 to pursue his independent producing career, Finn met director Marc Evans and the two first collaborated on the Canadian-shot horror movie My Little Eye. Much of the following six years was taken up with musical stage version of Billy Elliot, "so this is the first film I've done since my last one with Marc, and we started taking about it back on My Little Eye".
Finn teamed up with LA-based producer Dan Lupovitz, to assist with the financing. Finn was able to utilize his experience and contacts from both the Billy Elliott film and stage musical for the whole process of putting Hunky Dory together, "For Billy, we had to find very specific kids who had a very specific skill base" explains Finn, "and we had a similar situation here. So we set up a casting department run by Jessica Ronane, as she constantly goes out and looks for kids for Billy because those kids have to be able to sing, dance and act. For Hunky Dory we wanted completely authentic kids who had to be around a certain age range". Ronane went out on the road and scoured the country, holding workshops and also searched the country for musicians to cover the orchestral work. "It was a long process, but we knew who the characters were and exactly what we needed. Aneurin Barnard we found quite quickly for Davy, and Danielle Branch to play Stella we found quite quickly as well, though finding Tom Harries for Evan took a lot longer."
"The south Wales area has produced so many amazing actors, especially around Port Talbot" explains Finn, "the last person to come out of there was Michael Sheen, and the first was probably Richard Burton. We got most of our kids from the Royal Welsh College in Cardiff which has produced this amazing crop of kids over the last couple of years. The college was incredibly supportive- both Aneurin and Danielle were there, and Tom (Harries) is just finishing and will graduate this year. South Wales seems to be slightly on fire with creativity right now."
To make the project really authentic, the production's agenda was to make everything live. As producer Dan Lupovitz explains, "we didn't want people lip-synching, so it's not just about the singing but also the playing. We constructed a forty-piece youth orchestra of high school kids playing and a chorus of twenty-six kids singing the choral parts. Joby
Talbot composed the score and Jeremy Holland-Smith arranged the music to be suitable for a high school orchestra as well as being suitable for the songs that they were arranging. So musically, we ended up with an incredibly unique blend of adolescent innocence and these very hip rock 'n' roll songs."
With such a heavily music-led project, one of the major challenges was getting clearances and permissions to use certain tracks from the 1970s. As producer Jon Finn recalls, "the permissions were really tricky and they took such a long time. David Bowie was quite quick in coming back, but we wanted to do Lou Reed's 'Venus in Furs' for this whole opening and I spent a year trying to clear those rights. In the end we just couldn't get them so we had to change the opening of the film, but that was the only one we were really defeated on."
Trying to recreate the hottest summer on record for over thirty years in Wales during the less than sweltering summer of 2010 was certainly a challenge for the production. "The schedule was insane and the pressure was on everybody and on the budget because of the weather, which kept changing so much, so the shooting schedule changed every day. Working with Marc at that point was like working with a slightly demented farmer!" laughs Finn. "I'd go and pick him up in the morning, he'd step out, and he'd go, 'the weather's going to be fine today!'. And it never was, it always rained and no matter whatever little homily he came up with about the color of the sky, it was bollocks, and it rained every day... sometimes twice a day. So, we just kept dropping scenes and rescheduling constantly. Everybody was very enthusiastic about standing in the sun, the little bit there was. There are a couple of scenes that take place in the sun that were actually shot in the pouring rain, and our director of photography Charlotte did an amazing job because I don't think you can tell!"
"The other thing about the look of the film is all to do with Marc's strengths" notes Finn. "When Marc was younger he wanted to be a painter so he approached the film from a very visual perspective- he didn't want to do any color grading in post. He wanted to set the tones the way they did in the 1970s and for that reason, we used two filters throughout, one was an antiques way and one was a low contrast filter, so it would blow the whites out slightly and saturate the oranges and make it warm. That look was planned from the start."
One of the most important locations was the lido (ed.: "lido" = a public swimming pool and surrounding facilities), because that was often ground zero for typical 70s teenage life. The opening scene that takes place there was one of the biggest challenges of all, as Finn explains: "the lido scene is at the opening of the film. The lido where we filmed was the last lido that still exists in south Wales... we found it the year before. But two weeks before filming, they closed it down because of health and safety. They drained the entire pool of something close to a million liters of water. So our location disappeared two weeks before, and we had to scramble like hell to get the location back in time. This meant meeting the local councils, as that lido was built by miners on the top of a mountain and is only used by the local community. Because it was drained, we had to try and fill the pool up, so we spoke with the water authority who told us we'd have to fill it at night because the local village would be short of water pressure otherwise."
Things went from bad to worse, as Finn recalls, "we discovered they normally fill it from the river, so we tried that but were told we needed a license so had to call a halt." Committed to filming there, production resorted to asking the local fire service to calculate how much water it would take to fill it, so they could bring huge containers of water in on trucks. To Finn's horror, it turned out that the firemen got their calculations wrong and he got a call in the middle of the night to say the pool was only half-full and they'd run out of time- and filming was scheduled for the next morning! "So, in the film, the pool's only half full of water. Every time they jump in, it's a six foot drop before you hit the water!"
The joys of filmmaking...
Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru - National Library of Wales, was established in Aberystwyth by Royal Charter on this day in 1907
The library is regarded as one of the greatest in the world and has the right of legal deposit, which is the right to obtain a copy of every printed work published in Britain and Ireland without cost. It has also made many of its most important manuscripts and books digitized and freely available on the library's website.
Born this day 1921 in Caerphilly.
Tommy Cooper, comedian and magician. At 6' 4", he was famed for his large and lumbering appearance, his catchphrase "Just like that" and for his ever-present red fez, which he started wearing when he was stationed in Cairo as part of the NAAFI entertainment party, during World War II. Tommy collapsed and died during a "Live From Her Majesty's performance on Live TV on 15th April 1984.
Born on this day 1971 in Merthyr Tydfil.
Julien Macdonald - fashion designer whose creations have been worn by many top models and celebrities, such as, Joely Richardson, Dannii Minogue, Shirley Bassey, Naomi Campbell, Beyoncé and Bonnie Tyler.
In 2000, Macdonald was appointed chief designer of Paris fashion house of Givenchy and, in 2001, he was British Fashion Designer of the Year. He has also appeared as a judge on the television programme, Britain & Ireland's Next Top Model.
Macdonald however, has also been criticised for his use of fur, which resulted in himself and Paris Hilton being flour-bombed on one occasion.
Born on this day 1886 in Pontymoile , P ontypool.
John "Jack" Phillips-Jones - Welsh rugby international, known as The Prince of Centres.
Two of Jones's brothers, David and James, also played rugby for Wales and along with the Gould brothers, are the only family to do so. Jones also played on two Lions tours, to Australasia in 1908 and South Africa in 1910.
On this day in 1536, Henry VIII commenced the Dissolution of the Monasteries.
The process which occurred between 1536 and 1541 and saw Henry disband the monasteries, convents, friaries and priories of England, Wales and Ireland. The buildings were stripped and their lands sold off mainly to the landed gentry to increase their estates.
Protestantism became the national religion, relics, colourful icons and pilgrimages were all banned and most Welsh Catholics seem to have reluctantly accepted these changes, however, those who resisted were fined and those who protested openly faced execution.
The Allies failed attack on the Dardanelles, which commenced on 18th March 1915 during World War I, was instrumental in David Lloyd George becoming Prime Minister.
The Ottoman Empire was originally a state founded by Turkish tribes in 1299 and when it conquered Constantinople in 1453, it became an empire in control of a large area around the Mediterranean basin. By 1590, the empire also included parts of Africa, Asia and Europe and lasted until 1922, when the monarchy in Turkey was abolished and the Republic of Turkey was established.
The Dardanelles is an extremely narrow strait in the northwest Turkey connecting the Aegean Sea to the Sea of Marmara and is considered to be one of the most crowded and dangerous waterways in the world due to the tides caused by the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara.
During the First World War an Anglo-French operation against Turkey was intended to force the Dardanelles channel in order to occupy Constantinople and secure a sea route to Russia. On 18th March, the main attack force entered the channel but was forced to retreat due to the ferocity of the Ottoman defence.
Further advances were attempted icluding vone on April 25 1915, where Australian and New Zealand troops took heavy losses and is remembered as ANZAC Day. In January 1916, the campaign was halted, with the Allied casualties 213,980 causing serious political repercussions and giving the impression that the Allies were militarily inept.
Both Churchill and Prime Minister Asquith were forced to resign from government, which resulted in David Lloyd George becoming Prime Minister in December 1916.
Born this day, 1966 in Maidenhead, of Welsh descent
Peter Jones - entrepreneur and businessman, who has appeared on the BBC television show Dragons Den (he refers to himself as the Welsh Dragon) and on the American television show American Inventor.
Llywelyn Bren surrendered at Ystradfellte on March 18th 1316, after leading a revolt against the Anglo-Norman persecution of the people of Glamorgan.
In 1267 Llywelyn's father, Gruffudd ap Rhys, Lord of Senghenydd was dispossessed of his lordship by the powerful Anglo-Norman lord Gilbert de Clare, who then began the construction of Caerphilly Castle, the following year.
The death of Gilbert de Clare's son and heir at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314 left a power vacuum in the region and in 1315, Edward II appointed an administrator, who proceeded to persecute the people of Glamorgan and in response Llywelyn appealed to Edward. When his appeal was rebuffed and he himself was charged with treason, Llywelyn laid siege to Caerphilly Castle on 28th January 1316 and burnt the town. The revolt then quickly spread across South Wales forcing Edward to launch a two-pronged attack on Llywelyn from Cardiff and Hereford.
Llywelyn, at first, retreated, but realising that his position was now hopeless, he surrendered at Ystradfellte on March 18th and was imprisoned in the Tower of London. His lands were seized by the crown and Hugh Despenser, reputedly King Edward's lover, was given the Lordship of Glamorgan,
Then in 1318, in order to seize his estates, Despenser had Llywelyn executed without trial at Cardiff Castle and had the parts of his body exhibited in various part of the county, before burial in the Grey Friars at Cardiff.
Further dissatisfaction with Despenser led to a revolt by an alliance of local Welsh and Marcher Lords which eventually led to the overthrow and death of Edward II and the execution of Despenser. The estates in Senghenydd were restored to Llywelyn Bren's sons — Gruffydd, John, Meurig, Roger, William and Llywelyn in 1327.
