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Born on this day 1897 in Shotton, Flintshire
Henry Weale, who as a 20 years old Lance-Corporal in the 14th Battalion, The Royal Welch Fusiliers, during the First World War, on 26 August 1918 at Bazentin-le-Grand, France, Weale rushed and captured a hostile machine gun posts, even though his own gun failed him. He was subsequently awarded the Victoria Cross for his action.
Born on this day 1787 at Pencaerelin, in Llanfihangel-Bryn-Pabuan, near Builth Wells.
Reverend Thomas Price, better known by his bardic name "Carnhuanawc" who was the leading figure in the cultural life of Wales in the first half of the 19th century.
His greatest achievement was his "Hanes Cymru" ("History of Wales") which was the first attempt to trace the origin and development of the Welsh nation. Published between 1836 and 1842 it showed how the people of Wales were inheritors of the Celtic traditions. Price was also a major influence on Lady Charlotte Guest and assisted her in her translation of the Mabinogion.
In October 1171, King Henry II of England made a pilgrimage to St David’s.
This was at the time when Rhys ap Gruffydd (The Lord Rhys) was ruler of the kingdom of Deheubarth and in conflict with Henry who was also involved in the Norman invasion of Ireland.
1155 Rhys became the ruler of Deheubarth.
1158 Rhys met with Henry to discuss peace terms. The terms were harsh and he was stripped of all his possessions apart from Cantref Mawr.
1159 With Henry II away in France, Rhys attacked Dyfed and laid siege to Carmarthen.
1162 Rhys captured Llandovery castle.
1163 Henry II returned from France and invaded Deheubarth, stripped Rhys of l his lands and took him prisoner. Rhys was released a few weeks later and given back a small part of his holdings.
1164 Rhys and Owain Gwynedd united in an uprising.
1165. Henry invaded Wales again, however, Rhys and Owain, helped by torrential rain forced Henry's army to retreat in disorder and Rhys won back most of his lands. Henry had Rhys's son Maredudd blinded and in reprisal Rhys burned down Cardigan Castle.
1167 Rhys and Owain attacked southern Powys and besieged the Norman castle of Rhuddlan.
1168 Rhys destroyed the Norman Castle at Builth.
1169 At the request of Diarmait MacMurchada King of Leinster, Rhys released the Norman lord Robert Fitz-Stephen from his captivity to lead the vanguard of the Norman invasion of Ireland.
1169 - 1170 Rhys benefited from the Norman invasion of Ireland, as this distracted one of his main adversaries, Strongbow (Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke) along with the other Cambro - Norman lords of south Wales.
1170 The death of Owain Gwynedd left Rhys as the acknowledged leader of all the Welsh princes.
1171 Henry II now wished to make peace with Rhys and confirmed his possession of all the lands he had taken from Norman lords, in exchange for 300 horses and 4,000 cattle.
1171 They met again in October that year at Pembroke, as Henry waited to cross to Ireland. It was at this time that Henry made a pilgrimage to St David’s Cathedral. .
1172 Henry and Rhys met at Laugharne when Henry returned from Ireland and appointed Rhys "Justiciar for south Wales".
The 2nd October, holds special significance for the Labour Party in Wales as it was on this day in;
1900 - Keir Hardie became MP for Merthyr and Aberdare
1983 - Neil Kinnock became the leader of the Labour Party, the party that Hardie had been instrumental in founding.
The Welsh Air Service was the world's first regular passenger helicopter service. The service was started on 2nd October 1950 by British European Airways and operated between Cardiff, Wrexham and Liverpool.
Flying from the original Cardiff airport, on the shores of Pengam Moor near Splott, the Sikorsky S51 helicopters called at Plas Coch in Wrexham and reached Speake airport in Liverpool within two hours. The service operated from Monday to Friday and carried up to six passengers. However, passenger numbers were too low to make the service economic and it was terminated in 1951.
On 1st October 2011, a charge of 5p was introduced on all single use carrier bags, in an attempt to drastically reduce the number of bags given away in Wales.
During 2009-10 in Wales, shoppers used an estimated 350 million carrier bags from major supermarkets, which equates to 273 bags per household. Habitually the bags are only used once, which not only being a waste of resources, causes a litter problem with serious environmental consequences especially as far as wildlife is concerned, as many of the bags are made of oil-based plastic, which can take up to 500-1000 years to decompose. The cost to Welsh local authorities to clean up plastic bag litter every year was an estimated £1million.
On 1st October 1806 - The brig Mary ran aground on the Arklow Bank, in the Irish Sea and was wrecked with the loss of seven of the ten people on board. Two of the survivors were rescued by Mary, a ship from Liverpool, whilst the third was rescued by Mary, a ship from Amlwch, Anglesey.
Amlwch is the most northerly town in Wales, with the local economy reliant mainly on tourism. However, it was one of the busiest ports and the second largest town in Wales after Merthyr Tydfil in the late 18th century, with a population of approximately 10,000. In 1792 "Beaumaris & Amlwch" received 327 ships with a gross tonnage of 13287 tons. compared with Swansea's 96 ships and 5521 ton gross in the same year.
This was "The Age of Sail", a period which lasted from the 16th to the mid-19th century and was the period in which international trade and naval warfare were dominated by sailing ships.
Some of the earliest records of ship movements from Amlwch are in 1730 when two vessels from Conwy are recorded as carrying Oak and Alder timber from Amlwch. Then in 1748 Lewis Morris, a customs officer recorded that vessels came to Amlwch to load corn, butter and cheese. But it was the rediscovery of Copper at Mynydd Parys in 1762 at what was then the world's biggest copper mine and the need to ship the copper ore around the world, that led to Amlwch's rapid growth.
Ore from the mine was brought to the port by horse and cart and It would take many journeys to build up the 20 - 70 tons required for a full ship's load. The ships were assisted into the harbour's narrow entrance by unlicensed pilots or "Hobblers" who used small rowing and sailing boats to steer the vessels into port.
By 1816 a 150-foot pier and lighthouse were added and in 1866 the ports of Beaumaris & Amlwch received 298 ships carrying 19335 tons while Cardiff received 89 with a total of 18252 tons at the same time. The turning point in the history of the port was reached in 1865 when for the first time copper ore from the mountain was exported using the new railway at Llangefni, which was cheaper than transporting it by sea.
Born on this day 1923 in Swansea
Trevor Ford - former Wales soccer international who was capped 38 times and scored 23 goals for his country. Ford was a prolific centre-forward, also scoring 61 goals for Aston Villa from 128 appearances and was a footballing celebrity of his time. In 1950, he was the subject of a then British football transfer record, when he signed for Sunderland for £30,000 from Aston Villa. However in 1956, he revealed that he had been involved in an illegal payments scandal while at Sunderland, which saw him temporarily suspended from the game and excluded from the Welsh squad for the 1958 World Cup.
Ford was also a talented cricketer and acted as a substitute fielder for Glamorgan in their County Championship match against Nottinghamshire at St Helen's when Sir Garfield Sobers hit six sixes from an over bowled by Malcolm Nash.
The 38th Ryder Cup was held on 1st–4th October 2010 at the Celtic Manor Resort in Newport. It was the first time the Ryder Cup had been staged in Wales and was played on the specifically designed Twenty Ten course
The result was an unprecedented fourth consecutive victory at home by Europe. During his victory speech, Europe Captain Colin Montgomerie said: " The world was watching and Wales delivered.”
Born on this day 1959 in Newport
Mark Aizlewood - former Wales soccer international, TV commentator and former Welsh learner of the year.
After retiring from playing he revealed in his straight talking Welsh-language autobiography, Amddiffyn fy Hun (Defending Myself), how he had got caught up in the drinking and gambling culture endemic in football, which eventually led to him considering suicide. However, his story is also of a survivor who has overcome his problems and how after taking his last drink, has started to turn his life around.
Born on this day 1925 in Dowlais
Gwyn "Alf" Williams - historian and broadcaster, who is regarded as an important influence on the way we now think about our country and people.
Williams read History at the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, joined the British Army and fought at Normandy during World War II, before returning to Aberystwyth in 1954 as Lecturer in Welsh History. He was such an entertaining speaker that students from other departments, regularly sat in on his lectures, for the entertaining and passionate way he spoke about industrial Wales, after which he would often adjourn to the nearest pub to continue the flow of his lectures.
He learnt Italian and Spanish for his study of the history of Communism in Italy. But it was with his books on Welsh history that made the most impact " The Merthyr Rising" and "When was Wales?", which was perhaps his most popular and influential work.
In 1983 retired and focused more on television and film, being remembered in particular for presenting, with Wynford Vaughan Thomas, a 13-part series on Welsh history entitled "The Dragon Has Two Tongues".
On 30th September 1294, Madog ap Llywelyn, claimed the title "Prince of Wales" and began a revolt against King Edward I of England. Its eventual failure, however, provoked an extremely harsh response from Edward in the form of humiliating and punitive restrictions on the civil rights of the Welsh.
A timeline for the key events in the revolt of Madog ap Llywelyn.
1282 - Following the death of Llywelyn ap Gruffydd, Wales was annexed by King Edward I of England.
1293 - Sir Roger de Puleston was appointed High Sheriff of Anglesey, with the task of imposing the new English taxes. These were unpopular with the Welsh and led to discontent.
1294 - Following a raid on Caernarfon by de Puleston, a riot ensued during which de Puleston killed. Over the following months, the simmering resentment of the Welsh people against the unfair royal administration encouraged Madog to put himself forward as the leader of a national revolt, claiming the title "Prince of Wales". Caernarfon was overrun and the castle occupied, as were those at Hawarden, Ruthin, and Denbigh, with the castles of Criccieth and Harlech, put under siege. Further south, the castles at Morlais and Kenfig were taken, Builth Castle was besieged and the town of Caerphilly burnt. In December, King Edward I led an army into north Wales to put down the revolt but became trapped over Christmas in Conwy Castle, only managing to escape in the new year.
1295 - The revolt was finally put down at the battle of Maes Moydog in Powys, with the Welsh suffering very heavy losses. Madog escaped but was later forced to surrender in late July or early August. He did, however, escape execution, as he was still alive in 1312.
Today is the feast day of Saint Nidan
Saint Nidan (Died c.610) - was a descendant of the celebrated warrior Urien Rheged and is thought to have been Bishop of St Seiriol's monastery at Penmon, on the eastern tip of Anglesey, he also founded Llanidan Church on Anglesey. Nidan is said to have been one of the 665 monks who travelled with St Kentigern from Llanelwy (Denbighshire) to establish Christianity in Midmar (Aberdeenshire), where there is also a church dedicated to him .
John Jones -Coch Bach y Bala (the Welsh Houdini)
On 30th September, 1913 Coch Bach made his final escape from Prison, dying six days later, of wounds sustained avoiding recapture.
Coch Bach's numerous escapes from prisons, police cells and holding jails have seen him go down in Welsh folklore. It is said that he had spent time and escaped from every prison in North Wales, with his exploits being followed by national newspapers and the subject of many postcards.
Coch Bach was born in 1853 in Bala and began his life of crime at an early age, stealing eggs from farmers. He soon graduated to taking unguarded property from local people, making his first escape from Ruthin Gaol, whilst awaiting trial for the theft of twelve watches.
He made his most famous escape in 1900 while waiting to be transferred to Dartmoor Prison from Caernarfon. He barricaded his cell door and dug an escape tunnel while the prison guards were trying to break in.
For his last escape, Coch Bach had broken through his cell wall and lowered himself to freedom using a knotted blanket as a rope. However, he was shot in the leg during the attempt to recapture him and died six days later from his injuries.
The Glamorganshire Golf Club, Penarth, is where, on the 30th September 1898, club member, Dr. Frank Barney Gordon Stableford introduced the method of golf scoring now named after him. The Stableford method of points scoring, is popular with amateur golfers in particular, as the odd bad hole does not ruin an entire round .
Born on this day 1904 in Haverfordwest.
Waldo Williams, who is regarded as the 20th century's most original Welsh language romantic poet.
When Waldo was seven, his family moved to Mynachlog-ddu, near Crymych where his father was appointed headmaster of the primary school. It was here that he learned to speak Welsh. Williams was a lifelong pacifist, which led to him being a conscientious objector during World War II and later being imprisoned for his opposition to the Korean war in 1950.
Williams was also a keen member of Plaid Cymru and used his poetry to express his nationalism, which had considerable influence on the younger generation of activists in particular.
There is memorial monolith to Waldo Williams situated in the Preseli Mountains.
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The Treaty of Montgomery, which was signed on 29th September 1267, marked an important milestone in the history of medieval Wales. For the first time, the king of England (Henry III) recognised a Welsh ruler (Llywelyn ap Gruffydd) as Prince of Wales, having the right to receive homage from the other Welsh princes and lords.
A timeline highlighting the relevant events leading up to and immediately following The Treaty of Montgomery;
Since their invasion of 1066, the Normans had ambitions to expand into Wales and the early 13th century is typified by the defense of Welsh lands by Llywelyn Fawr from firstly King John and later his son Henry III
1240 Following the death of Llywelyn Fawr, Henry's power in Wales expanded. He carried out three military campaigns in the 1240s and constructed new castles to confirm his dominance over the Welsh princes.
1247 At the Treaty of Woodstock, Henry III partitioned Gwynedd between Llywelyn Fawr's grandsons, Llywelyn ap Gruffydd and his younger brother Dafydd.
1255 Dafydd joined in a challenge to Llywelyn at the Battle of Bryn Derwin in which, Llywelyn was victorious and Dafydd was imprisoned. However, Llywelyn released him the following year and restored him to favour.
1256 Llywelyn ap Gruffydd rebelled against Henry and widespread violence spread across Wales
1258 The barons of England rebelled against Henry III. Llywelyn maintained close relations with the leader of the barons, Simon de Montfort.
1264 King Henry and his son (the future Edward I) were defeated and taken prisoner by Simon de Montfort at the Battle of Lewes. However, Edward escaped and continued the fight.
1265 (22nd June) Llywelyn and Simon de Montfort agreed on a permanent peace at The Treaty of Pipton and Llywelyn was acknowledged as the Prince of Wales.
1265 (4th August) Simon de Montfort although boosted by Welsh infantry was defeated and killed at the Battle of Evesham and power restored to King Henry
1267 Llywelyn and Henry III agreed to The Treaty of Montgomery in which Henry III agreed to recognise Llywelyn as Prince of Wales, and that the title would pass on to Llywelyn's heirs. Llewelyn agreed to do homage to Henry, but never considered himself a subject of the English monarch.
1272 Henry III died and Edward I becomes King of England. Relations between England and Wales deteriorated.
1277 Llywelyn refused to pay homage to Edward, who invaded with a force of 15,500, which resulted in The Treaty of Aberconwy that effectively removed the concessions granted by the earlier Treaty of Montgomery and Llywelyn had to undergo the humiliation of swearing oaths of fealty to Edward and pay a fine of £50,000.
Map shows Wales after the Treaty of Montgomery (1267) - GREEN - Gwynedd, Llywelyn ap Gruffudd's principality, PURPLE -Territories conquered by Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, BLUE - Territories of Llywelyn's vassals, ORANGE - Lordships of the Marcher barons, YELLOW - Lordships of the King of England.
Born on this day 1939 in Cardiff
Rhodri Morgan - former leader of Welsh Labour, who as First Secretary for Wales and subsequently First Minister, was the leader of the Welsh Assembly Government from 2000 to 2009.
Born on this day 1944 in Aberdare.
Jim Mills - former Wales and Great Britain rugby league international. "Big Jim", an uncompromising prop forward, who originally played rugby union with Cardiff RFC, before turning professional and playing league with Halifax, Salford, Bradford Northern, Widnes and Workington Town and also in Australia for North Sydney. Mills was infamously banned from New Zealand for stamping on John Greengrass's head in the 25-24 win over New Zealand at Swansea at the 1975 World Series. The ban was eventually lifted but Mills remained banned for life by the New Zealand Rugby League.
Jim Mills was inducted into the Widnes Hall of Fame in 1992. That year he also worked as team manager for the Wales national team.
Born on this day 1952 in Barry
Helen Morgan - winner of Miss World in 1974. However, she resigned four days after her victory, the fist winner to do so, upon the discovery that she had an 18-month-old son. She was encouraged to resign even though she did not the competition rules (which stipulated only that entrants must be unmarried).
Helen worked in a bank and entered modelling competitions on a part-time basis. In 1974, she also won the Miss Wales and Miss United Kingdom titles and was runner-up in the Miss Universe pageant.
Born on this day 1955 in Carmarthen
Gareth Davies - former Wales and Lions rugby international. He is currently Chairman of the WRU having previously held the roles of head of the UK Centre for Coaching Excellence and CEO of the Newport Gwent Dragons.
Americymru: Hi Maggie and many thanks for agreeing to be interviewed by AmeriCymru. You were born in Wales. Care to tell us a little more about your Welsh background and how you came to the States?
Maggie: I was dragged kicking and screaming into this world in my grandparent’s terraced house in the Ryhmney Valley coal-mining town of Ystrad Mynach in what is now the county of Mid Glamorgan. My maternal and paternal grandfathers were coal miners. My maternal grandmother’s mother tongue was Welsh, which colored her English, often amusingly so. My father was the first in his family to go to college, and I was the first female in the family to throw myself into the academic melee. I have fond memories of Bangor University, which was Bangor College, University of Wales, when I graduated. I’m even nostalgic about the gales that blew—seemingly continuously—from across the Irish Sea, pouring cold water into my wellies and darkening the Gothic college buildings until they resembled something Sauron would have enjoyed living in.
After graduation, I stumbled through a motley slew of jobs from unofficial spy (for the Brits, in case you’re worried) to musicologist (I studied piano and music theory) to orchestral manager to law-firm media relations consultant to academic editor, in the UK, Romania, and—when the glitter of the gold-paved streets beckoned—the USA. I even tried my hand at teaching English to recalcitrant schoolgirls in France. Well, they were recalcitrant until I switched from grammar to medieval history—there’s nothing like castles, dungeons, and torture chambers for winning friends and influencing minds.
I was recruited in London for a job at the World Bank, Washington, DC as a trilingual secretary, but that changed quickly once I discovered the thrills—and spills—of writing program notes for National Symphony Orchestra audiences who would rather search for their names in the donors’ lists than learn what Beethoven had for breakfast. And I went downhill from there …
Americymru: We learn from your biography that after arriving in the US you "... gravitated to Virginia where I threw myself—not literally of course—into editing and writing nonfiction, mostly for adults." Can you tell us more? How would you describe your writing background?
Maggie: That motley slew of jobs in the business sector all had one thing in common—writing/editing, writing/editing, and more writing/editing—on everything from astronomy to Zen Buddhism. I’ve always loved words, and I’ve always loved research. In fact, I was often so absorbed by the research that I put off getting around to the writing. That still happens.
Americymru: Dewi is not your first venture in the area of childrens writing. Can you tell us a little more about your previous work for children?
Maggie: I’ve always been fascinated by children’s literature from the time I was small and my parents read me bedtime stories to becoming a mother myself and reading my own child stories, sometimes the same ones I enjoyed as a child. When my son grew too old for stories, I needed an excuse to borrow books from the children’s library. Declaring myself to be a children’s writer did the trick. Studying the work of great children’s writers gives me the chance to indulge my love of that enchanting mix of innocence, escapism, imagination, and humor that bubbles out of children’s literature. My first efforts at writing were articles and poetry written for the online Stories for Children Magazine, and knowonder! magazine published my first novella, Dewi, the Red Dragon. My adventure story Vin and the Dorky Duet for middle-grade readers was published this past summer.
Americymru: What can you tell us about Dewi and the seeds of Doom? What inspired it? Where can readers buy it online?
Maggie: When I first created my character Dewi, a young and nosy Welsh dragon, I wanted to spread the word, in my very small way, about the land of my birth—its gorgeous countryside, its inspiring history, its fascinating legends, its impossible language. I don’t see why Wales can’t enjoy the kind of global awareness that Scotland and Ireland do. Dewi and the Seeds of Doom combines fantasy—the setting is a historically dubious Wales—with a contemporary problem: genetically modified organisms (GMOs). GMOs in the human food chain are very scary—much scarier than any horror movie could ever be. They are now to be found in 80 to 90 percent of all processed foods in the USA. I have enormous respect and admiration for those courageous folks who are trying to educate the public about them and get them removed from our food supply. I hope children who read Dewi and the Seeds of Doom will enjoy a romp with a feisty little Welsh dragon turned amateur detective. I hope their parents will subscribe to the underlying message about GMOs.
Dewi and the Seeds of Doom is available most places where books are sold, including Amazon and Kindle, and the publishers’ bookstores: for the e-book, MuseItUp Publishing and for the paperback, Halo Publishing International at and of course through Americymru’s bookstore. For more information, check my website at Maggie Lyons Children''s Books
Here’s a brief description of the story:
When Dewi is clobbered by a falling rat, the nosy Welsh dragon snoops his way into a challenging predicament. Helped by a toad with a passion for chemical wart cures, Dewi discovers that a megalomaniac baron is secretly breeding mutant corn at an unfriendly castle. To thwart the genetically modified-corn baron’s sickening plan, he must use moxie and firepower in a series of catastrophe-skirting capers.
Americymru: What''s next for Maggie Lyons?
Maggie: I’m working on a sequel to my children’s adventure story Vin and the Dorky Duet and I’m also chewing on an idea for a sequel to Dewi and the Seeds of Doom, this time inspired by the history of the National Eisteddfod, in which, as a very young pianist, I once competed.
Americymru: Any final message for the readers and members of AmeriCymru?
Maggie: A very heartfelt diolch yn fawr for reading this far.
Interview by Ceri Shaw
AmeriCymru: Hi Evonne and croeso i AmeriCymru. If I may quote you:- "...walking on the beach to the sound of the waves and the gulls....and plotting murder." Could you tell us a little more about your creative process? Which part of the Welsh coast do you most favour or frequent
Evonne: For me, producing a book is as much about the thinking process as it is about writing. At least, that is my excuse for staring into space, sitting in the garden, walking on the beach … There is quite a long gestation period before I begin drafting, when I test out ideas, do research, collect background material and absorb atmosphere. Once the book is begun there are always points where it ties itself into knots, or where your characters run off and do something that you did not expect, leaving you to deal with the mess! Then you need some space, to sort it out. I was born and brought up by the sea, in Barry, although I spent a long time living in London, so for me the word “walk” always means “beach”. I now live about ten minutes from the Barry Island section of the Wales Coastal Path and my feet go towards the sea automatically. I also have very good memories of childhood holidays in Pembrokeshire. In that case it was beaches and castles.
AmeriCymru: How would you describe your work? "Romantic fiction with a dark edge"?
Evonne: I write romantic thrillers – what are known in the States as romantic suspense. There is always a strong love story and I adhere firmly to the principle of a happy ending, although it is not achieved without a struggle, and some characters do not make it to the end of the book. I blame the thriller elements of my work on my addiction to the theatre, especially early exposure to Shakespeare and the Jacobean dramatists, as in those plays betrayal, murder and mayhem are always mixed with love, beauty and poetry.
Evonne: Out of Sight, Out of Mind is a paranormal romantic suspense, with a hero and heroine who read minds. It was my first excursion into writing romantic thrillers and was a finalist in several contests on both sides of the Atlantic, but the biggest was the American Title contest, which was run by Romantic Times Magazine (Now RT BookReviews) and Dorchester Publishing. American Title was a reality writing contest. Parts of the novel were printed in the magazine, and readers voted for their favourites, over the Internet. I didn’t win, but I had a fabulous time and travelled to Pittsburgh for the RT Booklovers Convention where the award was presented. The following year I entered the contest again, and was again chosen for the final – the only person ever to have done it twice. I didn’t win that time, either, but had a lot of fun. And that book was Never Coming Home .
Evonne: Kaz Elmore, the heroine of the book, has lost her young daughter in a fatal car crash while she was on holiday in the United States with her father, Kaz’s ex husband. Six months later, in London, Kaz has a visit from a stranger, who has a very different version of the crash from the one Kaz received from her ex. Naturally she needs to know what happened to her daughter, and she hires the stranger, Devlin, to help her find out. The search for answers takes them across Europe and uncovers a complex web of plots and conspiracies. Something very nasty from Devlin’s past comes back to threaten him, people start dying and Kaz and Devlin fall for each other. This is a particular problem for Devlin, as he considers he is not capable of love, because of things he has done in the past.
It has been an incredibly exciting journey to see the book published. The excitement was compounded in May this year, when Never Coming Home won the Joan Hessayan New Writers’ Award from the Romantic Novelists’ Association, here in the UK.
AmeriCymru: We learn from your website that you have many unpublished manuscripts including one particular favourite - ''The Time We Have Left''. Are there any plans for publication? Please tell us more about the book?
Evonne: The Time We Have Left is the book that ran away with itself. It’s meant to be the first part of a trilogy, and is over 140,000 words - which is a very fat book. It’s a regional family saga, set in the South Wales coal ports of Barry and Cardiff during World War Two, charting the lives and loves of a family of three sisters. It was written a number of years ago and is nothing like what I write now, but it was a major part of my learning curve as a writer, when I was experimenting to find my style and favourite genre. Although it is an early manuscript it has received good feedback from experts and I have a very soft spot for it, as I spent a long while writing it - 140,000 words do not happen overnight. I did a considerable amount of archive research for it and it also owes a lot to family members and friends, who gave me first hand background material on what it was like to live through those times. It also records and celebrates things about Cardiff and Barry, particularly buildings, that have disappeared or been substantially changed - landmarks and lifestyles that no longer exist. It would be lovely to work on it with an editor, to find out if it could be brought up to publication standard, but I don’t see it happening in the near future. A retirement project, perhaps?
AmeriCymru: What do you read for pleasure and what are you reading at the moment? Any recommendations?
Evonne: I’m a compulsive reader in all sorts of genres. In my own genre of romantic suspense, Karen Rose, Nora Roberts and Jayne Anne Krentz are favourites. I also read historicals and I enjoy the golden age detective stories, as well as contemporary police procedurals and thrillers. I’ve recently finished Season of Storms from Canadian writer Susanna Kearsley.
For anyone interested in sampling a wide variety of women’s fiction from the UK, they might like to take a look at what is on offer from my publishers, Choc-lit, who are small independent publishers. The Choc-lit authors have a number of award winners amongst them and we all write in different genres – paranormal, historical, fantasy, romantic comedy, thrillers, contemporary romance …
Choc-lit are currently looking to recruit two new authors, one from Australia and one from the U.S., and are running competitions for unpublished writers. They also have a tasting panel, made up of readers, who comment on submissions and recommend them for publication. Choc-lit are recruiting from America and Australia for that also. Details of the writing contest, the tasting panel and the Choc-lit catalogue are all available on the Choc-lit website. All the authors blog there too,on a regular basis.
AmeriCymru: What''s next for Evonne Wareham? Any forthcoming publications or projects in the works?
Evonne: Never Coming Home , my debut published novel, was the finalist from my second American Title contest. Choc-lit have also contracted for Out of Sight, Out of Mind and that will be out in the UK in March next year. So – both my American Title books will be published, but in reverse order. I’m hoping to make it over to the States next year to attend the RT Booklovers Convention. Fingers crossed on that one. I’d also love to attend some of the crime and thriller conventions such as Bouchercon and Thrillerfest, but I think that will have to wait for a while.
AmeriCymru: Any final message for the members and readers of AmeriCymru?
Evonne: I like to include at least one scene set in Wales in all my books, so if Americymru members and readers are persuaded to try one of them, I hope they will enjoy the connection to Wales. In Never Coming Home the scene is a short but crucial one, near the end of the book, which takes place in and around Cardiff station. In Out of Sight, Out of Mind , Wales has a much larger role, as a chunk of the action takes place in Pembrokeshire.
I’ve really enjoyed talking to Americymru and would like to thank Ceri for some interesting questions. If I’ve tempted you to read my work, I do hope you enjoy it.
In 1904 Wales experienced a National Religious Revival that set the country on fire and spread worldwide, it reached the rest of Britain, Scandinavia, North and South America, India and Africa. It was characterised by spontaneous, tears, joy, fainting, hymn-singing, public confessions and mass conversions, especially among young people and young women in particular.
A key moment happened at a religious convention at Blaenanerch, 5 miles north of Cardigan on 28-29 September 1904. Evan Roberts a 26-year-old young man from Loughor in Glamorgan underwent a life-changing experience, bending his knees and crying out as he was dramatically filled by the Holy Spirit during a service by the Evangelist Seth Joshua.
After his experience at Blaenanerch, although not a priest, he became the de facto leader of the revival and along with his brother Dan, his best friend Sidney and six girl singers, travelled the country conducting Revival Meetings, which broke the conventional order of traditional church services. Often the local ministers just sat down unable to preach or even to understand the storm that had arrived in their usually sedate places of worship. Within two weeks the Welsh Revival was national news and it was reported that it brought in an extra 100,000 new converts in Wales. People's lives were changed in many ways. The crime rate dropped, drunkards were reformed, pubs reported losses in trade and bad language disappeared. There were frequent public showings of people's faith on buses, trains, in the street and at places of work, including the coal mines and steel works.
The public excitement of the Revival had died down by 1906. Evan Roberts, who had succumbed to the pressure of his rigorous schedule, suffered a physical and emotional collapse and went to Leicester to recuperate. But his religious convictions remained firm to the end of his life. He died in 1951 at the age of seventy-three and was buried in Moriah Chapel in Lougher.
Born on this day 1746 in London
Sir William Jones - philologist of Welsh parentage, who is credited with discovering the connection amongst "The Indo-European" group of languages.
Over his lifetime Jones learned 28 languages including Greek, Latin, Arabic, Hebrew, Chinese and Persian and when appointed as Judge of the Supreme Court of Calcutta, he decided to learn Sanskrit, in order to prepare himself for the large amount of Hindu and Muslim legal documents that he would need to deal with. He noted certain similarities among the Greek, Latin, Sanskrit, Germanic, and Celtic languages and theorised that an unknown ancestral language must have given rise to these languages. This hypothetical language is referred to as Proto-Indo-European.
Lucy Walters of Roch Castle near Haverfordwest and a mistress of King Charles II died of venereal disease in September 1658.
Roch Castle declared for Charles' father Charles I, during the English Civil War, but it was captured and burned by the parliamentarians in 1644. Lucy was forced to flee to London and then the Hague, which is where she met Charles and they became lovers. They had one child James Scott, who later, Charles made Duke of Monmouth and it was he who many protestants wanted to make heir to the throne during The Exclusion Crisis of James II in 1679 through to 1681, claiming that Lucy and Charles had secretly married.
On the termination of their affair in 1651, Lucy fell into to a life of promiscuous immorality, which resulted in her death in Paris in 1658.
Naomi Watts (born 28 September 1968) one of Hollywood's most versatile and beautiful actresses.
Born in Shoreham, Kent, she is the daughter of Myfanwy Edwards (née Roberts), a Welsh antique dealer and costume and set designer and Peter Watts, an English road manager and sound engineer who worked with Pink Floyd. Following the death of her father in 1976, Watts' mother moved the family to Llanfawr Farm in Llangefni, on Anglesey, where she attended the Welsh language school, Ysgol Gyfun Llangefni.
Then in 1982, when Watts was 14, she moved to Sydney, Australia with her mother, brother and stepfather. She began an acting career, performing locally and appearing in television commercials, before breaking into film acting. She has to date starred in the following Films; "Mulholland Drive", "The Ring", "21 Grams", "We Don't Live Here Anymore", "The Assassination of Richard Nixon", "King Kong", "Fair Game", "The Impossible" and "Diana".
Born on this day 1883 in Greenwich, Ohio, to Welsh immigrant parents
Albert Rhys Williams - journalist and fervent supporter of the Soviet Union.
Williams became extremely interested in socialist politics, whilst studying for a fellowship at Cambridge University and on his return to America, he got the position of Russian correspondent for The New York Evening Post. In this role, he was present at the storming of the Winter Palace in Petrograd in 1917 and in attendance at the First, Second and Third Congresses of Soviets, where he met and became friendly with Vladimir Lenin. He was later active in the Civil War with the Bolsheviks and covered foreign intervention in the Revolution at Vladivostok.
Back in America, he published leaflets explaining and praising the Bolshevik Revolution and also a biography of Lenin. Williams returned many more times to the Soviet Union where in 1929, he published his most famous work, The Russian Land.
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The second Thomas Oscendale novel, following the success of ''The Dead of Mametz''.
Fresh from the horrors of the Great War on the Western front, military policeman Thomas Oscendale is enjoying leave in his South Wales hometown when he is drawn into the investigation of the savage murder of a war widow.
Buy Demons Walk Amongst Us here
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"Nobody reads a mystery to get to the middle. They read it to get to the end. If it''s a letdown, they won''t buy anymore. The first page sells that book. The last page sells your next book." MICKEY SPILLANE
On the basis of the above analysis Jonathan Hicks successfully sold me on both. Beginning as it does in the hell that was Gallipoli we are thrown straight into the horror and drama of WWI. But as if that were not enough to contend with Thomas Oscendale''s leave is taken up with the investigation of a series of grisly murders in his home town of Barry, south Wales. Why are war widows being burned alive and what is the connection with the sinister Major Lucas?
The plot takes many surprising twists and turns before reaching it''s entirely unexpected denouement and the battlefield descriptions are powerful and harrowing.
At one point Oscendale is picked up by a tank crew in no man''s land. He accompanies them as they assault the German lines:-
''The tank jolted along, lifting and falling with the rise and fall of the ground. After hitting his head on a piece of metal again he curled up into a foetal-like ball with his hands over his head and waited for it all to stop. He knew he was safer in here than he had been lying out in the open but he was aware he was still in mortal danger.
There was a loud bang on the right hand side of the tank and he felt it slew to the left, but to his relief they kept going. Seconds later another anti-tank round hit the right-hand side again and a piece of metal as big as a fist flew across to the other side, catching one of the crew in the head. He saw the man fall screaming to the floor, his hands covering the bloody pulp of what had been his face.''
Amidst the carnage Oscendale struggles to solve the series of interconnected murders that link his hometown to the battlefront.
This book will appeal to lovers of both crime and historical fiction. It combines a first rate murder mystery with a realistic and gruesome account of the effects of mechanised warfare. Not to be missed!
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AmeriCymru: Hi Peter and many thanks for agreeing to be interviewed by AmeriCymru. Care to introduce the Batch Magna novels for our readers?
Peter: Thank you, Ceri, for inviting me. I appreciate it. The novels, of which The Cuckoos of Batch Magna is the first in the series, are set in a river valley in the Welsh Marches, the borderland between Wales and England (though I’m sure that doesn’t need explaining in this company). The squire of the village there, Batch Magna, dies, and what’s left of his decaying estate crosses the Atlantic and passes, through the ancient law of entailment, to distant relative Humph, an amiable, overweight short-order cook from the Bronx.
Sir Humphrey Franklin T Strange, 9 th baronet and squire of Batch Magna, as Humph now most remarkably finds himself to be, is persuaded by his Uncle Frank, a small time Wall Street broker with an eye on the big time, to make a killing by turning the sleepy backwater into a theme-park rural paradise for free-spending US millionaires.
But while the village pub and shop, with the lure of the dollar in their eyes, put out the Stars and Stripes in welcome, the tenants of the estate’s dilapidated houseboats take a different view, and when they’re given notice to quit by the new squire they stand their ground. And the fun begins.
The novels were inspired by nostalgia, of a time in the mid 1970s spent gloriously free living in a small colony of houseboats on the River Medway, in deepest rural Kent. The houseboats there were converted Thames sailing barges; for my houseboats, on Batch Magna''s river the Cluny, I used converted paddle steamers (once part of an equally fictitious Victorian trading company, the Cluny Steamboat Company), simply because I like the vessels.
They are feelgood books (The Wind in the Willows for grown-ups, as one Amazon reviewer described Cuckoos), pure escapism - for me now, looking back, and I hope for my readers.
AmeriCymru: What is the connection with Wales? How much of the action takes place west of Offa''s Dyke?
Peter: The stage is shared equally. The books were conceived with a nod both to Mercia and to Powys. The imaginary Welsh/English border running through Batch Valley and its village twists and turns, bestowing Welsh nationality on one villager in one part of it and English on another. And their accents, as they tend to in the Marches, share that duality, sounding Welsh to English ears and English to Welsh. A duality which also allowed me to have fun with Welsh/English banter.
AmeriCymru: How many books are there in the series and how would you say the plot and characters have developed over time?
Peter: I have two sequels to Cuckoos finished and waiting their turn (why this is so involves rather complicated reasons when I was under contract to my last two publishers), and I’m several chapters into a third sequel. And I think there’s enough mileage in the characters and place for at least several more. I don’t think anything changed much really, apart from the plots. The characters, I suppose, like actors, have settled into the parts more in the sequels, are more perhaps rounded, but rather like Batch Magna itself, everything else is just as it always was.
AmeriCymru: I have to ask....did you have any particular village in mind as a model or paradigm for Batch Magna?
Peter: Yes, well two villages, actually, Ceri, and appropriately enough, one was in England (Somerset), the other in Wales (Pembrokeshire). The interior of the Batch Magna pub, the Steamer Inn, was taken from Somerset, the shop and post office from the Pembrokeshire village.
AmeriCymru: How has your background as an ex-actor, fringe theatre director and script writer influenced your writing?
Peter: That’s an interesting question. I am all of those when writing. I write the script, while seeing the scene through the eye, as it were, of the camera, direct and act it out on paper. But it’s that first bit, the ‘seeing’, I think that is important, it’s from that which all else follows. The late Yorkshire novelist John Braine said you can break all the rules written about novel writing, and still write a good novel. But if you break the rule which says you must see the action as you write it, no matter how trivial that action might be, then your words will stay on the page, will never take on a second life in the imagination of the reader (and reading should also be creative). And when a writer hasn’t done that then I think it’s noticeable – especially in any kind of action novel.
AmeriCymru: Are all the books in the series currently available? If so where can readers go to purchase them online?
Peter: It pains me to have to past up an opportunity for a plug, but I’m afraid the answer to that must be that your readers can’t, not yet. The second book will be out sometime this year. but I can’t even give a date for that yet.
AmeriCymru: What are you reading at the moment? Any recommendations?
Peter: I’m reading a book I picked up the other day in a second-home book shop in Hay on Wye (where all the second hand bookshops of the country are massed, ready to make a last stand) It’s a book of essays called At Home and Abroad by one of the great travel writers, V. S. Pritchard, a writer with a marvellous ability to conjure up the essence of a place and its people. (He was also of course, in addition to his biography and literary criticism, a renowned short story writer)
AmeriCymru: What''s next for Peter Maughan? When can we expect a new episode?
Peter: Well, as I said, there are two sequels finished, which, as with Cuckoos, I’m bringing out under my own imprint of The Cluny Press, and I now have to judge what is the optimum time to release the first one.
AmeriCymru: Any final message for the readers and members of AmeriCymru? .
Peter: Well, if they’ve followed my ramblings this far I’d like to thank them for that. And to thank you also, Ceri, for having me. And from me to them and you: hwyl fawr.
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