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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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AmeriCymru spoke to Welsh author Cynan Jones about his contribution to the Seren New Tales From The Mabinogion Series - ''Bird,Blood,Snow''. In re-imagining this myth for a contemporary audience Cynan Jones has adopted for his hero the juvenile terror and scourge of a modern council estate. Read our review here
Author of Bird,Blood,Snow
Read our previous interview with Cynan Jones
Other Titles by Cynan Jones
Everything I Found on the Beach
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AmeriCymru: Hi Cynan and many thanks for agreeing to be interviewed by AmeriCymru. Care to tell us a little about your latest book ''Bird,Blood,Snow''?
Cynan: Bird, Blood Snow is different. Bird, Blood, Snow is a bicycle kick. By that I mean the process of writing it was instinctive and spontaneous.
It''s a re-telling of an ancient Welsh myth. More accurately, an Arthurian myth. It''s part of the New Stories from the Mabinogion series.
Seren formally approached me with the commission in November last year (''11), then we had to wait for the funding process to run through before they confirmed in March.
The book was scheduled for October 2013, which would give me plenty of time. Then at the end of March, Seren asked whether I could hit the slot for this year. I said yes. Which effectively left me three months to deliver the book. That certainly fed into the eclectic approach I took.
AmeriCymru: The book is based on the Mabinogion Peredur tale. How would you describe ''Peredur'' for anyone who is not acquainted with it?
Cynan: I was the last author to be approached for the series and Peredur was the only tale left. There were good reasons why. It''s narratively disjointed, the imagery that thunders through most of the other tales is scant, and its allegories are uncertain of themselves.
It tells the tale of a youth bent on recognition in King Arthur''s court. He leaves the isolated home his mother has removed him to in the hope he won''t follow his father and brother''s into a violent life; then he tries to draw attention to himself through a series of violent acts in Arthur''s name. That''s it in its simplest terms.
AmeriCymru: How difficult was it to re-imagine for a modern audience?
Cynan: As I''ve said, it was a bicycle kick. That''s evidently a very difficult skill, but it''s something you do without thinking in some ways. You don''t think of the difficulty, or the physics of it. You just go for it. It''s in retrospect you think... wow. Ok...
If the time scale for delivery had not changed it''s likely I would have done something much more in line with my other writing. It was good I didn''t.
AmeriCymru: Peredur, as cast in ''Bird,Blood,Snow'', is not a sympathetic character and his ''biographer'' is dismissed for having attempted to romanticize him. Do you think he has any redeeming qualities?
Cynan: He is immune to mildness. That might be regarded a redeeming quality. And he is self aware. He is violent with great target, rather than disruptive. But he doesn''t want to be redeemed. He openly admits to living in his own little world. He''s not bothered about integrating himself into society.
It''s interesting to write a character who is essentially vicious but meanwhile make him compelling. You don''t have a sympathy for him but his honesty is magnetic.
AmeriCymru: You say in your Afterword that the Peredur story is an early unfinished version of the medieval ''questing'' tale. Care to elaborate?
Cynan: This is purely my reaction to it. The Mabinogion tales were originally oral stories. Given that, there would have been great opportunity to alter the tales, to introduce contemporary factors and influences.
I wonder to what degree the Peredur tale came about because of an emerging fashion for Arthurian myth. Storytellers would have been requested to relate certain types of story, so would need to react to new trends much in the way film makers nowadays do.
My feeling is the Peredur myth had not actually formalised into a set story at the time the tales came to be written down in around the 1300s / 1400s.
But once you write something down you essentially fossilise it. If that process happens wrongly, the fossil is imperfect, scattered. It has to be pieced back together by the reader. The fact there are several disparate versions of the Peredur tale supports the guess.
AmeriCymru: What is the ultimate goal of Peredur''s quest in ''Bird,Blood,Snow''?
Cynan: Acknowledgement.
AmeriCymru: What''s next for Cynan Jones? Any new books planned or in the works?
Cynan: There''s a new book in the mix. It''s ready to go to publishers.
Meanwhile, I''m looking forward to getting on to the next story. It''s gestating a the moment. Hopefully I''ll begin early next year. It won''t be as lunatic as this one.
AmeriCymru: Any final message for the readers and members of AmeriCymru?
Cynan: Thanks for the continued enthusiasm. Also, there''s a quest within the book. I''d like to invite readers to dig about in the story a bit, do some archaeology. I''ve buried several artefacts from other texts. Some more easy to uncover than others. But do get in touch if you think you''ve found something!
Interview by Ceri Shaw Ceri Shaw on Google+
Born on this day 1945 in Glynneath
Maxwell "Max" Boyce, a singer and entertainer who rose to fame during the mid-1970s with an act that combined musical comedy with his passion for rugby union and his origins in the mining communities of South Wales.
Boyce began writing songs about the mining community, whilst studying for a mining engineering degree in Trefforest in the early 1970's and then began performing in local clubs where he developed the humorous element to his act.
Roger de Montgomerie, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury (c.1030 - 27th Sept 1094) was one of the great Norman magnates of England during William the Conqueror's reign.
Following the Norman Conquest, William the Conquerer installed three of his most trusted confidants, Hugh d'Avranches, Roger de Montgomerie, and William FitzOsbern, as Earls of Chester, Shrewsbury and Hereford respectively.
These areas became known as the Welsh Marches and the Earls were given special powers to bring their adjacent parts of Wales under Norman control. They built hundreds of small castles as assertions of power as well as defences against Welsh raids. One such castle was that at Montgomery, in the part of the Welsh March under the control of de Montgomerie. As he was originally from Montgomery in the Pays d'Auge in Normandy, the castle and surrounding town were named after him.
By the early 12th century, the area of the March had increased by the early 12th century to cover the areas which would later become Monmouthshire and much of Flintshire, Montgomeryshire, Radnorshire, Brecknockshire, Glamorgan, Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire.
Jesuits in Wales;
Pope Paul III approved the Society of Jesus (The Jesuits) on 27th September 1540 (pictured)
The 16th Century was a time of turmoil and as the Protestant Reformation took hold across Europe, the Society of Jesus, a counter-Reformation group was founded by a Spanish knight Ignatius Loyola, who underwent a spiritual conversion while recovering from a serious battle injury at the Battle of Pamplona in 1521, after which he abandoned his previous military life and devoted himself to God.
The Jesuits were sent by Popes into the heart of Protestantism to win back lost souls. They went willingly despite the obvious dangers to their own well-being and their commitment bordered on the fanatical. Forty years after the order's formation, Jesuit colleges in France, Spain and Italy trained young men for a mission to England, where Catholics were being told that they must recant their catholicism or face the possibility of death and were active in encouraging such plots as the excommunication of Elizabeth I and The Gunpowder Plot (1605) to destroy Parliament and kill James I.
In 1595 Fr Robert Jones arrived in Wales to provide for the needs of the many faithful Catholics in Wales. By 1605, he had established a Jesuit mission, largely financed by the Morgans of Llantarnam. Lady Frances Morgan was one of Fr Jones’s converts and this financial support made it possible to maintain two Jesuits in North Wales and two in South Wales. Fr Jones died in 1615 and Fr John Salisbury succeeded him initially using Raglan Castle as a major Catholic centre later buying a farm known as the Cwm, on the Welsh - English border, near Monmouth, where he founded the Jesuit College of St Francis Xavier in 1622.
Suspicion of Catholicism intensified and they were blamed for the Great Plague of London (1665) and The Great Fire of London (1666), culminating in the Popish Plot (1678 - 1681), a fabricated conspiracy concocted by Titus Oates that gripped Britain with anti-Catholic feelings and resulted in many Jesuits suffering execution and martyrdom.
Notable Welsh Jesuits:
Philip Evans from Monmouth was sent to South Wales as a Missionary in 1675. When the Oates scare swept the country, John Arnold, a hunter of priests, offered a reward of £200 (an enormous sum then) for his arrest in 1678. But despite the manifest dangers Father Evans steadfastly refused to leave his flock.
John Lloyd - after taking the 'missionary oath' he was sent to England in 1649 and then to Wales in 1654. He was constantly on the run for 24 years.
David Lewis - from Abergavenny, was raised as a Protestant, but converted to Catholicism at age 16 and subsequently became a Catholic priest. Three years later, he joined the Society of Jesus and was arrested in 1678, at St Michael's Church, Llantarnam on a charge of high treason, for saying Catholic Masses. He was then sent to London to be examined by Titus Oates.
All three priests were declared guilty declared guilty of treason and executed in 1679. They were canonized as Christian martyrs by Pope Paul VI in 1970.
The Society of Jesus today is engaged in evangelization and apostolic ministry in 112 nations on six continents. Jesuits are involved in promoting education research, as well as cultural pursuits. They also supply retreats, ministers in parishes and hospitals and promote social justice. Their headquarters are the General Curia in Rome.
Today is the feast day of St Baruc (Barrwg)
Saint Baruc c.540, was a disciple of Saint Cadog. It is said that one day, he had forgotten to bring Cadoc's reading matter with him on a journey from the island of Flat Holm and Cadoc asked him to go back for it, but he drowned in the Bristol Channel on the return journey. His body was found on the beach at Barry Island, where he was buried and the island was later named after him .
For action on this day 1857, during the Indian Mutiny, at the Siege of Lucknow, bombardier Jacob Thomas from Llanwinio, near Carmarthen of the Bengal Artillery was awarded the Victoria Cross. His citation read:
For distinguished gallantry at Lucknow on the 27th September, 1857, in having brought off on his back, under a heavy fire, under circumstances of considerable difficulty, a wounded soldier of the Madras Fusiliers, when the party to which he was attached was returning to the Residency from a sortie, whereby he saved him from falling into the hands of the enemy.
The Indian Rebellion of 1857 began as a mutiny of sepoys (Indian soldiers) of the East India Company's army and soon escalated into other mutinies and civilian rebellions, posing a considerable threat to Company power. The rebellion was a result of various grievances, but the flashpoint was reached when the soldiers were asked to bite off the paper cartridges for their rifles which they believed were greased with animal fat,
The Siege of Lucknow was the prolonged defence and subsequent evacuation of the Residency (political offices) within the city of Lucknow during the Indian Rebellion of 1857.
