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Megan?

Megan. It was the name Valarie had chosen in deference to her Welsh
ancestry of which she was inordinately proud. For once he let her have her way.
What did it matter anyway, the child would never be born. It had proved a
serious error of judgement for the very act of naming the child bestowed on
Valarie a moral strength he never imagined she possessed. Thereafter she
resisted him at every turn but the effort drained her vitality and she took refuge
in drink. The miscarriage had been a fortuitous consequence.

Thats impossible. Valarie lost our child.

Even now he refused to speak her name. Even now he refused to accept his
portion of blame.

Nothing that has ever lived is truly lost Papa."

She looked at him and
the revelation of what he had lost swept over him, a chill wind announcing the
onset of a long and bitter winter. Images of what might have been flashed
through his mind and he tried to grasp hold of them but they evaded him like
autumn leaves scattered in a sudden storm."

The 'After Climeri' Series.
The Gareth and Gwen Medieval Mysteries

November 1886 saw serious flooding throughout Wales causing severe damage;

*  The keeper of the Mumbles lighthouse was swept out to sea and drowned.
*  Trefechan Bridge near Aberystwyth was destroyed.
*  Serious flooding in Aberystwyth saw North Parade under 6 feet of water.   
*  The rivers Mawddach, Dee and Taff all flooded.

Major General Rowland Laugharne, Parliament's commander in South Wales during the English Civil War, was buried on 16th November 1675.

Major General Rowland Laugharne's involvement in The English Civil War:

1642 - Outbreak of Civil War. Haverfordwest, Pembroke and Tenby were held for Parliament.

1643 - The Royalists entered Pembrokeshire and occupied Haverfordwest and Tenby but Pembroke castle held out.  Laugharne, with the assistance of Parliamentary ships from Milford Haven, took the small Royalist garrisons at Stackpole and Trefloyne and recovered Haverfordwest and Tenby. 

1644 - Following the defeat of the Royalists at Marston Moor, Laugharne resumed the offensive. He captured the town and castles of Laugharne and Cardigan.

1645 - Royalists surprised and defeated Laugharne at Newcastle Emlyn, forcing him to withdraw to Pembroke and Tenby. Following the king's defeat at Naseby on 14th June, Laugharne routed the remaining Royalist forces at Colby Moor, Wiston on 1st August. He entered Haverfordwest the following day and took Aberystwyth castle on 12 April 1646. At this stage, all of west Wales was in his hands.

1646 - Laugharne went to the relief of Cardiff castle, where the governor, Edward Pritchard, was under threat from an uprising of the Royalist gentry of the Vale of Glamorgan. In recognition of his gallantry, Laugharne was appointed commander-in-chief of the counties of Pembroke, Cardigan, Carmarthen and Glamorgan.

1648 -  Parliamentarian troops in Wales, who had not been paid and feared that they were about to be disbanded without arrears of pay, staged a rebellion under the command of John Poyer, Rowland Laugharne and Colonel Rice Powell. The rebellion was put down at The Battle of St. Fagans on 8th May 1648. 

1648 - Laugharne retreated with what was left of his army to join Colonel Poyer at Pembroke while Colonel Horton of The New Model Army marched to besiege Tenby Castle. Oliver Cromwell joined Horton to lay siege to Pembroke, forcing Laugharne to surrender on 11 July 1648.

1649  - Laugharne was court-martialled in April and condemned to be executed by firing squad along with the two other rebels, Poyer and Powell. It was decided to execute only one of the rebels, however, and Laugharne was spared.

Laugharne spent most of the 1650s in prison and after the Restoration of the Monarchy was elected MP for Pembroke in the Cavalier Parliament.    

On 16th November 1326, Edward II was captured at Pant-Y-Brad (The Hollow of Treason) near Tonyrefail and imprisoned at Llantrisant Castle.

This was the humiliating end of the disastrous reign of Edward II, who was taken by followers of his estranged wife Isabella of France, who seven weeks earlier had invaded England with her favourite, Roger Mortimer.

Only a small group of men remained with the king at the time of his capture as he had alienated much of his realm, and few were willing to fight for him, not even his household knights. Edward was taken to Kenilworth Castle in Warwickshire in honourable captivity. A few weeks after his capture he abdicated in favour of his fourteen-year-old son Edward III, whose reign began on 25 January 1327.

Griff Rhys Jones was born in Cardiff on 16 November 1953. He is best known for his comedy partnership with Mel Smith.

He first found fame on 'Not the Nine O'Clock News' alongside Rowan Atkinson, Pamela Stephenson and Mel Smith. Smith and Jones continued to work together, developing their own sketch show 'Alas Smith and Jones'. Further series included 'The World According to Smith and Jones', 'Smith and Jones in Small Doses' and 'Smith and Jones'.  Jones has also established himself as a presenter, working on shows such as 'Restoration' and 'The Bookworm'. 

Since 2006 Jones has appeared in the BBC's Three Men in a Boat series with Rory McGrath and Dara Ó Briain.  Rhys Jones also revisited his roots in the village of Ferndale for a 2007 episode of the BBC One series Who Do You Think You Are? In the episode, he detailed early memories of his grandparents' fruit and vegetable shop on the high street and his mother's childhood concert performances at Trerhondda Chapel.  

Today is the feast day of Saint Afan. 

Saint Afan was a Welsh bishop and saint of the 6th century. He was the son of Cedig ab Caredig ab Cunedda, by Tegwedd, daughter of Tegid Foel of Penllyn. He was the founder of LlanafanTrawsgoed in Cardiganshire (Ceredigion) and was buried in Llanafan Fawr in Breconshire, where his tomb still remains as inscribed, "Hic Iacet Sanctus Avans Episcopus." He may have been the third bishop of Llanbadarn. 

Little is known about Afan, and even less is strictly reliable; all that is sure is that he was a bishop in the district of Buallt, or Builth in Mid Wales.  Baring-Gould recounts a tradition that Afan was murdered by Irish pirates (or by Danes) on the banks of the River Chwefri, and that the tomb at Llanafan Fawr marks the site of his martyrdom.   

Little else is known about the life of Saint Afan, although some writers list him as a descendant of the 3rd century British King Cynedda Wledig, making him a cousin of Saint David, and some others even as a relation of a 10th-century bishop, Jeuan, who was killed by Viking invaders.

The church dedicated to him was once a site of pilgrimages, and site of at least one miracle: the Norman nobleman, Philip de Braose was hunting nearby and decided that the church was a suitable place for him and his dogs to spend the night. When he woke at sunrise, his dogs had gone mad and he was blind; he had to grope his way out with his hands. The nobleman never regained his sight, but fought in the Crusades blind, whereupon he was "immediately struck down by a blow from a sword and so ended his life with honour."

I was sent the above link by a relative in Carmarthen. The town features in the prog and it includes the impact of 60's culture on pupils at the Girls Grammar school. Also features Tiger Bay, Valleys, Andy Fairwether Low and Carmarthen actress Sharon Morgan. Hope its availablet to you, and, if anyone who grew up in Carmarthen in the 60's wishes to say hello, please do so, .born 1950.

Aneurin Bevan  was one of the most important ministers of the post-war Labour government and the chief architect of the National Health Service. 

Born on 15 November 1897 in Tredegar, Bevan was raised in a working class community where he witnessed the hardships caused by disease and poverty.

Leaving school at 13, he worked underground and became active in the trades union before winning a scholarship to study in London. Bevan became one of the leaders of the South Wales miners during the General Strike in 1926, and in 1929, he was elected as Labour MP  for Ebbw Vale. 

During World War Two, Bevan emerged as one of the opposition leaders in the House of Commons, and following the Labour victory in the 1945 general election, was appointed as the minister of health in charge of setting up the National Health Service. On 5 July 1948, the government became responsible for all medical services, with 'free diagnosis and treatment for all'.

In 1951, Bevan became minister of labour but resigned from the government in protest at the introduction of prescription charges for spectacles and dental care. He led the 'Bevanites', the left wing of the Labour Party, for the next five years.

Bevan was elected deputy leader of the Labour Party in 1959, despite suffering from terminal cancer. He passed away on 6 July 1960.  

The Battle of the Winwaed, fought on 15 November 655 (or 654), ended in defeat and death for King Penda of Mercia.

Penda had overthrown the previously dominant Northumbrians at Hatfield Chase in 633, and at the Battle of Maserfield in 642. He subsequently sought to defeat Bernicia, at one point besieging Bamburgh, and entrapping Oswiu, the Bernician leader, at a place called Iudeu (identified with Stirling) in the north of his kingdom. Oswiu sued for peace, and an agreement was reached, but for some reason, the two armies engaged at the River Winwaed. The Northumbrian force would have been outnumbered by the Mercians, but according to Bede, Oswiu prayed before the battle and promised to make his daughter a nun and grant twelve estates for the construction of monasteries if he was victorious. 

According to the Historia Brittonum, Penda's army was weakened by desertion. His ally Cadafael ap Cynfeddw of Gwynedd (thereafter remembered as "Cadomedd" (="battle-shirker")) abandoned him, and Bede says that Aethelwald of Deira withdrew from the battle to await the outcome from a place of safety. Penda was soundly defeated, and both he and his ally, the East Anglian King Aethelhere, were killed. Bede mentions that Penda's head was cut off. 

 Mercia's dominance was destroyed, and Northumbria temporarily restored; Mercia itself was divided, with the north being claimed by Oswiu and the south being acceded to Penda's Christian son Peada. 

The battle marked the demise of Anglo-Saxon paganism. After Penda's death, Mercia was converted, and all subsequent kings (including Penda's sons Peada, Wulfhere and Æthelred) were Christian.  

Petula Clark, whose mother was Welsh, was born on 15 November 1932. She visited her grandparents in Merthyr Tydfil frequently as a child, learned to speak Welsh and sang in their chapel.

Since making her first movie in 1944, Petula has appeared in over thirty films. Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, she was a regular guest on radio shows, and made her first television appearance in the 1940s, hosting her own television series. She was very popular in France and became a star throughout Europe. The single 'Downtown' launched Petula's American career and earned her a Grammy Award in 1964. Throughout the 1960s, she released numerous charts hits, starred in musicals and appeared frequently on TV. She remains a popular performing artist aged over 80.  

Today is the feast day of Saint Mechell.

He founded the 6th-century monastery of Llanfechell on Anglesey, where he is supposedly buried. He was reputedly Breton by birth, the son of Echwys ab Gwyn Gohoew. Many miracles are attributed to him, including resurrecting a giant and converting him to Christianity, turning thieves to stone while blinding and then curing the leader, who in gratitude gifted Mechell with land on which to found a monastery. The extent of the land was to be demarked by the route taken by a released hare, which under divine guidance marked the full extent of what is now the parish of Llanfechell.

The birth of Barry Docks.

Work began on the new dock at Barry on 14 November 1884which opened for trade in 1889. Later, further docks were added and by 1903 exports had risen to over nine million tons. By 1913, Barry had become the largest coal exporting port in the country. 

The docks gave rise to many subsidiary business enterprises, from repair yards and cold storage facilities to flour mills and shipping agents. Even when a worldwide depression in the 1920s  began to decimate the Welsh coal trade, there were still more than fifty companies trading out of Barry docks. Eventually, the collapse of the Welsh coal trade left Barry and its docks redundant. The arrival of the Geest Company in 1959, importing bananas from the West Indies, provided a temporary reprieve, but when the company withdrew in the 1980s, the port of Barry went into terminal decline.

Today, the old waterfront has been redeveloped, like many other dockland areas. Parts of the old docks have been used as locations for TV shows like Doctor Who and Torchwood and, of course, the television series Gavin and Stacey was set and filmed in Barry.

In November 1908 The North and South Wales Bank was absorbed into the London City and Midland Bank, bringing an end to independent banking in Wales.   

Between 1780 and 1908 many towns in Wales would have had their own bank, local enterprises run and backed by local investors. They issued their own notes redeemable either at the bank itself, at another bank with which it had a mutual agreement or exchanged for a Bank of England note. The banks were linked to the trade or economy of their area, for example, the Aberystwyth & Tregaron Bank was known as 'Banc y Ddafad Ddu' or 'Bank of the Black Sheep'. 

Many Welsh banks collapsed in the 1820s and 30s in the wake of national events like the South Sea Bubble. Others were taken over by larger institutions so that by the beginning of the 20th century there were no freestanding Welsh banks.  

Today is the birthday of Charles 'Prince of Wales' - but at the age when most seek to retire, Charles has yet to start the job he was born to do. 

Heir to the throne since he was three years old, Charles is now a pensioner, and like thousands of others claims his pension - but will be donating it to an unnamed charity which supports the elderly.  The Prince is entitled to the state benefit because he paid National Insurance contributions whilst in the Navy in the 1970s and made voluntary contributions later. 

A king in waiting for more than 60 years, he has carried out countless royal engagements over the decades, undertaking 480 in the UK and 112 overseas in 2012 alone.  The Prince is the oldest heir to the throne for almost 300 years and the longest serving heir to the throne in recorded UK history.

Today is the feast day of Saint Dyfrig 

Born at Madley on the River Wye, he was one of the prominent Celtic saints in the 7th century. He was believed to be the son of Eurddil of Ergyng, which is now part of modern Herefordshire.

He was known as a scholar and founded a college at Henllan (Hentland in Herefordshire) which was attended by many noted scholars, including St Illtud.  Dyfrig was later chosen to be the first Bishop of Llandaff. Eventually, Dyfrig retired to Bardsey Island with his disciples, where he lived as a hermit until his death in about 612. His remains were later interred at Llandaff, in a tomb before the Lady Altar in 'the old monastery' which later became the cathedral church. 

The Texaco oil refinery in Pembroke went back into full production on 14th November 1994 after a massive explosion ripped through the plant, causing millions of pounds worth of damage. 

At around 13:00 on 24 July 1994, Twenty-six people were injured on 24th July of that year when an explosion devastated the plant. The shockwave damaged properties within 10 miles of the plant and the blast was heard 40 miles away. Shortly before the explosion, a lightning storm in the area had caused disturbances, with a subsequent fire taking several hours to extinguish. Fire appliances were drafted in from Swansea and Cardiff with more than 130 firefighters assisting.

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AmeriCymru spoke to Welsh author Dennis Price about his new book, A Tale of Sound & Fury . Dennis has long enjoyed a reputation as an expert on Stonehenge, the world’s most enigmatic prehistoric monument, on account of the prolific investigations on his Eternal Idol site. In 2009, he followed this up with The Missing Years of Jesus , a groundbreaking study of William Blake’s poem ‘Jerusalem’, which suggested that Christ once visited Britain.

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

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

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

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

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

Dennis at his desk with ever present gargoyles

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dennis Price as a Knight touring Scandinavia

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

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

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

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

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

Dennis Price with Captain Robert Fore

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dennis with daughter Tanith at Stonehenge

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 Dennis Price at Stonehenge

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The ''Primrose'' stranded off North Sentinel Island

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

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

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

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

The warden of a unique library in Wales is embarking on a micro tour of the United States.

Peter Francis, warden of Gladstones Library in Hawarden, Flintshire, is visiting Washington DC and Minneapolis in late November to meet the librarys American supporters and host talks on what makes the library so special.

Gladstones Library is Britains only Prime Ministerial library and the national memorial to William Gladstone the only man ever to have served as Great Britains Prime Minister four separate times.

Home to a unique collection of more than 250,000 printed items, around 32,000 of which were donated by the Grand Old Man himself, the library offers a comfortable, sociable and stimulating environment together with resources for creative study including renowned collections of theological, historical, cultural and political materials.

Gladstones Library is the only one of its kind in the world, explained Peter. Its a haven of peace and tranquillity; somewhere you can study, work and relax.

We have a lot of very good Friends in the USA and Im delighted to be able to come over and meet with them and to share our library and its treasures.

The library is housed in a magnificent Grade 1 listed building, first opened to the public in 1902.

Free to use, it is open to the public all year round. As well as the wonderful resource of the Library itself (the collection can be viewed online), visitors can sleep with books, attend and engage in stimulating courses and events and enjoy the Welsh countryside and welcome.

Peter said: We have serviced accommodation, a marvellous caf called Food for Thought and a wide ranging programme of courses and events.

You can learn Welsh, Greek, Latin or Hebrew in a week, listen to thought-provoking speakers like Dr Robin Meyers and Bishop Gene Robinson, or join our nine writers in residence at our literary festivals for readings and workshops throughout 2014.

Following its founder, the library seeks to be a centre of liberal education, thought and values. It is engaged in a project to re-define and re-understand what it means to be liberal (with a small l) in the contemporary world.

For further information, please contact enquiries@gladlib.org / 01244 532350. You can also follow Gladstones Library on Twitter @gladlib, visit the US Friends of Gladstone's Library Facebook page or find more information on the US Friends of Gladstones Library at www.gladstoneslibrary-us.com .

About Gladstones Library

Gladstones library is Britains only Prime Ministerial library, founded by Victorian statesman William Gladstone in 1889. Following his death in 1898, the library also became a national memorial to the four-time Prime Minister.

The library fulfills Gladstones vision of making his personal library, comprising 32,000 books, available to the public. Following his death in 1889, a public appeal to fund a permanent home for the collection raised 9,000, which coupled with an endowment of 40,000 from Gladstone himself, funded the imposing building present today, which opened on October 14 1902. The Gladstone family fulfilled the founders vision by funding the residential wing of the library, which welcomed its first resident on June 29 1906.

Today, Gladstones Library comprises a residential library and meeting place which is dedicated to dialogue, debate and learning for open-minded individuals and groups. In line with Gladstones liberal values, the librarys vast collection of more than 250,000 books and journals focuses on a broad range of literature and culture, with a particular focus on theology and Victorian studies. Gladstones Library also hosts a range of events, from book launches to seminars and courses on matters of cultural significance.

As well as its extensive collection of books, Gladstones library is also a peaceful, relaxing place to stay, with comfortable accommodation and soothing grounds to explore. The library also includes the Food for Thought restaurant, offering relaxed, ethical dining, as well as conference and meeting facilities.

About William Gladstone

Born December 29 1809, William Ewart Gladstone was one of the central political figures of the Victorian era, and the only man to hold the position of Prime Minister for four separate terms (3 December 1868 to 17 February 1874; 23 April 1880 to 9 June 1885; 1 February 1886 to 20 July 1886; 15 August 1982 to 2 March 1984). He was also Britains oldest Prime Minister, resigning from his fourth term in 1894 aged 84-years-old.

( Photos reproduced with permission from the Gladstone Library Pinterest account )

In November 1256, Llywelyn ap Gruffudd crossed the River Conwy to take control of Gwynedd Is Conwy. With him was his brother Dafydd whom he had released from captivity.

Gwynedd Is Conwy (Gwynedd Below the Conwy) was the portion of the Kingdom of Gwynedd lying between the Rivers, Conwy and Dyfrdwy (Dee). This area was also known as Y Berfeddwlad ('The Middle Land') as it lay between and was contested by the rival realms of Gwynedd and Powys.

A time line of the life of Llywelyn ap Gruffydd, the last prince of an independent Wales; 
c. 1223 - Llywelyn was born the second of Gruffydd and Senena, the brother of Owain, Dafydd and Rhodri and the grandson of Llywelyn ap Iorwerth (Llywelyn the Great).

1240 - Following the death of his grandfather, Llywelyn's uncle, Dafydd ap Llywelyn succeeded him as ruler of Gwynedd. He imprisoned Llywelyn's father Gruffydd and his brother Owain and transferred them into the custody of King Henry III of England.

1244 - Llywelyn's father died from a fall while trying to escape from the Tower of London and Llywelyn is first heard of holding lands in the Vale of Clwyd.

1245 - Llywelyn supported his uncle in war against King Henry.

1247 - THE TREATY OF WOODSTOCK - After the death of his uncle, Llywelyn and his brother Owain came to terms with King Henry. Gwynedd was divided with Llywelyn and Owain gaining control of Gwynedd Uwch Conwy, the part of Gwynedd west of the River Conwy and Henry himself taking control of Gwynedd Is Conwy, east of the river.

1255 - THE BATTLE OF BRYN DERWIN - Llywelyn's brothers, Owain and Dafydd formed an alliance against him, but Llywelyn defeated and captured both of them, thereby becoming sole ruler of Gwynedd Uwch Conwy.

1256 - Llywelyn, crossed the River Conwy with an army, accompanied by his brother, Dafydd, whom he had released from prison and took control of most of Gwynedd.

1258 - Llywelyn began using the title Prince of Wales, which the English Crown refused to recognise.

1263 - Dafydd switched his allegiance to King Henry.

1264 - Simon de Montfort, leader of the barons revolt in England, became the "uncrowned King of England" after defeating King Henry and Prince Edward at the Battle of Lewes.

1265 - TREATY OF PIPTON - established an alliance between Llywelyn and de Montfort in which, in exchange for 30,000 marks, there would be a permanent peace and Llywelyn's right to rule Wales would be acknowledged.

1265 - de Montfort was killed at the Battle of Evesham, which led to Llywelyn capturing Hawarden Castle and routing the combined armies of Hamo Lestrange and Maurice Fitz Gerald in order to gain a bargaining position with King Henry

1266 - Llywelyn routed Roger Mortimer's army in Brycheiniog. After which, with the backing of the papal legate, Ottobuono, he opened negotiations with King Henry.

1267 - TREATY OF MONTGOMERY - marked the high point of Llywelyn's power. He was recognised as the Prince of Wales well as retaining the lands he had conquered and the homage of almost all the native rulers of Wales. In exchange, he was to pay a tribute to King Henry of 25,000 marks in yearly instalments.

1268 - Caerphilly Castle was built by Gilbert de Clare as a result of a dispute with Llywelyn.

1272 - Following the death of King Henry and with the new king Edward I away on crusade, Humphrey de Bohun tried to take back Brycheiniog; Llywelyn ceased making payments in reply.

1274 - Dafydd and Gruffydd ap Gwenwynwyn of Powys attempted to assassinate Llywelyn.

1275 - Llywelyn refused to pay homage to Edward I at Chester and declared his intention to marry Simon de Montfort's daughter, Eleanor. Edward took exception to the marriage and imprisoned her.

1276 - Edward declared Llywelyn a rebel

1277 - TREATY OF ABERCONWY - was the result of Edward, supported by Dafydd and Gruffydd ap Gwenwynwyn, marching into Wales and taking possession of the harvest in Anglesey, which deprived Llywelyn of the ability to feed his men and forced him to seek terms. The treaty secured the release of Eleanor, allowing her marriage to Llywelyn to proceed and also guaranteeing peace in Gwynedd in return for Llywelyn confining his authority to Gwynedd Uwch Conwy and acknowledging the English king as his sovereign.

1282 Dafydd returned to the Welsh cause and attacked the English at Hawarden Castle and Rhuddlan. The revolt quickly spread to other parts of Wales, with Aberystwyth Castle being burnt and with open rebellion in Ystrad Tywi. Llywelyn, in grief at the loss of Eleanor, who died shortly after giving birth to their daughter Gwenllian, felt the Welsh were ill-prepared, but felt obliged to support his brother. Edward's forces captured Gwynedd Is Conwy and Anglesey but were heavily defeated in the Battle of Moel y Don. This encouraged Llywelyn to try and rally support in mid and south Wales, but he was killed on 11th December at the Battle of Orewin Bridge near Builth Wells.  

Alfred Thomas "Alf" Sherwood (13 November 1923 – 12 March 1990) was a Welsh international footballer born in Aberaman.  Between 1947 and 1957, he gained a total of 41 caps, the first against England in 1946. Stanley Matthews described him as "the most difficult opponent he ever played against". Sherwood was captain when Wales famously defeated England in 1955.

Alf Sherwood is notable for the fact that he was chosen as a Bevin Boy, young British men conscripted to work in the coal mines during the Second World War.   

Bevin Boys were young British men, conscripted to work in the coal mines during the Second World War. The programme was named after Ernest Bevin, who was Minister of Labour and National Service in the wartime coalition government, and involved nearly 48,000 young men, who provided vital but largely unrecognised service. 

Miners had been conscripted into military service early in the war, their value and experience underground having been underestimated. In order to maintain the supply of vital coal, one in ten young men eligible for conscription were sent into the mines instead of the battlefield. The scheme caused outrage, as many of the young men wanted to join the armed forces. Many were taunted and accused of shirking their duty as they wore no uniform. At the end of the war they received no medals, nor were they allowed to return to their pre-war employment.

Bevin Boys had no acknowledgement of their contribution to the war effort until a 1995 speech by Queen Elizabeth II. In 2007, the government announced that the Bevin Boys would be rewarded with a Veterans Badge.   

On 13th November 1916, the Prime Minister of Australia, Billy Hughes, was ousted from the Labour Party because he was in favour of conscription. 

William Morris Hughes was born in London on 25 September 1862. Both his parents were Welsh, his father was a Welsh speaker from Holyhead, and his mother was a farmer's daughter from Llansantffraid, Montgomeryshire. When his mother died, William Hughes went to live with his father's sister in Llandudno, speaking Welsh there and also with his mother's relatives.

 "Billy" Hughes was Prime Minister of Australia between 1915 and 1923.  During his 51-year parliamentary career, he was expelled by three political parties and represented four electorates across two states. 

He died in 1952 aged 90 while still serving in Parliament. He remains the longest-serving Parliamentary member in Australia, and one of the most outspoken and memorable figures in Australian political history.

On 13th November 2008,  professional kitesurfer Kirsty Jones from Marloes in Pembrokeshire won her first world title at the kitesurf world championships in Essaouira in Morocco. She made world headlines in 2002 on becoming the first person to kitesurf across the Irish Sea, in a fundraising event for the Ty Hafan Children's Hospice near Cardiff, raising in excess of £5000.  

 
Born in Merthyr Tydfil, William Ifor Jones (January 23, 1900 – November 131988), was a Welsh conductor and organist. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London between 1920 and 1925, being tutored by Sir Stanley Marchant at St. Paul's Cathedral where he played the organ and studied orchestral conducting with the renowned Sir Henry Wood.

Just thought you might like to know that there's a free gift with every purchase from blackdragon.co.uk or celticbeadshop.com from now until the end of the year! It will come with love to all who like and appreciate what we do here at The Lair...

Diolch

xXx

On 12th November 2012, the first legislation created wholly in Wales for more than six centuries came into force.

 Carwyn Jones, the first minister of Wales, regarded it as a significant occasion in the country's development. 

"This is the first act that has been passed by a legislature in Wales for more than 600 years. It's an exceptionally historic day," he said. "Wales is an old country, but a young democracy. Today is a historic day for us as a nation. It heralds the beginning of a new era for the governance of Wales." 

The content of the act is not controversial. It confirms that the languages of Welsh and English are treated as equal in the assembly. However, Jones said that "What's important is that it's the precursor to a number of bills before the assembly that will make a big difference to the people of Wales whether it's in education or social services."   

In November 1400, there was a disturbance at Westminster involving supporters of Adam of Usk and those of his rival Walter Jakes.

A dam of Usk (c. 1352 – 1430)  was a priest, historian and chronicler. He studied law and served in the court of Henry IV. An unseemly squabble with Walter Jakes over the title of prebend of Llandygwydd in Cardiganshire resulted in charges being brought against Adam and his consorts.

He fell out with Henry IV and left for Rome in February 1402.  He was accused of collaborating with Welsh rebels led by Owain Glyndŵr but was eventually granted a Royal Pardon. However, he failed to regain his former influence in court circles, dying in obscurity in 1430. 

His chronicle of these experiences provides fascinating detail on events both in Britain and abroad during this period. He met Popes and Kings, witnessed the Peasants' Revolt and lived in various European cities. It offers a useful insight into the history of the time and sheds light on the Glyndŵr rebellion.

The Chronicle survives and is housed in the British Library.   

Kevin Ratcliffe (born 12 November 1960) from Queensferry, Flintshire, is a former Welsh international footballer who played for Everton. 

He made 461 appearances for Everton and scored two goals during his time there. He was known for being a hard player and a tough tackler. He was given a red card in 1981 during a match against Manchester City for headbutting Tommy Hutchison and was also involved in a fracas with Vinny Jones in 1989 against Wimbledon. After leaving Everton in 1991, he played for Dundee and for Chester City, Cardiff City, Nottingham Forest and Derby County. He captained Wales on several occasions, playing 59 matches for his country.   

Tangaki Taulupe "Toby" Faletau (born 12 November 1990) is a Welsh international rugby union player. He played for Cross Keys RFC before joining the Newport Gwent Dragons. 

He was born in Tonga and moved to Wales in 1998  spending his early years in Wales playing for Ebbw Vale RFC and New Panteg RFC juniors, making his debut for the Newport Gwent Dragons on 1 November 2009.

 In January 2011, he was included in the Wales national rugby union team squad and made his international debut for Wales versus the Barbarians on 4 June 2011. Since then he has made regular appearances for Wales and was in the squad for the 2013 British and Irish Lions tour to Australia.

Released on 12th November 2002 Undertaking Betty, is a dark British comedy starring Brenda Blethyn, Naomi Watts, Lee Evans and Christopher Walken. 

The movie was filmed in Monmouthshire, South Glamorgan, Vale of Glamorgan, Rhondda Cynon Taff, and Denbighshire. The plot revolves around a Funeral Home and unrequited love.  

 

Grant Nicholas, lead vocalist and lead guitar player with the band Feeder, was born on 12th November 1967 in Newport.