Dylan Thomas in Space!
On 20th July 1967 Neil Armstrong became the first human to walk on the surface of the moon. Watching avidly from earth was George Abbey, Assistant Director of the Johnson Space Centre, whose mother was from Laugharne, Carmarthenshire. George, now in his 80s retains close connections with Wales and with Laugharne in particular. In April 2013 in the Richard Burton lecture at Swansea University, he recalls "There was a very strong Welsh feeling in our home because my mother spoke Welsh." Abbey’s desire to remain loyal to his Welsh roots encouraged him to read and appreciate Dylan Thomas’ work. “Dylan’s works have always had great meaning to me and I’ve always felt a close relationship with Laugharne and the cottage. My mother played in the area around the cottage growing up and a cousin, Dick Lewis, the milkman in Laugharne, was a very close friend of Dylan’s and (wife) Caitlin’s. They used to drink together every afternoon at Brown’s Hotel in Laugharne and Dick was a pallbearer at the funeral. He is mentioned in Dylan’s works as ‘Dick the Milk’, so the ties are really close and lasting.” Abbey was determined to ensure that there was a Welsh dimension to the space flights. “On a visit to Wales, I told the people in Laugharne at Dylan Thomas’ cottage that I would arrange to fly a memento of Dylan’s in space aboard the Space Shuttle. They gave me a very treasured photograph, probably fully expecting to never see it again. I arranged to have it flown and returned it to them with the authentication of its flight to space. The return of the photo was covered by the newspapers – I would expect it’s on display at the cottage in Laugharnetoday. If the weather was good, I also usually tried to get the astronauts as they flew to get a picture of Wales because of my Welsh roots.
In 1983 George became Director of flight operations, putting America's first woman into space. By 1996, he had become overall Director of the Johnson Space Centre, and the man most responsible for the International Space Station.
Iris Davies (1935 – 20 July 2010), pen name Iris Gower, was a Swansea-born novelist, noted for her many historical romances, most of which are set in the seaport of Swansea and the nearby Gower Peninsula, which was the inspiration for her nom-de-plume.
As a young woman, she worked as a nursery teacher and took other part-time jobs, but began writing in her twenties and had several stories published in popular magazines, such as 'Jackie and 'Woman's Own'. Her debut novel, Tudor Tapestry, was published in 1974, but it was the success of her novel 'Copper Kingdom' in 1983, that gave her a worldwide audience. This was one of many of her novels set in the copper and other industries of Swansea or in the rural life of its hinterland.
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Dr Thomas Wynne was born on 20th July 1627 in Bron Fadog,Ysceifiog, Flintshire. He was a significant figure in the early history of the United States and acted as personal physician to William Penn. He was among the original settlers of Philadephia in the Province of Pennsylvania.
As a young man, Dr. Wynne had became increasingly dissatisfied with the poor quality of religious teaching in Wales. He felt that those responsible for his spiritual welfare were “of low degree” and had let him down. He was, as he later wrote, spiritually “at the mercy of the wolf”. He became a Quaker as the result of a profound spiritual experience; "the heavenly power wounded as a sword, it smote like a hammer at the whole body of sin, and my bowels it burned like fire”. He was one of the earliest and most loyal members of the Welsh Society of Friends, and was later imprisoned for his Quaker beliefs.
Wynne trained as a surgeon and was regarded as an expert “in the use of the Plaister Box and Salvatory, the Trafine and Head Saw, the Amputation Saw, and the Catling, the Cautery, Sirring and Catheter”
The persecution of the Quakers in seventeenth-century Britain led to their search for a new land, and when William Penn was given a grant of land in Philadelphia by Charles II in 1681, Thomas Wynne travelled as Penn's personal surgeon. He took up a patent for 5000 acres of land in Pennsylvania, for which he paid £100. His was one of the first brick houses in the new settlement. He took several office-holding positions including speaker of the first two Pennsylvania Assemblies and was a Justice of the Peace.
20th July 1899 — A rabid dog attacked a group of children in Pontarddulais.
The stray setter dog visited the neighbourhood of Pontardulais and bit a number of children, two on the face. The dog was reported to the Board of Agriculture, whose inspector on the following day visited Pontardulais and ordered the animal to be immediately shot and strongly recommended treatment at the Pasteur Institute for eight of the children. This resulted in the respective boards of guardians of Swansea and Llanelli paying for the trip and 21 days treatment, which thankfully was successful with all the children returning fit and well.
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The world's first passenger and mail hovercraft service commenced on 20th July 1962 between Rhyl and Moreton, Wirral.
Rhyl and Moreton were chosen because of their flat beaches; the service was scheduled to run up to 12 trips a day. However they achieved this on 6 days only. In total, the service ran on only 19 days out of 54, mainly because of strong winds, high seas and the continual failure of the rear lift engine. The service was discontinued 14th September 1962.
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On July 20th 1969, at 20:18, Neil Armstrong became the first man to step onto the moon's surface making the comment "one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." However according to Max Boyce, a Welshman, namely Morgan the Moon, may well have beaten him to it.
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On 20th July 1874, in a mining accident at Charles Colliery, Llansamlet, nineteen men were killed.
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