I'm reading this minute a French publication entitled 'Midi Olympique Magazine', dated monday 5 October, apparently Hirwaun is in the heart of the Rhondda Valley at the extreme south-west of the Principality, where all the mines were called the Big Pit, the mine owners were English and every mine had its rugby club. Now I'm on dodgy ground, I don't remember 120 miners dying in an explosion at Hirwaun in 1966, and I don't remember 114 dying in a flood in 1975 at Cymmer, it might have happened; Newport, Llanelli, Swansea and Cardiff are the economic lungs of the west coast. They headed towards the Brecon Forest and along the way they stopped at a pub at the side of the road in Trehafod called the 'Royal Oak', which translated from the French means 'Royal Eagle', it is part of an industry that will never know a crisis in Wales, that of hops. Inside the pub they were told a story of a university educated coach who warned the local rugby team of an imminent match against the French who were renowned for their rough play, the miners in the team laughed, they knew all about violence, for hadn't they only recently lost 120 fellow workers in the bowels of the Welsh earth! A customer brought it in to me yesterday and I thought I'd share it with you.Right, let me explain for those non-Welsh amongst you: Hirwaun is not in the Rhondda, is not in the south-west; Big-Pit is not a name for pits in Wales, only one tourist attraction; the biggest mine owner in the Rhondda was David Davies, a Welshman who built Barry docks; not every mine had its rugby club;120 people died in Aerfan, not Hirwaun, in 1966 but not one was a miner; neither Newport, Cardiff, Swansea nor Llanelli is on the west coast; I don't know of a brecon forest; Royal Oak does not translate 'l'Aigle Royal' as for the hops, pubs are closing everywhere; Where did they get this journalist, and did they pay him; didn't they expect anybody to check?