BORN THIS DAY - J.P.R. WILLIAMS

Born this day 1949, in Bridgend - John Peter Rhys "J.P.R." Williams 

Orthopaedic surgeon and former  Wales and Lions rugby international.  "JPR" was an iconic figure of the legendary 1970s Wales team, with his trademark long sideburns and socks around his ankles.   

'GREAT LODE' DISCOVERED ON PARYS MOUNTAIN

On 2nd March 1768, Rowland Hughes discovered the 'Great Lode' of copper on. Parys Mountain, Ynys Mon (Anglesey). He was rewarded with a bottle of whisky and a rent-free house for life. 

The mountain had been mined for copper ore in the early Bronze Age nearly 4,000 years ago and later by the Romans.  However, following its rediscovery  it became Europe's largest copper mine during the 1780s, with the copper notably being used by the admiralty to protect the bottom of wooden ships of war from barnacles and wood worms as well as increasing their speed and manoeuvrability.

BORN THIS DAY - IAN HAROLD WOOSNAM

Born on this day 1958 in Oswestry

Ian Harold Woosnam - the only Welshman to have ever won a "Major" golfing championship and who with David Llewellyn in 1987, won the men's World Cup for Wales. He was also a member of eight consecutive European Ryder Cup teams from 1983 to 1997 and captain for the 2006 Ryder Cup, leading Europe to victory over the U.S.

Woosnam began playing at Llanymynech Golf Club, which interestingly, straddles the Wales-England border and in September 2010 was inducted into the Welsh Sports Hall of Fame.  

WILLIAM PARRY EXECUTED

On 2nd March 1585, spy and double agent William Parry was executed on the discovery of his plot to kill Queen Elizabeth I (The Parry Plot)

Parry from Northrop, Flintshire, left for London to seek his fortune. Shortly after entering the Queen's service, he found himself in financial difficulties and had had to rely on a royal pardon to escape a death sentence for assaulting one of his creditors.

Parry then received a commission from Lord Burghley to spy on Catholics in Europe, but soon became a double agent for both Queen Elizabeth and Mary, Queen of Scots.  So when he was heard to boast that he would assassinate Elizabeth if he had the opportunity, it was not known whether he was acting on behalf of Mary, with a papal blessing or whether he was just trying to infiltrate papist circles.  However when Elizabeth was informed of the plot, Parry was arrested for treason and hanged at Westminster. 

Lewis Morris (2 March 1701 – 11 April 1765) whose bardic name was Llewelyn Ddu o Fôn ("Black Llewelyn of Anglesey"), was a hydrographer, antiquary, poet and lexicographer. He was the eldest of the well known Morris brothers of Anglesey and considered by many in the mid 18th century to be the leading authority on the Welsh language.

The correspondence between Lewis and his younger brothers is a valuable historical source and in 1751, along with his brother Richard, he founded the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion, the London-based Welsh social, cultural, literary and philanthropic institution.  However, he is best known for his surveys of the Welsh Coast. 

Born this day 1968, in Chester 

Daniel Craig actor, of Welsh descent who is best known for playing British secret agent James Bond.

Born this day 1822, in Llanuwchllyn, Gwynedd

Michael.D. Jones. Congregationalist minister, principal of Bala Congregational College and a founder of the Welsh settlement in Patagonia known as Y Wladfa.

Jones's idea of a Welsh speaking colony or "little Wales beyond Wales", had come to him after he had spent some years in the United States, where he observed that Welsh speaking immigrants assimilated very quickly, often losing much of their Welsh identity. Jones recruited settlers and chose Patagonia for the settlement because of its isolation and Argentina's offer of 100 square miles of land along the Chubut River. Other countries that had been considered were Australia, New Zealand and Palestine.

On 2nd March 1918  Arthur James Cook (A.J. Cook), a prominent trade union leader in South Wales, was arrested and charged with sedition under the Defence of the Realm Act.  Cook is remembered as one of the United Kingdom's best known miners’ leaders during the General Strike of 1926.