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10th March
Born this day, 1747 in Llancarfan, Glamorganshire
Iolo Morganwg ( Edward Williams ) creator of the Gorsedd of the Bards of the Isle of Britain.
Morganwg was a stonemason by trade and his work took him to London, where he came into contact with the Gwyneddigion Society and he began to socialise in the cities cultural and unconventional circles.
Iolo Morganwg was also one of the founder members of the Unitarian movement in Wales, a supporter of the French Revolution, a hymn-writer and poet whose addiction to the drug laudanum must have affected his view of the world and led to his creation of the Gorsedd of the Bards which established a glorious ancient past for Wales and Glamorganshire in particular and deceived even the most learned scholars of his time into believing that it was an authentic institution.
On the night of 10th March 1945, seventy German prisoners made their escape by tunnelling from Island Farm Prisoner of War Camp on the outskirts of Bridgend. This was the biggest escape attempt made by German P.O.W.s in Great Britain during the Second World War.
The camp was originally built to house workers at the munitions factory in Bridgend, but as the number of German prisoners in Europe increased, Island Farm was seen as an ideal place to locate them.
At around 10 pm on March 10, the prisoners, equipped with a map, homemade compass, and forged identity papers, made their move, a few got as far as Birmingham in a stolen car and another group got to Southampton, but only three remained uncaptured. Three weeks after the escape, all the remaining prisoners were transferred and the camp was designated Special Camp Eleven, to receive senior German officers, including a number of Hitler's closest advisers, who were awaiting trial at Nuremberg.
Born this day 1957 in Cardiff
Terry Holmes, former Wales and Lions rugby international.
Guardsman Lovell Everson from Machen near Caerphilly was killed in action on 10th March 1918 at Arras. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Arras Memorial to the Missing.
It is thought that Lovell Everson was killed during a trench raid by 1st Battalion the Welsh Guards who were capturing a prisoner for interrogation when they were hit by German shells.
