Born this day, 1942 in Tredegar

Neil Gordon Kinnock - MP and Leader of the Labour Party, whose period as Leader of the Opposition between 1983 and 1992, was the longest in British political history to date.

Kinnock's grandfather and his political hero Aneurin Bevan were mining colleagues and after graduating from Cardiff University, he worked as a tutor for four years before becoming involved in politics,   In 1970 he became Labour MP for  Bedwellty and in 1983, he became the only Welsh leader of the Labour party, to date.   

 Despite a heavy defeat to Margaret Thatcher in 1987, the party kept faith with Kinnock and after Thatcher's resignation, Kinnock  held the edge in the close-fought campaign of 1992, until the tabloid press pulled out all the stops, branding Kinnock as a Welsh windbag who would open the floodgates to left wing extremism.  His subsequent defeat at the election spelt the end of his career in frontline British politics and he became a European Commissioner.

Neil Kinnock’s big speeches were always intensely emotional, such as his pre-election speech at Cardiff in 1987, which moved many party stalwarts to tears.  

Born this day, 1981 in Bettws, Newport.

Gareth David-Lloyd - actor best known for his role as Ianto Jones in the British science fiction television programme Torchwood.  

Born this day 1833 in Laugharne

Edward Wienholt, Australian pastoralist and politician.

Wienholt arrived in Queensland in 1853, where he and his partners rapidly built up one of Australia's largest  pastoral empires, owning 289,966 acres by 1888. He also became involved in local politics and had a district in Murgon and a parish near Dalby named after him.

Pastoralism

Pastoralism is the branch of agriculture concerned with the raising of livestock and moving the herds in search of fresh pasture and water.

Despite the intention of Australia's founding fathers to encourage agriculture in the colony, pastoralism developed well before farming, with the introduction of sheep, cows and goats in 1836.  However this development came at a cost to the native Aborigines, whose initial  response was friendly and curious, but as competition for water and land between the  indigenous people and cattlemen increased and the arrival of European diseases such as smallpox, measles and influenza swept from one Aboriginal camp to another, the Aboriginal response became fearful and violent, resulting in Aborigines being generally pushed into reserves or missions.   

Captain Stephen Halden Beattie from Montgomery, a lieutenant-commander in the Royal Navy was awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions at the St. Nazaire Raid, which took place on 28th March 1942 during the Second World War. 

Beattie was in command of the destroyer HMS Campbeltown, which under intense fire, he deliberately rammed into the dock gates of the Normandie dry dock.  The ship had been packed with timed explosives, which took the dock out of action and afterwards, forced German warships to return to home waters for repairs .