The government undertook a census of everyone living in Wales and England on Sunday 2 April 1911 .  The  results of the 1911 census gives  us some interesting insights into what life in Wales was like in those days; 

* The estimated population in Wales in 1911 was 2.42 million people.  Today ’s population in Wales is an estimated 2.97 million people

* Life expectancy was 54 years for women and 50 for men in the UK in 1911. By 2011 life expectancy was 82 for women and 74 for men

* In 1911 43.5% of the Welsh population spoke Welsh; in 1971 this was 28.6%. 

* Approximately 175,000 people worked in the Welsh coal mining industry in 1911 (one tenth of the population). Nowadays less than one percent of the Welsh population work in the mining industry.

For action this day in 1945, Edward Thomas Chapman was awarded the Victoria Cross .

Ted Chapman ( 13 January 1920  –  3 February 2002 ) was born in Pontlottyn in the Rhymney Valley. He became a miner before enlisting in 1940.

'On  2 April 1945 , near the Dortmund-Ems canal, Corporal Chapman halted the enemy advances with his Bren gun, at one time firing the weapon over his shoulder to protect those bringing him ammunition. He was then wounded while trying to rescue his Company Commander, but refused to be hospitalised, instead returning to his section to consolidate the ground that had been gained.'  

The Falklands War began this day in 1982.

The Falklands War began when Argentine forces invaded and occupied the Falkland Islands and South Georgia. The British government sent a naval task force to retake the islands.

The Welsh Guards   formed  part of the Task Force and on 7 June they were on board the Sir Galahad,  waiting to be landed at Bluff Cove when they came under attack. On the Sir Galahad, there were 48 dead, 32 of whom were Welsh Guards. There were also many wounded, many suffering from horrendous burns, the best known being Simon Weston.  

M archer Lord, Walter de Lacy of Ewyas Lacy, is said to have fallen from a ladder to his death on this day 1084 while inspecting the nearly finished work at St Peter’s Church in Hereford.

Ewyas  was possibly an early Welsh kingdom which existed around the time of the Roman withdrawal from Britain in the 5th century.  

Before the Norman conquest, Ewyas was beyond the reach of Anglo-Saxon administration. After 1066 Walter de Lacy was sent into Wales alongside William Fitzosbern, Earl of Hereford, and annexed the borderlands, defeating the people of Brycheiniog and Gwent. Part of Ewyas went to the de Lacy family who built castles to defend their territory.   Ecclesiastically, all but one of the parishes in Ewyas remained in the Diocese of St David until 1852 when they were transferred to the Diocese of Hereford.