On 12th May 1999, the office of First Minister of Wales was formed as the leader of the Welsh Assembly, the post was originally known as First Secretary for Wales.

There have to date, been three First Ministers of Wales;

Alan Michael, from 12th May 1999 to 9th February 2000

Rhodri Morgan, from 9th February 2000 to 9th December 2009

Carwyn James, incumbent from 9th December 2009.  

Born on this day 1867 in Bruge, Belgium

Sir Frank Brangwyn - Britains’ leading decorative artist, who produced a phenomenally large body of work across a diverse range of styles and disciplines.

His parents, William Curtis Brangwyn a Welsh architect and Eleanor Griffiths from Brecon had moved to Bruges when his father obtained work producing murals paintings, frescoes, and mosaics, as well as being responsible for the reconstruction of the monastery church of St André.

They returned to London when Frank was eight years old and he took to sketching in his early teens. Largely self-taught, Brangwyn exhibited at the Royal Academy aged 18 and then began producing  a book of illustrations. During the 1890s, he travelled widely across Europe and in the 1900s he began designing furniture, textiles and ceramics.

During the First World War he was made an Official War artist and produced over 80 poster designs that encouraged men to join the armed forces. One poster caused such deep offence from KaiserWilhelm II that he is said to have put a price on Brangwyn’s head.

In 1924 Brangwyn was commissioned by the Royal Gallery in the House of Lords to produce panels commemorating the First World War, but they were rejected as being too flamboyant and subsequently used instead in the Guildhall, Swansea.

Born on this day 1749, probably at Warwick Castle

Charles Francis Greville - founder of the town and seaport of Milford Haven.

The parish of Slebech in Pembrokeshire was owned by Greville's uncle, Sir William Hamilton, the husband of Emma Hart (Lady Emma Hamilton), who became the lover of Lord Nelson and who had previously been Greville's lover.

In 1790, Greville applied to Parliament to construct quays, markets and access roads to the port at Milford and to a make it the linking point for transferring mail to and from Ireland.  He then invited seven Quaker families from Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts to settle in the new town, which was founded in 1793 and designed on grid pattern layout.  

After the formation of the town, Milford Haven became a well-known whaling port for several decades and in 1797, a Royal Dockyard was established during the Napoleonic Wars. Lord Nelson when visiting described it as the second best natural harbour in the world, with only Trincomalee in Sri Lanka being better.

In 1814, the Royal Dockyard was transferred to Pembroke Dock and a commercial dock was established at Milford, which became the home of a successful fishing and boat building industry.  

Then in 1850's, a network of forts was constructed on both sides of the Milford Haven estuary, as a defence against an anticipated French invasion and during the Second World War, Milford Haven housed approximately 1,000 American troops.

In the 1960's many of the chief oil companies opened refineries at Milford, which resulted in the port dealing with three times the combined trade of all the other ports of Wales by 1974.

On this day 2012 Only Boys Aloud, the Welsh choir made up of boys aged 14–19, finished third in Britains Got Talent, singing their version of Calon Lân which subsequently became number one in the iTunes classical singles chart.  

32 people were killed in an air raid on Pembroke Dock on 12th May 1941. 

During World War II, Pembroke Dock, with its aircraft station, barracks and naval oil depot, was within easy range of German bombers based in France and a target for repeated air raids.  

In May 1973, Sony opened its factory in Bridgend.  It was the first major Japanese investment in Wales.