Born this day 1940 in Treforest, Pontypridd

Tom Jones -  World famous singer, who has sold over 100 million records.

Tom (born Thomas Jones Woodward) started singing at an early age and also had a wife and son by the age of 17.  At 23, he began under the name Tommy Scott and sang with the Senators, but changed his name to Tom Jones the following year when he embarked on his solo career.  He won a contract with Decca and had his first hit in 1965 with ‘It's Not Unusual’.  Over the next five decades he followed up with hits such as ‘Delilah’, ‘Help Yourself’, ‘Love Me Tonight’,  ‘I (Who Have Nothing)’, ‘A Boy from Nowhere’, ‘She's A Lady’, ‘Sex Bomb’ and most recently ‘Praise & Blame’. 

Died this day 1337 in Sempringham Priory, Lincolnshire, never knowing her Welsh heritage

Gwenllian ferch Llywelyn, the only child of  Llywelyn ap Griffith.

Gwenllian was only a few months old when her father, Llywelyn the Last, was killed by the soldiers of Edward I and her mother, Eleanor de Montfort, died during her birth, so her uncle Dafydd ap Gruffydd, assumed her guardianship.   North Wales was encircled by the English army and Dafydd  was captured and executed at Shrewsbury and Gwenllian was taken by Edward I and sent to the Gilbertine Priory at Sempringham, to prevent her from marrying and having sons who might lay claim to the Principality of Wales.  Sempringham was chosen because of its remote location and that the Gilbertines were an order in which nuns were hidden from view behind high walls.  Having been taken from her native land so young, Gwenllian never learned any Welsh as she signed her name "Wentliane", but her royal rank was acknowledged at least once by Edward when he asked the Pope for money for Sempringham Priory stating that "...herein is kept the daughter of the Prince of Wales, whom we have to maintain."

There is a memorial stone of Welsh blue slate to her memory in Sempringham and there is also a plaque  at the summit of Snowdon.

 

Born this day 1928 in Maesteg

Dave Bowen , Wales soccer international and manager, best remembered as the inspirational captain of the Wales team in their only ever World Cup finals in 1958 and as a manager, for guiding Northampton Town from the Fourth Division  to the First Division in 1965- 66, for the only time in their existence, only for them to be relegated back to the Fourth Division, all of which happened over only 9 seasons.   

Born this day 1924 in Treorchy

Donald Watts Davies, CBE , computer scientist who was one of the inventors of packet switching computer networking. He coined the term 'packet' and today’s Internet can be traced back directly to this origin.