Saint Phillip Evans and Saint John Lloyd were executed for their beliefs on this day in 1679.

Philip Evans was born in Monmouth in 1645 and joined the Society of Jesus in Watten on 7 September 1665, he was ordained at Liege and sent back to South Wales as a missionary in 1675. After working as a Jesuit priest in Wales for nearly four years, a local priest hunter, John Arnold of Abergavenny offered the then enormous sum of £200 for his arrest. Despite the danger, Father Evans continued to minister to his flock. He was eventually arrested inDecember 1678.

John Lloyd, from Breconshire was a secular priest who was educated first in Ghent and then in Spain.  He took the 'missionary oath'  and was sent back to Wales in 1654 to minister and to encourage conversion to Catholicism. He fulfilled his vocation despite being on the run for almost 24 years. He was arrested in November 1678, and imprisoned in Cardiff Gaol where he was joined by the Jesuit, Philip Evans.

Both Lloyd and Evans had been caught up in the anti-catholic hysteria that had swept the country in the aftermath of  Titus Oates' fictitious "Popish Plot"  to kill King Charles II. 

Their executions took place in Cardiff on 22 July 1679. 

On 25 October 1970, both John Lloyd and Philip Evans  were canonised by Pope Paul VI.  Although they died on 22 July, this is the day of St Mary Magdalen, so their joint feast day has been designated as 23 July. 

On this day in 1933, Britain's most famous woman pilot, Amy Johnson and her husband Jim Mollison ( the “Flying Sweethearts”), took off from Pendine Sands in Carmarthenshire, in their attempt to fly across the Atlantic non-stop.

Huge crowds congregated in Pendine during the three weeks of preparations for the flight. Amy and her husband intended to fly to New York, but they were blown off course. The plane crash-landed at Bridgeport, Connecticut after flying for 39 hours. They covered a distance of 3,300 miles at an average speed of 85 mph. They were both injured in the crash, but after a period of recuperation, the pair were feted with a ticker- tape parade through Wall Street and lunched with President Roosevelt.

Born this day 1967 in Haverfordwest (raised in Ruthin)

Rhys Ifans is an actor and musician, best known for his roles in films such as "Notting Hill" and "Twin Town". He also appeared in "The Amazing Spider-Man", "Hannibal Rising", "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" and "Mr Nice", based on the life of Howard Marks. Ifans also won a BAFTA for his portrayal of comedian Peter Cook in the TV film Not Only But Always. 

Since 2012 Ifans has been involved with the 'Living Paths Society', which aims to further and develop the Welsh language Wikipedia: Wikipedia Cymraeg.

 In July 1403, Owain Glyndŵr, together with 800 men, laid siege to Carreg Cennen Castle.

A history of Carreg Cennen Castle (located within the Brecon Beacons National Park, four miles south of Llandeilo):

* The first masonry castle was probably built by The Lord Rhys, who died in 1197, and it remained a possession of the Deheubarth dynasty for the next 50 years.

* Lord Rhys's grandson, Rhys Fychan, eventually inherited the castle but was betrayed by his mother (the Norman Matilda de Braeos) who turned over the stronghold to the English. Rhys retook in 1248 only for it to be confiscated by Maredudd ap Rhys Gryg, his uncle and then claimed by King Edward I in 1277.

*  Edward I granted the castle to John Giffard in 1283. He had been commander of the English troops at Cilmeri where Llywelyn ap Gruffudd (The Last) was killed. Giffard had the castle significantly remodelled.

* In early July 1403 Owain Glyndŵr attacked Carreg Cennen with a force of 800 men but failed to take it despite inflicting damage to the castle's defences. It was held against Glyndwr, who laid siege to it for several months, by the man who, a few years later, was to marry one of Glyndwr's daughters. He was Sir John Scudamore of Herefordshire.

* in 1461, during the Wars of the Roses, Carreg Cennen was held by Lancastrian forces, though the Yorkists eventually captured the castle and set about demolishing it with a team of 500 men.

 * The Vaughan and Cawdor families took ownership, and from the 18th century, it started to attract artists (Turner sketched the castle in 1798).

* The second Earl of Cawdor began an extensive renovation in the 19th century, and in 1932 Carreg Cennen was given to the guardianship of the Office of Works.

* In the 1960s Carreg Cennen Castle was acquired by the Morris family of Castell Farm when Lord Cawdor's legal team inadvertently made a mistake in the wording of the deeds and included the castle as part of the farm.

* Today the castle is still in private ownership, although it is maintained by Cadw.

On 22nd July 1817, Windham Sadler became the first person to succeed in crossing the Irish Sea by hot air balloon, landing near Holyhead. 

Sadler lifted off from the Portobello barracks at Dublin and ascended to a good height to catch a suitable westerly current which enabled him fly the balloon across the Irish Sea.  In mid-channel he wrote, ‘I enjoyed at a glance the opposite shores of Ireland and Wales, and the entire circumference of Man.’ 

On 22nd July 1966 fifteen people, among them four children, were killed in a ferry boat accident in the Mawddach Estuary near Dolgellau. 

Thirty-nine people were on board the Prince Of Wales ferry as it was nearing the end of its pleasure trip from Barmouth to the George III hotel when the tragedy happened. The skipper was manoeuvring  the boat towards the jetty when the vessel was washed into the wooden toll bridge at Penmaenpool and the passengers were thrown into the fast-running incoming tide. 

The Cardiff City stadium, in the Leckwith area of Cardiff, was opened on 22nd July 2009.

It replaces Ninian Park as the home ground of Cardiff City Football Club. With a capacity of 26,828, it is the second largest stadium in Wales.