Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg (The Welsh Language Society) was established on 4th August 1962 at Pontarddulais and was at least partly inspired by the annual BBC Wales Radio Lecture given in 1962 by Saunders Lewis, entitled Tynged yr iaith (The fate of the language).

 It is a pressure group that campaigns for people's right to use the Welsh language and for Welsh to be declared on an equal footing within Wales as an official language.  Even though  "The Welsh Language Act of 1993" declared that Welsh should be treated on an equal basis with English,  Cymdeithas yr Iaith  argues that this falls short of what is needed and that the lack of official status means that the Welsh language misses out on many crucial European grants. 

Cymdeithas yr Iaith  believes in non-violent direct action and in the course of their campaigns over a thousand people have appeared before the courts for their part in various campaigns, many receiving prison sentences, making it one of Britain's largest protest groups since the suffragettes.  It was instrumental in the establishing of Radio Cymru in 1977 and television station, S4C in 1982.

Born this day 1810 in Halkyn, Flintshire. 

Dan Jones   (often referred to as  Captain Dan Jones ), who was an influential Welsh Mormon missionary, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Jones emigrated to the United States in 1840 where he became a ship's captain. He soon came into contact with the Latter Day Saints and was converted, becoming a leader within the Mormon community.  He was with Joseph Smith the night before he died, when Smith told Jones "You will yet see Wales and fulfill the mission appointed you before you die." Subsequently, Jones did return to Wales as a missionary for the church. At this time, there were just over 200 Latter day Saints in Wales and under Jones's leadership, the missionaries baptized approximately 3600 Welsh people between 1845 and 1848. In 1846, Jones published a Welsh language periodical for the church entitled Prophwyd y Jubili—Prophet of the Jubilee, which was the first Mormon publication in a language other than English and then organised the first Welsh Morman emigration on the "Buena Vista" which left Liverpool on 26 February 1849. He came back to Wales in 1852 and converted a further 2000, most of whom emigrated with Jones on his return to Utah. 

Mormons are a religious and cultural group, commonly referred to as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day-Saints, they trace their origins to the visions Joseph Smith while living in New York. In 1823 Smith said  that he was spoken to by an angel, who directed him to a buried book written on golden plates containing the religious history of an ancient people.  Smith published a translation of these plates in March 1830 as the Book of Mormon, named after the prophet, Mormon, who compiled the book.

From the start, Smith and the Mormons tried to establish what they call Zion (or the New Jerusalem), a utopian society of the righteous and made several unsuccessful attempts to settle as a community, resulting in Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum being killed by a mob in Carthage Illinois. Smith's death resulted in conflict between theMormons and the residents of Illinois and led to their new leader, Brigham Young, leading the Mormon pioneers to what became the Utah Territory in 1847.

Having failed to build Zion within the confines of American society, the Mormons began to construct a society in isolation in a large desert region now known as the Mormon Corridor. From 1849–52, the Mormons greatly expanded their missionary efforts, establishing several missions in Europe, Converts were expected to "gather" to Zion, and over seventy thousand Mormon converts immigrated to America from all over the world. Many of the early immigrants crossing the Great Plains in wagons drawn by oxen. 

The death of Simon de Montfort on 4th August 1265, at the Battle of Evesham, was an important turning point for subsequent Welsh history.

Simon de Montfort, was an important figure in English history and for a time was considered its ruler.  Through his alliance with Llywelyn ap Grufydd, he also played a crucial role in Welsh history and for a short period just before his death, Wales had a guaranteed peace with England and a sole ruler in Llywelyn.  His death changed all that. 

1208 c.   Born in Montfort-l'Amaury, France. 

1229    Simon de Montfort went to England to claim lands he had inherited and became a favourite of King Henry III. 

1238    Simon de Montfort married Eleanor, Henry's sister. 

1240    Simon de Montfort distinguishes himself on crusade. 

1241    Simon de Montfort's relationship with Henry began to break down due to Henry's determination to ignore the swelling discontent within the country. 

1258    The Provisions of Oxford: Seven barons led by Simon de Montfort forced King Henry to agree to the Provisions of Oxford which abolished the absolutist  monarchy and gave power to a council of fifteen barons to govern England and a parliament. 

1262    King Henry obtained a papal bull exempting him from his agreements made at the Provisions of Oxford which lead to Civil War  which was known as the Second Barons War (1264 – 1267). 

1264    Battle of Lewes - King Henry was defeated and taken prisoner by Simon de Montfort's army, however, Prince Edward escaped.

1265    Simon de Montfort called a Parliament where for the first time not only knights, but representatives from the burhs (boroughs) attended. 

1265    The Treaty of Pipton, where  Llywelyn ap Grufydd and Simon de Montfort made an alliance which stipulated that Llywelyn pay de Montfort, 30,000 marks in return for him being acknowledged as the Prince of Wales, with the fealty of all the Princes, Lords and Chieftains of Wales, they also agreed a permanent peace and that Llywelyn would marry De Montforts daughter, Eleanor.  

1265   Battle of Evesham (4th August) Simon de Montfort although boosted by Welsh infantry sent by Llywelyn ap Grufydd is defeated and killed and power restored to King Henry. 

1275   Llywelyn was married by proxy to Eleanor de Montfort.   

On 4th August 1958 at the National Eisteddfod of Wales in Ebbw Vale, Paul Robeson delivered an address to the people of Wales. 

Paul Robeson was a distinguished singer and actor and also a leading civil rights activist.  He is regarded as one of the most respected African-Americans of the twentieth century.

Robeson’s association with Wales began in 1928 when, whilst starring in ‘Show Boat’ in London’s West End.  He met a group of South Wales miners, who had walked to London to draw attention to the hardship and suffering being endured by thousands of unemployed miners and their families.  Robeson subsequently visited and performed in South Wales many times between 1929 and 1939.  Then in 1939, he starred in The Proud Valley, a film about a mining community in the Rhondda.

In 1957, Robeson participated in the Miners’ Eisteddfod in Pothcawl by means of a transatlantic telephone link to a secret recording studio in New York, being unable to travel because his passport had been withdrawn by the US Government because of his outspoken left wing and anti-racist views.  The South Wales miners added their voice and signatures to the international petitions that eventually forced the US Supreme Court to reinstate his passport in 1958.  This allowed him to attend the 1958 Eisteddfod, where he sat alongside Aneurin Bevan.

Born this day 1955 in Tredegar and raised in Ebbw Vale 

Steve Jones- former world marathon record holder.   His career best marathon time of 2:07:13 in winning the Chicago Marathon in 1985, remains a British record. 

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The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain is a 1995 British film released on 4th August, starring Hugh Grant.  

The film is based on a local legend of Taff's Well  and nearby Garth Hill.  

 Due to urbanisation, filming took place in  Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant and Llansilin in Mid Wales and is set in post World War I, 1917.  Two English cartographers arrive at a village to measure its "mountain", only to find that it can only be classified as a hill because it is just short of 1000 feet in height, which would have made it a mountain.  The outraged villagers, conspire to delay the cartographers' departure until an earth cairn is built on top of the hill to increase its height to over 1,000 feet.

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4th August 1914 marks the commencement of World War I when the United Kingdom declared war on the German Empire.

Many people believed that there would not be enthusiasm for the war in Wales, due to the strong anti war beliefs of the nonconformists and Liberals. However on the outbreak of war an overwhelming tide of support swept the country which resulted in 280,000 Welshmen serving during the conflict, of which approximately 35,000 were to subsequently lose their lives. Lloyd George was prominent in the campaign for volunteers, comparing the plight of Belgium to that of Wales, two small countries with powerful, aggressive neighbours.

Church ministers and union leaders also campaigned for recruits as did the press, who encouraged competition between communities for the number who enlisted. This resulted in nearly every eligible man in Briton Ferry recruiting and officers in Cardiff and Swansea being over run with the numbers volunteering.

On 4th August 1868, the opening of the Bala and Dolgelly Railway, completed the line across the north of Wales, connecting Ruabon, in the east, with Barmouth on the west coast.

The Ruabon to Barmouth Line had been opened in stages by various companies:

Vale of Llangollen Railway - 1 December 1861 (goods); 2 June 1862 (passenger)

Llangollen and Corwen Railway - 1 May 1865

Corwen and Bala Railway - 16 July 1866 (Corwen to Llandrillo); 1 April 1868 (Llandrillo to Bala)

Bala and Dolgelly Railway - 4 August 1868.

These companies were absorbed by the Cambrian Railways which itself was later absorbed into the GWR.

The whole line was officially closed to passenger trains as part of the Beeching Axe on 18 January 1965.  However, two sections of the line have been reopened as preserved railways; the narrow gauge Bala Lake Railway in 1972 (pictured) and the standard gauge Llangollen Railway which first opened to passengers in 1981.