The Radcliffe Line was announced on 17 August 1947 as a boundary demarcation line between India and Pakistan. 

The Indian Independence Act 1947,  stipulated that British Rule in India would come to an end and that the Provence of British India was to be partitioned into the independent nations of India and Pakistan. The Radcliffe Line was named after its architect, a Welshman,  Sir Cyril Radcliffe, from Llanychan, Denbighshire , who was given the chairmanship of the boundary committees, charged with producing a partition map, dividing the 175,000 square miles of territory and 88 million people.

The process had to be achieved within a month and was further hampered by the fact that Radcliffe had no previous knowledge of India.  The work was inevitably rushed and produced  instances where the border was drawn leaving some parts of a village in India and some in Pakistan and there were even instances where the dividing line passed through a single house with some rooms in one country and others in the other.  Then the Indian and Pakistani representatives were given only two hours to study copies, before its publication.  By his own admission, Radcliffe was heavily influenced by his lack of fitness for the Indian climate and his eagerness to depart India and justified the inaccuracies, saying  that no matter what he did, people would suffer.  However he destroyed all his papers before he left India.

Radcliffe had attempted to base the partition on religious demographics, but its implementation resulted in massive population exchanges between the two newly formed states in the months immediately following . It is estimated that 7.2 million Muslims went to Pakistan from India while  a further 7.2 million Sikhs and Hindus moved to India from Pakistan, to what they hoped was the relative safety of religious majority. About 11.2 million of the population transfer took place in the west, with Punjab accounting for most of it.  The newly formed governments were completely unequipped to deal with migrations of such staggering magnitude, and massive violence and slaughter occurred on both sides of the border.  It is estimated that 500,000 were killed. The violent nature of the partition created an atmosphere of mutual hostility and suspicion between India and Pakistan that plagues their relationship to this day.

After seeing the mayhem occurring on both sides of the boundary that was created by him, Radcliffe refused his salary of 40,000 rupees (then 3,000 pounds), but did accept a knighthood in 1948.

On 17 August 1911, Llanelli was the venue for the first ever national railway strike.

The strike was caused by compulsory overtime, poor wages and a 70 hour working week.  Talks between the union and management soon broke down and there was an immediate "walk out," by the Llanelli railway workers, which was joined by thousands of local tinplate workers.  All train traffic was then stopped by a 1,500 strong picket, placed at the station’s two railway crossings

Magistrates panicked and requested troops from the then home secretary Winston Churchill, who dispatched 700 of them to the town.  To control the crowd, a bayonet charge was ordered  against the unarmed workers, which resulted in one of crossings being cleared.

Then on the evening of Saturday 19th August a train, driven by strike breaking railwaymen,  was moved from the station until it was forced to stop by barricade of 250 strikers.  Another bayonet charge was ordered, which cleared the line.  However the crowd moved up onto the embankment and hurled stones at the military.  The Riot Act was read - the last time it has ever been read in mainland Britain and Major Stuart ordered the troops to open fire.  Two men were killed , one being the local rugby star,  John – Jac. The soldiers  then, moved back to the station to cries "Murderers" and the situation became increasingly more tense, with shops being looted and railway trucks attacked.  Tragically one of the trucks contained detonators and exploded, killing a further four people.

Sadly, what was not known at the time of the shootings, was that the strike had already been settled, with Churchill declaring "They have beaten us." 

Born on this day 1943 in Splott, Cardiff

John Humphrys  - author, Journalist and presenter of radio and television.  From 1981 to 1987 he was the main presenter for the BBC Nine O'Clock News and since 1987 he has been a presenter on the BBC Radio 4 news programme "Today" where he has a reputation as a tenacious and forthright interviewer. He is also currently the host of the BBC Two television quiz show Mastermind. Humphrys left school at 15 to become a teenage reporter on the Penarth Times , later joining the Western Mail.  He joined the BBC in 1966 and was soon sent to the United States and South Africa to start news bureaux.  In this role, he reported the resignation of Richard Nixon, the execution of Gary Gilmore and later, when based in South Africa, he covered the transformation of Rhodesia into Zimbabwe.  In 1981 he became the main presenter of the BBC's flagship Nine O'Clock News, but became frustrated with the endless meetings, working late and reading from an autocue, so in 1986 he immediately accepted a job on the "Today" programme 

Humphrys attracted controversy in September 2005 when he allegedly branded all politicians as liars and made comments about Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and John Prescott in an after-dinner speech which was subsequently leaked to The Times.  This resulted in him being censured by the Corporation for his use of "inappropriate and misguided" language.

He has won many industry awards, including being named Journalist of the Year in February 2000 and in 2005 he founded the Kitchen Table Charities Trust, a charity that funds projects to help some of the poorest people on the planet.

17th  August 1979 saw the release of the then controversial film "The Life of Brian" which was directed by Colwyn Bay born director Terry Jones and featured the Dinas Cross, Pembrokeshire  actress Sue Jones-Davies as the character Judith Iscariot.

The film tells of the life of Brian Cohen, who was born next door on the same day as Jesus Christ, and is mistaken for as the Messiah.  The film was controversial at the time, with some religious groups accusing it of being blasphemous.

Thirty-nine local authorities in the UK banned the film, as did some countries, such as Ireland and Norway.  However, the film makers used the notoriety to their advantage with advertising slogans such as "So funny it was banned in Norway!".

Interestingly, the ban was not lifted in Aberystwyth until 2009, when Sue Jones-Davies (who played Judith Iscariot) was elected mayor of the town.

On 17th August 1831, 93 people lost their lives when the paddle steamer Rothsay Castle was wrecked on Traeth Lafan (Lavan Sands) 0n the Menai Strait.

The steamer, which was used for day trips from Liverpool, along the coast of North Wales encountered a rough sea and strong winds and when one of the passengers went to ask  to return  to port, found  Captain Atkinson drunk and unwilling to turn the vessel around. By the time they had reached the Great Orme, the ship had taken on two feet of water and the pumps would not work.  To make matters worse, there was no bucket on board for bailing and the lifeboat, which had a hole in it, had no oars.  They ran aground and the ship broke up, with the bodies of the downed victims being washed up mostly on Anglesey.

The inquest that was held at Beaumaris concluded that the Rothsay Castle was not a seaworthy vessel and was not properly manned.  However, in 1832, as a result of the disaster, a lifeboat was stationed at Penmon and in 1837, the Trwyn Du (black nose) lighthouse was built.