David Davies - the much respected coal baron and industrialist. 

Davies left school at 11, to work with his father at a sawmill.  He then began organising labourers for the railway lines that were starting to appear all over Wales, before turning his attention to the rapidly growing coal industry.  He invested all of his money, leasing land in the Rhondda in the hope of striking coal, however, he failed initially to find profitable seams and was facing financial ruin, when his workers showed incredible loyalty and faith in him, by working without wages for one last attempt to find coal.  The breakthrough came at the Cwmparc mine, near Treorchy, from which Davies's fortunes rose.

He established the Ocean Coal Company Ltd and was exporting so much coal through Cardiff docks, that when the docks owner, the  Marquess of Bute , started to raise his charges, Davies was instrumental in the building of the rival docks at Barry.

On 18th December 1967, Newtown in Powys  was designated as a new town, the second such town in Wales.

The project aimed to reverse rural depopulation by attracting new industries and jobs to the area and involved re-channelling the River Severn to reduce the risk of flooding in the town.  

 Born on this day 1920 in Cilfyydd, near Pontypridd

Merlyn Rees - Labour party Member of Parliament from 1963 until 1992, who held the positions of both Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1974–1976) and Home Secretary (1976–1979). 

Born on this day 1707 in Epworth, Lincolnshire.

Charles Wesley - an early leader of the Methodist movement and prolific composer of hymns, who married Welsh woman Sarah Gwynne from Garth near Builth Wells.

At Oxford university, Charles formed a group dedicated to Bible study and the living of a holy life, in which he was joined by his elder brother John.  In 1738, both brothers experienced a "conversion" after which they felt compelled to spread the word of the Gospel. 

On one of his preaching tours to Wales in 1749, Charles met and married Sarah Gwynne (1726–1822), from Garth, near Builth Wells, who was the daughter of  the magistrate Marmaduke Gwynne,  The couple moved to Bristol and Sarah then accompanied Charles his evangelistic tours.

During his lifetime, Charles Wesley published the words of over six thousand hymns, including; "Hark! the Herald Angels Sing" "Love Divine, All Loves Excelling" and "Rejoice, the Lord is King"  

Born on this day 1987 in Salford and raised in Llandrindod Wells.

Dan Lydiate - Wales And Lions rugby international.

During his career, Lydiate has shown an impressive commitment to overcome the adversity of serious injury.  At 19 he recovered from a serious career threatening neck injury and at the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand, he infamously woke every hour to treat an ankle injury.  Lydiate is regarded as one of Wales's best tacklers and was awarded the Player of the Tournament award in the 2012  Six Nations Championship.

Peggy Cummins (born in Prestatyn on 18 December 1925) is a retired Welsh-born Irish actress. Cummins is best known for her performance in Joseph H. Lewis' Gun Crazy (1949), playing a trigger-happy femme fatale who robs banks with her lover (played by John Dall).