Happy Old New Year (Hen Galon)!!

Yr Hen Galon is a custom that dates back to the adoption of the Gregorian calendar in 1752, as opposed to the previously used Julian calendar, which over the years, had lost 13 days, resulting in January 1st in the Julian calendar equating to January 14th in the Gregorian.

In some areas of Wales, the tradition of observing the new year according to the Julian calendar is continued, with the communities of the Gwaun Valley near Fishguard and Llandysul celebrating the   ‘Hen Galan’ hen meaning old in Welsh and calan, meaning the first day of the month.

Born on this day 1804 in Llangeinwen, Anglesey'

Sir Hugh Owen - Founder of the University College of Wales at Aberystwyth and pioneer of higher education in Wales.

Owen moved to London when he was 21 and initially worked as a solicitor's clerk, before finding work with the Poor Law Commission and eventually becoming its Chief Clerk in 1853.

Whilst in London, he became associated with the British and Foreign School Society and seeing its potential for Wales, he was taken in 1843, to writing an open letter to the people of Wales, suggesting the establishment of such schools in Wales.  He was subsequently involved the appointment of agents for the society in both North and South Wales.  He was also the secretary of the non-denominational Cambrian Educational Society and wrote another letter, suggesting the introduction of their day schools in Wales in 1846.

His innovative ideas highlighted the need for teacher training in Wales and he therefore became involved in the foundation of the Normal College at Bangor and the raising of funds for a University for Wales.  In 1867 the fundraising committee he had established was able to buy the Castle Hotel in Aberystwyth as the site for a University, which was opened 1872.   

         

Born on this day 1911 at Cockett in Swansea, 

Edward George 'Taffy' Bowen - Physicist whose work on radar enabled the Royal Navy and RAF  to break the Germans navy's stranglehold over the north Atlantic during World War II and whose breakthroughs in the field of electromagnetism  would  change the course of peoples everyday lives.

Taffy was born into a working-class family, but from a very early age, his high intelligence marked him out for great things and at the age of 9 he'd already built his own valve radio transmitter.  He joined Swansea University aged 16, he had his MSc  by 19 and was a professor aged 24.  Then in 1935, Bowen's brilliance brought him to the attention of the inventor of radar, Scottish scientist Robert Watson-Watt.   Bowen managed to miniaturise radar into something that could be fitted into the noses of planes during the Battle of the Atlantic.  

Aberystwyth's great storm of 1938

Between 14th - 19th January 1938, a major storm caused extensive damage in Aberystwyth, with the promenade and pier being largely destroyed by 90 mph winds.

The promenade collapsed and was washed away in minutes.  Wave after wave entered houses flooding the basements to a depth of several feet and smashing all furniture before them.  Front doors were smashed to matchwood as boulders and paving slabs were hurled against them and large stones were driven against windows up to second-floor level, breaking the glass and letting in gallons of water.  

At nearby Tanybwlch beach, three women decided to abandon their cottage and seek refuge with their neighbours when the front door was burst open by an enormous wave.  The next wave brought the roof down, pinning two of the women firmly under the heavy roof beams, with the third being knocked clean out of the cottage, only feet from the swollen River Ystwyth.  Their plight was noted by the driver of a passing train, who raised the alarm, allowing the emergency services to free the women from the wreckage.

Work rapidly commenced on a protective coffer dam and the rebuilt promenade was well protected by an apron of boulders.  It was thought that the expensive lesson of 1938 had been well and truly learnt and that a repetition of the events of seventy years ago were a near impossibility.  However, the recent storms in January 2014 have showed that there is no room for complacency when dealing with such forces of nature.

Born on this day 1887  in the Trawsfynydd area of Meirionydd.

Hedd Wyn (Ellis Humphrey Evans) - Welsh language poet 

Hedd Wyn worked on his father's farm and was an active poet from an early age, being a regular competitor in Eisteddfodau.  In 1916, he enlisted in the British army and was killed in the Battle of Pilken Ridge, the following year in 1917, he was awarded the bard's chair at the National Eisteddfod, where in his absence, the Chair was draped with a black cloth.

Dr. Richard Griffiths (1756–1826)  was christened 0n this day 1756 in Llanwynno in the mountains between the Rhondda and Cynon Valleys. 

He is notable for building the first recognised transport links ( the Griffiths Tramroad) into the Rhondda Valley, a significant development that heralded the start of the coal mining boom in the Welsh mining Valleys.  His Tramroad, built in 1809, was to service early coal ‘levels’ in the Rhondda, allowing the coal to be carried to the Glamorganshire canal at Treforest, which linked the ironworks at Merthyr Tydfil to the port of Cardiff. 

Griffiths' youngest sister was married to a farm estate owner in the Lower Rhondda  and in 1808, Griffiths obtained a lease for the mineral rights for the farm.  Griffiths then decided to improve the site's transportation link to the newly opened Glamorganshire Canal, as the existing system of transporting coal to the canal was through the use of pack horses, which was inefficient and time consuming

Griffiths' new transport link proved itself when Walter Coffin, who is recognised as the first person to sink deep mines in the Rhondda obtained the rights to use Griffiths' tramroad.  

Today is the feast day of Saint Elian.

The Legend of St. Elian says he was related to Ismael and labored in the missions of Cornwall, England.

Born c.450. Allegedly a descent of Isfael, who was an AD 6th-century medieval Welsh bishop of Rhos and also a Breton prince of Armorica. Tradition holds that Elian came to Anglesey by sea from Rome, landing at Porth yr Yehen, where he built the church of Llanelian.  One folk tale says that he forbade people from keeping greyhounds, as one had killed a doe in his care.

Armorica is the name given in ancient times to the part of Gaul between the Seine and Loire rivers, that includes the Brittany peninsula.  

Born on this day 1866 in Llandaff  

Frank Hill - former Wales rugby international and captain who was part of 1893 side that won Wales' first Triple Crown.  He was a solicitor by trade and had a practice on Cardiff High Street.

On the 13th January 1879, just before midnight, dense clouds of smoke and multi coloured fumes billowed from the main shaft of Dinas Colliery, the first deep coal mine of the Rhondda Valleys, which had been sunk in 1832.  This had followed a terrific explosion, that shook not only the colliery buildings but also the nearby houses.  It ripped through the mine leaving 63 men and boys dead.  Thirty five of them were buried in a mass grave at Llethr-Ddu (Trealaw) Cemetery, fourteen of them were so unrecognisable their names are entered in the burial register as 'UNKNOWN'.

On 13th January 1919 - The Red Flag was hoisted during a naval mutiny on HMS Kilbride at Milford Haven.

*  Between 1852 and 1917 there had only been one pay increase.

*  Contrary to what the people were being told, the Foreign Office and Admiralty were making arrangements to intervene in post-revolution Russia and the feeling among servicemen was that those who did not volunteer were left with no option but to mutiny.

On 12th January 1976, the most popular novelist in the world, Dame Agatha Christie died leaving a multi-million pound fortune, much of which is used to promote the arts in Wales. 

In 1951 a young Welsh boy named Mathew Prichard was taken by his grandmother, Agatha Christie, to the Prince of Wales Theatre, Cardiff to see his first play, "Black Coffee" which she had written 25 years earlier. The following year she signed the world rights of "The Mousetrap" to her grandson as a 9th birthday present.

Prichard, now chairman of Agatha Christie Ltd which manages the literary and media rights to Agatha Christie's works around the world, set up the Colwinston Charitable Trust (named after the village in the Vale of Glamorgan), which uses royalties to promote the arts in Wales. The Welsh National Opera, Wales Millennium Centre, and Chapter Arts, have all benefited from the trust’s financial support.   

On 12th January 1402, Owain Glyndwr captured his arch-enemy Reginald de Grey, 3rd Baron Grey de Ruthyn. 

Reginald de Grey was in a long-running legal dispute with Glyndŵr, over the ownership of some of Glyndwr's land.   King Richard II  had been found in Glyndwr's favour, but on the usurpation of King Henry IV, Lord Grey was allowed to seize the land.

Glyndŵr responded in law in 1400, only to be told to grant de Grey concessions.  The relationship between the two men was further strained when de Grey delayed giving Glyndŵr the summons from Henry IV to provide service in Scotland, until such time that it was impossible for  Glyndwr to respond in time.  This was seen by Henry IV as a treasonous act and Glyndŵr's estates were forfeited.

So on 16th September 1400, Owain took up arms, burned Grey's property and ravaged his lands.  Then on 24th September, Glyndwr's forces were encircled at Welshpool and de Grey invited Glyndŵr to a reconciliation meeting.  However de Grey arrived with a substantial army and attempted to imprison Glyndŵr.   Glyndŵr escaped and went into hiding, but this confirmed him as a traitor in English eyes and King Henry now confiscated the estates of his supporters.

Glyndwr's rebellion then gathered momentum and in 1402, de Grey was captured  in an ambush near Ruthin and a ransom of 10,000 marks demanded for his release, which Henry eventually paid.

Born on this day 1810 in Swansea. 

John Dillwyn Llewelyn -  photography pioneer, politician, scientist and philanthropist. 

John Dillwyn inherited two estates in the Swansea, Neath area and according to instructions in his father's will, added the name of Llewelyn to his own.

*  Llewelyn was married to a cousin of William Henry Fox Talbot, the British inventor of photography, who inspired Llewelyn to be at the forefront of photographic innovation in the 1850s.  Llywelyn's Oxymel process,  using vinegar and honey to preserve images made taking outdoor photographs much more practical. 

*  Llewelyn was the High Sheriff of Glamorgan and helped some of the leaders of the Rebecca Riots in the 1840s.

*  With the threat of a French invasion he trained his own militia, the 5th Company Glamorgan Rifle Volunteers. 

*  He helped his friend Sir Charles Wheatstone, sink a length of insulated wire in Swansea Bay as part of his telegraphy experiments.

*  The grounds of his Swansea estate were notable for their original landscape design.  He was also particularly interested in astronomy and built only the second  equatorial observatory in Wales.  

*  Llewelyn was a noted patron of many good causes, especially local schools and hospitals. 

*  He built cottages for his employees on his estate at what is now the village of Penllergaer. 

*  He gave the land for the public park, Parc Llewelyn, near Morriston.

Born on this day 1907 in Pembroke.

Reg Thomas  -  middle distance runner, who competed in the 1928 and 1932 Olympic Games.

Thomas was a Squadron Leader in the Royal Air Force, when on 14th March 1946 he was killed when the Lancaster bomber he was piloting, crashed on take-off at RAF Aston Down. 

William Williams Pantycelyn (Y pêr ganiedydd - The sweet songster), died on 11th January 1717.

Williams who was born in the parish of Llanfair ar y bryn, Carmarthenshire in 1717, is generally acknowledged as Wales' most famous hymn writer and was also one of the key leaders of the 18th century Welsh Methodist revival.

Williams experienced a religious conversion while listening to Howell Harris preaching in Talgarth in 1737 and took deacon's orders in the Church of England, being appointed curate to Theophilus Evans in the parishes of Llanwrtyd, Llanfihangel Abergwesyn and Llanddewi Abergwesyn.  His best known hymn is Arglwydd, arwain trwy'r anialwch, translated as the English Hymn Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah.  

          

Born on this day 1941 in Prestatyn

Barry Flanagan - sculptor best-known for his bronze statues of hares (picture - Thinker on a Rock)  

Flanagan studied architecture at Birmingham College of Arts and Crafts and sculpture at Saint Martin's School of Art in London.  He was the subject of a biographical film by Peter Bach, The Man Who Sculpted Hares: Barry Flanagan, A Life.   

Born on this day 1947 in Glynncorwg, Neath. 

Rod Thomas - former Wales soccer international.  

At club level, Thomas made nearly 300 appearances for Swindon, including the 1969 League Cup final and has made the most international appearances ever by a Swindon player.  He moved to Derby County in 1973, with whom he won a first division winners medal.

Born on this day 1948 in Swansea.  

Terry Williams - best known as the drummer for Dire Straits between 1982 and 1988.   

On 11th January 1970, the last trolleybus ran in Cardiff, the last such system in Wales. A trolleybus was an electric bus that was run by the electricity supplied from overhead wires, through spring-loaded trolley poles. It differed from a tram in that it didn't need tracks. 

1902 - The Corporation of Cardiff introduced electric powered trams, when it took over the private Cardiff Tramway Company which had been supplying a service of horse pulled trams and buses since 1870.  Private operators had been running horse buses since at least 1845.

1914 - The first trolleybuses in Wales come into operation in Aberdare.  They were initialy however beset with problems as they suffered damage from the poor road surface and the electric collectors (nicknamed the 'monkey') were prone to drop off the wires and land in the street.

1942 - The first trolleybuses were introduced in Cardiff.  In terms of comfort and speed, the trolleybus was popular with passengers, as the lack of vibration and the quietness made them very comfortable.  However, their quietness earned them the nickname "the silent death" as pedestrians quite often could not hear them coming.  Cardiff was unusual in that it had single-deck trolleybuses as well as double-deckers, due to several low bridges in the docks area.

19 62 - Motor buses began to replace the trolleybuses.  Motor buses were operated since the early part of the 20th century, but early journeys would have been uncomfortable as pneumatic tyres were not fitted until 1924

1970 (11th January) - The last trolleybus ran in Cardiff.

Born on this day 1946 in Blaenavon, Monmouthshire

 Terry Cobner - former Wales and Lions rugby international and captain.  Cobner spent 14 seasons as a player with Pontypool, a record 10 of them as captain.    

Born on this day 1833 in  a house called "Y Fron" in Llanbrynmair, Montgomeryshire.

Richard Davies (Mynyddog) - who was an extremely popular poet in his day.

 His tuneful poems dealt with the joys and tribulations of the common people, the folly of pride, and the absurdity of hypocrisy.  He took his bardic name, ‘ Mynyddog ,’ from Newydd Fynyddog , a hill near his home.

 He was a frequent competitor at the eisteddfodau and concerts up and down the country and often travelled to London to listen to the principal singers there.  He was in great demand as an adjudicator, singer and especially as an eisteddfod conductor both in Wales and England.  

 



Arthur Griffith (who had a Welsh grandfather) was made President of Dail Eireann (Irish Parliament) on 10th January 1922.  He was the founder and a leader of Sinn Fein and led the Irish delegation at the negotiations in London that produced the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921.

On 10th January 1882 — The vessels Constancia and Primus collided whilst attempting to pass through Newport Town Docks. The lock was blocked and the vessels already in the dock were trapped for nearly two weeks.

The accident incurred substantial expense for the Newport Dock Company and eroded customer confidence in the company, which resulted in the Town Dock being used for dealing with the smaller vessels whilst larger cargoes were concentrated at the Alexandra Dock.  Unable to survive the downturn in trade in the 1920’s the Town Dock was finally closed in October 1930. 

On 10th January 1952, an Aer Lingus aircraft (named 'Saint Kevin') on a London–Dublin flight crashed at the Cwm Edno bog in Snowdonia, killing all twenty passengers and the three crew.  It took rescue workers and police officers almost an hour to reach the remote site in atrocious weather conditions and heartbreakingly the only thing they found unscathed in the wreckage was a child's doll.

On 9th January 1972, UK miners' went on strike, after wage negotiations between the National Union of Mine workers and the National Coal Board failed to find an agreement. It was the first time since 1926 that British miners had gone on strike and resulted in power shortages.  A state of emergency was declared on 9th February, with the dispute finally being resolved on 19th February.  

Born on this day 1917 in Penclawdd, Gower. 

Haydn Tanner - former Wales captain and Lions rugby international 

Tanner was part of the Swansea side that beat the touring All Blacks in 1935, whilst still a schoolboy.  His outstanding performance in that match was to earn him his first Welsh cap later that year when he was again on the winning side against the All Blacks.  He later studied chemistry and maths and taught in Bristol, before becoming an industrial chemist and moving to Surrey.

Born on this day 1987 in Llantrisant

Bradley Davies - Wales rugby international, who was captain of the under 20s squad when they won the grand slam in 2005.    

Brian Nancurvis (14 August 1937 – 9 January 2012), who fought under the name Brian Curvis was a former British and Commonwealth welterweight champion and one of the greatest boxers ever produced by Swansea.

He was undefeated champion and the only welterweight to have won two Lonsdale Belts outright.  Curvis won the BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year award in 1960.

In January 1823, Reverend William Buckland discovered  in Goat's Hole, one of the Paviland Caves on the Gower, one side of a human adult skeleton, stained with red ochre and accompanied by seashell necklaces which he incorrectly assumed was a female and became known as the"Red Lady of Paviland".

Buckland who was Professor of Geology at Oxford Univerity and a devout Christian also underestimated the dating of the find as he believed that no human remains could be dated earlier than the Bible's Great Flood.  However, further examinations have shown that the "Red Lady" was, in fact, a male and at 24,000, the oldest known ceremonial burial in Western Europe.  

Born on this day 1937 in Tiger Bay, Cardiff

Shirley Bassey - world famous superstar.

Dame Shirley found fame in the mid-1950s and has since become one of the world's most popular female vocalists.  She is perhaps best known for recording the theme songs to the James Bond films "Goldfinger"  "Diamonds Are Forever" and "Moonraker"

Shirley Bassey was raised in the working class neighbourhood of Splott. Her mother was from Yorkshire and her father was a Nigerian seaman who left the family when Shirley was a baby.  Bassey initially worked in an Enamelware factory, before making her professional debut at 16  and her first major hit was "The Banana Boat Song," after which she has had countless hits and has become a highly respected figure in the music industry.   

Born on this day 1823 in Llanbadoc, near Usk.

Alfred Russel Wallace, who was one of the greatest natural history explorers of the 19th century and a leading thinker on evolution, whose unconventional ideas caused much discomfort to the scientific community at the time.

Wallace was also a biologist and social activist, but he is best known for independently coming up with the theory of evolution by natural selection and co-publishing a paper on the subject with Charles Darwin in 1858.  Despite this, his fame faded quickly after his death,  however recently with the publication of several his biographies and anthologies, he is becoming a much more well known and respected figure.  

Born on this day 1846 in Maesteg

Henry Bracy -  one of the most popular comic tenors of the Victorian era.

Bracy, the son of an ironworks manager began his career in Plymouth, before spending four years performing at London's Gaiety Theatre in the early 1870s. He and his wife then toured Australia, returning to Britain in 1880, where Bracy further built his reputation in comic opera and operetta.  In 1888, they returned to Australia, where until his death in 1917, he became a performer, stage manager, stage director and casting agent in Sydney.  

On 8th January 2006, four members of Rhyl Cycling Club, including a 14-year-old boy were killed in a road accident near Abergele, when the driver of a car lost control on the icy road that had not been gritted. Subsequently, the driver was fined for having defective tyres.

Born on this day 1956 in Merthyr

Johnny Owen, the fourth of a family of eight children to working class parents Dick and Edith Owens.  He began to box at the age of eight and progressed to winning several Welsh titles. As a professional, he held the Bantamweight Championship titles of Europe, Great Britain and the Commonwealth.  Owen was a quiet, reserved, friendly character outside the ring, but inside it, he was a formidable opponent with determination and strength in contrast to his frail looking body, which earned him many epithets, including ‘the Bionic Bantam’ and ‘the Merthyr Matchstick’. He possessed an impressive stamina built by long hours running up the steep hills of the South Wales Valleys.

On 4th November 1980, boxer Johnny Owen, died, following a knock out by Mexican boxer Lupe Pintor, during a challenge for the World Bantamweight title at the Grand Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles on 19 September 1980. Owen fell into a coma and never regained consciousness.  Owen’s family, far from blaming the World Champion, telegraphed him shortly after their loss and encouraged him to go on fighting. Twenty years later, a memorial to Johnny Owen was unveiled in Merthyr Tydfil and at the request of the late fighter's father, the unveiling was performed by Lupe Pintor.  

Today is the feast day of Saint Cwyllog

Born c.510, she was the daughter of King Caunus of Alt Clut in Yr Hen Ogledd and sister of St Gildas.  She fled with another brother, St Caffo to Anglesey where they were given land by King Maelgwyn Gwynedd, where she founded St Cwyllog's Church in Llangwyllog, Anglesey(pictured).  She is said to have been the wife of Mordred, the notorious traitor who fought and was killed by King Arthur at the Battle of Camlann, after which she decided to follow a religious life.  

Edward "Celtic" Davies (7 June 1756 – 7 January 1831) was born in in Llanfaredd, Radnorshire.

Davies was a writer and clergyman who wrote on the origins of Celtic languages and mythology. He was a contemporary of Iolo Morganwg and their work became part of the 19th-century reinvention of the druidic tradition. However although popular in his time, he is now regarded as being wildly inaccurate, but unlike Iolo, this was not deliberate and in fact at the time, he was one of the very few who was suspicious of Iolo's work.

Born on this day 1873 in Maesteg

Christopher Williams - artist whose known best for picture entitled, "The Welsh at Mametz Wood", which he painted at the request of Lloyd George and depicts the charge of the Welsh Division at Mametz Wood, 11 July 1916 as part of the Somme offensive. 

His portrait of Sir Alfred Lyall exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1910 brought him an invitation to join the Royal Society of British Artists after which he received a commission from King George V to paint the Investiture of the Prince of Wales at Caernarfon Castle in 1911. 

After the war, he painted many landscapes in Wales as well as, Switzerland, Italy, France, Spain, Morocco and Holland and was a frequent adjudicator at the National Eisteddfod.