Welsh connections to The Gunpowder Plot, 5th November 1605;

The Gunpowder Plot of 1605 was a failed attempt by a Catholic group led by Robert Catesby  to kill King James I by blowing up the House of Lords during the State Opening of England's Parliament. One of the conspirators, Guy Fawkes, was discovered guarding 36 barrels of gunpowder. He was sentenced, along with seven other conspirators, to be hanged, drawn and quartered.

* Welsh spymaster Hugh Owen ( 1538 - 1618 ) a fervent Catholic who had vowed to destroy the Protestant Order, is believed to have masterminded the Gunpowder Plot. He had helped plan the Spanish Armada and was implicated in plots to assassinate Queen Elizabeth I, after which he had fled to Europe.

It is believed that it was Owen who originally introduced Guy Fawkes to the other conspirators, and Owen was also named in Fawkes' trial as the man ‘whose finger hath been in every treason which hath been of late years detected’. Owen escaped retribution, enjoying the safe haven of Catholic Europe.  Several assassination attempts against him failed, and Owen died peacefully of old age in Rome.

* Father Robert Jones who resided at the Jesuits' South Wales Mission "Cwm" in Llanrothal, Herefordshire, was implicated in an attempt to save two of the Gunpowder Plot perpetrators.  

On the 5th November 1757, the Welsh poet Goronwy Owen emigrated to America. 

Goronwy Owen is considered by a great majority of Welsh scholars to be the most gifted poet and linguist of the 18th century; perhaps of all time.  He was a master of the cynghanedd (described in the University of Wales dictionary as 'a system of consonance or alliteration in a line of Welsh poetry in strict metre') and along with his patron and friend Lewis Morris, played a significant part in rescuing the Welsh bardic tradition from oblivion.

Owen briefly attended Jesus College, Oxford, before embarking on a short lived career as a teacher before becoming a curate. He moved to Oswestry, where he married, but was hounded out by debt collectors, and sought refuge near Shrewsbury where he composed many of his most famous poems. His lifestyle became increasingly profligate, and in 1757, he accepted a position as a teacher at a grammar school in Williamsburgh, Virginia. He lost his wife and one child to sickness on the journey; he re-married in America but his second wife died within a few months. He was dismissed from the school as a consequence of his excessive drinking and spent his final years as a parish parson in Brunswick County where he married for the third time. 

Goronwy attempted to revitalise Welsh poetry at a time when its traditional patrons, the Welsh gentry, were being anglicised. He wanted to reinvent the traditional poetic style for his own age. Instead of poetry eulogising the gentry, Owen deals with subjects such as spiritual fulfilment and romantic longing. Poems such as 'Awdl Gofuned' are considered masterpieces by literary scholars.

      

On 5th November 1854, Hugh Rowlands, a captain in the 41st (Welsh) Regiment of Foot, from Llanrug, near Caernarfon, became the first Welshman to be awarded the Victoria Cross.

At Inkermand during the Crimean War, Captain Rowlands and Private John McDermond rescued Colonel Hayly of the 47th Regiment who had been wounded and surrounded by Russian soldiers.  

He also distinguished himself during the siege of Sevastopol and was again nominated for a Victoria Cross. He served in the West Indies and India and as a brigadier-general during the later stages of the Zulu War.  On his return to Britain, he was appointed Lieutenant of the Tower of London.

Merthyr born Samuel Griffith became Prime Minister of Queensland inNovember 1883.

Griffith's family moved to Queensland, which was then known as the Moreton Bay district of New South Wales, in 1853, when he was eight years old. He was well educated, and on graduating with first class honours, he travelled widely in Europe, becoming particularly enamoured of Italian Literature. He was the first Australian to translate Dante.

Griffith studied law on his return to Brisbane and was called to the bar in 1867. He entered politics and played a major part in the public life of Australia. He became premier and Chief Justice of Queensland and was one of the key authors of the Constitution of Australia.   

Born on this day 1967 in Haverfordwest

Jamie Owen - journalist, broadcaster and writer, best known as a presenter on BBC Wales' flagship news programme, BBC Wales Today. 

Since joining the BBC in 1986, he worked mainly in radio until becoming a television presenter in 1994.  He also continues to present a weekday morning show on BBC Radio Wales. He  presents a talk programme for BBC Radio Wales on Sundays and has presented Songs of Praise, BBC Breakfast News and BBC Radio 4's Shipping Forecast.  He has also worked with the BBC World Service Trust in the Middle East.

The Newport Rising, 4th November 1839.

In the early 1800's, calls to reform to the elitist electoral system resulted in "The Reform Act of 1832".  However, this act did not go far enough in the opinion of many working class people, as voters were still required to possess property worth £10, a substantial sum at that time. This division gave rise to the Chartist Movement, which called for the further following changes.

*  The right to vote for men over 21 years of age.

 *  Secret Balloting

 *  No requirement for MPs to own property.

 *  Payment for MPs, so that the poor were not debarred.

 * Equally sized constituencies.

*  Annual Parliamentary elections.

In May 1838, Henry Vincent, a leading Chartist, was arrested for making inflammatory speeches, tried, and sentenced to twelve months in prison. Furious outbreaks of violence ensued, and Chartist John Frost called for a mass demonstration demanding his release.

This march took place on 4th November 1839, with 3,000 men marching with pikes, clubs and firearms from Pontymister to Newport.

Troops were called in, and when the chanting crowd arrived at the Westgate Hotel, the order was given to open fire. At least twenty men were killed and fifty more seriously injured.

Frost, along with other Chartist leaders, was arrested and charged with high treason. They were found guilty and sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered. The brutality of the sentences was universally shocking, and the ensuing outcry forced Prime Minister Lord Melbourne to commute the sentence to life transportation.

The convicts were granted a total pardon in 1856 and Frost received a hero's welcome on his return to Newport. By the time of his death, aged 91, most of the reforms for which the Chartists had campaigned were enshrined in law.

In the 1960s a square in Newport was named John Frost Square and  a 35 metres long mosaic mural was created in a pedestrian underpass, but controversially, as part of a redevelopment scheme, the mural was destroyed on 3 October 2013.

On 4th November 1910, Ernest Thompson Willows made the first flight from England to France in his dirigible, City of Cardiff, having earlier in the year made the first flight across the Bristol Channel by airship, from Cardiff to Minehead.

Willows was born in 1886 in Cardiff and started designing his own craft at the age of nineteen, and made his first flight in 1905, flying for 85 minutes from East Moors, Cardiff. Following his record breaking flights in 1910, he established a spherical gas balloon school at Welsh Harp, Hendon, and also gave joyrides over London. During the first world war, Willows built kite or barrage balloons in Cardiff. After the war, he continued with ballooning but was tragically killed, along with two passengers, in a balloon accident on the 23 August 1926 at Hoo Park in Bedford. He is remembered in Cardiff, where a road, a City Road pub and Willows High School are named in his honour.

B orn on this day 1938, in Velindre

Alan Jones - Glamorgan cricketer.

Jones is Glamorgan's record run scorer with 36,049 runs, the highest of any player outside Test cricket. Jones scored 1,000 runs in every season between 1961 to 1983 and was prominent in the Championship-winning Glamorgan side of 1969.

Jones captained Glamorgan in both 1977 and 1978. He was awarded the title Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1978, after captaining Glamorgan to its first Gillette Cup final the previous season.

On 4th November 1980, Welsh boxer Johnny Owen died, having been knocked out in Los Angeles on 19th September during a fight  for the World Bantamweight title. His opponent was Mexican boxer, Lupe Pintor. 

Johnny Owen, born John Richard Owens on 7th January 1956, came from a working class background in Merthyr Tydfil. He started boxing at the age of eight and won several Welsh titles.  As a professional boxer, he held the Bantamweight Championship titles of Great Britain, the Commonwealth and Europe.

Despite being a reserved, quiet gentleman outside the ring, and appearing frail, he was a fierce opponent with huge strength and determination. He earned nicknames such as ‘the Bionic Bantam’ and ‘the Merthyr Matchstick’.  He had also developed incredible stamina from hours of training, running up and down the steep valleys around Merthyr.

 Owen never regained consciousness after the knockout, and, despite surgery, lapsed into a coma. He was pronounced dead on 4 November 1980, aged just twenty-four.

A memorial to Johnny Owen was unveiled in Merthyr Tydfil twenty years later, with the unveiling being performed, at the request of Johnny's father, by Lupe Pintor.  

Cwmbran was designated a new Town on 4th November 1949.

Following the Second World War, it was noted that many of Britain's urban areas were overcrowded, with high levels of poverty.  The New Towns Act 1946 allowed the government to designate areas as new towns, in order to disperse population and also to provide better services, therefore improving people's quality of life.  Cwmbran was Wales's first such town and was based around the villages of Old Cwmbran, Upper Cwmbran, Llantarnam, Croesyceiliog, Pontnewydd and Llanyrafon.

Cwmbran now has a population of 47,000, which makes it the sixth largest urban area in Wales.  The roads conform to a grid pattern, similar to Milton Keynes, and is one of the largest pedestrianised shopping centres in South Wales, attracting shoppers from a wide urban area.

  On 3rd November 2006, Jones Jones Jones, an event held at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, succeeded in breaking the world record for the largest gathering of people with the same surname in one place. 

Jones is a surname of Medieval origins, derived from the given name John which in turn is derived from the Hebrew name Yochanan (Johanan).  It remains the most popular surname in Wales and is also the second most common surname in England after Smith, and the 5th most frequent in the United States.

The Esso Oil Refinery at Milford Haven was opened on 2nd November 1960 and heralded the start of Milford Haven's association with the petrochemical industry.

During the 1950s,  Esso was looking to increase its refining capacity. The refinery at Fawley, near Southampton, was deemed limited in potential for expansion, so the port of Milford Haven was chosen as it had a deep waterway to allow access to increasingly large oil tankers.

Other oil companies followed suit over the next ten years, so that by 1974, Milford supported an oil trade of 58,554,000 tonnes, and by the early 1980s, the Esso Refinery was the 2nd largest in the UK.

The industry, however, did not provide huge labour opportunities for locals, employing at its height a maximum of 2,000 workers. Combined with the decline of the fishing industry, Preseli District Council stated in 1977, that the area had "a serious unemployment problem".  The Esso Refinery closed down in March 1983.

Over the years, the industry has also been hit by a series of accidents and oil spills such as

1968 - The Torrey Canyon spill, which affected shores further south around southern Cornwall and northern France.

1978 - The tanker Christos Bitas ran aground off the Haven, spilling a portion of its cargo of oil.

1984 - A serious explosion on a tanker being repaired in the Haven resulted in three fatalities.

1996 - The oil tanker Sea Empress ran aground, causing a catastrophic oil spill.

Today, the site of the Esso Refinery has been converted into the South Hook LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) terminal and Milford Haven port still handles the most oil and gas shipments from any port in the UK.   

Today is the feast of Saint Winifred or Saint Winefride (Welsh: Gwenffrewi) 

Saint Winifred was a 7th-century Welsh Christian who is the focus of many tales and legends. The spring called St Winefride's Well in Holywell, Fflint, is claimed to have healing powers, and the shrine is now a pilgrimage site known as the Lourdes of Wales.

Her parents, legend claims, were Tyfid ap Eiludd, a noble chieftain of Tegeingl, and Wenlo, who was St. Beuno's sister.  When Winifred decided to take holy orders, her enraged suitor Caradog decapitated her. A healing spring miraculously appeared where her severed head came to rest, and she was restored to life. Her suitor fell dead on the spot and was swallowed by the earth. Her maternal uncle, St. Beuno, decreed "that whosoever on that spot should thrice ask for a benefit from God in the name of St. Winefride would obtain the grace he asked if it was for the good of his soul."  

The Citadel ( first screened on 3rd November 1938)

This was a polished and ambitious pre-war film set in Wales, directed by King Vidor. The Citadel was adapted from a novel by former GP and medical inspector of mines, AJ Cronin, and foreshadows the creation of the National Health Service by Nye Bevan ten years later under the Labour Government. 

The convincing central narrative features the moral dilemmas facing a young Scottish doctor, played by Robert Donat, whose idealism is tested during the Depression in South Wales. The story reflects the experiences of its author, who was himself a Scot, and who worked as a GP in Nye Bevan's own constituency of New Tredegar. Cronin is best remembered for the TV dramatisation of his story series Dr Finlay's Casebook.

What do the films Straw Dogs ( released 3rd November 1971) and Barbarella  have in common? Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch! 

In Straw Dogs it was used as a password and in Barbarella it was used as a conjurer's incantation.  

Stephen Carl Harris (born on 3 November 1956 in Neath) is a Welsh former international footballer. Harris played on the wing and was renowned for his speed. He was signed for Leeds United by Don Revie in 1973 and played alongside soccer legends such as Allan Clarke, Peter Lorimer and Billy Bremner. 

Harris was homesick for Wales, and it took the intervention of the legendary John Charles to persuade him to stay in Leeds. He went on to score the winning goal in his League debut against Ipswich Town in 1975, aged just 18.

Between then and 1981 Harris played 176 games for the club and scored 29 goals.

The Battle of Tuthill 1401

The Battle of Tuthill took place near Caernarfon on 2 November 1401 during the revolt of Owain Glyndŵr. Glyndŵr's victory at the Battle of Mynydd Hyddgen inJune 1400 had inspired the revolt with fresh confidence, and Glyndŵr clearly did not want the enthusiasm for battle to wane in the north-west. The battle is most famous as the first occasion when Glyndŵr flew his banner bearing a golden dragon on a white field, echoing the symbols of Uthr Pendragon. This could be construed as drawing overt correlations between his revolt and the image of the 'mab darogan' or the 'chosen son', who would free Wales from English tyranny.

Few details are recorded about the battle itself, although we know that the battle ended inconclusively, with 300 Welsh soldiers reported dead, but the isolation of Caernarfon and Glyndŵr's ability to attack English positions in Wales was clearly demonstrated.  

On 2 November 1925, the failure of two dams caused a flood that swamped the village of Dolgarrog, killing 16 people.

The cause of the disaster was the collapse of the Eigiau Dam, which was a gravity dam owned by the Aluminium Corporation. The floodwater breached the Coedty Dam further downstream, an embankment dam which failed to hold back the weight of water, releasing a huge volume of water that flooded Dolgarrog.  Many more villagers would have been killed had they not been in the local theatre watching a film that night.

The disaster at Dolgarrog led parliament to pass the Reservoirs (Safety Provisions) Act in 1930 that introduced laws on the safety of reservoirs, an Act which has since been revised and updated by the Reservoirs Act, 1975.  In 2004, a £60,000 memorial trail was created, outlining the tragic story to walkers. The trail takes visitors to the spot where the boulders from the damaged dam came to rest. The memorial was opened by the last survivor of the dam disaster, Fred Brown, who on that night lost his mother and his younger sister.   

Carwyn James, born on 2nd November 1929, was a Welsh rugby union international, but is more well known as a coach for both Llanelli and the British and Irish Lions. 

Carwyn was the son of a coal miner from Cefneithin in the Gwendraeth Valley. He became a teacher and was later a lecturer at Trinity College, Carmarthen. He played for Llanelli as outside-half, playing his first game while still at Gwendraeth Grammar School. He played for Wales twice in 1958, and would probably have gained more caps had he not been in competition with Cliff Morgan for his place as outside-half.

He gained renown as a coach with Llanelli and was coach when they won their famous victory over the All Blacks at Stradey Park in 1972. In 1971, he coached the British and Irish Lions tour to New Zealand, which remains the only Lions side to win a series against the All Blacks. 

James held strong political views and stood as Plaid Cymru candidate in Llanelli in the 1970 General Election. He was vehemently opposed to apartheid and during the 1969/70 Springbok tour, he coached the Llanelli team but refused to attend the game, remaining in the dressing room as a protest. Until his untimely death, he became a prominent and articulate broadcaster, notably as a rugby pundit. The sports building of Aberystwyth University is named in his honour, as is the playing field at Cefneithin RFC.  

Cymdeithas Cymreigyddion y Fenni, the Abergavenny Welsh Society, was founded in the Sun Inn on 2nd November 1833. The group was largely responsible for the continued use of the Welsh language in Monmouthshire, and for raising awareness of Welsh intellectual activity.

Its motto is "Oes y byd i'r iaith Gymraeg", or "long live the Welsh language", or more literally "the age of the world to the Welsh language".  The society was initially founded to provide members with a chance to socialise in Welsh, and to promote the use of the language more widely in the town. 
The society continues to meet regularly, and is now one of several Welsh language groups locally, including Cymdeithas Gwenynen Gwent and Merched y Wawr.  

Thomas "Tommy" Bamford (2 November 1905 – 12 December 1967) – former Wales soccer international.

Bamford was born in Port Talbot  and started his footballing career with Wrexham in 1928. He remains the club's record league scorer, with 175 goals between 1928–34. In the 1933–1934 season, he scored another club record of 44 league goals (and 50 in total for the season), which still stands today.

He transferred to Manchester United in 1934, playing a total of 109 games for the club. He returned to Wales to play for Swansea Town in 1938, but a year later the Second World War interrupted his career, and by the end of the war he was too old to resume his career as a player.

Tommy died in December 1967 at the age of 62.

S4C was launched on 1st November 1982 

Prior to the launch of S4C, Welsh language programmes had been limited to occasional broadcasts on BBC Wales or HTV Cymru, often at inconvenient or off-peak times. This was highly unsatisfactory to audiences in Wales, who either wanted a full service in Welsh or who wanted the choice to watch English language broadcasts during the times allocated to Welsh programmes. 

The 1970s saw vigorous campaigning for a TV service in Welsh, and by the 1979 election, both major parties had pledged to introduce a Welsh-language fourth channel if they won the election. Shortly after the Conservative victory, the Home Secretary William Whitelaw decreed that Wales should not be granted its Welsh language channel.

Much civil unrest and disobedience ensued, with people risking prosecution and even prison by refusing to pay TV Licence fees, or taking part in sit-ins at BBC and HTV studios. More extreme action included attacking television transmitters. 

Then in 1980, Gwynfor Evans, a former president of Plaid Cymru, threatened to go on hunger strike if the Conservative government didn't fulfil its promise to establish a Welsh-language TV service. S4C started broadcasting on 1 November 1982, the night before Channel 4's opening.  

On this day in 1895, the last Turnpike toll gate in Wales was removed. 

The Rebecca Riots were civil disturbances that occurred between May 1839and the autumn of 1843. They began with an attack on the toll gate at Efail-Wen in Carmarthenshire and continued mainly in west Wales where they were typified by groups of dissenters dressing in women's clothing before destroying the gates of the despised Turnpike Trusts. The hated workhouses were also targeted, as was the home of tithe agent Rees Goring Thomas. 

There were many factors which caused the riots. In the early to mid 19th century farmers in west Wales were badly affected by a series of wet harvests, in addition, high rents were levied by largely English-speaking landlords and there was a sudden increase in the population. Taxes that had been levied to pay for the building of new workhouses also generated discontent in rural Wales.  One of the main hardships, however, was the network of toll gates that had been constructed almost everywhere in Wales. Turnpike Trusts had initially been founded to repair and maintain road systems, with tolls charged in order to finance improvements. However, by the middle of the 19th century, toll gates had become bitterly resented.

For example, there were 11 different Turnpike Trusts operating around Carmarthen, each with several gates. Each time people passed through a gate they had to pay.  The tolls charged by the Turnpike Companies were  too high for a  struggling rural society. By the end of the 1830s, moving cattle or essential materials like lime and animal food had become prohibitively expensive. 

The form of the riots, with men dressing as women, reflected a world that had been turned upside down. It is widely supposed that the name given to the rioters came from the book of Genesis where Rebecca and her daughters claimed to 'possess' the "gates of those which hate them." A simpler answer could be that Twm Carnabwth, one of the earliest known rioters, borrowed his disguise from a woman called Rebecca. 

For four years after 1839, toll gates were regularly smashed or burned, and on19 June 1843 2,000 people marched into Carmarthen to ransack the town workhouse. Dragoons charged the crowd, but the riots continued.  In August 1843, 3,000 men and women marched on Mynydd Sylen in Pontyberem. Such was the concern of the government that The Times even sent a reporter, Thomas Foster, to investigate the Rebecca Riots. His sympathetic reporting did much to support the grievances of the farmers of west Wales. 

The riots finally subsided in the autumn of 1843. The death of Sarah Williams, the aged gatekeeper at Hendy, diminished support for the riots. Over a period of weeks, several rioters were transported to Australia and others detained in prison. 

The riots themselves, the journalism of Thomas Foster, forced the government to call a Commission of Enquiry to explore the grievances of the Welsh farmers.  In 1844, as a result of the enquiry, the Turnpike Trusts within each county were consolidated, with tolls on commodities such as lime being reduced by half. 

'Rebecca and her daughters' seemed to have won their victory, although some of the gates lasted another 50 years.  

On 1st November 1455, Edmund Tudor married Lady Margaret Beaufort. Margaret was barely 12 years old, and Edmund was 24. Only a year later, Edmund died of the plague in captivity at Carmarthen, leaving Margaret a 13-year-old widow, seven months pregnant with their child who was to become the future Henry VII. 

Edmund was a descendant of the royal house of Gwynedd; his grandfather Maredudd having been a stalwart supporter of Owain Glyndwr's uprising of 1400. His father, Owen Tudor (Owain ap Maredudd ap Tudur), married Catherine of Valois, the widow of Henry V of England, making him a step brother of Henry VI, who knighted Edmund in 1449 and made him Earl of Richmond in 1452. Edmund was fighting for Henry VI (a Lancastrian) during the Wars of the Roses, when he was captured by the Yorkist partisan William Herbert in mid-1456. Edmund was held captive at Carmarthen Castle, where he died of the plague and was buried at Carmarthen Grey Friars. His remains were removed to St David's Cathedral when the monasteries were dissolved.

Margaret Beaufort was the great- granddaughter of John of Gaunt, the son of Edward III, and had been chosen by Henry VI as a bride for Edmund. When Edmund died, she was taken into the protection of Edmund's brother Jasper at Pembroke Castle, where, on 28 January 1457 she gave birth to the future Henry VII of England. The birth was difficult  due to her young age and small size. After this difficult delivery, she would never give birth again, although she did re-marry twice.

Margaret and her son remained in Pembroke until 1461 when the Yorkists took the castle. The infant Henry was taken under the guardianship of his uncle Jasper, who carried him from one castle to another, eventually taking him to Brittany to seek refuge, where he remained safe. He saw his mother only on seldom occasions, although they corresponded frequently.

After Henry won the crown at the Battle of Bosworth Field, Margaret was respectfully referred to in court as "My Lady the King's Mother". 

As arranged by their mothers, Henry married Elizabeth of York, but Margaret was reluctant to accept a lower status than her daughter-in-law, the queen consort, and walked only half a pace behind her. Henry died on 21 April 1509, having designated his mother chief executor of his will. She arranged both the funeral of her son and the coronation of her grandson Henry VIII.
Margaret always respected the name and memory of Edmund, as the father of her only child and specified in her will that she wanted to be buried alongside him. However, she was buried at Westminster Abbey, probably on the orders of Henry VIII.  

  On 1st November 1910, coal miners working for the Cambrian Combine began a 10-month strike, which was to lead to the "Tonypandy Riots".  

The unrest had begun a year earlier when the pit managers at the Ely pit in Penygraig had devised a scheme to determine the exact output of the mine. They opened a new seam and allowed only 80 miners to mine it for a trial period. A miner's pay at this time was dependent on the amount of coal extracted by each individual, with an allowance paid by the company to bring the pay up to a 'minimum wage' if there was a shortfall. After a few months of the trial period, the managers accused the men of deliberately working slowly, although the miners denied this, telling the company that this was a particularly difficult seam to work. When the test period was over, the company set an unrealistically low price for the coal being extracted from the new seam, below what was considered to be a living wage. The miners protested, and in retaliation the company posted 'lockout' notices on 1st August 1910.

The miners called a strike and were joined by miners from neighbouring collieries. By 1st November a strike was called by the South Wales Miners Federation of 30,000 miners in the Cambrian Combine area, and by November 7, all pits affected by the strike were being picketed.

The situation culminated in what is known as the 'Tonypandy Riots', when thousands of miners marched through the Rhondda valley, filling the streets, gathering at pitheads and in some cases, sabotaging the collieries by extinguishing boiler fires, making the mine unworkable. The local police were worried that they could not contain the situation and called for army reinforcements. On November 22 a group of picketing miners was entrapped by soldiers with bayonets drawn on a hill near Penygraig, where they fought for several hours with troops and police. Eventually, the prolonged lack of pay took its toll on the community and the miners were forced to capitulate. They returned to work in September 1911.  

  On 1st November 1887, The Helvetia was wrecked off Worms Head, Rhossili, and its remains can still be seen at low tide.   

A strong gale off the Gower coast caused two ships to be stranded off Mumbles' Head. They were unable to reach the safety of Swansea Harbour and were blown down the Bristol Channel. One of the ships reached the shelter of Lundy Island, but the Helvetia was swept around the  Worm's Head  into the shallow waters of Rhossili Bay. 

The Helvetia dropped anchor here and the captain was taken ashore by the coastguard. However, he left the crew aboard, as he was reluctant to leave the vessel at the mercy of thieves. Unfortunately, the wind did not die down, and eventually, the ship was abandoned and left to the elements. Her wreck and her cargo of 500 tons of wood were strewn along Rhossili beach, but no lives were lost.

Mark Hughes (born 1 November 1963, in Ruabon, near Wrexham), is a Welsh football manager and former international footballer who played 72 matches and scored 16 goals for Wales. 

 He played at various times for Manchester United, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, as well as the English clubs Chelsea, Southampton, Everton and finally Blackburn Rovers, before he retired in 2002.

 Appointed in 1999, managing Wales was his first managerial position. Although Wales failed to qualify for a World Cup or European Championship during his five years as manager, there was a significant improvement in results. Wales came close to securing European Championship qualification in 2004.  

William Mathias CBE (1 November 1934 — 29 July 1992) was a Welsh composer. 

Born in Whitland, Carmarthenshire, Mathias played the piano at three years of age and started composing aged five. He attended Aberystwyth University, where in 1954 he wrote 'Gloria in Excelsis Deo' for the Elizabethan Madrigal Singers.He became a fellow of the Royal Academy of Music in 1965, and in 1968, he was awarded the Bax Society Prize of the Harriet Cohen International Music Award. He served as professor of music and head of department at the University of Wales, Bangor between 1970 and 1988.

His compositions include an opera, three symphonies and three piano concertos, though his most famous anthem, Let the people praise Thee, O God was written for the July 1981 royal wedding of the Prince and Princess of Wales, which had a television audience of an estimated 1 billion people.

He founded the North Wales International Music Festival in St Asaph in 1972 and directed it until his death in 1992.  He is buried outside St Asaph Cathedral, Denbighshire.  

Today is the feast day of St. Cadfan, Abbot of Tywyn & Bardsey (c. AD 530-c. AD 590) 

St. Cadfan was a Breton nobleman, the son of Eneas Ledewig (the Breton) and Princess Gwen Teirbron. He was attracted to the ecclesiastical life while still a young man through the influence of St. Winwaloe, his half-brother. He established churches in Brittany before travelling to Wales with a group of missionaries who included St. Tydecho, his cousin, St. Cynllo, Cynan, Llywen and Padarn.

Cadfan founded a monastery at Tywyn in Meirionydd but later sought seclusion on Ynys Enlli (Bardsey). The monastery he established on the island became a destination of pilgrimage for holy men and royalty, and it is popularly believed that not only his original followers but some 20,000 further saints are buried in the Abbey's graveyard. 

 Cadfan died on 1st November, sometime in the late 6th century and was buried there by his successor, St. Lleuddad. Centuries later, his body was moved to Llandaff Cathedral.

The first episode of Super Ted was aired on 1st November 1982.

SuperTed is a Welsh fictional anthropomorphic bear character created by Mike Young. The character originally featured in stories written by Young to encourage his son to overcome a fear of the dark. These were published as a series of illustrated books, and eventually became a Welsh language animated series on S4C.

SuperTed was produced by Siriol Animation, which Young had set up with his wife, as he was determined to keep the production both local and Welsh speaking. It was later dubbed into English and broadcast on BBC1 throughout the UK.

 The world-famous hymn tune 'Cwm Rhondda' by John Hughes was first performed on 1st November 1907 

John Hughes (22 November 1873 – 14 May 1932) was born in Dowlais and brought up in Llanilltud Faerdref (in English: Llantwit Fardre). He started work in Glynn Colliery at the age of 12 and eventually became a clerk at the Great Western Colliery in Pontypridd where he was employed for over 40 years. He was a respected deacon and leader of congregational singing in Salem Baptist Chapel.

His initial version of the tune, written in 1905, was called simply "Rhondda", and was composed for the Cymanfa Ganu (hymn festival) in Pontypridd, at the height of the enthusiasm of the 1904–1905 Welsh Revival.

 The tune in its present form was adapted in 1907 for the inauguration of the organ at Capel Rhondda, in Hopkinstown.  Hughes himself played the organ, using an English translation of William Williams's words to accommodate the large number of English-speaking workers who had migrated to the area.

The name was changed from "Rhondda" to "Cwm Rhondda" by Harry Evans, of Dowlais, to avoid confusion with another tune by M O Jones. 

Nos Galan Gaeaf - Halloween

This is a time when Christian and pagan traditions have become intertwined.  The festival of Halloween derives from All Hallows or All Saints Day, which was a major Catholic festival.  In rural Welsh communities, this time of year was celebrated as the end of the gathering of the  harvest   and the beginning of winter. The 1st November, became known as Calan Gaeaf and the night before, Nos Galan Gaeaf or Ysbrydnos (Spirit Night) and over the years, many traditions became associated with this time;

* The Harvest Mare -  Cornstalks were fashioned into the shape of a horse and hung above the hearth.  However the women would try and prevent this happening, by soaking it with water and it was the men's job to try get it inside, still dry. 

* Coelcerth -  A fire was built, with everyone placing a stone with their name on it, around the fire. If anyone's stone was missing the following morning, they  would die the following year.

* Yr Hwch Ddu Gwta - This was reportedly, a black sow without a tail, accompanied by a headless woman, that would roam the countryside.

* Touching ground ivy was thought to make you have nightmares about hags and witches.

* In order to see into the future boys would place leaves of ivy under their pillows and girls would grow a rose around a large hoop, which they would jump through three times before cutting the rose and placing it under their pillow.

* In Pembrokeshire, if people looked into a mirror on Halloween, they would see witches and demons in their sleep.  

Llanelli 9 : New Zealand 3

On 31st October 1972, became one of the few club sides to beat the New Zealand All Blacks

Under the expert coaching of Carwyn James  and the inspirational leadership of Delme Thomas, Llanelli won this bruising and hard fought encounter at a packed Stradey Park, with Roy Bergiers scoring a try, converted by Phil Bennett and Andy Hill adding a long range penalty.  

Born on this day 1920 in Tenby. 

Dick Francis -  one of the most successful National Hunt jockeys ever and award winning author

Over his racing career, Francis won over 350 races and was the champion jockey in 1953 - 1954.  He regularly rode for HM Queen Elizabeth and the Queen Mother, but his perhaps best remembered as the jockey of Devon Loch in the 1956 Grand National, who inexplicably when winning the race, jumped into the air and landed on his stomach.

After retiring from racing, Francis wrote his autobiography, which he followed with forty-three bestselling novels, a volume of short stories and the biography of Lester Piggott. 

Born on this day 1922 in Swansea.

John Talfryn Thomas -  television character actor.

During World War II, Thomas  was a rear gunner on a Lancaster bomber, who survived a crash in which all the other crew members were killed.  After the war, he took up acting and trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, going on to appear on television in the series, The Avengers, The Saint, Doctor Who and probably in his best remembered role as Private Cheeseman in Dad's Army.

Talfryn also appeared in the 1972 film version of Dylan Thomas's Under Milk Wood, with Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor and Peter O'Toole.    

On 31st October 2011, a landslide at Porthkerry left several static holiday caravans overhanging the edge of a cliff.

The area known for geological instability and the event was described as being part of the normal process of coastal erosion. The rock fall occurred during heavy rain and close to the time of a high spring tide and it is estimated that around 15,000 m3 of rock fell away. Luckily, no one was injured by the event.

On 30th October 1799, The Llandovery Bank was established in Llandovery in the premises known as the King’s Head on Stone Street, where it was locally known as the ‘Black Ox Bank’ (‘Banc yr Eidon’ ) because the banknotes were embellished with an engraving on the left hand side of a Welsh black ox.

Historically, the Welsh hill farmers derived their main income from the breeding of black cattle, before taking them into Eastern England to be fattened up before sale in London markets.  The long journey home meant that the travellers were vulnerable to attacks from highwaymen and armed gangs, so there became a need to establish a way of transferring the proceeds from the sale to a bank near the home farm.

David Jones, a successful local drover who had also married into a rich family, established the Black Ox Bank in Llandovery, as it was a traditional meeting point of the Carmarthenshire drovers, because of its rich meadow land, ideal for resting the cattle. 

David Jones's grandsons continued the Llandovery Bank, and also opened branches at Lampeter and Llandeilo, under the title ‘David Jones & Co.’  This company was sold to Lloyds Bank Ltd in 1909, thus ending the last surviving private bank in West Wales.  

Born on this day 1937 in Deri, near Bargoed

Brian Price - former Wales and Lions rugby international.  A teacher by profession he later became a journalist and sports presenter for radio and television and in 2006 he became President of the Former Players Association.

Price is perhaps best remembered for the punch that felled Noel Murphy of Ireland, which has down in rugby folk law as, the most famous punch in Five Nations history. Price later explained that he struck because Murphy's fingers were in his eyes and in that situation you don't muck about.   

Born on this day 1882 in Penderyn near Hirwaun

Elizabeth Andrews - suffragette and campaigner for women’s rights, who is also credited as being instrumental in the introduction of pithead baths for miners. 

Andrews was brought up in a Welsh-speaking, mining family of eleven children and was required to leave school at the age of 13 to help her mother.  However, when she was 17, she learnt needlework and moved to Llanwrtyd Wells in 1905 to work in a needlework shop. 

Three years later, she was appointed supervisor in a large sewing workshop  in the Rhondda, where she met her husband, Thomas T. Andrews, who was a founding member of the Rhondda branch of the Independent Labour Party.  She soon developed an interest in politics herself, establishing local branches of the Co-operative Women’s Guild and becoming a member of the suffragettes.

She gained national recognition in 1919, when along with two miners’ wives, she gave evidence to the Sankey Commission, regarding the hardship of the lives of women in mining communities.  She emphasized how important it was for the miners to have pithead baths, as otherwise, women had to carry out the heavy and dangerous work of continually boiling water for baths and for cleaning clothes.  Subsequently, her evidence was instrumental in the introduction of pithead baths. 

Andrews continued to be actively involved in local Labour Party politics, being particularly interested in improving health and education services.  She was responsible for the first Nursery School in the Rhondda being opened and elected a member of Glamorgan executive health committee in 1948, by Aneurin Bevan.  She received an OBE in 1949 for her service to the public and published a book relating to her life story in 1956, named "A Woman’s Work is Never Done".   

The film "The Lion in Winter" was released on 30th October 1968.  It starred Peter O'Toole and Anthony Hopkins in his film debut and was filmed on location in Wales despite being set in 12th century France.  It tells the story of the battles between King Henry II's three sons to inherit the throne.

On October 29th 1929, the 'Wall Street Crash' in New York, resulted in the Great Depression. 

The effect of the 'Wall Street Crash' on Wales;

The American economic collapse had a devastating effect on the industrial areas of Wales, as demand for products collapsed with the result that by the end of 1930, unemployment had more than doubled.  It also caused massive emigration, with Wales loosing 390,000 people between 1925 and 1939.  Low incomes resulted in poor health and substandard housing and the reduction in unemployment benefit, led to massive protests.

Born on this day 1951 in Cardigan

Brynmor Williams - dual-code, Welsh rugby union and rugby league international, who played in three tests for British and Irish Lions against New Zealand in 1977.   

On 29th October 1794, Benjamin Llewelyn was appointed lighthouse keeper of the newly constructed Mumbles Lighthouse.

 The Harbour Act of 1791 had allowed for the construction of the lighthouse, which was originally lit by two open-fire braziers.  In 1798, these were replaced by a revolving light made up of twelve oil-powered lamps fitted with reflectors, to which a dioptric lens was added in 1860, which greatly magnified the light.  In 1935, the lighthouse was converted to an automatic electric control system, which resulted in the lighthouse keeper being no longer required.   

The Banc Ty'nddôl sun-disc is a small, decorated, gold ornament discovered in October 2002, at Cwmystwyth, Ceredigion. It is most likely, part of a funerary garment and is thought to be over 4,000 years old, making it the earliest gold artifact found in Wales.

Born on this day 1958 in Ammanford.

Terence David John "Terry" Boyle - former Wales international soccer player, respected for his strong tackling and uncompromising style of play.