1979 in Wales explained

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1979 to Wales and its people.

Incumbents

• Secretary of State for Wales – John Morris (until 5 May);^[1] Nicholas Edwards^[2]
• Archbishop of Wales – Gwilym Williams, Bishop of Bangor^[3]
• Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales – Geraint^[3]

Events

• 1 March - The devolution referendum rejects the Wales Act 1978 (which would have established a Welsh Assembly) by four to one. The Parliamentary Select Committee on Welsh Affairs is subsequently established.^[4]
• 18 May - Annie Powell of Rhondda becomes Britain's first Communist mayor.^[5]
• 7 June - In the elections for the European Parliament, Ann Clwyd and Win Griffiths are among the newly elected MEPs. Plaid Cymru win no seats.
• 8 June - A Cessna aircraft crashes into a mountain in Snowdonia, killing all six occupants.
• 14 August - A rainbow which stretches from the Gwynedd coast to Clwyd persists for over 3 hours, a world record which stands for more than 15 years.^[6]
• 12 December - Four holiday homes in rural Wales are the target of arson attacks by Welsh Nationalist political activists.

Arts and literature

Awards

• Michael Bogdanov is named "Director of the Year" for the Royal Shakespeare Company production of The Taming of the Shrew.
• National Eisteddfod of Wales (held in Caernarfon)
  • National Eisteddfod of Wales: Chair - withheld
  • National Eisteddfod of Wales: Crown - Meirion Evans
  • National Eisteddfod of Wales: Prose Medal - Robyn Lewis

New books

English language

• Gillian Clarke - The Sundial
• Wendy Davies - The Llandaff Charters
• Christopher Evans - The Mighty Micro
• Emyr Humphreys - The Best of Friends
• Sian James - A Small Country
• Tristan Jones - The Incredible Voyage
• Anna Kashfi - Brando for Breakfast
• Leslie Norris - Sliding
• Gwyn Alf Williams - The Merthyr Rising
• Raymond Williams - The Fight for Manod

Welsh language

• Pennar Davies - Mabinogi Mwys^[7]
• Marion Eames - I Hela Cnau
• Dic Jones - Storom Awst
• John Rowlands - Tician, Tician

Music

• Dave Edmunds - Repeat When Necessary (album)
• Bonnie Tyler - Diamond Cut (album)

Film

• Rachel Roberts wins the BAFTA award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Yanks.
• Emlyn Williams' play, The Corn is Green, is filmed for the second time, starring Katharine Hepburn.
• A full-scale model of the fictional starship Millennium Falcon is constructed by Marcon Fabrications in the Western Sunderland Flying Boat hangar at Pembroke Dock for the film The Empire Strikes Back (1980).^[8]

Broadcasting

• BBC Radio Cymru is launched.
• New Home Secretary William Whitelaw rejects the idea of a Welsh fourth channel on behalf of the Conservative government.

English-language television

• Colin Jeavons stars in Dennis Potter's classic play, Blue Remembered Hills.^[9]

Sport

• BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year – Terry Griffiths^[10]
• Boxing - Pat Thomas wins the British Light-middleweight title
• Rugby union - Wales win the Five Nations Championship and take the Triple Crown.
• Snooker - Terry Griffiths wins the World Championship in his first year as a professional.^[11]

Births

• January – Emma Wools, Police and Crime Commissioner for South Wales^[12]
• 15 February – Josh Low, footballer
• 21 February – Laura Anne Jones AM, politician
• 26 February – Steve Evans, footballer
• 15 April - Luke Evans, actor
• 17 May – Michaela Breeze, weightlifting champion^[13]
• 3 June – Christian Malcolm, athlete^[14]
• 13 July – Craig Bellamy, footballer
• 1 August- Honeysuckle Weeks, actress
• 8 August – Danny Gabbidon, footballer
• Jonathan Edwards, poet

Deaths

• January – Dilys Cadwaladr, poet, 76
• 7 February – Charles Tunnicliffe, painter on Anglesey, 77^[15]
• 13 February – Eric Newton Griffith-Jones, Welsh-descended lawyer, 65^[16]
• 13 March – Tudor Owen, actor, 81^[17]
• 15 April (in Surrey) – Eiluned Lewis, novelist, 78^[18]
• 14 May – Jean Rhys, novelist, 88
• 9 June – John Morris, Baron Morris of Borth-y-Gest, judge, 82
• 16 July – Harold Finch, politician, 81^[19]
• 30 August – C. E. Wynn-Williams, physicist, 76
• 2 September – Ewan Davies, rugby player, 92^[20]
• 10 October (in Teddington) – Christopher Evans, computer scientist, 48^[21]
• 12 October – Jackie Williams, footballer, 76
• November – Ursula Williams, politician, 83^[22]
• 12 December – Goronwy Rees, writer, 70?^[23]
• 20 December – Leslie Gilbert Illingworth, political cartoonist, 77^[24]
• 21 December – Nansi Richards, harpist, 91^[25]
• 29 December – Richard Tecwyn Williams, biochemist, 70^[26]
• date unknown
  • Hugh Bevan, academic
  • Dilys Davies, actress
  • Trebor Lloyd Evans, writer^[27]
  • Jennie Thomas, children's author
• probable – William Evans, rugby player, about 88

See also

• 1979 in Northern Ireland

Notes and References

1. Book: Pryde, E. B.. Greenway, D. E.. Porter, S.. Roy, I.. Handbook of British Chronology. 1996-02-23. Cambridge University Press. 978-0-521-56350-5. 157.
2. News: Lord Crickhowell obituary. 20 March 2018. The Guardian. 19 March 2018.
3. Book: NA NA. The Macmillan Guide to the United Kingdom 1978-79. 25 December 2015. Springer. 978-1-349-81511-1. 875.
4. Book: Governing the UK in the 1990s. registration. 20 March 1995. Macmillan International Higher Education. 978-1-349-23899-6. 214.
5. Book: Milorad M. Drachkovitch. Lewis H. Gann. Yearbook on International Communist Affairs. 1980. Hoover Institution Press. 160.
6. News: Marc. Waddington. On this day in 1979 North Wales set an unusual world record. North Wales Live. 2020-08-14. 2023-08-14.
7. Book: Studia Celtica. 1983. University of Wales Press.
8. News: Town's secret Star Wars history. Parry. Nick. 2005-05-18. 2022-05-23. BBC News.
9. Book: W. Stephen Gilbert. The Life and Work of Dennis Potter. 1 January 2002. The Overlook Press. 978-1-4683-0561-6. 321.
10. Web site: BBC Wales Sport Personality winners . BBC Sport . 2 August 2021.
11. Web site: Profile: Terry Griffiths . 3 February 2010 . . 16 May 2019.
12. Web site: Emma Clare WOOLS. gov.uk. 6 May 2024. en.
13. Web site: Michaela Breeze. Beijing 2008 results. https://web.archive.org/web/20080909174452/http://results.beijing2008.cn/WRM/ENG/BIO/Athlete/9/225599.shtml. 27 October 2020. 2008-09-09.
14. Web site: Christian Malcolm. World Athletics. 27 October 2020.
15. Book: Birds. 1980. Royal Society for the Protection of Birds..
16. Graya: A Magazine for Members of Gray's Inn, Issue 73, Gray's Inn, 1979
17. Book: Scott Wilson. Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons, 3d ed.. 17 August 2016. McFarland. 978-0-7864-7992-4. 569.
18. Book: Who was who. 1971. A. & C. Black. 467.
19. Web site: Finch, Harold Josiah (1898-1979),Labour politician. John Graham Jones. Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales . 27 October 2020.
20. http://www.espnscrum.com/wales/rugby/player/2252.html scrum.com profile
21. Book: The Skeptical Inquirer. 1979. Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal. 11.
22. "Deaths." Times [London, England] 5 Dec. 1979: 28. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 14 Feb. 2014.
23. Web site: Goronwy Rees (1909-1979) . From Warfare to Welfare . 20 February 2015 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20150221061712/http://www.myglyw.org.uk/index.php?id=4362 . 21 February 2015.
24. Book: John . Davies. John Davies (historian). Nigel . Jenkins . Nigel Jenkins. Baines . Menna. Peredur I. . Lynch . The Welsh Academy Encyclopaedia of Wales . 2008 . 390. University of Wales Press . Cardiff . 978-0-7083-1953-6.
25. Web site: Evans . Nia Gwyn . Jones, Nansi Richards ('Telynores Maldwyn ') (1888-1979), harpist . . National Library of Wales . 1 August 2018 . 2016.
26. 31837. Williams, (Richard) Tecwyn.
27. Book: Robert Tudur Jones. Congregationalism in Wales. 2004. University of Wales Press. 978-0-7083-1887-4.