1984 in Wales explained

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1984 to Wales and its people.

Incumbents

• Secretary of State for Wales – Nicholas Edwards^[1]
• Archbishop of Wales – Derrick Childs, Bishop of Monmouth^[2]
• Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales
  • Jâms Nicholas (outgoing)^[3]
  • Elerydd (incoming)^[4]

Events

• 2 March – Carmarthen MP Dr Roger Thomas announces his resignation, having been prosecuted for importuning.^[5]
• 12 March – The miners' strike begins, with a solid turn out from all NUM mines in Wales.^[6]
• 31 March - The Guildford Crescent Baths close in Cardiff after 122 years, despite a campaign to keep them open.^[7]
• 3 May – At the Cynon Valley by-election brought about by the death of MP Ioan Lyonel Evans, Ann Clwyd retains the seat for Labour with an increased majority.^[8]
• 19 July – The Lleyn Peninsula earthquake, which strikes the Llŷn Peninsula at 06:56 UTC (07:56 BST), measuring 5.4 on the Richter scale, is the largest known onshore earthquake to occur in the UK since instrumental measurements began.^[9]
• 4 October – Dafydd Wigley resigns as leader of Plaid Cymru for domestic reasons.^[10]
• 30 November – Taxi driver David Wilkie is killed when a concrete block is dropped onto his car as he drives a strikebreaker to work on the M4 motorway. Dean Hancock and Russell Shankland of Rhymney are later convicted of murder.^[11]
• 3 December – First McDonald's hamburger fast food restaurant in Wales opens in Cardiff.
• date unknown
  • Sam Edwards becomes Cavendish Professor of Physics at Cambridge.^[12]
  • Clive Sinclair's C5 electric vehicle is manufactured at the Hoover works in Merthyr Tydfil.^[13]
  • Border Breweries (Wrexham) ceases to brew in Wales.
  • Creation of Cadw: Welsh Historic Monuments Executive Agency.^[14]

Arts and literature

Awards

• Griff Rhys Jones wins the Laurence Olivier Theatre Award for Best Comedy Performance for his role in Charley's Aunt.^[15]
• National Eisteddfod of Wales (held in Lampeter)
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Chair – Aled Rhys Wiliam^[16]
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Crown – John Roderick Rees^[17]
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Prose Medal – John Idris Owen^[18]
• Gwobr Goffa Daniel Owen – Richard Cyril Hughes, Castell Cyfaddawd

New books

English language

• Duncan Bush – Aquarium
• Hywel Francis – Miners Against Fascism: Wales and the Spanish Civil War
• Sian James – Dragons and Roses
• Mike Jenkins – Empire of Smoke^[19]
• Robert Minhinnick – Life Sentences
• Leslie Thomas – In My Wildest Dreams^[20]

Welsh language

• Gwynn ap Gwilym – Gwales
• Geraint H. Jenkins – Hanes Cymru yn y Cyfnod Modern Cynnar: 1530–1760
• Alun Jones – Oed Rhyw Addewid
• Gerwyn Williams – Colli cyswllt

Music

• Ar Log IV
• The Alarm – Declaration (debut studio album)
• Icons of Filth – Onward Christian Soldiers
• Shakin' Stevens records "Teardrops" with Hank Marvin on guitar.
• Phil Campbell joins Motörhead.
• First Brecon Jazz Festival staged.

Film

• Ray Milland makes his last film appearance in The Sea Serpent.
• Sian Phillips stars in Dune.
• Kevin Allen makes his big screen debut in The Man Who Shot Christmas.

Welsh-language films

• None

Broadcasting

• Gareth Gwenlan becomes Head of Comedy at the BBC.

English-language television

• The District Nurse starring Nerys Hughes^[21]

Sport

• Football – Ian Rush becomes the first Welshman to win the European Golden Boot award.
• BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year – Ian Rush^[22]
• Horse racing – Neil Doughty wins the Grand National on Hallo Dandy.

Births

• 27 February – Rhys Williams, athlete
• 9 March – Owain Wyn Evans, broadcast presenter
• 11 March – Tom James, Olympic gold medal-winning rower
• 22 June – Arron Davies, footballer
• 23 June – Duffy, singer
• 31 July – Craig Stiens, footballer
• 14 August – Rob Davies, table tennis player
• 15 September – Prince Harry, son of the Prince and Princess of Wales (Charles and Diana)^[23]
• 20 September – Byron Anthony, footballer
• 15 October – Owain Tudur Jones, footballer
• 24 November – Matthew Mason, cricketer
• date unknown – Gwawr Edwards, soprano

Deaths

• 4 January – Enoch Jenkins, sports shooter, 91^[24]
• 11 January – Gwyn Thomas, rugby player, 91
• 14 January – Ivan Lloyd-Phillips, colonial administrator, 73
• 26 January – Nathan Rocyn-Jones, doctor, international rugby player and President of the WRU, 81
• 10 February – Ioan Evans, politician, 56^[25]
• 11 April – John Lloyd Thomas, clergyman and teacher, 76^[26]
• 15 April – Tommy Cooper, comedian, 63 (heart attack on stage)^[27]
• 21 April – Wilf Hughes, cricketer, 73^[28]
• 8 May – David Williams, geologist, 85^[29]
• 20 May – Meredith Thomas, flying ace, 91^[30]
• 13 June – David Evans, microbiologist, 74^[31]
• 18 June – Idris Foster, academic, 72
• 22 June – Dill Jones, jazz pianist, 60
• 29 June – Seiriol Evans, clergyman and writer, 89^[32]
• 6 July – Denys Val Baker, British writer and promoter of Celtic culture, 66
• 30 July – Peter Jones, surgeon, 67^[33]
• 5 August – Richard Burton, actor, 58 (brain haemorrhage)^[34]
• 17 August – Mostyn Thomas, operatic baritone, 88^[35]
• 27 August – Amabel Williams-Ellis, writer, 90^[36]
• 9 September – Margaret Phillips, actress, 61^[37]
• 23 September – Daniel Granville West, politician, 80^[38]
• 12 October – Sir Anthony Berry, politician and son of Gomer Berry, 1st Viscount Kemsley, 59 (killed in Brighton hotel bombing)^[39]
• 26 October – Seaborne Davies, lawyer and politician, 80^[40]
• 18 November – Thomas Jones, Baron Maelor, politician, 86^[41]
• 11 December (in Hendon) – Will Paynter, miners' leader, 81^[42]
• date unknown – Arthur Fear, operatic bass-baritone

See also

• 1984 in Northern Ireland

Notes and References

1. Web site: Lord Crickhowell obituary. 19 March 2018. The Guardian. Stephen Bates. 19 March 2020.
2. Web site: Bishop hat-trick at Newport Cathedral. 18 October 2013. South Wales Argus. 23 January 2021.
3. Web site: James Nicholas: Poet, teacher and Archdruid of Wales. https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220501/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/james-nicholas-poet-teacher-and-archdruid-of-wales-8887488.html . 2022-05-01 . subscription . live. 17 October 2013. Meic Stephens. Meic Stephens. The Independent. 31 January 2019.
4. Web site: WJ Gruffydd. https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220501/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/wj-gruffydd-writer-who-helped-keep-alive-the-welsh-tradition-of-lsquocountry-poetsrsquo-2316933.html . 2022-05-01 . subscription . live. The Independent. 20 July 2011. 21 November 2019.
5. The Spectator. Portrait of the week. July 1984. F.C. Westley. 7.
6. Web site: Miners' Strike 1984-1985. Archives Hub. 31 January 2019.
7. News: Thomas. Deacon. How campaigners first fought to save Cardiff's Guildford Crescent in the 1980s. Wales Online. 28 January 2019. 26 May 2019.
8. Book: Dod's Parliamentary Communications. Bedford, Michael J.. Dod's Guide to the General Election. 1992. Dod's Parliamentary Companion. 57.
9. Web site: BGS FAQ What are the largest two instrumental, onshore earthquakes?. BGS. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20071009144245/http://www.earthquakes.bgs.ac.uk/earthquakes/education/faqs/faq9.html. 2007-10-09.
10. Book: Keesing's Contemporary Archives. 1986. Keesing's Limited. xii.
11. Book: Winterton, Jonathan. Winterton, Ruth. Coal, Crisis and Conflict: The 1984-85 Miners' Strike in Yorkshire. 1989. Manchester University Press. 978-0-7190-2830-4. 164.
12. Web site: The Cavendish Professorship of Physics . University of Cambridge . 30 November 2013 . 3 July 2013 . https://web.archive.org/web/20130703172354/http://www.phy.cam.ac.uk/history/cavprof.php . dead .
13. Web site: Sinclair C5 built in Merthyr in 1984 'was ahead of its time'. Neil Prior. 13 July 2014. BBC News. 19 March 2020.
14. Book: Mike Taylor. World Travel Atlas. 1995. Columbus Travel Publishing. 978-0-946393-48-0. 67.
15. Book: Plays. 1984. Ocean Publications. 4.
16. Web site: Winners of the Chair. National Eisteddfod of Wales. 17 November 2019.
17. Web site: Winners of the Crown. National Eisteddfod of Wales. 17 November 2019.
18. Web site: Winners of the Prose Medal. National Eisteddfod of Wales. 7 November 2019.
19. Book: Matthew Jarvis. Welsh Environments in Contemporary Poetry: Writing Wales in English. 2008. University of Wales Press. 978-0-7083-2152-2. 170.
20. Book: Leslie Thomas. The Adventures of Goodnight and Loving. 1987. Penguin Books. 978-0-14-008672-0. 1.
21. Book: Michael Grade. British television: an illustrated guide. Oxford University Press. 1996. 9780198159278. 292.
22. Web site: BBC Wales Sport Personality winners . BBC Sport . 2 August 2021.
23. News: Princess Di gives birth to boy. 31 May 2013. The Evening News. 16 September 1984. Associated Press. London.
24. Web site: Enoch Jenkins. IOC. 23 January 2021.
25. s8-EVAN-LYO-1927. Evans, Ioan Lyonel (1927-1984), Labour politician. John Graham Jones. 23 January 2021.
26. Rev J. R. Lloyd Thomas. The Times (London, England), Thursday, 19 April 1984; p. 14; Issue 61810
27. Book: Hugh Massingberd. The Spectator. 2006. F.C. Westley. 72.
28. Web site: Player profile: Wilf Hughes. ESPNcricinfo. 23 January 2021.
29. Book: Who was who: A Companion to Who's Who, Containing the Biographies of Those who Died. 1981. A. & C. Black. 978-0-7136-3336-8. 815.
30. Web site: Air Vice-Marshal Meredith Thomas . M. B. . Barrass . Air of Authority – A History of RAF Organisation . 2 April 2012.
31. Downie . A. W. . Allan Watt Downie. Smith . C. E. G. . Tobin . J. O. . . David Gwynne Evans. 6 September 1909-13 June 1984 . 10.1098/rsbm.1985.0007 . . 31 . 172–196 . 1985 . 769924.
32. Book: The Antiquaries Journal. 1985. Oxford University Press. 590.
33. Web site: England . Royal College of Surgeons of . Jones, Peter Henry - Biographical entry . Plarr's Lives of the Fellows Online . 26 May 2015 . 29 December 2017.
34. Book: J. Randy Taraborrelli. Elizabeth: The Biography of Elizabeth Taylor. 25 March 2011. Pan Macmillan. 978-1-4472-0226-4. 507.
35. Book: The Record Collector. J. F. E. Dennis. 1987. 245.
36. Book: Roland Turner. The Annual Obituary. 1985. St. Martin's. 456.
37. https://www.nytimes.com/1984/09/11/obituaries/margaret-phillips-dies-at-61-veteran-broadway-actress.html "Margaret Phillips Dies at 61; Veteran Broadway Actress"
38. s6-WEST-GRA-1904. West, Daniel Granville, Baron Granville-West of Pontypool (1904-1984), Labour politician. John Graham Jones. yes. 15 February 2021.
39. News: Brighton bombing: 25th anniversary of Sir Anthony Berry's death remembered . Thisislocallondon . Hannah . Crown . 12 October 2009 . 14 October 2009 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110604035719/http://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/whereilive/northwest/enfield/4677815.Brighton_bombing__25th_anniversary_of_Sir_Anthony_Berry_s_death_remembered/ . 4 June 2011 .
40. Book: Who was who: A Companion to Who's Who, Containing the Biographies of Those who Died. 1981. A. & C. Black. 978-0-7136-3336-8. 188.
41. s6-JONE-WIL-1898. Jones, Thomas William ('Tom'), Baron Maelor of Rhos (1898-1984), Labour politician. John Graham Jones. yes. 15 February 2021.
42. Book: Ann Evory. Hal May. Contemporary Authors: A Bio-Bibliographical Guide to Current Writers. registration. October 1985. Gale. 978-0-8103-1915-8. 350.