1962 in Wales
Encyclopedia
This article is about the particular significance of the year 1962 to Wales
and its people
.
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
and its people
Welsh people
The Welsh people are an ethnic group and nation associated with Wales and the Welsh language.John Davies argues that the origin of the "Welsh nation" can be traced to the late 4th and early 5th centuries, following the Roman departure from Britain, although Brythonic Celtic languages seem to have...
.
Incumbents
- Prince of WalesPrince of WalesPrince of Wales is a title traditionally granted to the heir apparent to the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the 15 other independent Commonwealth realms...
- Charles, Prince of WalesCharles, Prince of WalesPrince Charles, Prince of Wales is the heir apparent and eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Since 1958 his major title has been His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales. In Scotland he is additionally known as The Duke of Rothesay... - Princess of WalesPrincess of WalesPrincess of Wales is a British courtesy title held by the wife of The Prince of Wales since the first "English" Prince of Wales in 1283.Although there have been considerably more than ten male heirs to the throne, there have been only ten Princesses of Wales. The majority of Princes of Wales...
- vacant - Archbishop of WalesArchbishop of WalesThe post of Archbishop of Wales was created in 1920 when the Church in Wales was separated from the Church of England , and disestablished...
- Edwin Morris - ArchdruidArchdruidThe Archdruid is the title used by the presiding official of the Gorsedd.The Archdruid presides over the most important ceremonies at the National Eisteddfod of Wales including the Crowning of the Bard, The Award of the Prose Medal and Chairing of the Bard. From 1932 only former winners of the...
of the National Eisteddfod of WalesNational Eisteddfod of WalesThe National Eisteddfod of Wales is the most important of several eisteddfodau that are held annually, mostly in Wales.- Organisation :...
- TrefinEdgar PhillipsEdgar Phillips , known by the bardic name "Trefin", was a Welsh poet and served as Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales from 1960 until his death....
Events
- January–April – An outbreak of smallpoxSmallpoxSmallpox was an infectious disease unique to humans, caused by either of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor. The disease is also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera, which is a derivative of the Latin varius, meaning "spotted", or varus, meaning "pimple"...
infects 45 people and kills 17 in CardiffCardiffCardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
and district; 900,000 people in south Wales are vaccinated against the disease. - 15 May - Emlyn Hooson wins the MontgomeryshireMontgomeryshire (UK Parliament constituency)Montgomeryshire is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Created in 1542, it elects one Member of Parliament , traditionally known as the knight of the shire, by the first-past-the-post system of election.The Montgomeryshire Welsh Assembly...
by-election brought about by the death of Clement DaviesClement DaviesClement Edward Davies KC, MP was a Welsh politician and leader of the Liberal Party from 1945 to 1956.-Life:...
. In the run-up to the by-election, the "Elvis RockElvis RockThe Elvis Rock is a rock alongside the A44 near Eisteddfa Gurig in Ceredigion, Wales. It is one of the most iconic pieces of graffiti in Wales, probably the most iconic in mid-Wales...
" is painted with the graffiti "Elis" by supporters of Plaid Cymru candidate Islwyn Ffowc ElisIslwyn Ffowc ElisIslwyn Ffowc Elis was one of Wales's most popular Welsh-language writers.Born Islwyn Ffoulkes Ellis in Wrexham, Elis was educated at the University of Wales colleges of Bangor and Aberystwyth. During World War II he was a conscientious objector and he began writing poetry and prose, winning the...
. - 20 July – The world's first regular passenger hovercraft service is introduced between RhylRhylRhyl is a seaside resort town and community situated on the north east coast of Wales, in the county of Denbighshire , at the mouth of the River Clwyd . To the west is the suburb of Kinmel Bay, with the resort of Towyn further west, Prestatyn to the east and Rhuddlan to the south...
and WallaseyWallaseyWallasey is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, in Merseyside, England, on the mouth of the River Mersey, at the northeastern corner of the Wirral Peninsula...
. - 4 August – Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg, the Welsh Language SocietyWelsh Language SocietyCymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg, , often abbreviated to Cymdeithas or Cymdeithas yr Iaith is a pressure group in Wales campaigning for the future of the Welsh language...
, is founded. - September – Ysgol Gyfun Rhydfelen, the first Welsh-medium secondary school in south Wales, opens its doors.
- 26 October – Opening of Richard Thomas and BaldwinsRichard Thomas and BaldwinsRichard Thomas and Baldwins Ltd was a major United Kingdom iron, steel and tinplate producer, formed in 1948 by the merger of Richard Thomas & Co Ltd with Baldwins Ltd. It was absorbed into British Steel in 1967...
's new steelworks at LlanwernLlanwernLlanwern is an electoral ward and community in the urban-rural fringe of the City of Newport, South Wales. Llanwern ward is bounded by the M4 and Langstone to the north, Ringland, Liswerry and the River Usk to the west, the River Severn to the south and the city boundary to the east...
near NewportNewportNewport is a city and unitary authority area in Wales. Standing on the banks of the River Usk, it is located about east of Cardiff and is the largest urban area within the historic county boundaries of Monmouthshire and the preserved county of Gwent...
.
Arts and literature
- Rachel RobertsRachel Roberts (British actress)Rachel Roberts was a Welsh actress noted for her fervour and passion; Roberts is best remembered for her forthright screen performances in two key films of the 1960s, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning and This Sporting Life, in both of which she played the older mistress of the central male...
marries Rex Harrison. - Welsh National OperaWelsh National OperaWelsh National Opera is an opera company founded in Cardiff, Wales in 1943. The WNO tours Wales, the United Kingdom and the rest of the world extensively. Annually, it gives more than 120 performances of eight main stage operas to a combined audience of around 150,000 people...
launches a training scheme for singers. - Dick FrancisDick FrancisRichard Stanley "Dick" Francis CBE was an English jockey and crime writer, many of whose novels centre around horse racing.- Personal life :...
publishes his first thriller, Dead Cert.
Awards
- National Eisteddfod of Wales (held in LlanelliLlanelliLlanelli , the largest town in both the county of Carmarthenshire and the preserved county of Dyfed , Wales, sits on the Loughor estuary on the West Wales coast, approximately west-north-west of Swansea and south-east of the county town, Carmarthen. The town is famous for its proud rugby...
)
- National Eisteddfod of Wales: Chair - Caradog PrichardCaradog PrichardCaradog Prichard was a Welsh poet and novelist writing in Welsh. His daughter, Mari Prichard, was married to the late Humphrey Carpenter....
- National Eisteddfod of Wales: Crown - D. Emlyn Lewis
- National Eisteddfod of Wales: Prose Medal - William OwenWilliam OwenSir William Francis Langer Owen, KBE, PC , Australian judge, was a Justice of the High Court of Australia....
New books
- Clifford DymentClifford DymentClifford Henry Dyment FRSL was a British poet, literary critic, editor and journalist, best known for his poems on countryside topics...
- The Railway Game - John Roberts Evans - Ar Drothwy'r Nos
- William Evans (Wil Ifan)William Evans (Wil Ifan)William Evans , better known by his bardic name of Wil Ifan, was a Welsh poet who served as Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales from 1947 to 1950....
- Colofnau Wil Ifan - Michael FootMichael FootMichael Mackintosh Foot, FRSL, PC was a British Labour Party politician, journalist and author, who was a Member of Parliament from 1945 to 1955 and from 1960 until 1992...
- Aneurin Bevan, vol. 1 - Menna GallieMenna GallieMenna Patricia Humphreys Gallie was a Welsh novelist and translator.She was born in Ystradgynlais. She married the philosopher W. B...
- The Small Mine - Llewelyn Wyn GriffithLlewelyn Wyn GriffithLlewelyn Wyn Griffith was a Welsh novelist, born in Llandrillo yn Rhos, Clwyd. A captain in the 15th Royal Welch Fusiliers during First World War, he is best known for his memoir, Up to Mametz, which he wrote in the early 1920s, although the work was not published until 1931.-Other works:*Spring...
- The Adventures of Pryderi - Oxford Book of Welsh Verse
- Gwyn ThomasGwyn Thomas (poet)Professor Gwyn Thomas , is a Welsh poet, academic and a former National Poet for Wales.Raised in Tanygrisiau and Blaenau Ffestiniog, Thomas was educated at Ysgol Sir Ffestiniog, University of Wales, Bangor and Jesus College, Oxford; Prof Thomas is presently Emeritus Professor of Welsh at the...
- Chwerwder yn y Ffynhonnau - Norman ThomasNorman ThomasNorman Mattoon Thomas was a leading American socialist, pacifist, and six-time presidential candidate for the Socialist Party of America.-Early years:...
- Ask at the Unicorn - Raymond WilliamsRaymond WilliamsRaymond Henry Williams was a Welsh academic, novelist and critic. He was an influential figure within the New Left and in wider culture. His writings on politics, culture, the mass media and literature are a significant contribution to the Marxist critique of culture and the arts...
- Communications
Music
- Grace WilliamsGrace Williams-Biography:Williams was born in Barry, near Cardiff, Wales.She was educated at Barry County School, and won a scholarship to Cardiff University . She then went to the Royal College of Music, London, where she was taught by Ralph Vaughan Williams...
- Four Medieval Welsh Poems for alto, harp and harpsichord - David Wynne - Cymric Rhapsodies
Film
- Richard BurtonRichard BurtonRichard Burton, CBE was a Welsh actor. He was nominated seven times for an Academy Award, six of which were for Best Actor in a Leading Role , and was a recipient of BAFTA, Golden Globe and Tony Awards for Best Actor. Although never trained as an actor, Burton was, at one time, the highest-paid...
and Donald HoustonDonald HoustonDonald Daniel Houston was a Welsh actor whose first two films – The Blue Lagoon with Jean Simmons, and A Run for Your Money with Sir Alec Guinness – were highly successful...
appear in The Longest DayThe Longest Day (film)The Longest Day is a 1962 war film based on the 1959 history book The Longest Day by Cornelius Ryan, about "D-Day", the Normandy landings on 6 June 1944, during World War II....
. - Peter GreenawayPeter GreenawayPeter Greenaway, CBE is a British film director. His films are noted for the distinct influence of Renaissance and Baroque painting, and Flemish painting in particular...
makes his first film: Death of Sentiment. - Jack HowellsJack HowellsThomas John "Jack" Howells was a Welsh film-maker, who is best remembered for his documentary Dylan Thomas, the only Welsh film to have won an Academy Award, for Documentary Short Subject in 1963.-Career:...
makes the short documentaryDocumentary filmDocumentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
Dylan ThomasDylan Thomas (film)Dylan Thomas is a 1962 short documentary film directed by Jack Howells. It won an Academy Award at the 35th Academy Awards in 1963 for Documentary Short Subject....
featuring Richard Burton.
Welsh-language radio
- 13 February - Saunders LewisSaunders LewisSaunders Lewis was a Welsh poet, dramatist, historian, literary critic, and political activist. He was a prominent Welsh nationalist and a founder of the Welsh National Party...
gives the Welsh Home Service’s Annual Lecture, entitled Tynged yr IaithTynged yr Iaith"Tynged yr Iaith" was a radio lecture delivered in Welsh by Saunders Lewis on February 13, 1962. Reaction to it brought about a major change in the politics of Wales...
(The Fate of the Language).
Television
- 14 September - The first transmitter, at Preseli, of the Teledu Cymru - Wales (West and North) TelevisionWales West and North TelevisionWales Television, known on screen as Teledu Cymru and often abbreviated to WWN, was the Welsh "Independent Television" contractor awarded the franchise area serving 'North and West Wales', from 1962-68...
service comes on air.
English-language television
- 17 September - First edition of the Welsh national news programme BBC Wales TodayBBC Wales TodayWales Today is the BBC's national news programme for Wales, broadcast on BBC One Wales from the headquarters of BBC Wales in Llandaff, Cardiff....
.
Sport
- FootballFootball (soccer)Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
- John CharlesJohn CharlesWilliam John Charles, CBE , commonly known as John Charles, was a Welsh international footballer best remembered for spells with Leeds United and Juventus. Rated by many as the greatest all-round footballer ever to come from Wales, he was equally adept at centre-forward or centre-back...
returns to Leeds United from several years playing for Italian clubs. - GolfGolfGolf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
- Brian HuggettBrian HuggettBrian George Charles Huggett, MBE is a Welsh professional golfer. In 2006 he was inducted into the Welsh Sports Hall of Fame....
wins the Dutch Open championship. - BBC Wales Sports Personality of the YearBBC Wales Sports Personality of the YearThe BBC Cymru Wales Sports Personality of the Year is a televised sporting competition, broadcast on BBC Two every year; and the most prestigious annual sport award in Wales. It was first awarded in 1954, and is currently organised by BBC Cymru Wales...
- Ivor AllchurchIvor AllchurchIvor John Allchurch MBE was a Welsh international footballer. His brother was Len Allchurch.Known as 'The Golden Boy' of Welsh football, Allchurch played for Swansea Town, Newcastle United and Cardiff City, where he amassed 691 games scoring 249 goals. His record of 68 caps for Wales stood until...
Births
- 5 January - Geraint WilliamsGeraint WilliamsDavid Geraint Williams is a former professional footballer who also played for Wales. He has also managed Colchester United and Leyton Orient.- Career :...
, footballer - 11 January - Chris BryantChris BryantChristopher John Bryant is a British Labour Party politician, who has been the Member of Parliament for Rhondda since 2001...
, politician - 27 June - Michael BallMichael Ball (singer)Michael Ashley Ball, born 27 June 1962) is a British actor, singer, and radio and TV presenter who is best known for the song "Love Changes Everything" and musical theatre roles such as Marius in Les Misérables, Alex in Aspects of Love, Caractacus Potts in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Edna Turnblad...
, singer - 15 September - Kevin AllenKevin Allen (actor)Kevin Allen is a British screenwriter, film director, film producer and actor. He is best known for writing and directing the cult black comedy feature Twin Town set in Swansea . He also directed the films The Big Tease and Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London and hit UK TV series Benidorm...
, actor, comedian and film director - 22 July - Arthur EmyrArthur EmyrArthur Emyr is a former Wales rugby union international. A winger, he played club rugby for Swansea RFC where he remains the club's all-time record try-scorer and also for Cardiff RFC. He also gained a Senior Wales Athletics vest.Emyr attained 13 caps for Wales scoring 4 tries between 1989-1991....
, rugby player and television presenter and executive - 15 October - Mark RingMark RingMark Gerarde Ring played rugby union for Cardiff RFC, Pontypool RFC and Wales between 1982 and 1996. He was regarded as among the most gifted players of his generation but his career was hampered by serious injury.- Club career :...
, rugby player - 24 October - Jonathan Davies, rugby player
- 12 December - John JonesJohn Jones (record producer)John Idris Jones is a musician and record producer who has worked with Duran Duran and many high-profile rock and pop musicians.-Background:...
, record producer - date unknown - Iolo WilliamsIolo WilliamsIolo Tudur Williams is a Welsh nature observer and television presenter, best known for his BBC and S4C nature shows.-Biography:...
, naturalist and broadcaster
Deaths
- 14 February - Ezer GriffithsEzer GriffithsEzer Griffiths OBE, FRS was a Welsh physicist most noted for his work on the insulation properties of metals, heat transference, evaporation and refrigiration....
, physicist, 73 - 23 March - Clement DaviesClement DaviesClement Edward Davies KC, MP was a Welsh politician and leader of the Liberal Party from 1945 to 1956.-Life:...
, politician, 80 - 25 April - Herbie BaxterHerbie BaxterHerbie Baxter was an English cricketer. He was a right-handed batsman who played for Glamorgan. He was born in Stockport and died in Shaw Heath....
, Glamorgan cricketer, 79 - 11 May - Eliot Crawshay-WilliamsEliot Crawshay-WilliamsEliot Crawshay-Williams , was a British author, officer, and Liberal Party politician. He was a Member of Parliament and Parliamentary Private Secretary to Prime Minister Lloyd George and Winston Churchill....
, politician and author, 82 - 3 August - Edgar PhillipsEdgar PhillipsEdgar Phillips , known by the bardic name "Trefin", was a Welsh poet and served as Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales from 1960 until his death....
, poet and Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod, 72 - 23 September - Margaret Jane Gordon (Lady Gordon), singer
- 5 November (in London) - Percy CudlippPercy CudlippPercy Cudlipp , was a prominent Welsh journalist.He was born at 180 Arabella Street, Cardiff, and was the brother of Hugh Cudlipp and Reginald Cudlipp, both notable journalists. Percy Cudlipp began his journalistic career with the South Wales Echo...
, journalist, 56 - 30 November - Lewis Pugh EvansLewis Pugh EvansBrigadier General Lewis Pugh Evans VC, CB, CMG, DSO & Bar, DL was a Welsh recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.-Early years:Lewis Pugh Evans was born at Abermadd to Sir...
, Victoria Cross recipient, 81 - 15 December - Charles Rhys, 8th Baron DynevorCharles Rhys, 8th Baron DynevorCharles Arthur Uryan Rhys, 8th Baron Dynevor of Dynevor CBE , was a British peer and politician. He was the son of Walter FitzUryan Rice, 7th Baron Dynevor....
, politician, 63 - 17 December - Lonza BowdlerLonza BowdlerFrank "Lonza" Bowdler was a Welsh rugby union hooker who played club rugby for Cross Keys and was capped 15 times for Wales...
, Wales international rugby player, 61 - 21 December - Gary HockingGary HockingGary Stuart Hocking was a Grand Prix motorcycle road racing world champion from Rhodesia who raced in the late 1950s and early 1960s.- Early life :...
, motorcycle road racer, 25 (race accident)