1957 in Wales explained

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1957 to Wales and its people.

Incumbents

• Minister of Welsh Affairs – Henry Brooke^[1]
• Archbishop of Wales
  • John Morgan, Bishop of Llandaff (died 26 June)^[2]
  • Edwin Morris, Bishop of Monmouth (elected)^[3]
• Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales
  • Dyfnallt (outgoing)^[4]
  • William Morris (incoming)^[5]

Events

• 18 January – Nigel Birch is appointed Economic Secretary to the Treasury.^[6]
• 25 February – Goronwy Rees, Principal of the University of Wales College Aberystwyth, resigns following allegations that he has spied for the Soviet Union.^[7]
• 28 February – Carmarthen by-election is held following the death of Sir Rhys Hopkin Morris the previous year. The Liberal Party lose the seat to Labour's Lady Megan Lloyd George, herself a former Liberal MP.^[8]
• 1 July – Royal physician Horace Evans is created 1st Baron Evans of Merthyr Tydfil.
• 6 July – The Royal Welsh Show is held at Blaendolau; the showground is flooded to a depth of 1 metre.
• 16 July – Five people drown in a boating accident at Barmouth.
• 31 July – The Tryweryn Bill, permitting Liverpool City Council to build a reservoir which will drown the village of Capel Celyn, becomes law.^[9]
• 8 September – The town hall at Aberystwyth is seriously damaged by fire.
• 21 November – Morgan Phillips and Aneurin Bevan, along with Richard Crossman, successfully sue The Spectator for libel.^[10]
• 12 December – Wales gets its own minister of state in the Westminster government for the first time. Prime Minister Harold Macmillan rejects requests for a Secretary of State.^[11]
• date unknown – Brecon Beacons becomes the third of Wales's national parks.^[12]

Arts and literature

• 5 October – Paul Robeson (blacklisted at this time from travelling outside the United States) addresses the Miners' Eisteddfod at the Grand Pavilion, Porthcawl via a transatlantic telephone link to the miners' leader Will Paynter.

Awards

• National Eisteddfod of Wales (held in Llangefni)
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Chair – Gwilym Tilsley, "Cwm Carnedd"^[13]
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Crown – Dyfnallt Morgan, "Drama Fydryddol Rhwng Dau"^[14]
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Prose Medal – Tom Parri Jones, Teisennau Berffro^[15]

New books

Welsh language

• Käte Bosse-Griffiths – Mae'r Galon wrth y Llyw
• Islwyn Ffowc Elis – Wythnos Yng Nghymru Fydd
• Bobi Jones – Y Gân Gyntaf
• W. Leslie Richards – Telyn Teilo
• Gwilym Tilsley – Y glöwr a cherddi eraill

English language

• John Charles – King of Soccer
• Rhys Davies – The Perishable Quality
• Trevor Ford – I Lead the Attack
• Dick Francis – The Sport of Queens
• T. Harri Jones – The Enemy in the Heart

New drama

• Albert Evans-Jones – Absalom Fy Mab

Music

• Shirley Bassey – Banana Boat Song (her first chart single)^[16]
• Alun Hoddinott – Harp Concerto (written for Osian Ellis)^[17]
• Daniel Jones – String Quartet 1957^[18]

Film

• Donald Houston stars in The Girl in the Picture.

Broadcasting

• Alun Oldfield-Davies becomes senior regional BBC controller, after several years of successful campaigning for Welsh-language television.

Welsh-language television

• February – Cefndir (first regular Welsh-language programme)
• September – Dewch i Mewn (magazine programme)^[19]

English-language television

• Adaptation of Dylan Thomas's Under Milk Wood, starring Donald Houston and William Squire.

Sport

• Football
  • Swansea-born John Charles transfers from Leeds United to Juventus of Turin for a transfer fee of £65,000 (almost double the previous British record)
  • Pelé scores a hattrick against Wales
• BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year – Dai Rees^[20]
• Inaugural Glamorgan County Silver Ball Trophy competition held; Taibach RFC are champions.

Births

• 10 March – Terry Holmes, rugby player^[21]
• 19 March (in Birmingham) – Jane Davidson AM, politician
• 20 April – Geraint Wyn Davies, actor
• 26 April – Edwina Hart AM, politician
• 8 May – Eddie Butler, rugby union player and commentator (died 2022)^[22]
• 17 May – Anne Main, educator and politician
• 12 June – Javed Miandad, Glamorgan cricketer
• 1 July – Wayne David MP, politician
• 20 July – Chris Bromham, stuntman
• 11 August – Leighton Andrews AM, politician
• 11 September – Julie Williams, neuropsychological geneticist and Chief Scientific Adviser for Wales
  • • 11 October (in Holyhead) Dawn French, actress and comedian
  • Jon Langford, musician
• 19 October – Karl Wallinger, folk rock songwriter and multi-instrumentalist (died 2024)
• 10 November – Nigel Evans MP, politician
• 21 December – Roger Blake, actor
• Charlotte Voake, children's illustrator^[23]

Deaths

• 6 March – Gwladys Evan Morris, actress and writer, 77^[24]
• 21 March – Russell Thomas, doctor, lawyer and politician, 60
• 30 July – William Richard Arnold, rugby player, 76
• 26 June – John Morgan, Archbishop of Wales and Bishop of Llandaff, 71^[25]
• 1 August – Llewellyn Lloyd, Wales international rugby union player, 80
• 15 August – Alice Williams, writer, painter and voluntary worker, 94^[26]
• 20 August – Edward Evans, 1st Baron Mountevans, explorer and admiral, 75
• 12 September – Tom Pearson, Wales national rugby player, 85
• 26 September – Arthur Powell Davies, Unitarian minister and writer, 55^[27]
• 10 October – Lloyd Davies, footballer, 80^[28]
• 12 November – Wilfred Hodder, Wales international rugby player, 61
• 7 December
  • Maurice Jones, priest and academic, 94^[29]
  • Alfred Ernest Watkins, footballer, 79^[30]
• 9 December – Llewellyn Gwynne, first bishop of Egypt and Sudan, 94^[31]

See also

• 1957 in Northern Ireland

Notes and References

1. Book: Thomas Glyn Watkin. The Legal History of Wales. University of Wales Press. 2012. 192.
2. s2-MORG-JOH-1886. Morgan, John (1886-1957), Archbishop of Wales. Mary Gwendoline Ellis. 2001. 6 June 2022.
3. Book: John Stuart Peart-Binns. Alfred Edwin Morris, Archbishop of Wales. 1 January 1990. Gomer. 978-0-86383-636-7.
4. Book: National Library of Wales. Annual Report – Presented by the Council to the Court of Governors. 1955. The Library.
5. Web site: Former home of poet William Morris, Caernarfon. HistoryPoints. 6 June 2022.
6. Book: The Accountant. 1957. Lafferty Publications, Limited. 93.
7. Book: Tony Curtis. After the First Death: An Anthology of Wales and War in the Twentieth Century. 7 February 2007. Seren Books. 978-1-85411-450-1.
8. Book: Craig . F. W. S. . British parliamentary Election Results 1950-1970 . 1971 . Political Reference Publications . Chichester . 0 900178 02 7 . 570.
9. Book: Matthew Jarvis. Welsh Environments in Contemporary Poetry: Writing Wales in English. 2008. University of Wales Press. 978-0-7083-2152-2. 153.
10. Book: Alan Watkins. A slight case of libel: Meacher v Trelford and others. registration. 1 January 1990. Duckworth. 978-0-7156-2334-3. 20.
11. Book: James Mitchell. Devolution in the UK. 15 October 2009. Manchester University Press. 978-0-7190-5358-0. 51.
12. Book: International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources. Commission on Education and Communication. Education and Sustainability: Responding to the Global Challenge. 2002. IUCN. 978-2-8317-0623-8. 82.
13. Web site: Winners of the Chair. National Eisteddfod of Wales. 7 November 2019.
14. Web site: Winners of the Crown. National Eisteddfod of Wales. 7 November 2019.
15. Web site: Winners of the Prose Medal. National Eisteddfod of Wales. 7 November 2019.
16. Book: Colin Larkin. The Guinness who's who of fifties music. 1993. Guinness Publishing. 978-0-85112-732-3. 33.
17. Book: The Anglo-Welsh Review. 1980. Dock Leaves Press. 129.
18. Book: Marianne Barton. British Music Yearbook. 1979. Classical Music. 978-0-7136-1963-8. 623.
19. Book: Jamie Medhurst. A History of Independent Television in Wales. 1 June 2010. University of Wales Press. 978-0-7083-2308-3. 29–.
20. Web site: BBC Wales Sport Personality winners . BBC Sport . 29 July 2021.
21. Book: Peter Jackson. Lions of Wales: A Celebration of Welsh Rugby Legends. 1998. Mainstream. 978-1-84018-026-8.
22. Web site: Eddie Butler, Wales rugby union international who went on to succeed Bill McLaren as the BBC’s ‘voice of rugby’ – obituary. 16 September 2022. The Telegraph. 17 September 2022.
23. Web site: Charlotte Voake - Literature . literature.britishcouncil.org . 8 January 2020.
24. News: Obituary: Gwladys Evan Morris . 5 July 2018 . The Stage . 14 March 1957 . 10.
25. 'MORGAN, Most Rev. John', Who Was Who, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 1920–2016; online edn, Oxford University Press, 2014; online edn, April 2014 accessed 29 May 2017
26. Ceridwen Lloyd-Morgan, ‘Williams, Alice Helena Alexandra (1863–1957)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 20 Oct 2017
27. Book: Felice Levy. Facts on File, Inc. Obituaries on File. registration. 1979. Facts on File. 978-0-87196-372-7.
28. Book: Joyce, Michael . Football League Players' Records 1888 to 1939 . Soccerdata . 2004 . 1-899468-67-6 .
29. Web site: Jones, Maurice (1863-1957), priest and college principal. Mary Gwendoline Ellis. Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. 5 July 2019.
30. Web site: Watkins, Alfred Ernest (Alf) (Ernie) (Fred) . astonvillaplayerdatabase.com . 15 December 2017 .
31. Book: H̤̊asan Makkī Muh̤̊ammad Ah̤̊mad. Sudan, the Christian design: a study of the missionary factor in Sudan's cultural and political integration, 1843-1986. 1989. Islamic Foundation. 978-0-86037-193-9.