1975 in Wales explained

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1975 to Wales and its people.

Incumbents

• Secretary of State for Wales – John Morris^[1]
• Archbishop of Wales – Gwilym Williams, Bishop of Bangor^[2]
• Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales
  • Brinli (outgoing)^[3]
  • Bryn (incoming)^[4]

Events

• 20 March - Opening of the Cleddau Bridge at Milford Haven.^[5]
• 14 April - Actor/singer Michael Flanders dies suddenly of an intracranial berry aneurysm while on holiday in Betws-y-Coed.^[6]
• May - A leak from the Esso Tenby tanker off the coast of Pembrokeshire kills an estimated 1,300 seabirds.^[7]
• 28 July - Eight people are injured when a train is derailed between Sarnau and St Clears.
• 19 November - The Wales national football team qualifies for the quarter-finals of UEFA Euro 1976, beating Austria 1-0 in Wrexham.
• date unknown - The Glamorgan-Gwent Archaeological Trust is established.^[8]

Arts and literature

• Ryan and Ronnie announce the end of their comedy partnership.

Awards

• • National Eisteddfod of Wales (held in Criccieth)
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Chair - Gerallt Lloyd Owen
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Crown - Elwyn Roberts
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Prose Medal - withheld

New books

English language

• Gwynfor Evans - National Future for Wales
• Jeremy Hooker - Soliloquies of a Chalk Giant
• Emyr Humphries - Flesh and Blood
• Joseph Jenkins - Diary of a Welsh Swagman (posthumous)^[9]
• Richard Llewellyn - Green, Green, My Valley Now
• Moelwyn Merchant - Breaking the Code^[10]
• Prys Morgan - Iolo Morganwg
• Bernice Rubens - I Sent a Letter to My Love
• Peter Tinniswood - Except You're a Bird
• Rhydwen Williams - The Angry Vineyard^[11]

Welsh language

• Aneirin Talfan Davies - Diannerch Erchwyn a Cherddi Eraill^[12]
• J. Eirian Davies - Cân Galed
• T. Glynne Davies - Marged
• Richard Cyril Hughes - Catrin o Ferain^[13]
• T. Llew Jones - Tân ar y Comin^[14]
• Alan Llwyd - Edrych Trwy Wydrau Lledrith^[15]
• Marged Pritchard - Gwylanod ar y Mynydd^[16]
• Eurys Rowlands (ed.) - Lewys Môn
• Gwyn Thomas - Y Pethau Diwethaf a Phethau Eraill^[17]

New drama

• W. S. Jones - Y Toblarôn
• Saunders Lewis - Dwy Briodas Ann^[18]

Music

• Max Boyce - We All Had Doctors' Papers^[19]
• Edward H. Dafis - Ffordd Newydd Eingl-Americanaidd Grêt o Fyw^[20]
• Dave Edmunds - Subtle As A Flying Mallet^[21]
• Andy Fairweather-Low - La Booga Rooga, album featuring the top ten hit single "Wide Eyed and Legless"^[22]

Film

• Rachel Roberts appears in Picnic at Hanging Rock.
• Ken Loach's Days of Hope is partly set in Wales.

Welsh-language films

• None

Broadcasting

Welsh-language television

• The Siberry Report recommends a new Welsh-language fourth channel broadcasting 25 hours a week of Welsh-language programmes, with BBC and HTV each responsible for 50% of the output.^[23]

English-language television

• Grand Slam, starring Hugh Griffith and Windsor Davies
• How Green Was My Valley adapted for television by Elaine Morgan, starring Stanley Baker, Sian Phillips, Mike Gwilym, Nerys Hughes and Gareth Thomas.
• Angharad Rees stars in Poldark.

Sport

• Boxing – Pat Thomas wins the British Welterweight title.
• Darts – Wales win the Home International Series.
• Football – The Wales national football team qualifies for the quarter-finals of UEFA Euro 1976.
• Snooker – Ray Reardon wins his fourth World Championship title.^[24]
• Arfon Griffiths wins BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year.^[25]

Births

• 12 March - Richard Harrington, actor^[26]
• 21 March - Mark Williams, snooker player
• 5 April - John Hartson, footballer
• 22 May - Kelly Morgan, badminton player
• 18 June - Jem, singer
• 24 July - Dafydd James, rugby player
• 4 September - Kai Owen, actor
• 26 September - Dai Thomas, footballer
• 19 October - Jamie Donaldson, golfer
• 28 October - Adrian Durston, rugby player
• 5 November - Lisa Scott-Lee, singer
• 25 November - Paul Mealor, composer
• date unknown
  • Euros Childs, songwriter
  • Cynan Jones, novelist

Deaths

• 14 February - Arthur Probert, politician, 67^[27]
• 23 February - Ossie Male, rugby player, 81
• 3 March - T. H. Parry-Williams, poet, 87^[28]
• 15 March - Edward James, cricketer, 78
• 6 April - Tom Morgan, cricketer, 81
• 23 April - Pete Ham, musician, leader of the group Badfinger (suicide), 27^[29]
• 24 April - Stephen Halden Beattie, recipient of the Victoria Cross, 67^[30]
• 21 May - A. H. Dodd, historian, 83^[31]
• 7 June - Jack Smith, footballer, 63
• 8 July - T. G. E. Powell, archaeologist, 59^[32]
• 7 August - Jim Griffiths, politician, 84^[33]
• 27 August - Noel Morgan, cricketer, 69
• 4 September - Walley Barnes, footballer and broadcaster, 55
• 5 October - Will Davies, rugby player, 69
• 6 November - Norman Riches, cricketer
• 10 November - Emrys Davies, cricketer, 71
• 18 December - R. Ifor Parry, minister, teacher and philanthropist, 67^[34]
• date unknown
  • Robert Herring, poet and critic, 72^[35]
  • Alun Jeremiah Jones (Alun Cilie), poet^[36]
  • Huw Lloyd Edwards, dramatist

See also

• 1975 in Northern Ireland

Notes and References

1. Web site: Morris of Aberavon, Baron, (John Morris) (born Nov. 1931). 2021-05-05. WHO'S WHO & WHO WAS WHO. 2007. en. 10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.u28179. 978-0-19-954088-4.
2. Web site: Archbishop Gwilym Owen Williams — "G. O.": His life and opinions by D. T. W. Price . David Wilbourne. 8 June 2018. Church Times. 6 May 2022.
3. Book: Meic Stephens. The Oxford companion to the literature of Wales. registration. April 1986. Oxford University Press. 523. 978-0-19-211586-7 .
4. Book: Dillwyn Miles. The Secret of the Bards of the Isle of Britain. 1992. Gwasg Dinefwr Press. 978-0-9519926-0-9. 193.
5. Book: Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Parliamentary Debates (Hansard).: House of Commons official report. 1994. H.M. Stationery Office. 978-0-10-681251-6.
6. Meyer, Michael, "Flanders, Michael Henry (1922–1975)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004, accessed 3 May 2013
7. Web site: Digest of Welsh Statistics. 1. 7 May 2022.
8. Web site: Glamorgan Gwent Archaeology is part of Heneb: The Trust for Welsh Archaeology. GGAT. 17 August 2024.
9. Book: Joseph Jenkins. William Evans. Diary of a Welsh Swagman, 1869-1894. 1977. Sun Books. 978-0-7251-0246-3.
10. Web site: Obituary: The Rev Professor W. Moelwyn Merchant. https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220515/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-the-rev-professor-w-moelwyn-merchant-1259416.html . 15 May 2022 . subscription . live. 3 May 1997. David Shaw. Paul Merchant. The Independent. 9 October 2019.
11. Web site: Obituary: Rhydwen Williams. . 22 October 2011.
12. Book: Llên Cymru. 2004. Gwasg Prifysgol Cymru. 115.
13. Book: The New Beacon. 1985. Royal National Institute for the Blind. 219.
14. Book: Daniel Hahn. Michael Morpurgo. The Oxford Companion to Children's Literature. 2015. Oxford University Press. 978-0-19-969514-0. 314–.
15. Book: Glyn Jones. John Rowlands. Profiles: a visitors' guide to writing in twentieth century Wales. Gomer. 1980. 9780850887136. 185.
16. Book: Meic Stephens. The Oxford companion to the literature of Wales. registration. April 1986. Oxford University Press. 494. 978-0-19-211586-7 .
17. Book: Alfred Owen Hughes Jarman. Gwilym Rees Hughes. Dafydd Johnston. A Guide to Welsh Literature: c. 1900-1996. 1998. University of Wales Press. 978-0-7083-1424-1. 140.
18. Book: Ioan M. Williams. A Straitened Stage: A Study of the Theatre of J. Saunders Lewis. 1 January 1991. Seren Books. 978-1-85411-043-5. 203.
19. Book: Lawrence Goldman. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography 2005-2008. 7 March 2013. OUP Oxford. 978-0-19-967154-0. 616.
20. Book: Sarah Hill. 'Blerwytirhwng?' The Place of Welsh Pop Music. 5 July 2017. Taylor & Francis. 978-1-351-57345-0. 83.
21. Book: Mike Clifford. The Harmony Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock. 1986. Harmony Books. 978-0-517-56264-2. 75.
22. Book: Christgau, Robert. Robert Christgau

    . Robert Christgau. 1981. . Ticknor & Fields. 089919026X. Consumer Guide '70s: L. https://www.robertchristgau.com/get_chap.php?k=L&bk=70. March 1, 2019. robertchristgau.com.

23. Book: David Maxwell Barlow. Tom O'Malley. Philip Mitchell. The media in Wales: voices of a small nation. 2005. University of Wales Press. 978-0-7083-1840-9. 137.
24. Web site: Profile: Ray Reardon . 2 March 2010 . . 16 May 2019.
25. News: BBC Wales Sport Personality winners . BBC Sport . 29 July 2021.
26. Web site: Dal Ati. 18 December 2019. 18 December 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20191218193658/http://www.s4c.cymru/en/entertainment/dal-ati/page/144/merthyr-tydfil/. dead.
27. Book: Labour Party (Great Britain). Report of the Annual Conference. 1974. Labour Representation Committee.
28. Williams, Sir Thomas Herbert Parry- (1887–1975). Evans . Ellis. 2004 . 10.1093/ref:odnb/37835 . Ellis Evans . 2007-07-25.
29. Book: Joseph Murrells. The Book of Golden Discs. registration. 1978. Barrie and Jenkins. 978-0-214-20480-7.
30. Book: Who was who. 1971. A. & C. Black. 9780312877460 .
31. Book: Archaeologia Cambrensis: The Journal of the Cambrian Archaeological Association. 1976. W. Pickering. 137.
32. Book: 2009 . Powell, Thomas George Eyre . https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199534043.001.0001/acref-9780199534043-e-3308 . Darvill . Timothy . Timothy Darvill . The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology . 2 . . 10.1093/acref/9780199534043.001.0001 . 9780191727139 .
33. Book: Labour Party (Great Britain). Report of the Annual Conference. 1974. Labour Representation Committee.
34. s7-PARR-IFO-1908. Parry, Robert Ivor (1908-1975), minister (Cong.) and school teacher. Ioan Wyn Gruffydd. 19 December 2019.
35. Book: James Donald. Anne Friedberg. Laura Marcus. Close Up: Cinema And Modernism. 1 January 1998. A&C Black. 978-0-304-33516-9. 316.
36. Book: Meic Stephens. The new companion to the literature of Wales. 23 September 1998. University of Wales Press. 978-0-7083-1383-1.