1976 in Wales explained

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1976 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 – Bryn^[3]

Events

• 9 February - The Prince of Wales (now Charles III) becomes commander of .^[4]
• 17 February - Operation Julie is launched; it eventually results in the break-up of one of the largest LSD manufacturing operations in the world.^[5]
• March - The Welsh Regional Office of the European Community opens in Cardiff.^[6]
• June–September - 1976 United Kingdom heat wave: A very hot summer brings a major drought with water shortages.
• July - Miners’ leader Dai Francis challenges the Prince of Wales (now Charles III), in the election for Chancellor of the University of Wales.
• 25 July - Former Submarine Commander Neil Rutherford, DSC & Bar, murders four people at the Red Gables Hotel in Penmaenmawr.^{[7] [8]}
• 4 October - The InterCity 125 high speed train runs for the first time between Swansea railway station and London Paddington.
• 7 December - Swansea-born former fashion model Lilian Davies marries Prince Bertil of Sweden^[9] at Drottningholm Palace after a 30-year relationship.
• date unknown - David Emanuel marries Elizabeth Weiner.^[10]

Arts and literature

• May 27 - Actor Stanley Baker is given a knighthood in the Prime Minister's Resignation Honours, a few months before his death.^[11]
• August - Dic Jones loses the National Eisteddfod chair on a technicality.
• October - Mistar Urdd is created by Wynne Melville Jones.^[12]
• unknown date - Griff Rhys Jones becomes Vice-President of the Cambridge University Footlights Dramatic Club.^[13]

Awards

• National Eisteddfod of Wales (held in Cardigan)
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Chair - Alan Llwyd
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Crown - Alan Llwyd
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Prose Medal - Marged Prichard

New books

English language

• Ruth Bidgood - Not Without Homage
• Glyn Davies - Overseas Investment In Wales
• Kenneth O. Morgan - Keir Hardie
• Bernice Rubens - I Sent a Letter to My Love

Welsh language

• John Emyr - Enaid Clwyfus^[14]
• Alun Llywelyn-Williams - Gwanwyn yn y Ddinas
• Owain Owain - Y Dydd Olaf

Poetry

• J. M. Edwards - Cerddi Ddoe a Heddiw - Egin
• Donald Evans
• Geraint Jarman - Cerddi Alfred Street
• Gwilym R. Jones - Y Syrcas a Cherddi Eraill

New drama

• John Gwilym Jones - Gobaith Mawr y Ganrif

Music

• Edward H. Dafis - 'Sneb yn Becso Dam
• Alun Hoddinott - Murder the Magician (opera)
• Dafydd Iwan - Mae'r Darnau yn Disgyn i'w Lle (album)
• Geraint Jarman - Gobaith Mawr y Ganrif (album)
• Daniel Jones - Dance Fantasy
• Man - The Welsh Connection
• Bonnie Tyler - "Lost in France" (debut single)

Film

Welsh-language films

• Y Dieithryn, produced by Emlyn Williams

Broadcasting

• Sir Huw Wheldon is knighted for his services to broadcasting.

Welsh-language television

• Seren Wib, presented by Emyr Glasnant and Sharon Morgan^[15]

Welsh language radio

• Tros Fy Sbectol

English-language television

• How Green Was My Father: a Welsh Odyssey for 1976, with Ryan Davies and Max Boyce^[16]

Sport

• Football – The Wales national football team plays in the quarter-finals of UEFA Euro 1976.
• BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year – Mervyn Davies and the Wales national rugby union team.^[17]
• Rugby union – Wales win their seventh Grand Slam.
• Snooker
  • 30 January – Ray Reardon wins the Masters.^[18]
  • 23 April – Ray Reardon wins his fifth World Championship title.

Births

• 14 January - Scott Young, footballer
• 6 April - James Fox, singer
• 8 May - Ian Watkins, pop singer
• 13 May - Mark Delaney, footballer
• 16 June - Cian Ciaran, musician
• 25 June - Iestyn Harris, rugby player^[19]
• 14 July - Geraint Jones, cricketer
• 9 August - Aled Haydn-Jones, radio producer
• 1 November - Buffy Williams, politician
• 7 November - Andrew Davies, cricketer
• 20 December – Adam Powell, inventor
• date unknown - Steffan Cravos, musician and language activist

Deaths

• 3 January – Mal Evans, Beatles' former roadie and patron of Badfinger, 40 (shot)^[20]
• 23 January – Sir Tudor Thomas, ophthalmic surgeon, 82^[21]
• 26 January – Eric Francis, architect, 88
• 4 February – Roger Livesey, actor, 69^[22]
• 12 February – John Lewis, Marxist philosopher, 87^[23]
• 14 February - Tommy Scourfield, dual code rugby player, 66
• 29 March - Harold Davie, rugby player, 77^[24]
• 26 March - Duster Bennett, blues musician, 29 (car accident)^[25]
• 30 March - Jackie Mittell, footballer, 70
• 31 March - Billy Moore, rugby player, 66
• 18 April – Haydn Davies, politician, 70^[26]
• 28 April – Richard Hughes, novelist, 76^[27]
• 6 June – David Jacobs, athlete, 88
• 20 June – Sir Goronwy Edwards, historian, 84 ^[28]
• 28 June – Sir Stanley Baker, actor, 48^[29]
• 18 July – Jenkin Alban Davies, Wales international rugby captain, 90
• 22 July – Willie Evans, Welsh international footballer, 63
• 30 August - David Rees-Williams, 1st Baron Ogmore, politician, 72
• 10 October - David Lewis, 1st Baron Brecon, politician, 71
• 7 November - Glyn Davies, Wales international rugby union player, 49
• 22 November - Rupert Davies, actor, 60 (cancer)^[30]
• 24 November - Ambrose Baker, rugby player, ?79
• date unknown
  • Eveline Annie Jenkins, botanical artist, 82/83
  • Meirion Williams, songwriter

See also

• 1976 in Northern Ireland

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: Dillwyn Miles. The Secret of the Bards of the Isle of Britain. 1992. Gwasg Dinefwr Press. 978-0-9519926-0-9. 193.
4. Book: Paul Brown. Historic Ships: The Survivors. 15 March 2010. Amberley Publishing Limited. 978-1-4456-2006-0. 155.
5. Book: Andy Roberts. Albion Dreaming: A popular history of LSD in Britain (Revised Edition with a new foreword by Dr. Sue Blackmore). 30 September 2008. Marshall Cavendish International Asia Pte Ltd. 978-981-4328-97-5. 218.
6. Book: Charlotte Aull Davies. Welsh Nationalism in the Twentieth Century: The Ethnic Option and the Modern State. 1989. Praeger. 978-0-275-93116-2.
7. North Wales Weekly News, 30 September 1976.
8. Web site: Inside the hotel where five people died in one of Wales' worst ever mass murders. WalesOnline. 22 June 2015. Nathan Bevan. 31 December 2018.
9. Book: The International Year Book and Statesmen's Who's who. 1992. Burke's Peerage Limited. 978-0-611-00817-6.
10. Book: Richard Harrison Martin. Contemporary Fashion. 1995. St. James Press. 978-1-55862-173-2.
11. http://www.freewebs.com/stanleybakerarchive/apps/photos/photo?photoid=108100123 Ellen Baker, 'My Husband, My Love', Woman's Own Magazine, December 1976
12. Book: Wynne Melville Jones. Wyn Mel. 14 August 2014. Y Lolfa. 978-1-78461-029-6. 64. cy.
13. Book: M. J. Simpson. Hitchhiker: A Biography of Douglas Adams. 29 April 2005. Justin, Charles & Co.. 978-1-932112-35-1. 75.
14. Book: National Union Catalog. 1973. Rowman and Littlefield. 467.
15. Book: Sharon Morgan. Hanes Rhyw Gymraes.. Y Lolfa. cy. 2012.
16. Web site: How Green was my Father. 17 September 2023. BBC.
17. News: BBC Wales Sport Personality winners . BBC Sport . 29 July 2021.
18. Web site: Profile: Ray Reardon . 2 March 2010 . . 16 May 2019.
19. Web site: Iestyn Harris: Rallying his motley crew under the banner of Welsh pride. https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220501/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/iestyn-harris-rallying-his-motley-crew-under-the-banner-of-welsh-pride-2209714.html . 2022-05-01 . subscription . live. The Independent. 18 July 2017. 10 February 2011.
20. Book: Geoffery Giuliano. Lennon in America: 1971-1980, Based in Part on the Lost Lennon Diaries. 2 July 2001. Cooper Square Press. 978-1-4616-3561-1. 238.
21. Book: Davies, John . Jenkins, Nigel . The Welsh Academy Encyclopaedia of Wales . 2008 . University of Wales Press . Cardiff . 978-0-7083-1953-6.
22. Web site: Roger Livesey, Character Actor On Stage and Screen, Is Dead. February 7, 1976. New York Times. 30 April 2019.
23. Book: Rajani Palme Dutt. The Labour Monthly. 1976. Labour Publishing Company. 118.
24. Book: Peter Jackson. Lions of Wales: A Celebration of Welsh Rugby Legends. 1998. Mainstream. 978-1-84018-026-8. 210.
25. Book: Nick Talevski. The Encyclopedia of Rock Obituaries. 1999. Omnibus. 978-0-7119-7548-4. 24.
26. Book: Who was who. 1971. St. Martin's Press. 978-0-312-87746-0. 199.
27. Book: Twentieth-century Children's Writers. Macmillan Education UK. 1978. 9781349036486. 624.
28. Book: The Antiquaries Journal. 1978. H. Milford, Oxford University Press. 449.
29. Book: Robert Shail. Stanley Baker: A Life in Film. 2008. University of Wales Press. 978-0-7083-2126-3. 127.
30. Book: Encyclopedia of World Biography: Supplement. 2001. Gale Research. 978-0-7876-2945-8. 117.