1980 in Wales explained

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1980 to Wales and the Welsh people.

Incumbents

• Secretary of State for Wales – Nicholas Edwards^[1]
• Archbishop of Wales – Gwilym Williams, Bishop of Bangor^[2]
• Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales – Geraint^[2]

Events

• 2 January – Workers at British Steel Corporation go on strike over pay.
• May – Plaid Cymru leader Gwynfor Evans announces his intention to go on hunger strike in protest against the government's failure to honour its promise of a fourth Welsh-language television channel.^[3] The government backs down on 17 September, a few weeks before Evans's deadline.
• April – The Church in Wales votes to ordain women deacons.^[4]
• 17 May – Glan Clwyd Hospital opens at Bodelwyddan.^[5]
• 8 June – Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones preaches for the last time, at Barcombe Baptist Chapel.
• 28 June – Penelope Clarke of Lanover marries François Fillon, future Prime Minister of France.^[6]
• 11 July – Britannia Bridge A55 road deck officially opened by the Prince of Wales (now Charles III).^[7]
• August – Dragon Data introduces the Dragon 32 home computer.
• John Maddox becomes editor of Nature.
• Death of last pure-bred Rhiw sheep.
• Cardiff Zoo closed.^[8]
• Welsh Highland Railway Ltd begins using the name "Rheilffordd Ucheldir Cymru".

Arts and literature

• Richard Burton makes one of his last stage appearances, in the musical Camelot.
• Michael Bogdanov becomes associate director of the Royal National Theatre.
• Bobi Jones is appointed to the professorial chair in Welsh at University of Wales, Aberystwyth.
• The publisher Gwasg Carreg Gwalch is founded by Myrddin ap Dafydd at Capel Garmon.

Awards

• National Eisteddfod of Wales (held in Gowerton)
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Chair - Donald Evans
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Crown - Donald Evans
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Prose Medal - R. Gerallt Jones

New books

• Irma Chilton - Yr Iâr Goch
• Leopold Kohr - Cymru Fach
• D. Tecwyn Lloyd - Bore Da, Lloyd
• Alan Wilson - Arthur, King of Glamorgan and Gwent

Music

• Edward H. Dafis - Plant Y Fflam (album)

Works of art

• Andrew Vicari - La Marianne

Film

• The Mouse and the Woman, based on a novel by Dylan Thomas, written by Vincent Kane and directed by Karl Francis, co-stars Huw Ceredig, Beti Lloyd-Jones and Dafydd Hywel.
• Dragonslayer is filmed at Dolwyddelan Castle.

Broadcasting

English-language television

• Ruth Madoc stars in the hit sitcom Hi-de-Hi!

Sport

• BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year – Duncan Evans^[9]
• Boxing
  • 28 February – Johnny Owen defeats Juan Francisco Rodríguez at Ebbw Vale to win the European bantamweight championship.
  • 28 June – Johnny Owen defeats John Feeny at the Empire Pool, Wembley.
  • 19 September – Johnny Owen fights Lupe Pintor in Los Angeles. Owen is knocked out and goes into a coma from which he never emerges, being pronounced dead on 4 November.
• Rugby union
  • Fifteen Welsh players are included in the squad of 38 for the 1980 British Lions tour to South Africa: Elgan Rees, Ray Gravell, David Richards, Peter Morgan, Gareth Davies, Terry Holmes, Clive Williams, Ian Stephens, Graham Price, Alan Phillips, Allan Martin, Jeff Squire, Stuart Lane, Derek Quinnell and Gareth Powell Williams.
  • 18 October – 1 November: 1980 New Zealand rugby union tour of Wales
    • 1 November

Wales 3–23 New Zealand

• Snooker
  • 9 February – Terry Griffiths wins the Masters, defeating Ray Reardon in an all-Welsh final.^[10]

Births

• 20 January – Matthew Tuck, vocalist
• 28 February – Katy Wix, actress
• 23 March – Ryan Day, snooker player
• 29 March – Andy Scott-Lee, singer
• 7 April – Carl Fletcher, footballer
• 10 April – Daniel Hawksford, actor
• 12 April – Sara Head, table tennis player^[11]
• 15 April – Stephen Doughty, politician^[12]
• 26 May – Nick Thomas-Symonds, politician
• 29 June – Katherine Jenkins, singer
• 28 July – Noel Sullivan, pop singer
• 13 August – Bari Morgan, footballer
• 19 August – Paul Parry, footballer
• 20 August – Enzo Maccarinelli, boxer
• 3 November – Elis James, comedian
• 17 November – Gethin Jenkins, rugby player
• 16 December – Kevin Aherne-Evans, footballer
• date unknown – Catrin Finch, harpist

Deaths

• 12 January – Howel Williams, American geologist and volcanologist of Welsh parentage, 81^[13]
• 31 January – Arthur "Waring" Bowen, solicitor and charity worker, 57^[14]
• 8 February – Miles Thomas, businessman, 82^[15]
• 9 February – Tom Macdonald, writer, 79
• 25 February – Caradog Prichard, author, 75^[16]
• 20 March – Alun Davies, historian, 63^[17]
• 6 May – Bryn Phillips, dual-code rugby international, 79
• 14 May – Hugh Griffith, actor, 67^[18]
• 4 June – Don Tarr, Wales international rugby player, 70
• 7 June – Idwal Davies, footballer, 80^[19]
• 14 July – Aneirin Talfan Davies, critic and broadcaster, 71^[20]
• 15 September – Bill Evans, American jazz pianist of Welsh descent, 51 (drug-related)
• 7 October – Jim Lewis, footballer, 71
• 4 November – Johnny Owen, boxer, 24^[21]
• 26 November – Rachel Roberts, actress, 53 (suicide)^[22]
• 4 December – James Jones, Archdeacon of Huntingdon, 99
• date unknown
  • Cicely Hey, artist
  • Tom Parri Jones, poet^[23]
  • Jack Warner, footballer

See also

• 1980 in Northern Ireland

Notes and References

1. News: Lord Crickhowell obituary. 20 March 2018. The Guardian. 19 March 2018.
2. Book: NA NA. The Macmillan Guide to the United Kingdom 1978-79. 25 December 2015. Springer. 978-1-349-81511-1. 875.
3. Book: David Beresford. Ten Men Dead: The Story of the 1981 Irish Hunger Strike. registration. 1987. Grafton. 978-0-586-06533-4. 34.
4. Book: The Living Church. January 1981. Morehouse-Gorham Company. 15.
5. Web site: Glan Clwyd Hospital. https://web.archive.org/web/20120311075904/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/domesday/dblock/GB-300000-375000/page/7. dead. 2012-03-11. Domesday Reloaded. BBC. 1986. 2021-02-17.
6. News: François Fillon candidat : Penelope Fillon, l'ultra-discrète. Mazuet. Julie. 21 November 2016. Madame Figaro. 5 March 2017. Candidate François Fillon: the ultra-discreet Penelope Fillon.
7. Web site: Menai Heritage Collections – Pamphlets, Articles & Papers. Menai Heritage. 31 January 2019.
8. Web site: Closed collections. The Bartlett Society. 24 May 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150404054748/http://www.zoohistory.co.uk/projects/closed_collections. 4 April 2015. dead.
9. Web site: BBC Wales Sport Personality winners . BBC Sport . 2 August 2021.
10. Web site: Profile: Terry Griffiths . 3 February 2010 . . 16 May 2019.
11. Web site: Sara Head. ParalympicsGB. 3 October 2019.
12. Web site: Declaration of Result of Poll . PDF . Acting Returning Officer . Cardiff Council . 16 November 2012 . 21 November 2012 . 29 March 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200329033042/http://www.cardiff.gov.uk/ObjView.asp?Object_ID=24378&Language= . dead .
13. Web site: Howel Williams - Cyngor Cefn Gwlad Cymru . 2015-05-01 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20131030090311/http://www.ccgc.gov.uk/landscape--wildlife/geological-gems/geologists-who-changed-the-map/howel-williams.aspx . 2013-10-30 .
14. Web site: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: Arthur Bowen. www.oxforddnb.com. 10 September 2017.
15. http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/48340 Peter G. Masefield: Thomas, (William) Miles Webster, Baron Thomas (1897–1980)
16. Web site: PRICHARD, CARADOG (1904-1980), novelist and poet. Menna Baines. Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. 2 February 2019.
17. Web site: Alun Davies. Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Williams. Griffith John. 20 December 2016.
18. Book: Roland Turner. Janet Podell. The Annual Obituary. 1980. St. Martin's. 9780312038755.
19. Book: Who's Who of Welsh International Soccer Players . Davies . Gareth . Garland . Ian . 1991. Bridge Books . 1-872424-11-2. 42–43.
20. Web site: Davies, Aneirin Talfan (1909-1980), poet, literary critic, broadcaster and publisher. Alan Llwyd. Alan Llwyd. Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. 2 October 2019.
21. Book: The New York Times Biographical Service. July 1980. New York Times & Arno Press.
22. Book: Roland Turner. Janet Podell. The Annual Obituary. 1980. St. Martin's. 729. 9780312038755.
23. Book: Meic Stephens. The Oxford companion to the literature of Wales. registration. April 1986. Oxford University Press. 147.