1985 in Wales explained

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1985 to Wales and its people.

Incumbents

• Secretary of State for Wales – Nicholas Edwards^[1]
• Archbishop of Wales – Derrick Childs, Bishop of Monmouth^[2]
• Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales – Elerydd^[3]

Events

• 3 March – The UK miners' strike (1984–85) formally ends. Among the mines not reopening is Bedwas Navigation Colliery.
• 16 May – Dean Hancock and Russell Shankland are convicted of murder at Cardiff Crown Court and jailed for life. The previous November, at the height of the miners' strike, they had caused the death of a taxi driver by dropping a concrete block onto his car as it passed under a bridge.
• 29 June – The A55 Colwyn Bay bypass is completed.
• 4 July – At the Brecon and Radnor by-election (caused by the death of sitting Conservative MP Tom Ellis Hooson) local farmer Richard Livsey takes the seat for the Liberals.
• 25 July – Clwydian Range AONB is designated.^{[4] [5]}
• 20 December – Swansea City A.F.C., struggling in the English Third Division just three years after being in the First, are issued with a winding-up order in the High Court and are at risk of closure and being forced out of the Football League.^[6]
• exact date unknown
  • Terry Matthews sells his stake in Mitel to British Telecom.^[7]
  • "Cefn" is founded to campaign for the civil rights of Welsh speakers.
  • The Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies is founded at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth.
  • Seventeen women are prosecuted on conspiracy charges after the occupation of a nuclear bunker near Carmarthen.^[8]

Arts and literature

• Robat Powell becomes the first Welsh learner to win the Chair at the National Eisteddfod (see below).^[9]

Awards

• National Eisteddfod of Wales (held in Rhyl)
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Chair - Robat Powell
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Crown - John Roderick Rees
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Prose Medal - Margaret Dafydd

New books

English language

• Alice Thomas Ellis – Unexplained Laughter
• Lady Olwen Carey Evans – Lloyd George Was My Father^[10]
• David Hughes – The Pork Butcher
• Christopher Meredith – This
• Robert Minhinnick – The Dinosaur Park
• John Powell Ward – The Clearing
• Ivor Wilks – South Wales and the Rising of 1839

Welsh language

• Geraint Bowen – Cerddi
• Bryan Martin Davies – Lleoedd
  • • Glanmor Williams Harri Tudur a Chymru
  • Grym Tafodau Tân
• Eluned Phillips – Cerddi Glyn-y-Mêl

Music

• Downtown Julie Brown makes her debut on Club MTV.
• "Dwylo Dros y Môr", performed by various artists, is the Welsh charity song released in coordination with Band Aid.

Albums

• Aled Jones – Aled Jones With The BBC Welsh Chorus
• Living Legends – Better Dead Than Wed
• Eirlys Parri – Yfory^[11]

Film

• Jonathan Pryce stars in Brazil.
• Richard Marquand directs Jagged Edge.

Welsh-language films

• None

Broadcasting

Welsh-language television

• Helfa Drysor^[12]
• Sam Tân (Fireman Sam)^[13]

English-language television

• 10 September – ITV broadcasts the Wales vs Scotland World Cup qualifying match live from Ninian Park in Cardiff.^[14] Scotland manager Jock Stein collapses and dies in the stadium's first aid room.^[15]
• The Dragon Has Two Tongues, co-presented by Gwyn Alf Williams and Wynford Vaughan-Thomas^[16]

Sport

• BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year – Steve Jones^[17]
• Horse racing – Hywel Davies wins the Grand National on "Last Suspect".

Births

• 2 January – Mark Evans, musical theatre actor, singer, dancer and choreographer
• 9 January – Elen Evans, rugby player^[18]
• 3 March – David Davies, swimmer ^[19]
• 8 April – Gareth Rees, cricketer^[20]
• 13 May
  • Iwan Rheon, screen actor
  • Danny Thomas, footballer
• 31 May – Laura Daniels, lawn bowler^[21]
• 16 June – Craig Morgan, footballer
• 17 July – Tom Cullen, actor
• 30 August – Richard Duffy, international footballer and manager
• 11 September – Daniel Parslow, footballer
• 19 September – Alun Wyn Jones, international rugby union captain^[22]
• 24 September – Kimberley Nixon, actress
• 10 October – Marina Lambrini Diamandis, singer
• 14 December – Alex Pennie, musician
• 15 November – Simon Spender, footballer
  • • 25 December Leon Pisani, pop singer
  • Perdita Weeks, actress
• 28 December – Nicola Davies, footballer
• date unknown – Claire Jones, harpist^[23]

Deaths

• 19 January – Tom Richards, athlete, 74
• 26 January – David Ormsby-Gore, 5th Baron Harlech, 66 (car accident)^[24]
• 9 March – John Tudor Jones, journalist, poet, critic, broadcaster, and translator, 81
• 29 March – Rae Jenkins, violinist and conductor^[25]
• 4 April – Kate Roberts, author, 94^[26]
• 21 April – Owen Temple-Morris, barrister and politician, 88^[27]
• 22 April – Sir Thomas Parry, academic, 80^[28]
• 8 May – Tom Hooson, politician, 52 (cancer)^[29]
• 9 June – Clifford Evans, actor, 73
• July - Roger Ashton (footballer), footballer, 63
• 1 September – Saunders Lewis, writer, 91^[30]
• 14 September – Niel Morgan, cricketer and diplomat, 81
• 17 September – Laura Ashley, designer, 60 (brain haemorrhage after fall)^[31]
• 18 September – Iorwerth Evans, rugby player, 79
• 28 October
  • Harold Davies, Baron Davies of Leek, politician, 81^[32]
  • Leslie Harris, cricketer, 70
• 4 November – Hilda Vaughan, novelist, 93
• 17 December – Gwyn Richards, dual-code rugby player, 79
• 27 December – Len Richards, footballer, 74
• date unknown – Dewi-Prys Thomas, architect^[33]

See also

• 1985 in England
• 1985 in Northern Ireland
• 1985 in Scotland

References

1. Web site: Lord Crickhowell obituary. 19 March 2018. The Guardian. Stephen Bates. 19 March 2020.
2. Book: Doe . Norman . A New History of the Church in Wales: Governance and Ministry, Theology and Society . 5 March 2020 . Cambridge University Press . 978-1-108-60320-1 . 119 . en.
3. Web site: WJ Gruffydd: Writer who helped keep alive the Welsh tradition. 20 July 2011. The Independent. 11 May 2022.
4. Web site: Other Notices The Gazette . 2023-10-30 . www.thegazette.co.uk.
5. Web site: Management Plan 2014 - 2019 . 30 October 2023 . clwydianrangeanddeevalleyaonb.org.uk . 3.
6. Web site: When Swansea City were relegated through all four divisions in four years. 12 May 2018. Steven Pye. The Guardian. 22 November 2018.
7. Web site: The secret billionaire. https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220501/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/analysis-and-features/the-secret-billionaire-708372.html . 2022-05-01 . subscription . live. 26 July 2000. The Independent. 22 November 2018.
8. Web site: Town's forgotten nuclear bunker. 14 December 2005. Nick Parry. BBC News. 22 November 2018.
9. Web site: Chaired Bard Robat Powell: How can one learn a language?. Parallel.cymru. 24 July 2018 . 22 November 2018.
10. Book: Lady Olwen Carey Evans. Mary Garner. Lloyd George was My Father: The Autobiography of Lady Olwen Carey Evans. 1 January 1985. Gomer Press. 978-0-86383-112-6.
11. Web site: Y gantores Eirlys Parri wedi marw yn 74 oed. 30 June 2024. cy. Newyddion S4C. 4 July 2024.
12. Web site: Helfa Drysor . UKGameshows . 24 May 2019.
13. Web site: Fireman Sam at 30: Prince George's favourite cartoon celebrates. 17 November 2017. Peter Shuttleworth. BBC. 8 October 2019.
14. Web site: World Cup 1986 . 13 October 2012 . Internationals on ITV 1984-present . ITV Football 1968–83 . 18 October 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20160304084930/http://homepage.ntlworld.com/carousel/ITV/WorldCup86.html . 4 March 2016.
15. News: Manager Stein dies at match. The Herald. Herald & Times Group. 11 September 1985. 21 April 2012. Andrew. McCallum. Jim. Reynolds.
16. Web site: Blogger threatened with £143k bill if he uploads iconic Welsh history TV series to YouTube. WalesOnline. 24 December 2017. Martin Shipton. 13 March 2021.
17. News: BBC Wales Sport Personality winners . BBC Sport . 10 December 2012 . 2 August 2021.
18. Web site: Elen Evans . Eurosport . 25 February 2019.
19. Web site: David Davies. https://web.archive.org/web/20080926020858/http://www.britishswimming.org/vsite/vcontent/page/custom/0,8510,5157-182664-199882-43102-270645-custom-item,00.html. dead. 26 September 2008. British Swimming (archived). 16 December 2019.
20. Web site: Gareth Rees profile. ESPN. 24 July 2024.
21. Web site: Lawn Bowls Athlete Profile: Laura DANIELS - Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games . results.gc2018.com . 9 March 2021.
22. Web site: Alun Wyn Jones, rugby player. BBC Wales. 16 December 2019.
23. Web site: Claire Jones. Green Spring Music. 24 July 2024.
24. News: Lord Harlech killed in crash. Shropshire Star. 26 January 1985. 1.
25. Book: Johns-Davies, Jayne Marilyn . Rae Jenkins FRAM, MBE: the life story of Welsh conductor and musician 1903 to 1985 . 2006 . 28.
26. [Derec Llwyd Morgan|Morgan, Derec Llwyd]
27. Who was Who: A Companion to Who's Who, 1981-1990, A. & C. Black, p. 747
28. Web site: Parry, Sir Thomas (1904-1985), scholar, Librarian of the National Library of Wales, University Principal, poet. Derec Llwyd Morgan. Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. 17 March 2019.
29. Web site: Hooson, Tom Ellis (1933-1985), Conservative politician. John Graham Jones. Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. 17 March 2019.
30. Web site: Lewis, John Saunders (1893-1985), politician, critic and dramatist. T. Robin Chapman. Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. 17 March 2019.
31. Web site: Laura Ashley, British Designer, Is Dead at 60 . The New York Times. 8 December 2018. Slesin. Suzanne. 18 September 1985.
32. Book: R. McHenry. Daphne Daume. J.E. Davis. Britannica book of the year: 1986. registration. April 1986. Encyclopaedia Britannica. 978-0-85229-437-6. 127.
33. Book: Royal Commission on Ancient and Historical Monuments in Wales. An Inventory of the Ancient Monuments in Glamorgan: pt. 1. pt. a. The early castles from the Norman Conquest to 1217. 1976. H.M.S.D.. 978-0-11-300035-7. x.