1987 in Wales explained

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1987 to Wales and its people.

Incumbents

• Secretary of State for Wales – Nicholas Edwards (until 13 June);^[1] Peter Walker
• Archbishop of Wales – George Noakes, Bishop of St David's (elected)^[2]
• Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales
  • Elerydd (outgoing)^[3]
  • Emrys Deudraeth (incoming)^[4]

Events

• 12 January - The lowest daytime maximum temperature ever recorded in Wales (-8.0 °C) is recorded at Trecastle, Powys.^[5]
• 12 February - The Roman Catholic Church in Wales creates a new Diocese of Wrexham^[6] and moves the Diocese of Menevia to Swansea.
• 5 March - The High Court declares Dorothy Squires a vexatious litigant.^[7]
• 15 March - Roy Jenkins is elected Chancellor of the University of Oxford.^[8]
• 14 April - Oakwood Leisure Park opens near Narberth, Pembrokeshire.^[9]
• 7 May - District council elections take place across Wales (and England). The Conservatives lose control of Cardiff City Council.^[10]
• 24 May - Neil Kinnock is interviewed by David Frost about Labour's defence policy and plans for government.
• 28 May - The Mametz Wood Memorial, sculpted by David Petersen, is unveiled in Cardiff.^[11]
• 11 June - In the general election
  • Plaid Cymru's Ieuan Wyn Jones wins the seat of Ynys Môn from the Conservatives. Plaid retain their other two parliamentary seats.^[12]
  • Alun Michael replaces James Callaghan as MP for Cardiff South.
  • Labour's Paul Flynn wins back Newport West from the Conservatives.
• 11 July - The Mametz Wood Memorial is dedicated at the site of the Royal Welch Fusiliers battle of 1916 in France.^[13]
• 5 October - Keith Best, former Conservative MP for Ynys Môn, having been sentenced to four months' imprisonment for share-dealing activities, has his sentence quashed by the Court of Appeal after serving five days.^[14]
• 19 October - Four people are killed in the Glanrhyd Bridge collapse, when a train falls into the swollen River Tywi,^[15] as a result of the flooding that affects many parts of Wales.
• 20 November - Roy Jenkins becomes Baron Jenkins of Hillhead.
• 22 November - The Welsh language is used within the Vatican for the first time on an official occasion, as part of a beatification ceremony for three Welsh martyrs.^[16]
• date unknown
  • Creation of the Cardiff Bay Development Corporation.
  • Chris Loyn establishes the architectural practice Loyn & Co in Penarth.^[17]
  • The National Trust buys Dinefwr Park in Llandeilo, including the deer park.

Arts and literature

• Jim Burns becomes the first non-American to win the Hugo Award for Best Professional Artist.^[18]

Awards

• National Eisteddfod of Wales (held in Porthmadog)
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Chair - Ieuan Wyn
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Crown - John Griffith Jones
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Prose Medal - Margiad Williams

New books

English language

• Dannie Abse - Ask the Bloody Horse^[19]
• Rees Davies - Wales: The Age Of Conquest, 1063-1415^[20]
• Stephen Gregory - The Cormorant
• Douglas Houston - With the Offal Eaters
• J. Beverley Smith - Llywelyn ap Gruffudd
• Frances Thomas - Seeing Things
• Peter Thomas - Strangers from a Secret Land
• R. S. Thomas - Welsh Airs

Welsh language

• Euros Bowen - Oes y Medwsa^[21]
• T. Glynne Davies - Cerddi
• Dafydd Glyn Jones - Drych yr Amseroedd
• Nesta Wyn Jones - Rhwng Chwerthin a Chrio
• Alan Llwyd - Barddoniaeth y Chwedegau
• Gwylon Phillips - Llofruddiaeth Shadrach Lewis
• Rhydwen Williams - Amser i Wylo

Music

• 3 December - Indian classical musician Ram Narayan records his album Rag Lalit at Wyastone Leys near Monmouth.
• MusicFest Aberystwyth is founded by cellist Nicholas Jones.
• The Alarm - Eye Of The Hurricane (album)
• Anrhefn - Defaid Skateboard a Wellies^[22]
• Y Cyrff - Y Testament Newydd (EP)
• Frank Hennessy - Thoughts and Memories (album)
• Karl Wallinger - Private Revolution (album)

Film

• Timothy Dalton makes his debut as James Bond in The Living Daylights.
• On the Black Hill, adapted from the novel by Bruce Chatwin and set in Wales, stars Bob Peck, Gemma Jones and Mike Gwilym.^[23]

Broadcasting

English-language radio

• John Humphrys becomes a regular presenter on BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

Welsh-language television

• Ioan Gruffudd joins the cast of Pobol y Cwm.

Sport

• BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year - Ian Woosnam.^[24]
• Golf - David Llewellyn and Ian Woosnam win golf's World Cup in Hawaii.
• Rugby union
  • Wales finish 4th in the 1987 Five Nations Championship with just a single win, over England.
  • Wales finish third, their best ever position, in the first Rugby World Cup.
  • 5 April - Pontypool Park hosts the first international for the Wales women's national rugby union team who lose 22–4 to England.^[25]
• Skiing - Dry ski slope opened on the Great Orme at Llandudno.

Births

• 9 January - Bradley Davies, rugby union player
• 21 January - Joe Ledley, footballer
• 24 January - Wayne Hennessey, footballer^[26]
• 14 February - Lee Selby, World champion boxer
• 24 March - Rob Davies, footballer
• 27 March - Adam Davies, footballer
• April - Hannah Stone, harpist
• 8 May - Aneurin Barnard, actor^[27]
• 23 August - Alexandra Roach, actress
• 4 September - Mike O'Shea, cricketer
• 29 September - Claire Williams, athlete
• 21 October - Steph Davies, cricketer
• 30 November - Victoria Thornley, Olympic rower^[28]

Deaths

• 5 January - Brinley Williams, Wales dual-code rugby international, 91
• 21 January - Donald Holroyde Hey, chemist, 83^[29]
• 4 February - Wynford Vaughan-Thomas, writer and broadcaster, 78^[30]
• 7 March - E. D. Jones, librarian, 83^[31]
• 4 April - Richard Ithamar Aaron, philosopher, 85^[32]
• 13 April - Alfred Evans, Labour MP, 73^[33]
• 19 April - Stan Richards, footballer, 70
• 22 May - Keidrych Rhys, poet and editor^[34]
• 22 June - William Price, footballer, 83
• 20 August - Dorothy Rees, politician, 89^[35]
• 4 September - Richard Marquand, film director, 49 (stroke)^[36]
• 11 September - Hugh David, television director, 62
• 25 September - Emlyn Williams, dramatist and actor, 81^[37]
• 5 November - Howard Davies, rugby player, 70
• date unknown - Clifford Williams, politician, Labour MP for Abertillery 1965–1970^[38]

See also

• 1987 Cardiff City Council election
• 1987 in Northern Ireland

Notes and References

1. Web site: Lord Crickhowell obituary. 19 March 2018. The Guardian. Stephen Bates. 19 March 2020.
2. News: The Right Rev George Noakes: Archbishop of Wales, 1987-1991 . 22 July 2008. Times, The (London). 27 July 2008.
3. Web site: WJ Gruffydd: Writer who helped keep alive the Welsh tradition. 20 July 2011. The Independent. 11 May 2022.
4. Web site: Former Archdruid of Wales Emrys Roberts dies at 82. 1 April 2012. 30 March 2012 . BBC News.
5. R Brugge. Low daytime temperatures over England and Wales on 12 January 1987. Weather. 1987. 42. 5. 146–152. 10.1002/j.1477-8696.1987.tb06953.x. 1987Wthr...42..146B.
6. Book: David Pepin. Discovering Cathedrals. 1994. Shire Publications. 978-0-7478-0173-3. 169.
7. Book: Punch. January 1990. 124.
8. News: What a swell party this is ..And, by the way, we also elected a chancellor – The triumph of Roy Jenkins. The Times. 15 March 1987.
9. Web site: Girl, 16, dies after roller-coaster fall. https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220501/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/girl-16-dies-after-roller-coaster-fall-56276.html . 2022-05-01 . subscription . live. 16 April 2004. Chris Bunting. The Independent. 27 September 2019.
10. News: Michael Thomas . Tories lose city control, but council hung . South Wales Echo. 8 May 1987. 1–2.
11. Book: Wyke. Terry. Cocks. Harry. Public Sculpture of Greater Manchester. 2004. Liverpool University Press. 9780853235675. 457. 15 April 2015.
12. Book: Byron Criddle. The Almanac of British Politics. 19 August 2005. Routledge. 978-1-134-49381-4. 892.
13. Web site: File NLW ex 2596. - Ceremony of dedication : Mametz Wood memorial. National Library of Wales. 27 September 2019.
14. Book: Michael Levi. Fraud: Organization, Motivation, and Control. 1999. Ashgate. 978-1-85521-716-4. 389.
15. Report on the Collapse of Glanrhyd Bridge (1990), page 1
16. Book: Ivor Wynne Jones. Llandudno: Queen of the Welsh Resorts. 2008. Landmark Publishing. 978-1-84306-429-9. 130.
17. Web site: Chris Loyn . Building Dream Homes (BBC) . 19 April 2012 . 27 September 2019.
18. Book: Steve Holland. Sci-Fi Art: A Graphic History. 3 March 2009. HarperCollins. 978-0-06-168489-0. 71.
19. Book: Thomas Riggs. Contemporary Poets. 1996. St. James Press. 978-1-55862-191-6. 1.
20. Book: Anthony Emery. Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales, 1300-1500: Volume 2, East Anglia, Central England and Wales. 1996. Cambridge University Press. 978-0-521-58131-8. 699.
21. Book: Ceri Davies. Welsh Literature and the Classical Tradition. 1995. University of Wales Press. 978-0-7083-1321-3.
22. Book: Rhys Mwyn. Cam O'r Tywyllwch. Y Lolfa. 2012. 9781847715821. cy.
23. Web site: On The Black Hill (1987). BFI Screenonline. 13 August 2018.
24. News: BBC Wales Sport Personality winners . BBC Sport . 2 August 2021.
25. Web site: Historic day for England Women's Rugby. rfu.com. 5 April 2012. 6 January 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20130709212514/http://www.rfu.com/news/2012/april/newsarticles/040512_england_women_25_anniversary. 2013-07-09. dead.
26. Book: Barry J. . Hugman . The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2009–10 . 2009 . Mainstream Publishing . Edinburgh . 978-1-84596-474-0.
27. Web site: Aneurin Barnard. BBC Wales Arts. 17 December 2019.
28. Web site: Victoria Thornley. World Rowing. 17 December 2019.
29. Cadogan . J. I. G. . John Cadogan. Davies . D. I. . 10.1098/rsbm.1988.0011 . Donald Holroyde Hey. 12 September 1904-21 January 1987 . . 34 . 294–320 . 1988 . 770054. free .
30. Book: Who was who: A Companion to Who's Who, Containing the Biographies of Those who Died. 1981. A. & C. Black. 978-0-7136-3336-8. 776.
31. Web site: Jones, Evan David (1903-1987), librarian and archivist. Daniel Huws. Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. 27 September 2019.
32. 65645 . Aaron, Richard Ithamar (1901–1987) . Jones . O. R..
33. Web site: Evans, Alfred Thomas ('Fred' 'Menai') (1914—1987), Labour politician. John Graham Jones. Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. 27 September 2019.
34. Book: Outposts. 1994. Outposts Publications..
35. Chris Williams, ‘Rees, Dame Dorothy Mary (1898–1987)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2011 retrieved 10 January 2016
36. Book: Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror. 1987. Locus Press. 978-0-9616629-4-3.
37. News: Krebs . Albin . September 26, 1987 . Emlyn Williams, Welsh Actor and Writer, Dies . The New York Times . 2016-10-18 .
38. Web site: Williams, Albert Clifford (1905—1987), Labour politician. John Graham Jones. Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. 27 September 2019.