1996 in Wales explained

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1996 to Wales and its people.

Incumbents

• Secretary of State for Wales – William Hague
• Archbishop of Wales – Alwyn Rice Jones, Bishop of St Asaph
• Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales
  • John Gwilym Jones (outgoing)
  • Dafydd Rowlands (incoming)

Events

• 1 January - Michael German is awarded the OBE for his public and political service.
• 15 February - The Sea Empress, an oil tanker, runs aground off Milford Haven, causing devastation to the west Wales coastline.^[1]
• 1 April - The Local Government (Wales) Act 1994 comes into force, creating 22 unitary authorities.^[2]
• 3 April - The first EuroHowl is held in Aberystwyth, Wales.
• 29 June - The Prince's Trust concert in Hyde Park, London is attended by 150,000 people.^[3]
• 18 July - Howard Hughes is sentenced to life imprisonment at Chester Crown Court for the rape and murder of 7-year-old Sophie Hook at Llandudno 12 months previously. The trial judge recommends that Hughes, 31, should never be released.^[4]
• 28 August - The Prince and Princess of Wales, are formally divorced at the High Court of Justice in London, the first time in history that a Prince of Wales has successfully gone through a divorce. By negotiation, Her Royal Highness The Princess of Wales is restyled, Diana, Princess of Wales.
• November - The Owain Glyndŵr Society is founded.
• date unknown
  • The Church in Wales ordains its first women priests.
  • South Wales Constabulary changes its name to South Wales Police.

Arts and literature

• Sir Anthony Hopkins opens the Cliff Tucker Theatre at the University of Wales, Lampeter.
• Alice Thomas Ellis is dismissed as a columnist on the Catholic Herald newspaper because of her attack on the reputation of the late Archbishop Derek Worlock.
• Steve Balsamo stars in a West End revival of Jesus Christ Superstar.

Awards

• Glyndŵr Award - Jan Morris
• National Eisteddfod of Wales (held in Ffairfach, near Llandeilo)
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Chair - R. O. Williams^[5]
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Crown - David John Pritchard^[6]
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Prose Medal - withheld
• Wales Book of the Year

• • English language: Nigel Jenkins, Gwalia in Khasia
  • Welsh language

• Gwobr Goffa Daniel Owen - Eirug Wyn, Smoc Gron Bach

New books

• Ron Berry - This Bygone
• Ruth Bidgood - The Fluent Moment
• Gillian Clarke - The Whispering Room
• Keith Kissack - The Lordship, Parish and Borough of Monmouth
• Howard Marks - Mr Nice
• Kenneth Morris - The Dragon Path
• Tim Rishton - Norwegian: Liturgisk orgelspill

Film

• Prince Valiant filmed at Gwrych Castle.

Welsh-language films

Music

• John Cale - Walking on Locusts
• Peter Maxwell Davies - The Doctor of Myddfai (opera)
• Gillian Elisa - Rhywbeth yn y Glas.
• Karl Jenkins - Diamond Music
• Donna Lewis - Now in a Minute
• Super Furry Animals - Fuzzy Logic.

Broadcasting

• The Broadcasting Act 1996 changes the funding formula for S4C.

Welsh-language television

• Heno (Welsh-language news programme, broadcast until 2001 and returned in 2012).

English-language television

• Barry Welsh is Coming
• In the Blood, presented by Steve Jones

Sport

• BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year – Ryan Giggs^[7]
• Football
  • The Welsh Football Trust is founded.
  • Llansantffraid F.C. win the Welsh Cup and are offered sponsorship by Total Network Solutions.
• Snooker
  • Mark Williams wins the Welsh Open tournament in Cardiff.^[8]

Births

• 25 February - Laura Halford, rhythmic gymnast
• 25 April - Kizzy Crawford, Bajan-Welsh folk-pop crossover singer-songwriter
• 17 May - Seb Davies, rugby player
• 25 July - Jarrod Evans, rugby player
• 1 August - Gemma Evans, footballer
• 14 September - Shaun Evans, rugby player
• 2 October - Keston Davies, footballer
• 28 November - Owen Evans, footballer

Deaths

• 16 January - Dai Ward, footballer, 61
• 7 March - Aled Eames, historian, 74^[9]
• 11 March - Sir Granville Beynon, physicist, 81^[10]
• 14 March - Dewi Bebb, Wales rugby union player, 57^[11]
• 16 March - Harry Peacock, Wales rugby union player, 87
• 14 April - Mervyn Levy, artist and critic, 81^[12]
• 7 May - Taffy Williams, soldier, 62
• 27 July - Billy Rees, footballer, 72
• 29 August - Dillwyn Thomas, cricketer, 91
• 5 September - Clem Thomas, rugby player, 67
• 24 September - I. E. S. Edwards, Egyptologist, 87
• 26 October - Huw Owen, theologian and academic, 69^[13]
• 10 November - Dafydd Orwig, politician and academic, 68^[14]
• 9 December
  • Diana Morgan, playwright and screenwriter, 86
  • Ivor Roberts-Jones, sculptor, 83^[15]
• 29 December - Pennar Davies, poet and theologian, 85
• date unknown
  • Thomas Nathaniel Davies, artist and teacher^[16]
  • Thomas David Frank Evans, WWII prisoner-of-war
  • Harry Hanford, footballer, 88
  • Thyrza Anne Leyshon, painter, 103

See also

• 1996 in Northern Ireland

Notes and References

1. Web site: In detail: The Sea Empress disaster. BBC News. 15 April 2019.
2. Book: Neil Hawke. Introduction to Administrative Law. 17 October 2013. Routledge. 978-1-135-35177-9. 41.
3. Book: Geoffrey Giuliano. Behind Blue Eyes: The Life of Pete Townshend. 2002. Rowman & Littlefield. 978-0-8154-1070-6. 311.
4. News: Life for child murderer. Financial Times. London. 19 July 1996. 1. .
5. http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/eisteddfod/2011/sites/guide/history/pages/past_chair.shtml BBC - Eisteddfod Chair Winners
6. http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/eisteddfod/2011/sites/guide/history/pages/past_crown.shtml BBC - Eisteddfod Crown Winners
7. Web site: BBC Wales Sport Personality winners . BBC Sport . 2 August 2021.
8. Web site: Regal Welsh. 21 April 2012. snooker.org.
9. Web site: Obituary:Aled Eames. https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220501/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/obituary-aled-eames-1342090.html . 2022-05-01 . subscription. 15 March 1996. Basil Greenhill. The Independent. 11 August 2019. Basil Greenhill.
10. Web site: Obituary:Professor Sir Granville Beynon. https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220501/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/obituary-professor-sir-granville-beynon-1342292.html . 2022-05-01 . subscription. 16 March 1996. John Meurig Thomas. The Independent. 11 August 2019. John Meurig Thomas.
11. Web site: Obituary:Dewi Bebb. https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220501/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/obituary-dewi-bebb-1342091.html . 2022-05-01 . subscription . live. 15 March 1996. Robert Cole. The Independent. 11 August 2019.
12. Web site: Obituary:Mervyn Levy. https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220501/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/obituary-mervyn-levy-1347766.html . 2022-05-01 . subscription . live. 17 May 1996. Ceri Levy. The Independent. 11 August 2019.
13. Web site: Knibb . Michael . 2 December 1996 . Obituary: The Rev Professor Huw Parri Owen . 5 March 2009 . . findarticles.com.
14. Web site: Obituary:Dafydd Orwig. https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220501/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-dafydd-orwig-1353445.html . 2022-05-01 . subscription. 21 November 1996. D. Ben Rees. The Independent. 11 August 2019. D. Ben Rees.
15. Book: Who was who. 1996. St. Martin's Press. 978-0-312-29366-6. 307.
16. Book: Philip Vann. Face to Face: British Self-portraits in the Twentieth Century. 2004. Sansom. 143.