1979 in Wales

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1979 to Wales and its people.

← 1978 1977 1976 1975 1974 1979 in Wales → 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984
Centuries:	18th 19th 20th 21st
Decades:	1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s
See also:	List of years in Wales Timeline of Welsh history 1979 in The United Kingdom England Scotland Elsewhere

Incumbents

For United Kingdom incumbents, see 1979 in the United Kingdom § Incumbents.

• Secretary of State for Wales – John Morris (until 5 May);^[1] Nicholas Edwards^[2]
• Archbishop of Wales – Gwilym Williams, Bishop of Bangor^[3]
• Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales – Geraint^[3]

Events

• 1 March - The devolution referendum rejects the Wales Act 1978 (which would have established a Welsh Assembly) by four to one. The Parliamentary Select Committee on Welsh Affairs is subsequently established.^[4]
• 18 May - Annie Powell of Rhondda becomes Britain's first Communist mayor.^[5]
• 7 June - In the elections for the European Parliament, Ann Clwyd and Win Griffiths are among the newly elected MEPs. Plaid Cymru win 11.7% of the vote in Wales but win no seats.European Integration and the Nationalities Question. United Kingdom: Taylor & Francis, 2006.
• 8 June - A Cessna aircraft crashes into a mountain in Snowdonia, killing all six occupants.^[6]
• 14 August - A rainbow which stretches from the Gwynedd coast to Clwyd persists for over 3 hours, a world record which stands for more than 15 years.^[7]
• 12 December - Four holiday homes in rural Wales are the target of arson attacks by Welsh Nationalist political activists.

Arts and literature

Awards

• Michael Bogdanov is named "Director of the Year" for the Royal Shakespeare Company production of The Taming of the Shrew.^[8]
• National Eisteddfod of Wales (held in Caernarfon)
  • National Eisteddfod of Wales: Chair - withheld
  • National Eisteddfod of Wales: Crown - Meirion Evans
  • National Eisteddfod of Wales: Prose Medal - Robyn Lewis

New books

English language

• Gillian Clarke - The Sundial
• Wendy Davies - The Llandaff Charters
• Christopher Evans - The Mighty Micro^[9]
• Emyr Humphreys - The Best of Friends^[10]
• Sian James - A Small Country.^[11]
• Tristan Jones - The Incredible Voyage
• Anna Kashfi - Brando for Breakfast
• Leslie Norris - Sliding^[12]
• Gwyn Alf Williams - The Merthyr Rising
• Raymond Williams - The Fight for Manod

Welsh language

• Pennar Davies - Mabinogi Mwys^[13]
• Marion Eames - I Hela Cnau
• Dic Jones - Storom Awst
• John Rowlands - Tician, Tician

Music

• Dave Edmunds - Repeat When Necessary (album)
• Bonnie Tyler - Diamond Cut (album)

Film

• Rachel Roberts wins the BAFTA award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Yanks.
• Emlyn Williams' play, The Corn is Green, is filmed for the second time, starring Katharine Hepburn.
• A full-scale model of the fictional starship Millennium Falcon is constructed by Marcon Fabrications in the Western Sunderland Flying Boat hangar at Pembroke Dock for the film The Empire Strikes Back (1980).^[14]

Broadcasting

• BBC Radio Cymru is launched.
• New Home Secretary William Whitelaw rejects the idea of a Welsh fourth channel on behalf of the Conservative government.

English-language television

• Colin Jeavons stars in Dennis Potter's classic play, Blue Remembered Hills.^[15]

Sport

• BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year – Terry Griffiths^[16]
• Boxing - Pat Thomas wins the British Light-middleweight title
• Rugby union - Wales win the Five Nations Championship and take the Triple Crown.
• Snooker - Terry Griffiths wins the World Championship in his first year as a professional.^[17]

Births

• January – Emma Wools, Police and Crime Commissioner for South Wales^[18]
• 4 February – Mike Williams, journalist
• 15 February – Josh Low, footballer
• 21 February – Laura Anne Jones MS, politician
• 26 February – Steve Evans, footballer
• 15 April - Luke Evans, actor
• 17 May – Michaela Breeze, weightlifting champion^[19]
• 3 June – Christian Malcolm, athlete^[20]
• 20 June – Gareth Bowen, rugby union player^[21]
• 12 July – Danny Williams, footballer
• 13 July – Craig Bellamy, footballer
• 1 August - Honeysuckle Weeks, actress
• 8 August – Danny Gabbidon, footballer
• 12 September – Chris Hughes, football manager^[22]
• 18 September – Rhys Thomas, TV director and producer
• 16 October – Jonathan Edwards, poet
• unknown date – Mark Bowden, composer^[23]

Deaths

• January – Dilys Cadwaladr, poet, 76
• 7 February – Charles Tunnicliffe, painter on Anglesey, 77^[24]
• 13 February – Eric Newton Griffith-Jones, Welsh-descended lawyer, 65^[25]
• 13 March – Tudor Owen, actor, 81^[26]
• 15 April (in Surrey) – Eiluned Lewis, novelist, 78^[27]
• 14 May – Jean Rhys, novelist, 88
• 9 June – John Morris, Baron Morris of Borth-y-Gest, judge, 82
• 16 July – Harold Finch, politician, 81^[28]
• 30 August – C. E. Wynn-Williams, physicist, 76
• 2 September – Ewan Davies, rugby player, 92^[29]
• 10 October (in Teddington) – Christopher Evans, computer scientist, 48^[30]
• 12 October – Jackie Williams, footballer, 76
• November – Ursula Williams, politician, 83^[31]
• 12 December – Goronwy Rees, writer, 70?^[32]
• 20 December – Leslie Gilbert Illingworth, political cartoonist, 77^[33]
• 21 December – Nansi Richards, harpist, 91^[34]
• 29 December – Richard Tecwyn Williams, biochemist, 70^[35]
• date unknown
  • Hugh Bevan, academic
  • Dilys Davies, actress
  • Trebor Lloyd Evans, writer^[36]
  • Jennie Thomas, children's author
• probable – William Evans, rugby player, about 88

See also

• 1979 in Northern Ireland

References

1. Pryde, E. B.; Greenway, D. E.; Porter, S.; Roy, I. (1996-02-23). Handbook of British Chronology. Cambridge University Press. p. 157. ISBN 978-0-521-56350-5.
2. "Lord Crickhowell obituary". The Guardian. 19 March 2018. Retrieved 20 March 2018.
3. NA NA (25 December 2015). The Macmillan Guide to the United Kingdom 1978-79. Springer. p. 875. ISBN 978-1-349-81511-1.
4. Governing the UK in the 1990s. Macmillan International Higher Education. 20 March 1995. pp. 214. ISBN 978-1-349-23899-6.
5. Milorad M. Drachkovitch; Lewis H. Gann (1980). Yearbook on International Communist Affairs. Hoover Institution Press. p. 160.
6. John McGarry, ed. (2006). European Integration and the Nationalities Question. Taylor & Francis. p. 1943. ISBN 9781134145492.
7. Waddington, Marc (2020-08-14). "On this day in 1979 North Wales set an unusual world record". North Wales Live. Retrieved 2023-08-14.
8. RSA Journal, volume 142. Royal Society of Arts. 1994. p. 57.
9. B. Jack Copeland; Jonathan Bowen; Mark Sprevak; Robin Wilson (2017). The Turing Guide. Oxford University Press. p. 464. ISBN 9780198747826.
10. "The Best of Friends". University of Wales Press. Retrieved 26 January 2025.
11. Mary Eagleton; Emma Parker (29 April 2016). The History of British Women's Writing, 1970-Present: Volume Ten. Springer. pp. 151–. ISBN 978-1-137-29481-4.
12. 1979 Britannica Book of the Year. Encyclopaedia Britannica. 1979. p. 503. ISBN 9780852293621.
13. Studia Celtica. University of Wales Press. 1983.
14. Parry, Nick (2005-05-18). "Town's secret Star Wars history". BBC News. Retrieved 2022-05-23.
15. W. Stephen Gilbert (1 January 2002). The Life and Work of Dennis Potter. The Overlook Press. p. 321. ISBN 978-1-4683-0561-6.
16. "BBC Wales Sport Personality winners". BBC Sport. Retrieved 2 August 2021.
17. "Profile: Terry Griffiths". Eurosport. 3 February 2010. Retrieved 16 May 2019.
18. "Emma Clare WOOLS". gov.uk. Retrieved 6 May 2024.
19. "Michaela Breeze". Beijing 2008 results. Archived from the original on 2008-09-09. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
20. "Christian Malcolm". World Athletics. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
21. "Gareth Bowen". Newport RFC. Retrieved 26 January 2025.
22. "Chris Hughes". TNT Sports. Retrieved 16 May 2024.
23. "Short biography". Mark Bowden official website. Retrieved 26 January 2025.
24. Birds. Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. 1980.
25. Graya: A Magazine for Members of Gray's Inn, Issue 73, Gray's Inn, 1979
26. Scott Wilson (17 August 2016). Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons, 3d ed. McFarland. p. 569. ISBN 978-0-7864-7992-4.
27. Who was who. A. & C. Black. 1971. p. 467.
28. John Graham Jones. "Finch, Harold Josiah (1898-1979), Labour politician". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
29. scrum.com profile
30. The Skeptical Inquirer. Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal. 1979. p. 11.
31. "Deaths." Times [London, England] 5 Dec. 1979: 28. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 14 Feb. 2014.
32. "Goronwy Rees (1909-1979)". From Warfare to Welfare. Archived from the original on 21 February 2015. Retrieved 20 February 2015.
33. Davies, John; Jenkins, Nigel; Menna, Baines; Lynch, Peredur I., eds. (2008). The Welsh Academy Encyclopaedia of Wales. Cardiff: University of Wales Press. p. 390. ISBN 978-0-7083-1953-6.
34. Evans, Nia Gwyn (2016). "Jones, Nansi Richards ('Telynores Maldwyn ') (1888-1979), harpist". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 1 August 2018.
35. "Williams, (Richard) Tecwyn". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/31837. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
36. Robert Tudur Jones (2004). Congregationalism in Wales. University of Wales Press. ISBN 978-0-7083-1887-4.