1998 in Wales

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1998 to Wales and its people.

← 1997 1996 1995 1994 1993 1998 in Wales → 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003
Centuries:	18th 19th 20th 21st
Decades:	1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s
See also:	List of years in Wales Timeline of Welsh history 1998 in The United Kingdom England Scotland Elsewhere

Incumbents

• Secretary of State for Wales
  • Ron Davies (until 27 October)^[1]
  • Alun Michael
• Archbishop of Wales – Alwyn Rice Jones, Bishop of St Asaph^[2]
• Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales – Dafydd Rowlands

Events

• 24 February – The Criminal Cases Review Commission overturns the murder charge of Mahmood Hussein Mattan, who was executed in 1952 for killing a Cardiff shopkeeper.^[3]
• February – Britain's first official register of historic landscapes is published by Cadw. It lists 36 landscapes in Wales of outstanding historic interest.
• 6 March – Flintshire Bridge is officially opened.^[4]
• 8–9 April – Torrential rain over eastern Wales results in widespread flooding.
• 13 April – Montgomeryshire MP Lembit Öpik is seriously injured in a paragliding accident in his constituency.^[5]
• May – Cistercian Way long-distance trail originates.
• June – The Arts Council of Wales publishes its consultation paper Building A Creative Society.
• 31 July – The Government of Wales Act 1998, that will establish a devolved Welsh Assembly, receives its Royal Assent.^[6]
• August – Ron Davies is appointed to the highest order of the Gorsedd of the Bards at the 1998 National Eisteddfod in Bridgend.
• 19 September – Ron Davies is elected in preference to Rhodri Morgan as Labour's candidate for First Secretary of the Assembly.^[7]
• 22–31 October – Heavy rainfall across Wales results in river levels rising to warning levels. Flood plains are inundated and there is extensive flooding of houses and other property.
• 27 October – Ron Davies resigns as Secretary of State for Wales after being mugged in an incident on Clapham Common, following what he described as an "error of judgment".^[1]
• 18 November – Jon Owen Jones, MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Wales, announces that the Environment Agency has been asked for a report on the October floods.
• November – Maenofferen slate quarry at Blaenau Ffestiniog ceases production.

Arts and literature

• Bryn Terfel gives a recital at Carnegie Hall.

Awards

• Glyndŵr Award – Iwan Bala
• National Eisteddfod of Wales (held in Bridgend)
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Chair – withheld^[8]
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Crown – Emyr Lewis, "Rhyddid"^[9]
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Prose Medal – Eurig Wyn, Blodyn Tatws
• Wales Book of the Year:
  • English language: Mike Jenkins – Wanting to Belong
  • Welsh language: Iwan Llwyd – Dan Ddylanwad
• Gwobr Goffa Daniel Owen – Geraint V. Jones, Semtecs

New books

English language

• Gillian Clarke – Five Fields
• James Hawes – Rancid Aluminium^[10]
• Rhys Hughes – Rawhead & Bloody Bones
• Mario Risoli – When Pele Broke our Hearts: Wales and the 1958 World Cup
• Sarah Waters – Tipping the Velvet

Welsh language

• Dafydd Huws – Dyddiadur Dyn Dŵad
• Huw Ethall – Pennar Davies: Y Dyn a'i Waith

Film

• Anthony Hopkins and Catherine Zeta-Jones star in The Mask of Zorro.

Welsh language films

• Bride of War, starring Huw Garmon (in Welsh, English, French, German and Polish).

Music

• Indie music band Terris are formed in Newport.
• Anweledig – Sombreros yn y Glaw
• Charlotte Church – Voice of an Angel
• Melys – Rumours and Curses
• Bonnie Tyler – All in One Voice

Broadcasting

Welsh-language television

• November – A new digital channel is launched, broadcasting in Welsh for twelve hours a day.^[11]

English-language television

Sport

• BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year – Iwan Thomas^[12]
• Commonwealth Games – September
  • Kelly Morgan wins the badminton women's singles;
  • Iwan Thomas wins the men's 400 metres;
  • Desmond Davies wins the men's individual skeet shooting;
  • Wales win a total of 15 medals, including the three golds.
• Snooker
  • 8 February – Mark Williams wins his first Masters title.^[13]

Births

• 12 March – Will Jones, rugby player
• 5 June – Dafydd Jones, footballer
• 18 December – Cameron Coxe, footballer
• 25 December – Will Griffiths, rugby player
• 29 December – Mark Harris, footballer

Deaths

• 3 January – Tony Duncan, golfer and cricketer, 83
• 18 February – Robbie James, footballer, 40 (collapsed and died during match)^[14]
• 1 April – Mary Wynne Warner, mathematician, 65^[15]
• 2 April – Dai Davies, trade unionist, 88
• 4 April – Käte Bosse-Griffiths, author, 87^[16]
• 14 April – Dorothy Squires, singer, 83^[17]
• 11 May – Vronwy Hankey (née Fisher), archaeologist, 81^[18]
• 13 May – Arthur Rees, Wales international rugby player and police Chief Constable, 85^[19]
• 17 May – Hugh Cudlipp, journalist, 84^[20]
• 5 July – James Eirian Davies, minister and poet, 80^[21]
• 23 July – R. Tudur Jones, theologian and politician, 77^[22]
• 28 July – Nancy Evans, table tennis player, 95
• 3 August (in Waipukurau, New Zealand) – Ronnie Boon, Wales rugby union player, 89
• 12 September – Horace Charles Jones, poet, 92
• 5 October – Megs Jenkins, actress, 81^[23]
• 31 October – Eddie Perry, footballer, 89
• 16 December – Kenyon Jones, rugby player, 87
• 16 December – Tommy Davies, boxer, 78
• 31 December – Alan Morris, footballer, 44

See also

• 1998 in Northern Ireland

References

1. David Pollard; Neil Parpworth; David Hughes (14 June 2007). Constitutional and Administrative Law: Text with Materials. OUP Oxford. p. 172. ISBN 978-0-19-928637-9.
2. Norman Doe (29 February 2020). A New History of the Church in Wales: Governance and Ministry, Theology and Society. Cambridge University Press. p. 113. ISBN 978-1-108-49957-6.
3. Roda P. Roberts (2000). The Critical Link 2: Interpreters in the Community : Selected Papers from the Second International Conference on Interpreting in Legal, Health, and Social Service Setting. John Benjamins Publishing. p. 246. ISBN 90-272-1636-3.
4. "Happy Birthday Flintshire Bridge – It was officially opened on March 6th 1998". deeside.com. 6 March 2018. Retrieved 4 February 2020.
5. Higgit, D. (27 August 2005). "The day my life changed". Western Standard. Archived from the original on 18 January 2008. Retrieved 2007-10-26.
6. Robert Hazell (2000). The State and the Nations: The First Year of Devolution in the United Kingdom. Imprint Academic. p. 2. ISBN 978-0-907845-80-5.
7. Colin Pilkington (2002). Devolution in Britain Today. Manchester University Press. p. 133. ISBN 978-0-7190-6076-2.
8. "Winners of the Chair". National Eisteddfod of Wales. 3 February 2020.
9. "Winners of the Crown". National Eisteddfod of Wales. 3 February 2020.
10. David Armstrong (4 November 2011). How Not to Write a Novel: Confessions of a Midlist Author. Allison & Busby. p. 101. ISBN 978-0-7490-1135-2.
11. Janet Davies (15 January 2014). The Welsh Language: A History. University of Wales Press. p. 125. ISBN 978-1-78316-129-4.
12. "BBC Wales Sport Personality winners". BBC Sport. Retrieved 2 August 2021.
13. "Snooker: Williams wins on respotted black". The Independent. 9 February 1998. Archived from the original on 2022-05-01. Retrieved 14 May 2019.
14. Ivan Ponting (21 February 1998). "Obituary: Robbie James". The Independent. Archived from the original on 2022-05-01. Retrieved 25 November 2010.
15. I. M. James and A. R. Pears, "Obituary: Mary Wynne Warner (1932–1998)" Bulletin of the London Mathematical Society 34(6)(December 2001): 745–752. DOI: 10.1112/S0024609302001467
16. Meic Stephens (10 April 1998). "Obituary: Kate Bosse-Griffiths". The Independent. Archived from the original on 2022-05-01. Retrieved 4 October 2019.
17. Bill Christine (25 October 2017). They Left Their Hearts in San Francisco: The Lives of Songwriters George Cory and Douglass Cross. McFarland. p. 183. ISBN 978-1-4766-6900-7.
18. Peter Warren (23 June 1998). "Vronwy Hankey". The Independent. Archived from the original on 2022-05-01.
19. Cole, Robert (21 May 1998). "Obituary: Arthur Rees". The Independent. Archived from the original on 2022-05-01. Retrieved 1 June 2011.
20. Dennis Griffiths (2006). Fleet Street: Five Hundred Years of the Press. British Library. p. 389. ISBN 978-0-7123-0697-3.
21. "Cofio Cawr – J. Eirian Davies". BBC De Orllewin (in Welsh). May 2004. Retrieved 25 June 2017.
22. D. Densil Morgan. "Jones, Robert Tudur (1921–1998), theologian, church historian and public figure". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 8 October 2019.
23. F. Maurice Speed; James Cameron-Wilson (1999). Film Review. W. H. Allen. ISBN 9781903111000.