100 Welsh Heroes was an opinion poll run in Wales as a response to the BBC's 100 Greatest Britons poll of 2002. It was carried out mainly on the internet, starting on 8 September 2003 and finishing on 23 February 2004. The results were announced on 1 March (St David's Day) 2004 and subsequently published in a book. [1]
The poll was operated by Culturenet Cymru, a Welsh Assembly-funded body based at the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth. [2] At the time of the results being announced the organisers claimed that the 81,323 nominations and votes made it the largest online poll conducted in Wales.
Former Labour leader Neil Kinnock, himself named in the poll, [3] had, during the voting, drawn attention to a Welsh nationalist "plot" to have Owain Glyndŵr at number one, rather than the eventual winner, Aneurin Bevan. [4] In August 2004 a former employee of Culturenet Cymru alleged that the poll had been rigged to avoid accusations of "dumbing-down", and to ensure that Owain Glyndŵr did not receive more votes than Aneurin Bevan, although these claims were later dismissed by the Welsh Government. [5]
Only nine of the list of a hundred are female, of whom Catherine Zeta-Jones was the most popular, with 1136 votes.
The top 100 were: [6]
Owain ap Gruffydd, commonly known as Owain Glyndŵr or Glyn Dŵr, was a Welsh leader who led a fierce and long-running war of independence with the aim of ending English rule in Wales during the Late Middle Ages. He formed the first Welsh parliament, and he was the last native-born leader to unite Wales.
James (Jeremiah) Griffiths was a Welsh Labour Party politician, trade union leader and the first Secretary of State for Wales.
100 Greatest Britons is a television series that was broadcast by the BBC in 2002. It was based on a television poll conducted to determine who the British people at that time considered the greatest Britons in history. The series included individual programmes featuring the top ten, with viewers having further opportunity to vote after each programme. It concluded with a debate and final determination of the ranking of the top ten. Although many living people were included among the top 100, all of the top ten were deceased.
Welsh nationalism emphasises and celebrates the distinctiveness of Welsh language, culture, and history, and calls for more self-determination for Wales, which might include more devolved powers for the Senedd, or full independence from the United Kingdom.
This article is about the particular significance of the year 2003 to Wales and its people.
This article is about the particular significance of the year 2002 to Wales and its people.
This article is about the particular significance of the year 2006 to Wales and its people.
The Glyndŵr Award is made for an outstanding contribution to the arts in Wales. It is given by the Machynlleth Tabernacle Trust to pre-eminent figures in music, art and literature in rotation. The award takes its name after Owain Glyndŵr, crowned Prince of Wales at Machynlleth in 1404.
This article is about the particular significance of the year 1959 to Wales and its people.
Welsh independence is the political movement advocating for Wales to become a sovereign state, independent from the United Kingdom.
This article is about the particular significance of the decade 1890–1899 to Wales and its people.
This article is about the particular significance of the year 1897 to Wales and its people.
This article is about the particular significance of the decade 1870–1879 to Wales and its people.
The 1943 University of Wales by-election was a parliamentary by-election held in the United Kingdom between 25 and 29 January 1943 for the House of Commons constituency of University of Wales.
Ieuan is one of several Welsh forms of the male given name John.
YesCymru is a non party-political campaign for an independent Wales. The organisation was formed in the Summer of 2014 and officially launched on 20 February 2016 in Cardiff.
"Owain Glyndŵr's Court", also known as "Sycharth" or "The Court of Owain Glyndŵr at Sycharth", is a cywydd by the Welsh bard Iolo Goch. It describes and celebrates the hall and household of his patron, the nobleman Owain Glyndŵr, at Sycharth in Powys. It cannot be dated exactly, but was probably written about 1390, before Glyndŵr's revolt against the English crown. It survives in as many as 24 manuscripts.
