1978 in Wales

← 1977 1976 1975 1974 1973 1978 in Wales → 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983
Centuries:	18th 19th 20th 21st
Decades:	1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s
See also:	List of years in Wales Timeline of Welsh history 1978 in The United Kingdom Scotland Elsewhere

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1978 to Wales and its people.

Incumbents

For United Kingdom incumbents, see 1978 in the United Kingdom § Incumbents.

• Secretary of State for Wales – John Morris ^[1]
• Archbishop of Wales – Gwilym Williams, Bishop of Bangor ^[2]
• Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales
  • Bryn (outgoing) ^[3]
  • Geraint (Bowen) (incoming) ^[2]

Events

• March - Moss Evans is elected leader of the Transport and General Workers Union. ^[4]
• March/April - Closure of the steelworks in Ebbw Vale and East Moors. ^[5]
• unknown dates
  • The Welsh Office is given responsibility for further and higher education in Wales.
  • The National Language Centre is established at Nant Gwrtheyrn in the Lleyn peninsula. ^[6]

Arts and literature

• Richard Burton records the narrative for the concept album Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds .
• Operatic contralto Helen Watts is appointed a CBE.
• Gregynog Press is reincarnated as "Gwasg Gregynog". ^[7]

Awards

• National Eisteddfod of Wales (held in Cardiff)
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Chair - withheld ^[8]
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Crown - Siôn Eirian ^[9]
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Prose Medal - Harri Williams

New books

English language

• Ruth Bidgood - The Print of Miracle ^[10]
• Ken Follett - Eye of the Needle
• James Hanley - A Kingdom
• Robert Minhinnick - A Thread in the Maze
• John Tripp - Collected Poems
• Gwyn A. Williams - The Merthyr Rising ^[11]

Welsh language

• Marion Eames - I Hela Cnau ^[12]
• Gwyn Thomas - Croesi Traeth
• T. Arfon Williams - Englynion Arfon

Music

• Dave Edmunds - Tracks on Wax 4
• Geraint Jarman - Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau

Film

• Kenneth Griffith appears with Richard Burton in The Wild Geese .

Broadcasting

Welsh-language television

• Shane becomes the first film to be dubbed into the Welsh language for television. ^[13]

English-language television

• 17 March - BBC Wales comedy film Grand Slam stars Hugh Griffith and Windsor Davies. ^[14]
• BBC Wales drama serial Hawkmoor, based on the life of Twm Siôn Cati, stars John Ogwen and Jane Asher.
• Elaine Morgan's adaptation of Off to Philadelphia in the Morning , the novel by Jack Jones, stars David Lyn as Joseph Parry and Connie Booth as his wife, Jane. Meredith Edwards, Rachel Thomas and William Squire also appear.

English-language radio

• 13 November - BBC Radio Wales is launched, ^[15] following the demise of the 'Radio 4 Wales' service (previously the Welsh Home Service). The first show is AM, presented by Anita Morgan.

Sport

• BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year – Johnny Owen ^[16]
• Boxing – Johnny Owen wins the Commonwealth bantamweight title.
• Darts – Leighton Rees wins the World Professional Darts Championship.
• Rugby union – Wales win their eighth Grand Slam.
• Snooker
  • 29 April – Ray Reardon wins the World Championship for the sixth time. ^[17]
  • 1 December – Doug Mountjoy wins the UK Snooker Championship in Preston. ^[18]

Births

• 21 January - Rachael Bland, née Hodges, broadcast journalist (died 2018) ^[19]
• 1 February - David Hughes, footballer
• 12 February - Gethin Jones, television presenter
• 26 July - Eve Myles, actress
• 2 September - Matthew Watkins, rugby union player (died 2020)
• 17 November - Tom Ellis, actor
• 25 December - Simon Jones, cricketer
• date unknown
  • David Llewellyn, fiction writer
  • Rachel Trezise, fiction writer

Deaths

• 6 January - Ted Jones, trade union leader, 81 ^[20]
• 11 January - William John Edwards, Cerdd Dant singer, 79
• 17 February - Joseph Owen, cricketer, 69 ^[21]
• 20 February - Tom Jones, footballer, 88 ^[22]
• 23 February - Arwyn Davies, Baron Arwyn, politician, 80 ^[23]
• 24 February - David Williams, historian, 78 ^[24]
• 2 March - Frances Williams, composer, ^[25]
• 6 March - David Price-White, lawyer and politician, 71 ^[26]
• 4 April - Sir Morien Morgan, aeronautics engineer, 65 ^[27]
• 9 April - Sir Clough Williams-Ellis, architect, 94 ^[28]
• 13 April - William Rees-Thomas, psychiatrist, 90 ^[29]
• 14 April - Thomas Hollingdale, Wales rugby union international, 77
• 16 April - Eddie Morgan, Wales international rugby player, 64
• 25 April - Harry Griffiths, footballer and manager, 47
• 18 May - Selwyn Lloyd, politician, 73 ^[30]
• 2 July - Philip Scott Yorke, last Squire of Erddig, 73
• 21 August - Rhys Davies, 76, novelist and short story writer ^[31]
• 25 August - Tyssul Griffiths, rugby player, 59
• 4 September – Leonora Cohen, suffragette, trade unionist and feminist, 105
• 12 September - Bobby Delahay, Wales rugby union captain, 78
• 13 November - W. S. Gwynn Williams, composer, 82 ^[32]
• 23 November - Edward Jones, 82, cricketer ^[33]
• 16 December - Harry Phillips, Wales international rugby player, 75

See also

• 1978 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. NA NA (25 December 2015). The Macmillan Guide to the United Kingdom 1978-79. Springer. p. 875. ISBN   978-1-349-81511-1.
3. Meic Stephens (April 1986). The Oxford companion to the literature of Wales . Oxford University Press. p.  220.
4. "Moss Evans". The Telegraph. 14 January 2002. Retrieved 2 October 2024.
5. Sander Meredeen (1 August 1988). Managing industrial conflict: seven major disputes. Hutchinson. ISBN   978-0-09-173226-4.
6. Mari C. Jones (1998). Language Obsolescence and Revitalization: Linguistic Change in Two Sociolinguistically Contrasting Welsh Communities. Clarendon Press. p. 19. ISBN   978-0-19-823711-2.
7. Printing History. American Printing History Association. 1987.
8. "Winners of the Chair". National Eisteddfod of Wales. 3 October 2019.^{[ permanent dead link ]}
9. David Ben Rees (1981). Wales: The Cultural Heritage. G.W. & A. Hesketh. p. 54. ISBN   978-0-905777-16-0.
10. Matthew Jarvis (2008). Welsh Environments in Contemporary Poetry: Writing Wales in English. University of Wales Press. p. 60. ISBN   978-0-7083-2152-2.
11. David Howell (1984). British Workers and the Independent Labour Party, 1888-1906. Manchester University Press. p. 446. ISBN   978-0-7190-1791-9.
12. Katie Gramich (2007). Twentieth-century Women's Writing in Wales: Land, Gender, Belonging. University of Wales Press. p. 163. ISBN   978-0-7083-2086-0.
13. The Economist. Economist Newspaper Limited. 1978. p. 30.
14. Steven Blandford (2000). Wales on Screen. Seren. ISBN   978-1-85411-248-4.
15. Aldridge, Meryl (1 April 2007). Understanding The Local Media. McGraw-Hill Education (UK). p. 135. ISBN   978-0-335-22172-1.
16. "BBC Wales Sport Personality winners". BBC Sport. Retrieved 2 August 2021.
17. "Welsh Open Snooker trophy named after legend Ray Reardon". BBC Sport. 28 September 2016. Retrieved 16 May 2019.
18. "Profile: Doug Mountjoy". Eurosport. 3 December 2009. Retrieved 16 May 2019.
19. "Rachael Bland obituary". The Guardian. 7 September 2018. Retrieved 31 December 2018.
20. Keith Gildart, "Jones, Edward ('Ted')", Dictionary of Labour Biography, vol.XIV, pp.188–199
21. Joseph Owen at CricketArchive
22. "Thomas Jones". mufcinfo.com. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
23. Who was who. A. & C. Black. 1971. p. 28. ISBN   9780312877460.
24. "Williams, David". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/63676.(Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
25. Charles Eugene Claghorn (1 January 1996). Women Composers and Songwriters: A Concise Biographical Dictionary . Scarecrow Press. pp.  236-7. ISBN   978-0-8108-3130-8.
26. John Graham Jones. "Price-White, David Archibald Price (1906-1978), Conservative politician". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 3 March 2020.
27. Canadian Aeronautics and Space Journal. Canadian Aeronautics and Space Institute. 1978.
28. Richard Haslam; Clough Williams-Ellis (1996). Clough Williams-Ellis. Academy Editions. ISBN   978-1-85490-430-0.
29. REES-THOMAS, William’, Who Was Who, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 1920–2008; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2007 accessed 28 Dec 2012
30. Bassil A. Mardelli (April 2010). Middle East Perspectives: Personal Recollections (1947 - 1967). iUniverse. p. 197. ISBN   978-1-4502-1116-1.
31. Huw Osborne (1 July 2009). Rhys Davies. University of Wales Press. p. 131. ISBN   978-0-7083-2242-0.
32. Rhidian Griffiths. "Williams, William Sidney Gwynn (1896-1978), musician and administrator". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 13 October 2019.
33. Hignell, Dr. A.K. (December 2003). "Brief profile of Edward Jones" . Retrieved 23 September 2011.