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 1978 in The United Kingdom Scotland

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

Incumbents

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

Events

• March/April - Closure of the steelworks in Ebbw Vale and East Moors. ^[3]
• 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. ^[4]

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". ^[5]

Awards

• National Eisteddfod of Wales (held in Cardiff)
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Chair - withheld ^[6]
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Crown - Siôn Eirian ^[7]
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Prose Medal - Harri Williams

New books

English language

• Ruth Bidgood - The Print of Miracle ^[8]
• 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 ^[9]

Welsh language

• Marion Eames - I Hela Cnau ^[10]
• 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. ^[11]

English-language television

• 17 March - BBC Wales comedy film Grand Slam stars Hugh Griffith and Windsor Davies. ^[12]
• 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, ^[13] 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 ^[14]
• 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. ^[15]
  • 1 December – Doug Mountjoy wins the UK Snooker Championship in Preston. ^[16]

Births

• 21 January - Rachael Bland, née Hodges, broadcast journalist (died 2018) ^[17]
• 1 February - David Hughes, footballer
• 12 February - Gethin Jones, television presenter
• 17 May - Joanna Page, actress
• 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 ^[18]
• 11 January - William John Edwards, Cerdd Dant singer, 79
• 17 February - Joseph Owen, cricketer, 69 ^[19]
• 20 February - Tom Jones, footballer, 88 ^[20]
• 23 February - Arwyn Davies, Baron Arwyn, politician, 80 ^[21]
• 24 February - David Williams, historian, 78 ^[22]
• 2 March - Frances Williams, composer, ^[23]
• 6 March - David Price-White, lawyer and politician, 71 ^[24]
• 4 April - Sir Morien Morgan, aeronautics engineer, 65 ^[25]
• 9 April - Sir Clough Williams-Ellis, architect, 94 ^[26]
• 13 April - William Rees-Thomas, psychiatrist, 90 ^[27]
• 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 ^[28]
• 2 July - Philip Scott Yorke, last Squire of Erddig, 73
• 21 August - Rhys Davies, 76, novelist and short story writer ^[29]
• 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 ^[30]
• 23 November - Edward Jones, 82, cricketer ^[31]
• 16 December - Harry Phillips, Wales international rugby player, 75

See also

• 1978 in Northern Ireland

References

1. NA NA (25 December 2015). The Macmillan Guide to the United Kingdom 1978-79. Springer. p. 875. ISBN   978-1-349-81511-1.
2. Meic Stephens (April 1986). The Oxford companion to the literature of Wales . Oxford University Press. p.  220.
3. Sander Meredeen (1 August 1988). Managing industrial conflict: seven major disputes. Hutchinson. ISBN   978-0-09-173226-4.
4. 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.
5. Printing History. American Printing History Association. 1987.
6. "Winners of the Chair". National Eisteddfod of Wales. 3 October 2019.^{[ permanent dead link ]}
7. David Ben Rees (1981). Wales: The Cultural Heritage. G.W. & A. Hesketh. p. 54. ISBN   978-0-905777-16-0.
8. Matthew Jarvis (2008). Welsh Environments in Contemporary Poetry: Writing Wales in English. University of Wales Press. p. 60. ISBN   978-0-7083-2152-2.
9. David Howell (1984). British Workers and the Independent Labour Party, 1888-1906. Manchester University Press. p. 446. ISBN   978-0-7190-1791-9.
10. 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.
11. The Economist. Economist Newspaper Limited. 1978. p. 30.
12. Steven Blandford (2000). Wales on Screen. Seren. ISBN   978-1-85411-248-4.
13. Aldridge, Meryl (1 April 2007). Understanding The Local Media. McGraw-Hill Education (UK). p. 135. ISBN   978-0-335-22172-1.
14. "BBC Wales Sport Personality winners". BBC Sport. Retrieved 2 August 2021.
15. "Welsh Open Snooker trophy named after legend Ray Reardon". BBC Sport. 28 September 2016. Retrieved 16 May 2019.
16. "Profile: Doug Mountjoy". Eurosport. 3 December 2009. Retrieved 16 May 2019.
17. "Rachael Bland obituary". The Guardian. 7 September 2018. Retrieved 31 December 2018.
18. Keith Gildart, "Jones, Edward ('Ted')", Dictionary of Labour Biography, vol.XIV, pp.188–199
19. Joseph Owen at CricketArchive
20. "Thomas Jones". mufcinfo.com. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
21. Who was who. A. & C. Black. 1971. p. 28. ISBN   9780312877460.
22. "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.)
23. 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.
24. John Graham Jones. "Price-White, David Archibald Price (1906-1978), Conservative politician". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 3 March 2020.
25. Canadian Aeronautics and Space Journal. Canadian Aeronautics and Space Institute. 1978.
26. Richard Haslam; Clough Williams-Ellis (1996). Clough Williams-Ellis. Academy Editions. ISBN   978-1-85490-430-0.
27. 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
28. Bassil A. Mardelli (April 2010). Middle East Perspectives: Personal Recollections (1947 - 1967). iUniverse. p. 197. ISBN   978-1-4502-1116-1.
29. Huw Osborne (1 July 2009). Rhys Davies. University of Wales Press. p. 131. ISBN   978-0-7083-2242-0.
30. Rhidian Griffiths. "Williams, William Sidney Gwynn (1896-1978), musician and administrator". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 13 October 2019.
31. Hignell, Dr. A.K. (December 2003). "Brief profile of Edward Jones" . Retrieved 23 September 2011.