All Things Betray Thee

Last updated

All Things Betray Thee
AllThingsBetrayThee.jpg
First edition
AuthorGwyn Thomas
Cover artist'Nichols'
LanguageEnglish
GenreHistorical novel
Publisher Michael Joseph
Publication date
1949
Media typePrint (book)
ISBN 9781908069733
OCLC 16529102

All Things Betray Thee, by Gwyn Thomas, is a novel of early industrialism in South Wales. It was first published in 1949, and was republished in 1986, with an introduction by Raymond Williams. [1] The book was later republished as part of the Library of Wales series by Parthian Books in 2011. [2] [3]

Contents

Set in 1835, this work is significantly different from most of Gwyn Thomas's work. It is both a personal story and an account of the origin of the industrialised and mostly English-speaking society of the South Wales Valleys.

Plot summary

Set in the new town of Moonlea, a fictionalised version of Merthyr Tydfil, it is told from the viewpoint of a travelling harpist, Alan Hugh Leigh, who is looking for his friend, the singer John Simon Adams. But his friend has become a populist leader among the ironworkers, who are involved in a bitter industrial conflict.

Rachel Trezise describes it as "an emblematic account of the 1831 Merthyr Rising". [4]

Adaptation

All Things Betray Thee was adapted as a three-part radio drama by Alan Plater and directed by Alison Hindell, with Ian Hughes as Alan Hugh Leigh and Patrick Brennan as John Simon Adams. The drama was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on 24 March - 7 April 1996 and later re-broadcast on BBC Radio 4 Extra in 2019 and 2021. [5]

Related Research Articles

<i>Lost Horizon</i> 1933 novel by English writer James Hilton

Lost Horizon is a 1933 novel by English writer James Hilton. The book was turned into a film, also called Lost Horizon, in 1937 by director Frank Capra and a lavish musical remake in 1973 by producer Ross Hunter with music by Burt Bacharach. It is best remembered as the origin of Shangri-La, a fictional utopian lamasery located high in the mountains of Tibet.

<i>The News Quiz</i> British topical radio panel show

The News Quiz is a British topical panel game broadcast on BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in 1977. The show, created by John Lloyd from an idea by Nicholas Parsons, has seen several hosts, including Barry Norman, Barry Took, Simon Hoggart, Sandi Toksvig, and Miles Jupp. Andy Zaltzman was announced as the permanent host after series 103. The show involves four panellists, often comedians or journalists, who answer questions about events of the previous week, often leading to humorous and satirical exchanges. The show was adapted for television in 1981 and has also inspired other shows.

Rebecca Louise Front is an English actress, writer and comedian. She won the 2010 BAFTA TV Award for Best Female Comedy Performance for The Thick of It (2009–2012). She is also known for her work in numerous other British comedies, including the radio show On The Hour (1992), The Day Today (1994), Knowing Me, Knowing You… with Alan Partridge (1994), Time Gentlemen Please (2000–2002), sketch show Big Train (2002), and Nighty Night (2004–2005).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mass media in the United Kingdom</span> Overview of mass media in the United Kingdom

There are several different types of mass media in the United Kingdom: television, radio, newspapers, magazines and websites. The United Kingdom is known for its large music industry, along with its new and upcoming artists. The country also has a large broadcasting, film, video games and book publishing industries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wynford Vaughan-Thomas</span> Welsh journalist

Lewis John Wynford Vaughan-Thomas was a Welsh newspaper journalist and radio and television broadcaster. In later life he took the name Vaughan-Thomas after his father.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gwyn Thomas (novelist)</span>

Gwyn Thomas was a Welsh writer, dramatist, Punch-columnist, radio broadcaster and raconteur, who has been called "the true voice of the English-speaking valleys".

Richard Lewis, known as Dic Penderyn, was a Welsh labourer and coal miner who lived in Merthyr Tydfil and was involved with the Merthyr Rising of 3 June 1831. In the course of the riot he was arrested alongside Lewis Lewis, one of the primary figures in the uprising, and charged with stabbing a soldier with a bayonet. The people of Merthyr Tydfil doubted his guilt, and signed a petition for his release. However, he was found guilty and hanged on 13 August 1831. After his death he was treated as a martyr in Merthyr and across Wales.

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

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1970 to Wales and its people.

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1954 to Wales and its people.

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1949 to Wales and its people.

Seren Books is the trading name of Poetry Wales Press, an independent publisher based in Bridgend, Wales, specialising in English-language writing from Wales and also publishing other literary fiction, poetry and non-fiction. Seren's aim is to bring Welsh literature and culture to a wider audience. The press takes its name from the Welsh word for "star".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Media of Wales</span> Overview of mass media in Wales

The media in Wales provide services in both English and Welsh, and play a role in modern Welsh culture. BBC Wales began broadcasting in 1923 have helped to promote a form of standardised spoken Welsh, and one historian has argued that the concept of Wales as a single national entity owes much to modern broadcasting. The national broadcasters are based in the capital, Cardiff.

Rachel Trezise is a Welsh author. Her debut collection of short stories, Fresh Apples, won the inaugural Dylan Thomas Prize in 2006.

Margiad Evans was the pseudonym of Peggy Eileen Whistler, an English poet, novelist and illustrator with a lifelong identification with the Welsh border country.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Parthian Books</span> Publishers from Wales

Parthian Books is an independent publisher based in Cardigan, Wales. Editorially-led, it publishes a range of contemporary fiction, poetry, drama, art books, literature in translation, and non-fiction. Since its foundation in 1993, Parthian has published some of the best-known works of contemporary Welsh literature including Work, Sex and Rugby (1993) by Lewis Davies, In and Out of the Goldfish Bowl (2000) by Rachel Trezise, Crawling Through Thorns (2008) by John Sam Jones, Pigeon (2017) by Alys Conran, and Hello Friend We Missed You (2020) by Richard Owain Roberts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spencer Leigh (radio presenter)</span> BBC Radio presenter

Spencer Leigh is a BBC radio presenter and author, with particular expertise in the development of pop and rock music and culture in Britain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Merthyr Tydfil County Borough</span> County borough in Wales

Merthyr Tydfil County Borough is a county borough in the south-east of Wales. In mid 2018, it had an estimated population of 60,183 making it the smallest local authority in Wales by both population and land area. It is located in the historic county of Glamorgan and takes its name from the town with the same name. The county borough consists of the northern part of the Taff Valley and the smaller neighbouring Taff Bargoed Valley. It borders the counties of Rhondda Cynon Taf to the west, Caerphilly County Borough to the east, and Powys to the north.

William Glynne-Jones (1907–1977) was a Welsh fiction and children's writer, broadcaster and journalist. His stories were broadcast weekly on BBC Children's Hour.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken</span> 18th century English hymn by John Newton

"Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken", also called "Zion, or the City of God", is an 18th-century English hymn written by John Newton, who also wrote the hymn "Amazing Grace". Shape note composer Alexander Johnson set it to his tune "Jefferson" in 1818, and as such it has remained in shape note collections such as the Sacred Harp ever since. However, the hymn is most often set to the tune of Joseph Haydn's "Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser". In recent decades it has been sometimes replaced by "Abbot's Leigh". This was written for this text by Cyril Vincent Taylor in 1942 while he was a producer of Religious Broadcasting at the BBC and stationed at the village of Abbots Leigh. Multiple other tunes have also been used with the hymn.

References