From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
List of events
This article is about the particular significance of the year 1940 to
Wales and
its people .
Incumbents
Events
21 January - Lowest ever temperature recorded in Wales, -23.3 °C (-9.9 °F) at
Rhayader .
[2]
27 January - A freak
ice storm across the UK brings down telephone and electricity lines in many parts of Wales.
[3]
3 March - The steamer Cato is damaged by a mine off
Nash Point and 13 of the crew are killed.
[4]
March - The
scenic railway opens at
Barry Island Pleasure Park .
May
8 May - Three
Nazi German
Luftwaffe
Heinkel He 111s crash in separate incidents over Wales: one near
Wrexham , one at Malpas in
Denbighshire , and one at
Bagillt , Flint. In all nine crew are killed and four captured.
3 July -
Cardiff is bombed for the first time.
9 July - Cardiff suffers its first bombing fatalities.
[6]
10 July - Ten people are killed in an
air raid on
Swansea Docks, as shipping convoys become a target.
[7]
11 July - Communist minister and poet
Thomas Evan Nicholas ("Niclas y Glais") and his son are arrested and interned for "endeavouring to impede recruitment to HM Forces". Nicholas is eventually released on 20 October.
[8]
11 August - Seventeen people are killed in an air raid on Manselton, Swansea.
14 August - Three German Heinkel 111s are shot down during an air-raid on
Cardiff , and another over North Wales after a raid on
RAF Hawarden .
22 August - A steamer, the Thorold , is sunk by German aircraft off
the Skerries . Ten crew are killed.
2 September - 33 people are killed in an air raid on Swansea.
3 September - Eleven people are killed in an
air raid on Cardiff .
4 September - A German
Junkers Ju 88 crashes near
Machynlleth . Four crew and a
Gestapo officer are captured.
13 September - A German Heinkel 111 crashes into a house in
Newport , Monmouthshire.
22 November - The steamer Pikepool is damaged by a mine off
Linney Head , Pembrokeshire, with the loss of 17 crew.
The
Urdd changes its policy to include 16- to 25-year-olds.
Gwilym Williams becomes chaplain of
St David's College, Lampeter .
Percy Cudlipp becomes editor of the
Daily Herald .
Alun Talfan Davies and his brother
Aneirin found the publishing house Llyfrau'r Dryw.
Arts and literature
Awards
National Eisteddfod of Wales (held in
Bangor (radio))
National Eisteddfod of Wales: Chair - withheld
National Eisteddfod of Wales: Crown -
T. Rowland Hughes
National Eisteddfod of Wales: Prose Medal - withheld
New books
Music
Film
Broadcasting
25 February - The Proud Valley is the first film to have its première on
radio , when the
BBC broadcasts a 60-minute version.
[10]
May - The BBC Radio Variety Department relocates to
Bangor because of wartime disruption; it will broadcast from here until August 1943.
[11]
August - The
National Eisteddfod of Wales is broadcast on the British Home Service, including 15 minutes each for the crown and chair ceremonies.
[12]
Sport
Football
Quoits - Jack Price wins the Welsh championship for the third time.
Births
4 January -
Brian Josephson , theoretical physicist
[13]
17 January -
Leighton Rees , darts champion (died
2003 )
[14]
23 January -
Ted Rowlands , politician
1 March -
David Broome , show jumping champion
[15]
16 May -
Sir Gareth Roberts , physicist (died
2007 )
7 June -
Tom Jones , singer
[16]
29 June -
John Dawes , rugby player (died
2021 )
[17]
17 July -
C. W. Nicol , Japanese writer and environmentalist (died
2020 in Japan )
3 September -
Eduardo Hughes Galeano , Uruguayan writer of Welsh descent
20 September -
Anna Pavord , gardening writer
1 October -
Atarah Ben-Tovim , flautist and children's concert promoter (died
2022 )
[18]
14 October -
Christopher Timothy , actor
[19]
31 October -
Eric Griffiths , skiffle guitarist with
The Quarrymen (died
2005 )
4 November -
Daniel Sperber ,
Talmudic scholar
[20]
30 November -
Peter Shreeves , footballer, coach and manager
5 December
24 December -
John Marek , politician
date unknown
Deaths
12 February -
William Edwards , educationist, 89
[22]
21 February - Sir
Alfred Edward Lewis , banker, 71
[23]
15 March -
John Davies , author, 71
20 March -
William Thomas Edwards (Gwilym Deudraeth), poet
7 April -
Ernest Rowland , priest and Wales international rugby player, 75
27 April -
Fred Cornish , Wales international rugby player
23 May -
Hugh Hesketh Hughes , polo player, 37 (killed in action)
[24]
4 June -
Owen Picton Davies , businessman and politician, 68
25 June -
Stanley Winmill , Wales international rugby union player, 51
3 July -
George Bevan Bowen , landowner, 82
[25]
[26]
8 August -
Daniel Lleufer Thomas , lawyer and biographer, 76
[27]
20 August -
Henry Maldwyn Hughes , Wesleyan minister
26 September -
W. H. Davies , poet and author, 69
[28]
9 October - Sir
Wilfred Grenfell , medical missionary to Newfoundland and Labrador
9 November -
Gwilym Owen , physicist
15 December
See also
References
^ C. J. Litzenberger; Eileen Groth Lyon (2006).
The Human Tradition in Modern Britain . Rowman & Littlefield. p. 92.
ISBN
978-0-7425-3735-4 .
^ Simons, Paul (2008). Since Records Began . London: Collins. pp. 205–7.
ISBN
978-0-00-728463-4 .
^ Stephen Moss (26 January 2018).
"Weatherwatch: 1940 Ice Storm added to misery of war" . The Guardian . Retrieved 8 April 2019 .
^
"Porthcawl's Guinness shipwreck remembered" . BBC News Wales . 19 September 2015. Retrieved 8 April 2019 .
^ Sheila Lawlor (12 May 1994).
Churchill and the Politics of War, 1940-1941 . Cambridge University Press. p. 36.
ISBN
978-0-521-46685-1 .
^ Edwin Webb; John B. Duncan (1990).
Blitz Over Britain . Spellmount. p. 95.
ISBN
978-0-946771-89-9 .
^ Julitta Rydlewska; Barbara Braid (18 September 2014).
Unity in Diversity, Volume 1: Cultural Paradigm and Personal Identity . Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p. 69.
ISBN
978-1-4438-6729-0 .
^
"Thomas Evan Nicholas 1879-1971" (PDF) . National Library of Wales. Retrieved 6 September 2019 .
^
"Plaza Cinema, Talbot Road, Port Talbot" . Cinema Treasures . Retrieved 2017-06-14 .
^ Stephen Bourne (30 November 2001).
Black in the British Frame: The Black Experience in British Film and Television Second Edition . A&C Black. p. 28.
ISBN
978-0-8264-5539-0 .
^ British Broadcasting Corporation (1944).
BBC Handbook . p. 50.
^
"Literature Wales: Encyclopedia - Broadcasting" . Archived from
the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2013-01-05 .
^
"Brian D. Josephson Biographical" . The Nobel Prize . Retrieved 9 April 2019 .
^
"Leighton Rees" . The Telegraph . 10 June 2003. Retrieved 9 April 2019 .
^ Julia Longland (1 October 1978).
Clear round!: Interviews . Mayflower Books. p. 112.
ISBN
978-0-8317-0012-6 .
^ Eggar, Robin. Tom Jones – The Biography . p. 14.
^
John Dawes rugby profile ESPN Scrum.com
^ June Emerson (7 November 2022).
"Atarah Ben-Tovim obituary" . The Guardian . Retrieved 8 August 2023 .
^ In Bala, Gwynedd.
Screen International Film and TV Year Book . Screen International, King Publications Limited. 1990. p. 220.
ISBN
978-0-900925-21-4 .
^
"Daniel Sperber" . Bar-Ilan University . Retrieved 8 August 2023 .
^ Donald Evans (16 December 1991).
Rhydwen Williams . University of Wales Press. p. 83.
^ Edgar William Jones.
"Edwards, William (1851-1940), H.M. inspector of schools" . Dictionary of Welsh Biography . National Library of Wales. Retrieved 9 November 2019 .
^ Edward Morgan Humphreys.
"Lewis, Sir Alfred (Edward) (1868-1940), banker" . Dictionary of Welsh Biography . National Library of Wales. Retrieved 9 November 2019 .
^
"Hugh Hesketh Hughes" . Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 11 April 2011 . Regiment/Service: Welsh Guards Date of Death: 23/05/1940 Service No: 103800 Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead
^ ‘BOWEN, Sir George Bevan’, Who Was Who, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 1920–2007; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2007
accessed 30 Nov 2013
^ Obituaries (Obituaries) The Times Friday, Jul 05, 1940; pg. 7; Issue 48660; col E
^ David Williams.
"Thomas, Sir Daniel Lleufer (1863-1940), stipendiary magistrate" . Dictionary of Welsh Biography . National Library of Wales. Retrieved 9 November 2019 .
^ Lawrence Normand (1 September 2003).
W.H. Davies . Seren. p. 152.
ISBN
978-1-85411-261-3 .
^ David Thomas.
"Jones, Robert Thomas (1874-1940), Labour leader" . Dictionary of Welsh Biography . National Library of Wales. Retrieved 9 November 2019 .