World War
One Timeline
Presenting the major
events of each year of the First World War, the Great War, , from the
assassination of Archduke Ferdinand in 1914 to the Armistice on
November 11th 1918 and the Treaty of Versailles.....
World War Two Chronology
Presenting the major
events of each year of World War II, from the German invasion of Poland
in 1939, the evacuation from Dunkirk in 1940, the Japanese attack on
Pearl Harbour in 1941, Montgomery’s famous victory at El Alamein in
1942.....
Now with Audio!
1939 ~
1940 ~
1941 ~
1942 ~
1943 ~
1944 ~
1945
St Dwynwen
St Dwynwen's Day January 25th.
St Dwynwen is the Welsh patron saint of lovers, which makes her the
Welsh equivalent of St Valentine......
Christmas Traditions in Wales
Including the unique Boxing Day custom of beating young girls with
boughs of holly...
Druids
Who were the Druids? Were they priests, mystics, healers, fortune
tellers, teachers, philosophers? Or was there a darker side...
Dylan Thomas
Dylan Marlais Thomas
was born in the Uplands suburb of Swansea, South Wales on 27 October
1914, and whilst arguably the
most famous Welsh poet of all time, paradoxically his literary work
is written entirely in English...
Owain Glyndwr
(Owen Glendower)
Medieval Welsh nationalist leader.
In
September 1400, when he was 50 years of age, Owain Glendower organised a
rebellion against the English king, Henry IV and claimed the title,
Prince of Wales...
The 'Art' of Hanging
As a
form of capital punishment, hanging was introduced to Britain by the Germanic
Anglo-Saxon tribes as early as the fifth century. However not all executions
went smoothly...
The Battle of the Somme 1916
July
1st 1916 - the bloodiest day in the
history of the British Army, or The Battle of the Somme –
The Lost Generation.
Ninety years ago on 1st July 1916 at around 7.30 in the
morning, whistles were blown to signal the start of what would be
the bloodiest day in the history of the British Army.
Llanelli Railway Riots, August 1911
Britain experienced a period of significant
industrial conflict during 1910 - 1912, which was to
become known as ‘the Great Unrest’ during which the
working classes stood together to strike against
unfair wages and working conditions....
The National Eisteddfod of Wales
The National Eisteddfod is the
largest and oldest celebration of Welsh culture, unique throughout
Europe...
Joseph Jenkins, Jolly Swagman
Waltzing Matilda' is Australia’s best known folk
song and tells the story of a swagman. Yet
possibly the most famous swagman of them all was a Welshman, Joseph
Jenkins.....
Empire Day - 24th May
The words "Empire
Day" summon up an
image of a motherly Queen Victoria presiding over an Empire which
spanned almost a quarter of the entire globe.
However it
was not until after the death of Queen Victoria, who died on 22 January 1901,
that Empire Day was first celebrated....
The Festival of Britain 1951
2011 marks the 60th anniversary of the Festival of Britain. The Festival of Britain opened on the 4th May 1951,
celebrating British industry, arts and science, and inspiring the thought of a
better Britain...
The Mabinogion
The Mabinogion is based upon a 14th century manuscript
known as ‘Red book of Hergest’. The work is a collection of eleven
tales of early Welsh literature and draws upon the mystical word of
the Celtic people intertwining myths, folklore, tradition and
history......
The King James Bible
400 Years of the King James Bible.
The King James Bible has long been celebrated as
one of the most significant texts of all
time.....
St Patrick -
the most celebrated Welshman in America?
St. Patrick's Day is celebrated in many communities across the world each
year on March 17th. And, although he may be the patron saint of
Ireland, it is in the United States where the celebrations have
become a national festival. Most Americans, and
other folk across the world, assume that Patrick was Irish: not so,
many scholars believe he was Welshman!
22nd February 1797: The
Last Invasion of Britain
How Jemima Fawr"
(Jemima the Great) and the ladies of Fishguard, with the help of
rather a lot of Portuguese wine, saved the day!
Decimal
Day: Monday 15th February 1971
Prior to 1971, the
pound sterling equalled 240 pence, split into 12 shillings with 12 pence
in each shilling. There were threepenny bits, tanners, 10 bob notes,
ha'pennies and farthings. On Decimal Day in 1971 the new pound worth 100
new pence came into circulation.....
The King's Speech
You’ve heard
about the award winning film - which has just
been nominated for 12 Oscars - now you can view
the original transcript of the King’s Speech,
which was sent to Scotland Yard in 1939,
announcing that Britain was going to war....
Welsh Surnames
Have you ever wondered why there are so many Jones’ in a
Welsh phonebook?.....
Victory in Europe Day - V-E Day
60 years ago on
May 8th
1945, the Allies celebrated the defeat of
Nazi Germany and the end of Adolf Hitler's Reich,
formally recognising the end of the Second World War in
Europe....
The Evacuation of
Dunkirk
This
year 2010 marks the 70th anniversary of the
evacuation of more than 300,000 Allied soldiers from
the beaches of Dunkirk, France between May 26th and
June 4th 1940, during World War II.....
The Romans in Wales
There was a fierce battle in
A.D. 50 at the hill fort at Hereford Beacon between the Silures and
the Roman army. Although the Silures, led by Caractacus, lost the
battle, the Romans maintained only a brief and
tenuous grip on the native Welsh......
Lloyd George
Some have called him ‘the most famous Welshman ever born in
Manchester’, however it was David Lloyd George’s Welshness that so
steered his career and establish him one of the most influential British
politicians of modern history....
Lawrence of Arabia
Thomas Edward (T.E) Lawrence, more popularly known as Lawrence of
Arabia, was born at Tremadoc in North Wales....
The Outbreak of World
War II and the Major
Events of 1939
On September 1st 1939 Germany invaded Poland. 2009 sees the
70th anniversary of the outbreak of World War II....
Ruthin, Denbighshire,
North Wales
Ruthin is a small historic market town in Denbighshire, North
Wales, in the beautiful Vale of
Clwyd. Ruthin has a long, exciting and interesting history
spanning over 700 years including battle, siege - and a sex scandal
that rocked Parliament and society.....
Rule, Britannia!
As a nation, we may no longer ‘rule the waves’, but we are
still proud of Britain. Alongside our national
anthem, we also sing the patriotic ‘Rule,
Britannia!’, regarding it, too, as a song to
represent the strength of our nation.....
Patagonia - the Welsh 'New World'
The first group of nearly 200 settlers sailed from Liverpool in late May
1865 aboard the tea-clipper Mimosa.......
The English Conquest of Wales
The struggle of the Welsh princes against the English crown
Henry Morton Stanley - "Dr Livingstone I
presume..."
Sir
Henry Morton Stanley’s early life appears to have been a mix of
poverty, adventure and make-believe. Stanley was actually born John Rowlands in the Welsh county town of Denbigh in 1841. His teenage
mother Elisabeth Parry registered the birth of "John Rowlands,
Bastard", at St. Hilary's Church.....
The Victoria Cross
On 26th June 1857, at an award ceremony in Hyde Park, Queen
Victoria presented the first sixty-two Victoria
Crosses in front of a cheering crowd of 100,000
people. A century and half later, the medal
remains the highest honour for bravery and
valour that can be awarded to members of the
British Armed Forces.....
The Legend of the River Conwy
Afanc The Afanc was a
legendary Welsh water monster, likened, some have said, to the Loch Ness
Monster. The Afanc lived in Llyn-yr-Afanc (The Afanc Pool) in the River
Conwy.......
“Just one more push” to Passchendaele On 6th November 1917, after three months of fierce fighting,
British and Canadian forces finally took control of the tiny village of Passchendaele in the West Flanders region of Belgium, so ending one of
the bloodiest battles of World War I. With approximately a third of a
million British and Allied soldiers either killed or wounded, the Battle
of Passchendaele (officially the third battle of Ypres), symbolises the
true horror of industrialised trench warfare.
World War Two
Chronology
Presenting the major
events of each year of World War II, from the German invasion of Poland
in 1939, the evacuation from Dunkirk in 1940, the Japanese attack on
Pearl Harbour in 1941, Montgomery’s famous victory at El Alamein in
1942......
Traditions and folklore
An
introduction to some of the folklore and traditions in Wales
The Legend of Gelert A very faithful hound...
Destinations UK
- St
Dogmaels and Cardigan, West Wales
St Dogmaels occupies a
beautiful situation, overlooking the River Teifi opposite the town of
Cardigan.....
The Longbow
The longbow, also called the Welsh longbow, was a powerful type of
medieval longbow used to great effect during the Hundred Years War....
The Great Orme Mines The Great Orme Mines in Llandudno boast over 5
miles of explored tunnels and passageways. In 2005 it won the title
of 'The Largest Prehistoric Copper Mines in the World' in the Guinness
World Records. This year marks the 15th anniversary of
the mines being open to the public for everyone to visit and enjoy
this incredible site.
The
Leek - the National Emblem of the Welsh Proudly sported every St. David’s Day on 1st March and
at every international rugby match, the leek is now widely recognised as
the national symbol of Wales. But why is it that patriotic Welshmen and
women across the world attach this strong smelling member of the onion
family to their clothing?
The true origins are now perhaps lost in myth and legend...
The Red Dragon
The proud and ancient battle standard of the Welsh is The Red Dragon
(Y Ddraig Goch)....
Destination UK - St Davids
- tiny Cathedral city, one of the
most important shrines of medieval Christendom and place of pilgrimage
for centuries
The Welsh Atlantis?
Amongst the many legends associated with the Great Orme in
Llandudno is the story of Llys Helig (Helig`s Palace) and the
lost Land of Tyno Helig......
The Mold Riots
The history of the border town of Mold in northeast Wales is
fascinating in itself; it is however the events surrounding the
summer of 1869 that will record forever the town's role in the social
history of Britain.....
Merthyr and the Welsh Men of Steel
In the mid 1700’s, Merthyr
Tydfil was just a small Welsh farming village in the upper Taff Valley.
By the early 1800's Merthyr was the largest town in Wales and the
world's number one steel town.....
A Taste of Wales
The Discovery of America.......by
a Welsh prince?
Destinations UK -
Aberystwyth, Ceredigion Long before the
Normans built the first castle in Aberystwyth, Iron Age settlers used
the hilltop called Pen Dinas to build a huge fortification which
still dominates the skyline today.....
Twm
Shon Catti - The
Welsh Robin Hood!
The Ogre of Abergavenny In the 12th century, the Norman Lord William de
Breos earned the undying hatred of the Welsh people because of his cruelty. He is remembered as the Ogre of Abergavenny....
The Rebecca Riots Men dressed as women protesting against English Law in Wales....
Isca - the forgotten Roman fortress
Destinations
UK - Oxwich, Gower, South Wales A castle, a historic
church, a nature reserve, three miles of golden sand......and an
intriguing history of "wrecking"!!
Rulers
of Wales The
Kings and Princes of Wales
