1962 in Wales

← 1961 1960 1959 1958 1957 1962 in Wales → 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967
Centuries:	18th 19th 20th 21st
Decades:	1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s
See also:	List of years in Wales Timeline of Welsh history 1962 in The United Kingdom Scotland Elsewhere

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1962 to Wales and its people.

Incumbents

For United Kingdom incumbents, see 1962 in the United Kingdom § Incumbents.

• Archbishop of Wales – Edwin Morris, Bishop of Monmouth
• Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales – Trefin

Events

• January–April – An outbreak of smallpox spreading from Cardiff infects 45 people and kills 19 in south Wales; 900,000 people in the region are vaccinated against the disease.^[1]
• 12 April – Nine miners are killed and nine injured in an accident at Tower Colliery, Hirwaun, Wales.^[2]
• 15 May – Emlyn Hooson wins the Montgomeryshire by-election brought about by the death of Clement Davies.^[3] In the run-up to the by-election, the "Elvis Rock" is painted with the graffiti "Elis" by supporters of Plaid Cymru candidate Islwyn Ffowc Elis.
• 20 July – The world's first regular passenger hovercraft service is introduced between Rhyl and Wallasey.^[4]
• 4 August – Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg, the Welsh Language Society, is founded.^[5]
• September – Ysgol Gyfun Rhydfelen, the first Welsh-medium secondary school in south Wales, opens its doors.^[6]
• 19 September – Atlantic College opens its doors for the first time at St Donat's Castle, marking the birth of the pioneering United World College educational movement.^[7]
• 26 October – Richard Thomas and Baldwins's new steelworks at Llanwern near Newport, is officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom.^[8]
• 28 October – Chepstow Railway Bridge rebuilding completed.
• date unknown
  • Richard Booth opens his first second-hand bookshop at the old fire station in Hay-on-Wye.^[9]
  • Cardiff Zoo opened.^[10]

Arts and literature

• 21 March – Actress Rachel Roberts marries Rex Harrison in Genoa.
• Welsh National Opera launches a training scheme for singers.
• Dick Francis publishes his first thriller, Dead Cert.

Awards

• National Eisteddfod of Wales (held in Llanelli)
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Chair – Caradog Prichard, "Llef un yn Llefain"^[11]
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Crown – D. Emlyn Lewis, Y Cwmwl^[12]
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Prose Medal – William Owen, Bu Farw Ezra Bebb^[13]

New books

• Clifford Dyment – The Railway Game
• Michael Foot – Aneurin Bevan, vol. 1
• Menna Gallie – The Small Mine^[14]
• Llewelyn Wyn Griffith – The Adventures of Pryderi
• The Oxford Book of Welsh Verse
• Norman Thomas – Ask at the Unicorn
• Raymond Williams – Communications

Welsh language

• John Roberts Evans – Ar Drothwy'r Nos^[15]
• William Evans (Wil Ifan) – Colofnau Wil Ifan^[16]
• Gwyn Thomas – Chwerwder yn y Ffynhonnau

Music

• Dilys Elwyn-Edwards – Caneuon y Tri Aderyn
• Alun Hoddinott – Folksong Suite
• William Mathias – Postlude^[17]
• Grace Williams – Four Medieval Welsh Poems for alto, harp and harpsichord

Film

• Richard Burton and Donald Houston appear in The Longest Day.
• Peter Greenaway makes his first film: Death of Sentiment.^[18]
• Jack Howells makes the short documentary A Tribute to Dylan Thomas featuring Richard Burton. The film wins an Academy Award for Documentary Short Subject in the following year.^[19]

Broadcasting

Welsh-language radio

• 13 February – Saunders Lewis gives the Welsh Home Service’s Annual Lecture, entitled Tynged yr Iaith (The Fate of the Language).^[20]

Television

• 14 September – The first transmitter, at Preseli, of the Teledu Cymru – Wales (West and North) Television service comes on air.

English-language television

• 17 September – First edition of the Welsh national news programme BBC Wales Today.

Sport

• Football – John Charles returns to Leeds United from several years playing for Italian clubs.
• Golf – Brian Huggett wins the Dutch Open championship.
• BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year – Ivor Allchurch^[21]

Births

• 5 January – Geraint Williams, footballer
• 11 January – Chris Bryant, politician^[22]
• 16 January – Bethan Gwanas, Welsh-language writer
• 25 May - Martin Goldsmith, footballer
• 27 June – Michael Ball, singer
• 28 August – David Melding, politician^[23]
• 15 September – Kevin Allen, actor, comedian and film director
• 22 July – Arthur Emyr, rugby union player and television presenter and executive
• 22 August – Iolo Williams, naturalist and TV presenter^[24]
• 5 September – Peter Wingfield, actor
• 15 October – Mark Ring, rugby union player
• 24 October – Jonathan Davies, rugby union and league player
• 11 November - Chris Sander, footballer
• 31 December – Chris Hallam, wheelchair athlete (died 2013)^[25]
• date unknown
  • Fiona Bennett, composer
  • Sioned Wiliam, broadcaster, writer and producer

Deaths

• 18 January – Iolo Aneurin Williams, journalist, author and politician, 71^[26]
• 26 January – George Jeffreys, founder of the Elim Pentecostal Church,^[27] 72
• 11 February – John Edward Daniel, theologian, chairman of Plaid Cymru, 59 (road accident)^[28]
• 14 February – Ezer Griffiths, physicist, 73^[29]
• 27 February – Albert Rhys Williams, Welsh-American journalist, labour organiser, and publicist, 78
• 23 March – Clement Davies, politician, 80^[30]
• April – Edgar Morgan, rugby union player, 80
• 25 April – Herbie Baxter, Glamorgan cricketer, 79
• 30 April – Charles Williams, Anglican priest and academic, 55^[31]
• 11 May – Eliot Crawshay-Williams, politician and author, 82^[32]
• 16 June – Edgar Rees Jones, barrister and politician, 83^[33]
• 24 June – Thomas Richards, historian, 84^[34]
• 3 August - Edgar Phillips, poet and Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod, 72^[35]
• 23 August - Robert Bye, VC recipient, 72
• 23 September - Margaret Jane Gordon (Lady Gordon), singer, 82^[36]
• 5 November (in London) – Percy Cudlipp, journalist, 56^[37]
• 30 November – Lewis Pugh Evans, Victoria Cross recipient, 81^[38]
• 15 December – Charles Rhys, 8th Baron Dynevor, politician, 63^[39]
• 17 December – Lonza Bowdler, Wales international rugby union player, 61
• 21 December – Gary Hocking, motorcycle road racer, 25 (racing accident)

See also

• 1962 in Northern Ireland

References

1. "1962 south Wales smallpox outbreak memories recorded". BBC News. BBC. 2012-01-13. Retrieved 2012-06-12.
2. British Museum. Dept. of Printed Books (1969). General Catalogue of Printed Books: Ten-year Supplement, 1956-1965. Readex Microprint Corporation. p. 340.
3. Vacher, Thomas Brittain (1963). Vacher's Parliamentary Companion. A.S. Kerswill. p. 93.
4. BPI. Transportation. BPI Publishing. p. 27. ISBN 978-81-8497-243-6.
5. Llafur: Journal of Welsh Labour History. Llafur. 1987. p. 87.
6. The Economist. Economist Newspaper Limited. 1985. p. 294.
7. "UWC Atlantic College". Retrieved 2015-12-16.
8. Metallurgia: The British Journal of Metals. Kennedy Press. 1962. p. 57.
9. Balch, Oliver (2019-08-22). "Richard Booth obituary". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 2020-06-30.
10. "Closed collections". The Bartlett Society. Archived from the original on 2015-04-04. Retrieved 2015-05-24.
11. "Winners of the Chair". National Eisteddfod of Wales. Retrieved 7 March 2021.
12. "Winners of the Crown". National Eisteddfod of Wales. Retrieved 7 March 2021.
13. "Winners of the Prose Medal". National Eisteddfod of Wales. Retrieved 7 March 2021.
14. John P. Jenkins (2016). "Gallie, Menna Patricia (1919-1990), writer". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 10 November 2024.
15. "File 27. - Gohebiaeth, yn ymwneud yn bennaf â'r gyfrol Ar Drothwy'r Nos (1962)". National Library of Wales (in Welsh). Retrieved 10 November 2024.
16. Gerallt Jones (2001). "Evans, William ('Wil Ifan'; 1883-1968), minister (Congl.), poet and writer in Welsh and English". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 10 November 2024.
17. Malcolm Boyd (1978). William Mathias. University of Wales Press for the Welsh Arts Council. p. 62.
18. Peter Greenaway (2000). Peter Greenaway: interviews. University Press of Mississippi. p. 100.
19. "The 35th Academy Awards (1963) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Retrieved 16 May 2016.
20. The Cambridge History of British Theatre. Cambridge University Press. 2004. p. 257.
21. "BBC Wales Sport Personality winners". BBC Sport. Retrieved 29 July 2021.
22. Dod's Parliamentary Companion. Dod's Parliamentary Companion, Limited. 2007. p. 88.
23. "BBC News AMs profile". BBC News. 12 May 1998. Archived from the original on 21 August 2019. Retrieved 10 December 2024.
24. Megan Shersby (24 May 2024). "Who is Iolo Williams?". BBC Discover Wildlife. Retrieved 10 November 2024.
25. Grey-Thompson, Tanni (21 August 2013). "Chris Hallam obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 September 2013.
26. Donald Moore. "Williams, Iolo Aneurin (1890-1962), journalist, author and art historian". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
27. "Come to Elim" – Healing and Revival
28. Jones, Robert Tudur. "Daniel, John Edward (1902–1962), college lecturer and inspector of schools". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 2008-06-04.
29. Darwin, C. G. (1962). "Ezer Griffiths 1888-1962". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 8: 41–48. doi:10.1098/rsbm.1962.0004.
30. Evan David Jones (2001). "Davies, Clement Edward (1884-1962), politician". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 10 December 2024.
31. "The Rev. C. S. C. Williams – Chaplain of Merton". The Times. 3 May 1962. p. 19.
32. Who was who: A Companion to Who's Who, Containing the Biographies of Those who Died. A. & C. Black. 2002. p. 190. ISBN 978-0-7136-6125-5.
33. Tanner, Duncan (2006). Debating nationhood and governance in Britain, 1885–1945: perspectives from the 'four nations'. Manchester University Press. p. 75. ISBN 0-7190-7166-6.
34. Gwilym Beynon Owen. "Richards, Thomas (1878-1962), librarian and historian". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
35. Evan David Jones (2001). "Phillips, Edgar ('Trefîn '; 1889-1962), tailor, school-teacher, poet, and Archdruid of Wales, 1960-62". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 10 December 2024.
36. Martha Rutledge (1983). "Gordon, Margaret Jane (1880–1962)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Vol. 9. Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISBN 978-0-522-84459-7. ISSN 1833-7538. OCLC 70677943. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
37. David Glanville Rosser. "Cudlipp, Percy (1905-1962), journalist". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
38. Christopher Evans. "Evans, Lewis Pugh (1881-1962), soldier and public figure, Brigadier General, VC, CB, CMG, DSO". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
39. Christopher Dignam. "Rhys, Walter Fitzuryan 7th. Baron Dynevor (1873-1956), nobleman and politician". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 30 June 2019.