1985 in Wales

← 1984 1983 1982 1981 1980 1985 in Wales → 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990
Centuries:	18th 19th 20th 21st
Decades:	1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s
See also:	List of years in Wales Timeline of Welsh history 1985 in The United Kingdom England Scotland Elsewhere

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1985 to Wales and its people.

Incumbents

For United Kingdom incumbents, see 1985 in the United Kingdom § Incumbents.

• Secretary of State for Wales – Nicholas Edwards^[1]
• Archbishop of Wales – Derrick Childs, Bishop of Monmouth^[2]
• Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales – Elerydd^[3]

Events

• 3 March – The UK miners' strike (1984–85) formally ends. Among the mines not reopening is Bedwas Navigation Colliery.
• 16 May – Dean Hancock and Russell Shankland are convicted of murder at Cardiff Crown Court and jailed for life. The previous November, at the height of the miners' strike, they had caused the death of a taxi driver by dropping a concrete block onto his car as it passed under a bridge.
• 29 June – The A55 Colwyn Bay bypass is completed.
• 4 July – At the Brecon and Radnor by-election (caused by the death of sitting Conservative MP Tom Ellis Hooson) local farmer Richard Livsey takes the seat for the Liberals.
• 25 July – Clwydian Range AONB is designated.^[4][5]
• 20 December – Swansea City A.F.C., struggling in the English Third Division just three years after being in the First, are issued with a winding-up order in the High Court and are at risk of closure and being forced out of the Football League.^[6]
• exact date unknown
  • Terry Matthews sells his stake in Mitel to British Telecom.^[7]
  • "Cefn" is founded to campaign for the civil rights of Welsh speakers.
  • The Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies is founded at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth.
  • Seventeen women are prosecuted on conspiracy charges after the occupation of a nuclear bunker near Carmarthen.^[8]

Arts and literature

• Robat Powell becomes the first Welsh learner to win the Chair at the National Eisteddfod (see below).^[9]

Awards

• National Eisteddfod of Wales (held in Rhyl)
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Chair - Robat Powell
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Crown - John Roderick Rees
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Prose Medal - Margaret Dafydd

New books

English language

• Alice Thomas Ellis – Unexplained Laughter
• Lady Olwen Carey Evans – Lloyd George Was My Father^[10]
• David Hughes – The Pork Butcher
• Christopher Meredith – This
• Robert Minhinnick – The Dinosaur Park
• John Powell Ward – The Clearing
• Ivor Wilks – South Wales and the Rising of 1839

Welsh language

• Geraint Bowen – Cerddi
• Bryan Martin Davies – Lleoedd
• Glanmor Williams
  • Harri Tudur a Chymru
  • Grym Tafodau Tân
• Eluned Phillips – Cerddi Glyn-y-Mêl

Music

• Downtown Julie Brown makes her debut on Club MTV.
• "Dwylo Dros y Môr", performed by various artists, is the Welsh charity song released in coordination with Band Aid.

Albums

• Aled Jones – Aled Jones With The BBC Welsh Chorus
• Living Legends – Better Dead Than Wed
• Eirlys Parri – Yfory^[11]

Film

• Jonathan Pryce stars in Brazil.
• Richard Marquand directs Jagged Edge.

Welsh-language films

• None

Broadcasting

Welsh-language television

• Helfa Drysor^[12]
• Sam Tân (Fireman Sam)^[13]

English-language television

• 10 September – ITV broadcasts the Wales vs Scotland World Cup qualifying match live from Ninian Park in Cardiff.^[14] Scotland manager Jock Stein collapses and dies in the stadium's first aid room.^[15]
• The Dragon Has Two Tongues, co-presented by Gwyn Alf Williams and Wynford Vaughan-Thomas^[16]

Sport

• BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year – Steve Jones^[17]
• Horse racing – Hywel Davies wins the Grand National on "Last Suspect".

Births

• 2 January – Mark Evans, musical theatre actor, singer, dancer and choreographer
• 9 January – Elen Evans, rugby player^[18]
• 3 March – David Davies, swimmer ^[19]
• 8 April – Gareth Rees, cricketer^[20]
• 13 May
  • Iwan Rheon, screen actor
  • Danny Thomas, footballer
• 31 May – Laura Daniels, lawn bowler^[21]
• 16 June – Craig Morgan, footballer
• 17 July – Tom Cullen, actor
• 30 August – Richard Duffy, international footballer and manager^[22]
• 11 September – Daniel Parslow, footballer
• 19 September – Alun Wyn Jones, international rugby union captain^[23]
• 24 September – Kimberley Nixon, actress
• 10 October – Marina Lambrini Diamandis, singer
• 14 December – Alex Pennie, musician
• 15 November – Simon Spender, footballer
• 25 December
  • Leon Pisani, pop singer
  • Perdita Weeks, actress
• 28 December – Nicola Davies, footballer^[24]
• date unknown – Claire Jones, harpist^[25]

Deaths

• 19 January – Tom Richards, athlete, 74
• 26 January – David Ormsby-Gore, 5th Baron Harlech, 66 (car accident)^[26]
• 9 March – John Tudor Jones, journalist, poet, critic, broadcaster, and translator, 81
• 29 March – Rae Jenkins, violinist and conductor^[27]
• 4 April – Kate Roberts, author, 94^[28]
• 21 April – Owen Temple-Morris, barrister and politician, 88^[29]
• 22 April – Sir Thomas Parry, academic, 80^[30]
• 8 May – Tom Hooson, politician, 52 (cancer)^[31]
• 9 June – Clifford Evans, actor, 73
• July - Roger Ashton (footballer), footballer, 63
• 1 September – Saunders Lewis, writer, 91^[32]
• 14 September – Niel Morgan, cricketer and diplomat, 81
• 17 September – Laura Ashley, designer, 60 (brain haemorrhage after fall)^[33]
• 18 September – Iorwerth Evans, rugby player, 79
• 28 October
  • Harold Davies, Baron Davies of Leek, politician, 81^[34]
  • Leslie Harris, cricketer, 70
• 4 November – Hilda Vaughan, novelist, 93
• 17 December – Gwyn Richards, dual-code rugby player, 79
• 27 December – Len Richards, footballer, 74
• date unknown – Dewi-Prys Thomas, architect^[35]

See also

• 1985 in England
• 1985 in Northern Ireland
• 1985 in Scotland

References

1. Stephen Bates (19 March 2018). "Lord Crickhowell obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 March 2020.
2. Doe, Norman (5 March 2020). A New History of the Church in Wales: Governance and Ministry, Theology and Society. Cambridge University Press. p. 119. ISBN 978-1-108-60320-1.
3. "WJ Gruffydd: Writer who helped keep alive the Welsh tradition". The Independent. 20 July 2011. Retrieved 11 May 2022.
4. "Other Notices | The Gazette". www.thegazette.co.uk. Retrieved 2023-10-30.
5. "Management Plan 2014 - 2019" (PDF). clwydianrangeanddeevalleyaonb.org.uk. p. 3. Retrieved 30 October 2023.
6. Steven Pye (12 May 2018). "When Swansea City were relegated through all four divisions in four years". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 November 2018.
7. "The secret billionaire". The Independent. 26 July 2000. Archived from the original on 2022-05-01. Retrieved 22 November 2018.
8. Nick Parry (14 December 2005). "Town's forgotten nuclear bunker". BBC News. Retrieved 22 November 2018.
9. "Chaired Bard Robat Powell: How can one learn a language?". Parallel.cymru. 24 July 2018. Retrieved 22 November 2018.
10. Lady Olwen Carey Evans; Mary Garner (1 January 1985). Lloyd George was My Father: The Autobiography of Lady Olwen Carey Evans. Gomer Press. ISBN 978-0-86383-112-6.
11. "Y gantores Eirlys Parri wedi marw yn 74 oed". Newyddion S4C (in Welsh). 30 June 2024. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
12. "Helfa Drysor". UKGameshows. Retrieved 24 May 2019.
13. Peter Shuttleworth (17 November 2017). "Fireman Sam at 30: Prince George's favourite cartoon celebrates". BBC. Retrieved 8 October 2019.
14. "World Cup 1986". Internationals on ITV 1984-present. ITV Football 1968–83. 13 October 2012. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 18 October 2012.
15. McCallum, Andrew; Reynolds, Jim (11 September 1985). "Manager Stein dies at match". The Herald. Herald & Times Group. Retrieved 21 April 2012.
16. Martin Shipton (24 December 2017). "Blogger threatened with £143k bill if he uploads iconic Welsh history TV series to YouTube". WalesOnline. Retrieved 13 March 2021.
17. "BBC Wales Sport Personality winners". BBC Sport. 10 December 2012. Retrieved 2 August 2021.
18. "Elen Evans". Eurosport. Retrieved 25 February 2019.
19. "David Davies". British Swimming (archived). Archived from the original on 26 September 2008. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
20. "Gareth Rees profile". ESPN. Retrieved 24 July 2024.
21. "Lawn Bowls | Athlete Profile: Laura DANIELS - Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games". results.gc2018.com. Retrieved 9 March 2021.
22. Richard Duffy at National-Football-Teams.com
23. "Alun Wyn Jones, rugby player". BBC Wales. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
24. Nicola Davies – UEFA competition record (archive)
25. "Claire Jones". Green Spring Music. Retrieved 24 July 2024.
26. "Lord Harlech killed in crash". Shropshire Star. 26 January 1985. p. 1.
27. Johns-Davies, Jayne Marilyn (2006). Rae Jenkins FRAM, MBE: the life story of Welsh conductor and musician 1903 to 1985. p. 28.
28. Morgan, Derec Llwyd (1991), Kate Roberts. Writers of Wales series. Cardiff: University of Wales Press. ISBN 0-7083-1115-6. An introduction to her work in English.
29. Who was Who: A Companion to Who's Who, 1981-1990, A. & C. Black, p. 747
30. Derec Llwyd Morgan. "Parry, Sir Thomas (1904-1985), scholar, Librarian of the National Library of Wales, University Principal, poet". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 17 March 2019.
31. John Graham Jones. "Hooson, Tom Ellis (1933-1985), Conservative politician". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 17 March 2019.
32. T. Robin Chapman. "Lewis, John Saunders (1893-1985), politician, critic and dramatist". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 17 March 2019.
33. Slesin, Suzanne (18 September 1985). "Laura Ashley, British Designer, Is Dead at 60". The New York Times. Retrieved 8 December 2018.
34. R. McHenry; Daphne Daume; J.E. Davis (April 1986). Britannica book of the year: 1986. Encyclopaedia Britannica. p. 127. ISBN 978-0-85229-437-6.
35. Royal Commission on Ancient and Historical Monuments in Wales (1976). An Inventory of the Ancient Monuments in Glamorgan: pt. 1. pt. a. The early castles from the Norman Conquest to 1217. H.M.S.D. p. x. ISBN 978-0-11-300035-7.