100 Welsh Heroes (1 Viewer)

[john davies]

Just to let you all know there's a current poll online to find "100 Welsh Heroes" at website by that name. You can vote in 5 categories (with further vote to find the top 10 later, once the 100 have been finalised.

Some suggestions:

Leaders: David Lloyd George, King Arthur, Henry V, Henry VII, Llywelyn ab Iowerth (the great), Neil Kinnock, Michael Heseltine, Roy Jenkins, Michael Howard, Hywel Dda (enlightened 10th century law-maker), John Prescott, Saunders Lewis, Gwynfor Evans

Thinkers: Bertrand Russell, Brian Josephson, Clive Granger (these 3 are Nobel prize-winners), Alfred Russel Wallace (originator of the theory of evolution by natural selection), Robert Owen (father of co-operative movement and modern Socialism), St David, St Patrick (from Wales), Richard Price, Rowan Williams (archbishop of Canterbury), Bishop William Morgan

Performers: Anthony Hopkins, Richard Burton, Catherine Zeta Jones, Tom Jones, Shirley Bassey, James Dean Bradfield (and Manic Street Preachers), John Cale, Bryn Terfel (Opera), Gareth Edwards (greatest ever Rugby player), Barry John (another Rugby genius) , Jimmy Wilde (possibly the world's greatest ever boxer pound for pound), John Charles (Soccer's gentle giant), Ryan Giggs, Tommy Cooper (comedian), Terry Jones (Monty Python)

Creative: Roald Dahl, Dylan Thomas, R.S.Thomas, Dafydd ap Gwilym (medieval poet), Kate Roberts (novelist), Gwen John (artist), Laura Ashley, Peter Greenaway (film director), Karl Jenkins (composer), Mary Quant, Clough Williams Ellis, Inigo Jones, John Nash (last 3 were architects)

Groundbreakers: Aneurin Bevan (National Health Service), T.E.Lawrence, Tanni Grey-Thomson (disabled athlete), Charles Rolls (Rolls-Royce), Princess Diana (of Wales), David Hughes (first radio transmission, invented microphone, teleprinter), Henry Morgan (pirate), Henry Stanley (explorer), Jemima Nicholas (heroine of French invasion at Fishguard in 1797), Donald Davies (internet pioneer), Robert Recorde (= sign), Richard Amerik (gave his name to America), Michael Jones (Patagonian Welsh colony)

You might get away with voting for Welsh Americans; Thomas Jefferson, D.W.Griffith, Frank Lloyd Wright, Daniel Boone, Bob Hope..

The more participants the merrier!

 

[CharlesD]

how about J.P.R. Williams?

 

[Keith Mickunas]

Was King Arthur real? I thought the stories about him were just myths. And wasn't a James Bond Welsh? Perhaps that was Timothy Dalton and I could see him not making the list.

Also, was Diana really Welsh? I thought as the wife of the heir to the throne she was made Princess of Wales. I suppose she could have also been Welsh, but I'm fairly certain the title was more of her position rather than any kind of birthright.

 

[john davies]

There was originally an Arthur, but of course all sort of legends were added onto the original already glamourised Welsh tales (based on a historical figure who was probably a Romano- Celtic chieftain at a time when Welsh was the language of England, Wales and Southern Scotland, and who apparently fought against the Saxon (i.e English) invader. I mention him to correct 1,000 years of Anglicising propaganda. Princess Di; you're right, but anyone who lays claim to a place you can be claimed in return!

I don't think Timothy Dalton quite belongs in such exalted company (Connery would have been a different matter). Some other Welsh filmstars; Jonathon Pryce, Ioan Gruffudd, Christian Bale, Stanley Baker, Ray Milland, Desmond Llewelyn (Q), Rhys Ifans..

I read somewhere that Bob Marley's father was Welsh, but am inclined to think he was more likely from Liverpool. It's sometimes difficult to be sure of the truth with the internet.

 

[Daren Welsh]

Pick me!