The Cardiff Book of Days

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The Cardiff Book of Days Page 22

by Mike Hall

1900: Mr Winston Churchill MP spoke at the Park Hotel, giving what the advertising poster promised would be a ‘deeply interesting lecture’ on ‘The War As I Saw It’. The war was the Boer War in which he had been actively involved. The event had been promoted by the Cardiff Naturalists Society. Reserved seats cost 7s 6d, other seats in the balcony were 5 shillings and unreserved seats downstairs cost 2 shillings. (Stewart Williams, Cardiff Yesterday)

  1934: Supported by many of their parents, pupils at schools in South Wales protested about being denied a day off to celebrate the wedding of Prince George and Princess Marina of Greece. (South Wales Echo)

  1973: Birth in Cardiff of Welsh international footballer Ryan Giggs, the son of Danny Wilson who played rugby for Cardiff before going north to play rugby league for Swinton. Giggs grew up in the Ely area, spending much of his childhood with his maternal grandparents. His career for Wales ended with his retirement from international football in 2009. (T.D. Breverton, The Welsh Almanac, Glyndwr Publications, 2002 / Wikipedia)

  November 30th

  2002: A Cardiff grandmother named as Britain’s Worst Driver admitted that the car that she won in a reality TV show went up in smoke the first time she drove it. Sixty-year-old Kay Brown thought she would be safe on the roads when she won the battery-operated vehicle with a maximum speed of just 30mph but disaster struck when she recharged the battery from her household electricity supply instead of using the special charger provided. However, she felt she was not as bad as fellow Cardiff motorist Maureen Rees, who found fame in the BBC Driving School programme. Maureen had spent £5,000 on driving lessons and finally passed her test on the eighth attempt. (Western Mail)

  2010: Public meetings were held around Cardiff to consult local residents about plans for new housing developments. There was a difficult balance to be struck between protecting green areas and the growing population’s need for homes. The Welsh Assembly’s planning officers had said that Cardiff’s refusal to release land for building meant the city could not provide the 27,000 extra homes the city would need by 2021. (South Wales Echo)

  December 1st

  1737: The first lighthouse was built on Flat Holm. Sixty soldiers had been drowned in a shipwreck there the previous year. The Bristol Society of Merchant Venturers agreed to support the petition of William Crispe, the tenant on the island, for permission to build one. To pay for its construction tolls were levied ‘for all Bristol ships to or from foreign ports one-and-a-half pence per ton inward and outward, according to their reports of tonnage at the custom house – and double these dues on foreign ships. For all coasting vessels to or from Ireland, one penny per ton; vessels from St David’s Head or Land’s End up the Bristol Channel (market boats excepted) one shilling for every voyage.’ Richards in Cardiff: A Maritime History writes that ‘before the compulsory registration of British vessels in 1786, Masters often swore that the tonnage of their vessels was less than the real figure in order to reduce the sum payable.’

  1886: The first passenger trains ran between Bristol and Cardiff through the new Severn Tunnel. There were ten trains on weekdays and three on Sundays. From July 1887 a through train between London and New Milford was introduced. (Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Western Main Lines: Swindon to Newport, Middleton Press, 2004)

  December 2nd

  1703: A great storm, which had wrecked hundreds of ships around the Welsh coast, finally blew itself out. It had started on November 24th and is regarded as the most severe ever recorded in the southern half of the British Isles. In Cardiff, there was structural damage to Llandaff Cathedral. (Wikipedia)

  1881: The death of William Burges (born in 1827), the architect responsible for the restoration of Cardiff Castle for John Ctichton-Stuart, the 3rd Marquis of Bute. His death came as his Gothic Revival style was already waning as an architectural fashion. Within twenty years his style was considered hopelessly old-fashioned. (Wikipedia)

  1914: The Lady Ismay, one of the Cardiff paddle-steamers fitted out for wartime service as minesweepers, was lost due to enemy action. (John Richards, Cardiff: A Maritime History, The History Press, 2005)

  2010: Campaigners handed in a petition signed by 2,000 people protesting against Viridor’s proposed waste incinerator at Splott. (South Wales Echo)

  December 3rd

  1360: Elizabeth de Burgh, Lady de Clare, bequeathed £6 to the two friaries in Cardiff. (William Rees, Cardiff: A History of the City, Cardiff Corporation, 1969)

  1969: Trolley-bus services in Cardiff came to an abrupt end. It had been intended that their last day should be on January 11th 1970 and preparations had been made for farewell events on that date but an industrial dispute involving staff at the Roath depot brought about their premature demise. They never returned to their regular routes but, in view of the national publicity given to the planned closure date, it was decided to go ahead with a ‘wake’ for the benefit of transport enthusiasts. A privately-owned trolleybus formerly in the Cardiff fleet ran a special service during the final week. This was augmented by some of the Corporation’s own vehicles on the 9th and 10th. Special tours operated on the 11th, after which the system was completely closed and the wires taken down. (Stewart Williams, Cardiff Yesterday)

  1971: The first 3 miles of the new A470 Cardiff to Merthyr trunk road opened between Manor Way and Nantgarw. (Stewart Williams, Cardiff Yesterday)

  December 4th

  1869: ‘A shocking accident happened to a guard on the Penarth Railway on Tuesday. James Long, one of the mineral guards, was engaged in his ordinary occupation, when he had occasion to go to the back of the tender of the engine. The engine at the time was travelling with the tender in the front. By some means, Long lost his footing and was struck by the firebox of the engine and mangled in the most frightful manner. As soon as possible the train was stopped and the body taken to the Penarth Dock Tipping Office but, almost before he reached it, the unfortunate man expired. At the inquest held the same afternoon a verdict of “accidental death” was returned. The deceased had only been married three months and leaves a young widow to lament his passing.’ (Report in the Cardiff Times, quoted in E. Alwyn Benjamin, Penarth 1841-71, A Glimpse of the Past, D. Brown & Sons, 1980)

  1960: Flooding hit the Canton area, much of which was under water for three days. The area around the St David’s Hospital was particularly badly hit. Cardiff Council lent its rowing boats from Roath Park to ferry staff to and from the hospital. The Arms Park was under 4ft of water and the Gabalfa estate was also badly affected. (Stewart Williams, Cardiff Yesterday)

  December 5th

  1951: The gates of the Sea Lock at the entrance to the Glamorganshire Canal collapsed during the night of the 5/6th, draining the canal and ending its useful life. There had been a swing bridge over the canal at James Street and a tunnel through which the canal ran under Queen Street. The tunnel was 115 yards long and 12ft 9in wide. There was a towpath for part of its length but for the rest the boatmen had to pull the boats through using chains on the tunnel walls. Meanwhile the horses would be led through the streets. The canal was recalled for BBC Wales by Glyn Williams of Perth, Western Australia, in April 2007. ‘We used to swim in it in summer, although it was full of detritus and black with coal dust. We also swam at the timber floats in Upper Bute Street. Sometimes we would lash timber together and go cruising down like latterday Huckleberry Finns,’ he said. ‘My cousin used to get pocket money from American servicemen during the war by getting them to throw silver coins from the bridge by the castle which he would retrieve for pocket money.’ (www.coflein.gov.uk / www.bbc.co.uk/wales)

  December 6th

  1777: A young carpenter who had come from twenty miles away to work at Cardiff Castle died of smallpox. The disease was gradually brought under control by the new technique of inoculation but at that time could only be afforded by the well-to-do such as the young wife of the Revd Wyndham Lewis of New House, Cardiff. (William Rees, Cardiff: A History of the City, Cardiff Corporation, 1969)

  1897: At a meeting of the B
orough Council it was resolved ‘to empower the Corporation to erect and maintain a Town Hall in Cathays Park’. Competing designs were put on display in the Assembly Room of the old town hall, which dated from 1849 and was between St Mary Street and Westgate Street. Between 1747 and 1860, the Town Hall had been in High Street. Fifty-six designs were submitted for the competition which was judged by Mr Alfred Waterhouse RA. The first prize of £500 was awarded to Lanchester, Stewart & Rickards, a London-based architectural partnership. (Stewart Williams, Cardiff Yesterday)

  December 7th

  2010: At a ceremony in the City Hall the Elizabeth Cross and Memorial Scroll was presented by the Welsh Lord Lieutenants to the relatives of thirteen servicemen from Wales who had been killed in action between 1951 and 2009. The ceremony was organized by the 160 (Wales) Brigade. Among those present were the parents and twin brother of Richjard Price from Rhiwbina, a trumpeter who had died when a bomb planted by the IRA exploded at the Royal Marines School of Music at Deal in Kent on September 22nd 1989. Richard’s parents, John and Maria Price, had set up an annual music award in his memory at the Welsh College of Music and Drama. Other soldiers from Cardiff commemorated at the ceremony were Pte Louis Whitmore of the Royal Leicestershire Regiment who died in Korea on November 17th 1951 and Corporal Robert Miller (Royal Marines) killed in Northern Ireland on August 17th 1978. (South Wales Echo)

  December 8th

  1884: ‘Cathays a few years ago consisted of three medium-sized streets, the whole population not numbering more than a thousand. Now the total population is probably not far short of 15,000. The religious wants of the people of the district have been fairly provided for – the Church of England, the Congregationalists, Baptists, Primitive Methodists, Bible Christians, Free Church of England and Wesleyan – having opened places of worship of a more or less pretentious character. But what has been done for the Civil government of the district? Very little indeed. If a row takes place and a policeman is wanted, it may be necessary to go to Roath Police Station before one can be found.’ (Cardiff Times)

  The southern half of the 500 acre Cathays Estate had been acquired some time after 1832 by the second Marquis of Bute and released for building development by his son from 1880. To the north lay The Heath, common land enclosed by 1801, of which Heath Park is all that remains. (John Newman, The Buildings of Wales: Glamorgan, Penguin, 1995)

  December 9th

  1879: ‘Hundreds of skaters again exercised themselves on the frozen surface of the River Taff below Cardiff Bridge. We regret to state that one fatal accident happened on the Old Glamorganshire Canal. A boy named Richard Deacon (7) ventured, it would seem, on an insecure portion of the ice, which had been partly broken for the purposes of traffic. His body was found at about half past two in the afternoon by a man named Darcy. Life was then extinct. The unfortunate lad resided with his parents in Frederica Street … The proprietor of the Roath Brickyard pond, a spot much frequented by skaters, obtained on Monday at the police court an occasional licence for the selling of ale… Mr and Mrs Chippendale’s specially organised comedy company commenced a six days’ engagement at the New Theatre Royal. Unfortunately, Mr Chippendale was unable to appear last evening due to an indisposition. We are glad to learn that the popular and veteran actor’s illness is not of a serious nature and that he will in all probability appear this evening.’ (Western Mail)

  December 10th

  1923: Local character George Lewis Norris died at Penarth. In his will, described by the Penarth News as ‘a quaint document’, he left £14,289 to the town. He left his gold watch and chain to be worn by the Council Chairman during his year of office and stipulated that two boxes of cigars and two boxes of cigarettes were to be kept in the Council Chamber for any member who wished to smoke. In his will he stated that, ‘I would punish all persons who in future buy German horseradish or Spanish onions’. He was buried in the churchyard of St Augustine’s and he asked that his tombstone should be inscribed: ‘Here lie the remains of G.L. Norris who lived and died the happiest man on earth, who was always busy doing good, advising and helping those in trouble. G.L. Norris never knew his advice to go wrong.’ However, in 1908 his election to the Town Council had been declared invalid after his defeated opponent claimed that he had bribed the voters by giving away bread, cakes and sweets (and threepenny bits to children) at the Lipton’s shop in the town. (Roy Thorne, Penarth: A History, Starling Press, 1975)

  December 11th

  1877: Patrons at the evening’s show, Scamps of London, did not know it but they were attending the last-ever performance at Cardiff’s Theatre Royal. At about 4 a.m. a passer-by noticed flames coming from the building and raised the alarm. It was later thought that straw used on stage in the production must have somehow ignited and smouldered away during the night. Things were not helped by the fact that the brigade was attending a fire in Canton and did not arrive on the scene for another forty minutes. The South Wales Daily News described how ‘the blaze of the conflagration was a striking sight, illuminating the whole neighbourhood and making a lurid glare in the sky.’ The fire was extinguished by 8.30 a.m. but by that time the much-loved theatre was a smouldering shell. The site remained derelict until 1895 when the Park Hotel was built there. (Stewart Williams, Cardiff Yesterday)

  1980: Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was guest of honour at the Council for British Industry dinner held in Cardiff. (Stewart Williams, Cardiff Yesterday)

  December 12th

  1965: The Beatles were on stage at the Capitol Cinema in Cardiff. It was the final night of what turned out to be their last British concert tour. The tour had begun in Glasgow on December 3rd and continued every night with shows in Newcastle, Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield, Birmingham, Hammersmith and Finsbury Park. Mark Lewisohn in The Complete Beatles Chronicle commented, ‘Viewed with hindsight the fact that something was amiss in the Beatles’ attitude was obvious. The first date of the tour coincided with the release of their suberb new album “Rubber Soul” – yet on the tour they performed just two numbers from it, “Nowhere Man” and “If I Needed Someione”. Granted, it would have been difficult for them, in those days of primitive equipment, to reproduce on stage the increasingly unusual and multi-tracked sounds they were now concocting inside the recording studio. Difficult but not impossible. The Beatles didn’t bother – after all, what was the point? No one wanted to listen. They only wanted to scream.’

  December 13th

  1832: Lord Patrick Stuart, MP for Cardiff 1818-20 and 1826-32, who got 191 votes, lost in the Election to John Nicholl (342 votes). This was the first poll held after the great Reform Act and the only time that a member of the Bute family lost a Cardiff election. (W.R. Williams, ‘Members of Parliament for Cardiff’)

  1997: Gwyn Jones, who two weeks before had led Wales in their 7-42 defeat by New Zealand, was injured in a game between Cardiff and Swansea. His severe spinal injury brought to an end a rugby career that had promised much. Wales’s loss was immense, especially as it came at a time when Welsh rugby was experiencing great difficulties. (Steve Lewis, The Priceless Gift: 125 Years of Welsh Rugby Captains, Mainstream, 2005)

  2009: In the final week of his morning show on Radio 2, Terry Wogan was proclaimed Lord of Splott by fellow broadcaster Noreen Bray, on behalf of TAFFS (‘Terry’s Adoring Fans From Splott’) This honour came about because the traffic news on the show were read by Splott-born Lynn Bowler which resulted in listeners contributing (usually fictitious) anecdotes about the place. (South Wales Echo)

  December 14th

  1965: Secretary of State for Wales, James Griffiths, said that he accepted the principle of equal validity for the Welsh language in Wales, opening the way for bi-lingual road signs and official forms, but he did not want to see language dividing the nation as had happened elsewhere or any antagonism to the majority who were not Welsh-speaking. Some campaigners felt this did not go far enough and the next twenty years saw the painting out of English place-names on road signs and the formation of the Fr
ee Wales Army. In the 1980s arsonists targeted English-owned holiday cottages. In March 2011 two signs welcoming visitors to ‘Llandaff’ were removed after Welsh-language activists insisted that there was only one ‘f’ in Llandaf. The otherwise-bilingual signs, which had cost the Llandaff Society £2,000, used the English spelling only. Sixteen people complained to Cardiff Council. They insisted that if only one spelling of the name was to be included, it should be the Welsh version. Overnight the signs were removed, just a week after their unveiling. (John Humphries, Freedom Fighters: Wales’ Forgotten War, 1963-1993, University of Wales, 2008 / www.yourcardiff.walesonline.co.uk)

  December 15th

  2010: Children from Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Plasmawr were recovering after their school bus collided with a tree in Waterhall Road. Thirteen year-old Becca Morrell of Pontcanna told the South Wales Echo, ‘it was very frightening. A branch dangling over the road crashed into the bus windows. There was a lot of screaming.’ In June 2001 twenty-two pupils from the school had been injured in a similar accident.

  2010: It was announced that the medals for the 2012 London Olympics would be made at the Royal Mint at Llantrisant. About 4,700 medals would be required. The Mint’s Chief Operating Officer, Adam Lawrence, told the South Wales Echo that the decision was ‘great news’ for the company’s 800 employees. London 2012 Chief Executive, Paul Deighton, said, ‘we are delighted to be working with the Royal Mint, a company established in the UK for 1,100 years, to produce the 2012 victory medals.’

 

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