The Cardiff Book of Days (14 page)

1951:
Speedway returned to Cardiff after an absence of twenty years thanks to the enterprise of Leslie Maidment, a Dorset garage proprietor, and Cardiff businessman Major A.J. Lennox. Twenty thousand fans attended the opening meeting in which the Cardiff Dragons lost to Rayleigh 52-56. The speedway stadium at Penarth Road was formally opened by the Deputy Lord Mayor of Cardiff, Alderman George Ferrier. A prominent member of the Cardiff Dragons team was Australian Mick Callaghan but he had to withdraw from the team after getting injured in a match against Long Eaton. Unfortunately, support for speedway in the area fell away after a promising start and the stadium closed after just a couple of seasons. (Stewart Williams,
Cardiff Yesterday
)

1927:
Keen to secure some of the traffic of migrants leaving South Wales in search of a new life in Canada, the Canadian Pacific Steamship Company made Cardiff a port of embarkation for outgoing passengers. The first of their ships to call at Cardiff was the
Montrose
. Cardiff shipping firm P&A Campbell took trippers from Cardiff out to meet her as she arrived from Liverpool. There were already emigrants from North Wales aboard and they were welcomed by the singing of Welsh hymns from the Campbells' steamer. The response of those on board was cries of ‘Play Up, City', a reference to Cardiff City's forthcoming appearance in the FA Cup Final. A special train from Paddington brought more migrants ready to set sail on the
Montrose
from the Queen Alexandra Dock, including a party of ‘young Empire settlers who have undertaken a course of training in farm work under a government scheme'. Other ships called at Cardiff, which was being promoted in the local press as ‘a second Liverpool' but the Great Western Railway's attempt to drum up the transatlantic passenger trade ended with the visit of the White Star Line's
Baltic
in August 1930. (John Richards,
Cardiff: A Maritime History
, The History Press, 2005)

1883:
Cardiff's Angel Hotel opened. It occupied a prime site overlooking Cardiff Castle and close to the Arms Park. During the First World War it was used by the United States Navy as its headquarters. Advertisements in
The Cardiff Blue Book
in the 1930s extolled its ‘American Bar & Snackery'. (Stewart Williams,
Cardiff Yesterday
)

1930:
Cliff Morgan, Cardiff, Wales and British Lions outside-half born at Trebannog, Rhondda. Morgan joined Cardiff Rugby Club straight from school. Blessed with natural balance and strength, astute line-kicking ability and quick acceleration, he won his first cap for Wales against Ireland in 1951. He was part of the Grand Slam-winning Welsh side of 1952 and became captain in 1956. After his retirement from the game he found a new career in broadcasting and became BBC Head of Sport and Outside Broadcasting in 1976. One of the original team captains on
A Question of Sport
, he died in 2010 at the age of 80. (T.D. Breverton,
The Welsh Almanac
, Glyndwr Publications, 2002 / Wikipedia)

1895:
Cardiff Councillor G. Beynon Harris proposed a motion permitting boating on Roath Park Lake on Sundays. A deputation of local Nonconformists protested against this idea and the motion was defeated. (Stewart Williams,
Cardiff Yesterday
)

1930:
Terry Nation, science fiction writer and creator of the Daleks in
Doctor Who
, was born in Cardiff. He devised the television series
Survivors
and
Blake's 7
, and wrote scripts for many others, including
The Avengers
,
The Champions
,
Department S
and
The Saint
. He died in Los Angeles in 1997. (T.D. Breverton,
The Welsh Almanac
, Glyndwr Publications, 2002 / Wikipedia)

1937:
The Cardiff-registered steamer
Neath Abbey
discharged a cargo at Alicante, having sailed from Rotterdam. Due to the high rates being paid to shipping companies prepared to risk sailing into the Spanish Civil War, this trip earned the Frederick Jones company a profit said to be equal to a whole year's earnings in normal times. The dangers were graphically illustrated on June 6th 1938 when another Cardiff ship, the
Winifred
, was bombed at the Alicante quayside. Five men were killed. The vessel was badly damaged and was towed to Marseilles where she was sold. (John Richards,
Cardiff: A Maritime History
, The History Press, 2005)

1928:
Twenty-five thousand spectators watched greyhound racing staged on Easter Monday at the Sloper Road track, nicknamed the ‘Welsh White City'. This was a big improvement on the ‘crowd' two days before when persistent rain meant that a mere 9,000 bothered to pay the 2
s
4
d
admission charge. It was at Sloper Road in 1930 that Mick the Miller, the first ‘celebrity greyhound' and still perhaps the most famous of all time, set a World Record of 29.55 seconds when winning the Welsh Greyhound Derby. Another well-known dog to race at Sloper Road – and also at the Arms Park – was Beef Cutlet, owned by Jane Merritt, daughter of the Cardiff City FC Chairman. Beef Cutlet won the 1933 Greyhound Derby in a time of 29.56 seconds and had won his first race at the inaugural race meeting at the Arms Park track in 1928, winning the Glamorgan Gold Cup (
see
May 26th). (T.D. Breverton,
The Welsh Almanac
, Glyndwr Publications, 2002)

1823:
The Bristol to Swansea steam packet service was introduced, the journey taking eight hours. For Cardiff passengers the boat stopped off at Sully Island and they were taken ashore on small boats. A direct service between Bristol and Cardiff started in 1834, using the paddle-steamer
Nautilus
. This killed off any passenger traffic via Sully and the Swansea boats began to call at Cardiff from February 1835. (John Richards,
Cardiff: A Maritime History
, The History Press, 2005)

1957:
Jacob Epstein's statue of ‘Christ in Majesty' in Llandaff Cathedral was consecrated and the nave rehallowed. The ceremonies marked the completion of work on the cathedral to repair the damage caused by wartime bombing. This strikingly piece of modern art on its parabolic arch, designed by George Pace to divide nave and choir without blocking the view, was extremely controversial at the time. Epstein considered it an act of faith: ‘If the Majestas were my last work I were ever to make, I would be content,' he said. ‘It is not to everyone's taste,' wrote Simon Jenkins in 2008. ‘Peter Sagar [
Pallas Guide: Wales
, 1991] calls it ‘murder in the cathedral' but it is a fine work, filling the building with a human presence'. (Llandaff Cathedral guidebook / Simon Jenkins,
Wales: Churches, Houses, Castles
, Allen Lane, 2008)

1932:
The inauguration of the Great Western Railway's air service from Cardiff to Haldon (for Exeter) and Roborough (Plymouth). Even allowing for the bus transfers at either end, this gave passengers a much shorter journey than the rail route via the Severn Tunnel but the cost was much greater, £3 single and £5 return. A three-engine Westland Wessex was chartered from Imperial Airways and painted in the GWR's chocolate-and-cream livery. There was only room for six passengers. Mail was carried from May 15th, a GWR air mail stamp (3
d
) being required in addition to the normal postage of 1½
d
. On the opening day of the service a special luncheon was held at Cardiff during which a message was read by Lord Londonderry, the Secretary of State for Air. After this the distinguished guests left for the airport at Pengam (
see
April 1st) to watch the first plane leave. Among those present was Mr S.B. Collett, the GWR Assistant Secretary. He was a qualified pilot whose brainchild the service was. Financially the venture was not a success. The GWR lost about £6,000 a year on it but it nevertheless lasted until the outbreak of the war. (Stewart Williams,
Cardiff Yesterday
)

1871:
The Cardiff Chief Constable's report for the previous Quarter reported that there had been a fall in the number of arrests compared to the same period in 1870 (226 as against 336), but there had been a larger number of convictions (200 to 177). Twenty-nine persons had been convicted of selling intoxicating drinks without a licence. Twenty-three brothel-keepers were summonsed. Most were convicted and many others had left the town. (E. Alwyn Benjamin,
Penarth 1841-71, A Glimpse of the Past
, D. Brown & Sons, 1980)