The Cardiff Book of Days (50 page)

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)

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
)

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)

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
)

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.'

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
)

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 Free 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
)

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.'

In 2011 a series of programmes about life at the Mint was shown on BBC Wales television.

1905:
In what many consider to be the greatest rugby match ever played in Cardiff, Wales beat the New Zealand All Blacks 3-0. At the suggestion of Llywnypia solicitor Tom Williams, in a letter to the
Western Mail
, the singing of the Welsh national anthem was introduced as a riposte to the traditional All Black challenge of the ‘Haka'. The band of the 2
^nd
Battalion. Welch Regiment played before the teams came onto the pitch and struck up with ‘Men of Harlech' as the All Blacks took the field. Immediately after the Haka the Welsh players gathered in the centre of the pitch and sang ‘Hea Wlad fy Nhadau'. The crowd joined in heartily and the most famous and revered tradition of Welsh rugby internationals was born. In 2006 the New Zealanders reacted badly when, at the Millennium Stadium on November 25th, Wales intended to repeat this response to the challenge. In a spat over the order of Haka and anthem, the All Blacks chose to perform the Haka privately in the safety of their own dressing room. On this occasion New Zealand had a very comfortable 45-10 victory. (Steve Lewis,
The Priceless Gift: 125 Years of Welsh Rugby Captains
, Mainstream, 2005 /
www.news.co.uk/sport
)