August 20th in Welsh History
August 20th
As I’m in foreign climes-England-todays is a Welsh inspired one
The Black Death arrived in Wales in 1349, with the first recorded death being that of John le Strange at Whitchurch on 20th August 1349. By the end of August it was rife, wiping out approximately 25% of the population.
"Infinite were the Numbers of the foule, the Welsh men name Pengwin".
This is an entry dated 20th August 1578 from the logbook of Sir Francis Drake on board the Golden Hind as he sailed through the Magellan Strait, during his famous circumnavigation of the World. It gives the first record for the use of the word 'penguin'. Welsh crew members constructed the word from the Welsh words for white head, namely pen and gwyn. It is thought that the name was originally applied with an unfamiliar bird (possibly the Great Auk) and later became associated with the penguin.
The first National Eisteddfod of Wales in its current format was held at the Market Hall, Aberdare 20th-22nd August 1861. The event's venue, which alternates annually between north and south Wales, is considered to be Wales' most important cultural event. It is Europe's largest music and poetry festival and attracts around 160,000 people each year.
Hungary's unusual connection with Wales.
August 20th commemorates the foundation of the Hungarian state. It is also called as St. Stephen's Day, in memory of Stephen I, Hungary's first king and founder.
If you ask any Hungarian about Wales the first thing that is likely to come to their mind will be a poem, that everyone learns by heart at school, entitled 'The Bards of Wales', written by one of their most respected writers, Janos Arany in 1857.
Arany was asked to write a poem of praise for the visit of Franz Joseph I of Austria. Instead, as a metaphor to criticise the tyrannic Hapsburg rule over Hungary after the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, he wrote a poem about the tale of the 500 Welsh bards sent to the stake by Edward I of England for failing to sing his praises at a banquet in Montgomery Castle in 1277.
Arany wrote his own preface to the poem: “The historians doubt it, but it strongly stands in legend that Edward I of England sent 500 Welsh bards to the stake after his victory over the Welsh (1277) to prevent them from arousing the country and destroying English rule by telling of the glorious past of their nation.”
The Welsh composer Karl Jenkins composed a’ symphony based on the poem, which he conducted at its premier in Budapest’s Palace of Arts in 2001.
On 20th August 1881, The Sunday Closing (Wales) Act was passed. It prohibited the sale of alcohol on a Sunday in Wales.
This was the first Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom since the 1542 Act of Union whose application was restricted only to Wales.
William Gladstone's Liberal government passed the act which would change the culture and politics of Wales. It had been sponsored by the Welsh nonconformists in the Liberal party, such as Lloyd George and was not repealed until 1961.
Wales suffered its worst railway disaster to date on 20th August 1868 when the fastest train in the country, the Irish Mail, crashed into runaway goods wagons at Abergele. The wagons contained Cambrian oil, a type of paraffin used in miners' lamps, and within a few minutes of the collision the engine and its passenger carriages were consumed with flames; thirty-three people lost their lives.
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20 Aug 1969
After finishing ‘I Want You, (She’s So Heavy)', The Beatles worked on the running order for the Abbey Road album. A preliminary master tape was compiled, the medley was originally slated for side one of the album, and the placement of ‘Octopus's Garden’ and ‘Oh! Darling’ were reversed from the final version. The album was to end with the slashed guitar chord that finishes ‘I Want You (She's So Heavy)’. This was the last time all four Beatles were together in Abbey Road studios
As I’m in foreign climes-England-todays is a Welsh inspired one
The Black Death arrived in Wales in 1349, with the first recorded death being that of John le Strange at Whitchurch on 20th August 1349. By the end of August it was rife, wiping out approximately 25% of the population.
"Infinite were the Numbers of the foule, the Welsh men name Pengwin".
This is an entry dated 20th August 1578 from the logbook of Sir Francis Drake on board the Golden Hind as he sailed through the Magellan Strait, during his famous circumnavigation of the World. It gives the first record for the use of the word 'penguin'. Welsh crew members constructed the word from the Welsh words for white head, namely pen and gwyn. It is thought that the name was originally applied with an unfamiliar bird (possibly the Great Auk) and later became associated with the penguin.
The first National Eisteddfod of Wales in its current format was held at the Market Hall, Aberdare 20th-22nd August 1861. The event's venue, which alternates annually between north and south Wales, is considered to be Wales' most important cultural event. It is Europe's largest music and poetry festival and attracts around 160,000 people each year.
Hungary's unusual connection with Wales.
August 20th commemorates the foundation of the Hungarian state. It is also called as St. Stephen's Day, in memory of Stephen I, Hungary's first king and founder.
If you ask any Hungarian about Wales the first thing that is likely to come to their mind will be a poem, that everyone learns by heart at school, entitled 'The Bards of Wales', written by one of their most respected writers, Janos Arany in 1857.
Arany was asked to write a poem of praise for the visit of Franz Joseph I of Austria. Instead, as a metaphor to criticise the tyrannic Hapsburg rule over Hungary after the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, he wrote a poem about the tale of the 500 Welsh bards sent to the stake by Edward I of England for failing to sing his praises at a banquet in Montgomery Castle in 1277.
Arany wrote his own preface to the poem: “The historians doubt it, but it strongly stands in legend that Edward I of England sent 500 Welsh bards to the stake after his victory over the Welsh (1277) to prevent them from arousing the country and destroying English rule by telling of the glorious past of their nation.”
The Welsh composer Karl Jenkins composed a’ symphony based on the poem, which he conducted at its premier in Budapest’s Palace of Arts in 2001.
On 20th August 1881, The Sunday Closing (Wales) Act was passed. It prohibited the sale of alcohol on a Sunday in Wales.
This was the first Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom since the 1542 Act of Union whose application was restricted only to Wales.
William Gladstone's Liberal government passed the act which would change the culture and politics of Wales. It had been sponsored by the Welsh nonconformists in the Liberal party, such as Lloyd George and was not repealed until 1961.
Wales suffered its worst railway disaster to date on 20th August 1868 when the fastest train in the country, the Irish Mail, crashed into runaway goods wagons at Abergele. The wagons contained Cambrian oil, a type of paraffin used in miners' lamps, and within a few minutes of the collision the engine and its passenger carriages were consumed with flames; thirty-three people lost their lives.
……
20 Aug 1969
After finishing ‘I Want You, (She’s So Heavy)', The Beatles worked on the running order for the Abbey Road album. A preliminary master tape was compiled, the medley was originally slated for side one of the album, and the placement of ‘Octopus's Garden’ and ‘Oh! Darling’ were reversed from the final version. The album was to end with the slashed guitar chord that finishes ‘I Want You (She's So Heavy)’. This was the last time all four Beatles were together in Abbey Road studios
61-69, M
