1954 in Wales

Centuries:	18th; 19th; 20th; 21st;
Decades:	1930s; 1940s; 1950s; 1960s; 1970s;
See also:	List of years in Wales; 1954 in The United Kingdom Ireland Scotland

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1954 to Wales and its people.

Incumbents

Prince of Wales – vacant
Princess of Wales – vacant
Archbishop of Wales – John Morgan, Bishop of Llandaff
Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales – Dyfnallt

Events

1 April – Civilian flights from the old Cardiff Municipal Airport at Pengam Moors are transferred to the new Cardiff Airport near Rhoose.
29 May – Gwyneth Phillips marries John Dunwoody, continuing a dynasty of Labour politicians.[1]
19 June – The Welsh Chess Union is founded.[2]
October – Launch of the Empire News, the first Sunday newspaper to be printed and published in Wales.[3]
19 October – Gwilym Lloyd George becomes Home Secretary[4] and Minister for Welsh Affairs – the first Welshman to hold the position.
9 December – Flag of the Church in Wales officially inaugurated.[5]

Arts and literature

Awards

National Eisteddfod of Wales (held in Ystradgynlais)
National Eisteddfod of Wales: Chair – John Evans, "Yr Argae"[6]
National Eisteddfod of Wales: Crown – E. Llwyd Williams, "Y Bannau"[7]
National Eisteddfod of Wales: Prose Medal – Owen Elias Roberts, Y Gor o Ystradgynlais[8]

New books

Dannie Abse – Ash on a Young Man's Sleeve[9]
Kingsley Amis – Lucky Jim
Glyn Daniel – Welcome Death
Margiad Evans – The Nightingale Silenced (unpublished)[10]
Ronald Fenton – The Story of Sker House[11]
Eiluned Lewis – Honey Pots and Brandy Bottles
V. E. Nash-Williams – The Roman Frontier in Wales
Bertrand Russell – Nightmares of Eminent Persons and Other Stories
Dylan Thomas – Quite Early One Morning

Music

Geraint Evans stars in William Walton's new opera, Troilus and Cressida.
Alun Hoddinott – Clarinet Concerto (performed at the Cheltenham Festival by Gervase de Peyer with the Hallé Orchestra under Sir John Barbirolli).
Arwel Hughes – Menna (opera)
Daniel Jones – Symphony no 4

Film

Donald Houston co-stars in Doctor in the House.
Ray Milland stars in Dial M for Murder.
The Black Knight, starring Alan Ladd, is partly filmed at Castell Coch.[12]

Broadcasting

25 January – Under Milk Wood is performed for the first time on BBC radio with an all-Welsh cast led by Richard Burton.[13]

Sport

Football – John Charles finishes the 1953–54 season having scored 42 goals for Leeds United.
Rugby union – Wales win the Five Nations Championship, but a loss against England prevents Wales lifting the Triple Crown.
BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year – Ken Jones

Births

5 January – Elgan Rees, Wales international rugby player[14]
6 January – John Sparkes, comedian
21 January – Tony Ridler, darts player
12 March – Chris Needs, broadcaster
13 March – Francis Ormsby-Gore, 6th Baron Harlech
17 March – Trish Law, born Patricia Bolter, AM, politician
6 April – Alan Curtis, footballer
19 April – Jon Owen Jones, politician
23 May – David Richards, Wales international rugby player
28 May – Gwyn Morgan, writer
9 June
- Paul Chapman, rock guitarist
- Rhys Morgan, Wales international rugby player
7 July – Mickey Thomas, Welsh international footballer
August – Ceri Sherlock, filmmaker and theatre director[15]
27 August – Bryn Fôn, singer and actor
12 September – Sir Michael Moritz, businessman and philanthropist
19 September – Mark Drakeford, politician[16]
24 September – Helen Lederer, comedian and actress
25 September – Gareth Thomas, politician
12 October – Keith Griffiths, architect
13 October – Kim Davies, cricketer
14 October – Lowri Gwilym, television and radio producer
13 November – Les Keen, Wales international rugby player

Deaths

12 January – Thomas Brinsmead Williams, cricketer, 69
6 March – William Davies Thomas, academic, 74
25 March – William Jackson, footballer, 78
10 April – Harry Hiams, rugby union international, 67
6 May – J. J. Williams, poet and archdruid, 84
15 June
- William Ewart Berry, 1st Viscount Camrose, 74[17]
- Charles Edwards, politician, 87
10 July – Jack Anthony, jockey, 64[18]
10 August – Ernest Morgan, architect and painter, 72/73[19]
29 September – William John Gruffydd, author and politician, 73[20]
31 October – Rhys Davies, trade unionist and politician, 77[21]
8 November – Sir Geoffrey Crawshay, soldier and social benefactor, 62[22]
3 December – Sir Joseph Davies, statistician and Liberal politician, 87
14 December – Cliff Pritchard, Welsh international rugby player, 73
20 December – Frank Connah, hockey player, 70
22 December – Robert Richards, Welsh politician, 70

References

Lawrence Goldman (7 March 2013). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography 2005-2008. OUP Oxford. p. 337. ISBN 978-0-19-967154-0.
The British Chess Magazine. Trubner & Company. 1954.
Fleet Street Annual. 1954.
Richard Lamb (1987). The failure of the Eden Government. Sidgwick & Jackson.
E. M. C. Barraclough; William G. Crampton; Frederick Edward Hulme (1978). Flags of the world. F. Warne. p. 30.
"Winners of the Chair". National Eisteddfod of Wales. Retrieved 7 November 2019.
"Winners of the Crown". National Eisteddfod of Wales. Retrieved 7 November 2019.
"Winners of the Prose Medal". National Eisteddfod of Wales. Retrieved 7 November 2019.
"Dannie Abse - obituary". The Telegraph. 28 September 2014. Retrieved 31 August 2018.
Barbara Prys-Williams (2004). Twentieth-century Autobiography. University of Wales Press. ISBN 978-0-7083-1891-1.
Meic Stephens (April 1986). The Oxford companion to the literature of Wales. Oxford University Press. p. 197.
Cadwm Heritage in Wales, no 32, p7
Richard Hughes in Thomas D.N. (2004) Dylan Remembered 1935-1953 p75 Seren, and also Hughes' review of Under Milk Wood in the Sunday Times, March 7 1954.
Peter Jackson (1998). Lions of Wales: A Celebration of Welsh Rugby Legends. Mainstream. p. 214. ISBN 978-1-84018-026-8.
"Ceri Sherlock - Cardiff - Training". CheckCompany. Retrieved 3 October 2018.
"Drakeford, Mark". Who's Who 2019. Oxford University Press. 1 December 2018. Retrieved 6 December 2018.
G.E. Cokayne; with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, editors, The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, new ed., 13 volumes in 14 (1910-1959; reprint in 6 volumes, Gloucester, U.K.: Alan Sutton Publishing, 2000), volume XIII, page 294.
"Welsh steeplechase jockeys – Jack Anthony..." Cowbridge Gem. 31 August 2015. Retrieved 17 March 2019.
"London Gazette, no 40269" (PDF). The Gazette. Retrieved 18 March 2019.
Thomas Parry. "Gruffydd, William John (1881-1954), scholar, poet, critic and editor". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 17 March 2019.
Walter Thomas Morgan. "Davies, Rhys John (1877 - 1954), politician and trade union official". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 17 March 2019.
L. N. Hopper. "Crawshay, Sir Geoffrey Cartland Hugh (1892-1954), soldier and social benefactor". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 17 March 2019.

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[1] Lawrence Goldman (7 March 2013). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography 2005-2008. OUP Oxford. p. 337. ISBN 978-0-19-967154-0.

[2] The British Chess Magazine. Trubner & Company. 1954.

[3] Fleet Street Annual. 1954.

[4] Richard Lamb (1987). The failure of the Eden Government. Sidgwick & Jackson.

[5] E. M. C. Barraclough; William G. Crampton; Frederick Edward Hulme (1978). Flags of the world. F. Warne. p. 30.

[6] "Winners of the Chair". National Eisteddfod of Wales. Retrieved 7 November 2019.

[7] "Winners of the Crown". National Eisteddfod of Wales. Retrieved 7 November 2019.

[8] "Winners of the Prose Medal". National Eisteddfod of Wales. Retrieved 7 November 2019.

[9] "Dannie Abse - obituary". The Telegraph. 28 September 2014. Retrieved 31 August 2018.

[10] Barbara Prys-Williams (2004). Twentieth-century Autobiography. University of Wales Press. ISBN 978-0-7083-1891-1.

[Stephens1986-11] Meic Stephens (April 1986). The Oxford companion to the literature of Wales. Oxford University Press. p. 197.

[12] Cadwm Heritage in Wales, no 32, p7

[13] Richard Hughes in Thomas D.N. (2004) Dylan Remembered 1935-1953 p75 Seren, and also Hughes' review of Under Milk Wood in the Sunday Times, March 7 1954.

[14] Peter Jackson (1998). Lions of Wales: A Celebration of Welsh Rugby Legends. Mainstream. p. 214. ISBN 978-1-84018-026-8.

[15] "Ceri Sherlock - Cardiff - Training". CheckCompany. Retrieved 3 October 2018.

[16] "Drakeford, Mark". Who's Who 2019. Oxford University Press. 1 December 2018. Retrieved 6 December 2018.

[17] G.E. Cokayne; with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, editors, The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, new ed., 13 volumes in 14 (1910-1959; reprint in 6 volumes, Gloucester, U.K.: Alan Sutton Publishing, 2000), volume XIII, page 294.

[18] "Welsh steeplechase jockeys – Jack Anthony..." Cowbridge Gem. 31 August 2015. Retrieved 17 March 2019.

[19] "London Gazette, no 40269" (PDF). The Gazette. Retrieved 18 March 2019.

[20] Thomas Parry. "Gruffydd, William John (1881-1954), scholar, poet, critic and editor". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 17 March 2019.

[21] Walter Thomas Morgan. "Davies, Rhys John (1877 - 1954), politician and trade union official". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 17 March 2019.

[22] L. N. Hopper. "Crawshay, Sir Geoffrey Cartland Hugh (1892-1954), soldier and social benefactor". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 17 March 2019.