The Cardiff Book of Days (32 page)

1944:
Major Tusker Watkins from Cardiff was awarded the Victoria Cross for his gallantry at Barfour, Normandy. Watkins and his unit came under fire while advancing through booby-trapped cornfields. The only remaining officer, he led a bayonet charge against fifty enemy infantry and practically wiped them out. He then ordered his men to scatter and, after charging a machine-gun post and putting it out of action, he returned them to safety. Not only did Watkins save his men but he single-handedly altered the course of the battle. (John O'Sullivan & Bryn Jones,
Cardiff: A Centenary Celebration
, The History Press, 2005)

1966:
Glamorgan's last County Championship match at the Arms Park ended in defeat by Somerset. Many of the players were sorry to leave the old ground with all its memories. Being so near the city centre, the crowd would be swelled around one o'clock by office workers enjoying the cricket in their lunch break. For this reason, the lunch interval in games at the Arms Park did not happen until 2 p.m. Work had already begun on Glamorgan's new stadium at Sophia Gardens with a few games being played to test out the new square. (Andrew Hignell,
From Sophia to Swalec: A History of Cricket in Cardiff
, The History Press, 2008)

1860:
The Times
reported Rifle Shooting competitions at Cardiff, held to promote the recruitment of Volunteers. Cragoe and Williams in
Wales and War
point out that ‘the public gaze was an essential element in promoting decorous behaviour among the Volunteers. This was particularly true of the gaze of female spectators, who were not to be shocked or scandalised by their actions as they might have been by the notoriously less-restrained behaviour of regular soldiers.'

1915:
Under the Defence of the Realm Act, severe restrictions on licensing hours were imposed in militarily-important areas, which in South Wales included Cardiff, Barry and Newport. This was not popular with drinkers – many of whom made their way to smaller towns just outside the exclusion zones – or with the brewers and publicans. W.H. Brain called it ‘a great blow to trade' and Harry Prickett of the Cardiff Licensed Victuallers Association said it spelt ‘absolute ruin'. George Westlake of the South Wales Brewers Association blamed ‘fanatical teetotallers pushing their fiendish propaganda'. (Brian Glover,
The Prince of Ales: The History of Brewing in Wales
, Alan Sutton, 1993)

1952:
The transmitter at Wenvoe came into service bringing television to parts of Wales and South West England. As with Cardiff's first radio station (5WA), attempts were made to cover the two contrasting areas – to the dissatisfaction of both. It was not until 1964 that BBC Wales was given separate programmes. The same thing happened with Independent Television which began in the late fifties. Television Wales and West (TWW) and later Harlech Television (HTV) struggled with unrealistic ‘dual-franchises'. A short-lived and financially unsuccessful Welsh TV company was Wales West & North (WWN) (1961-2), born out of the discontent felt locally at the lack of attention paid to Welsh needs by TWW and the BBC. WWN promised that it would show Welsh programmes in peak viewing hours (but
see
November 27th). (Geraint Talfain Davies, ‘The Capital Makes News' in Stewart Williams (ed.)
The Cardiff Book, Vol.2
, 1974)

1822:
The Cradock Wells Trust was established in Cardiff to provide education for ‘twelve necessitous children', six boys and six girls. For their subsequent apprenticeships awards of £10 for boys and £5 for girls were to be made for ‘the purchase of necessary books and clothing'. The Master and Mistress of the school were to be paid ‘a reasonable allowance, this not to exceed half the income of the Trust'. (William Rees,
Cardiff: A History of the City
, Cardiff Corporation, 1969)

1945:
‘The ‘Pay As You Enter' system will operate on services between Victoria Park and Ely only. The “ticket issue” method will be maintained on all buses operating the through service between the GWR (General) Station and Ely. In consequence of the operation of PAYE on the Victoria Park to Ely section, certain fares will be reduced. Tickets will not be used; change will not be given. Passengers must have the exact fare of One Penny ready before boarding.' (Leaflet issued by Cardiff Corporation Transport.) In 1950 heavy losses caused by the low flat-fares on these routes led to the abandonment of the PAYE scheme. (Stewart Williams,
Cardiff Yesterday
)

1834:
‘First day of the Eisteddfod at Cardiff. The scene of the bardic meeting was an enclosure in the castle yard, covered with an awning. It nearly touched the fine old keep. Lord Bute presided and opened with one of the clumsiest addresses I have ever heard. Then came a very clever and eloquent clergyman by the name of Price. He spoke admirably in praise of the ancient Welsh. One of the reciting bards was the toll keeper at Cowbridge; several were common labourers. The chief bard was adjudged to be Taliesen (something-or-other) Williams. He was placed in a great antique chair crowned with laurel; he was a clever and interesting young man. I was much pleased with the blind old minstrel (Richard Roberts) from Caernarvon who played several airs beautifully on the harp. Two minstrels had walked 150 miles to come to the Eisteddfod. The delight of the day was some awful howling which they called “singing after the manner of Gwent and Dyfed”. It was irresistibly absurd and anything but a musical treat.' (M.G.R. Morris (ed.),
Romilly's Visits to Wales 1827-1854
, Gomer Press, 1998)

1834:
‘Today the silver harps were contended for. We all rejoiced greatly at a blind youth being the victor. A beautiful little boy of four, named John Manuel, was exhibited to us. He reads fluently Hebrew, Greek, Latin and Welsh and does it equally well when the book is upside down. One of the planks in the hustings gave way and frightened Lady Bute prodigiously (she is an invalid), however nobody was hurt. The victors received their prizes from the hands of Lord and Lady Bute and other grandees, to the sound of trumpets.' (M.G.R. Morris (ed.),
Romilly's Visits to Wales 1827-1854
, Gomer Press, 1998)

1869:
‘We teach every child that prevention is better than cure, and then license by tens of thousands houses that foster every vice and crime, and then forthwith go and spend no end of gold to cure the evils produced. This is not a question of total abstinence; it is a question of order and peace, of decency and morals. Our streets are disgraced with immorality. Dirt and debt, disease and degradation, vice and villainy, murder and death, stalk around us, all fed from these public houses.' (Revd C.W.L. Christien in a letter to the
Cardiff Times
, quoted in E. Alwyn Benjamin,
Penarth 1841-71, A Glimpse of the Past
, D. Brown & Sons, 1980)

1651:
Reverend Christopher Love (born in Cardiff in 1618) was beheaded at Tower Hill for allegedly corresponding with the exiled Charles II in a plot to raise money to further his restoration to the throne. (
www.apuritansmind.com
)

1834:
‘I went to Cardiff with the High Sheriff and drove back in Mr Conybeare's phaeton in the pouring rain. Dinner with Lord Bute: He is very nearly blind and not as clever as the bats, for in introducing us to Lady Bute he ran against and upset a chair.' (M.G.R. Morris (ed.),
Romilly's Visits to Wales 1827-1854
, Gomer Press, 1998)

1870:
The death of Jeremiah Box Stockdale, first Chief Constable of the Cardiff Police, best-known for his arrest in 1839 of the Chartist leader Zephaniah William (
see
November 23rd). He had been on holiday in Metz when foreign nationals were ordered to leave for their own safety at the onset of the Franco-Prussian War. He became ill at Dover and was brought home to Cardiff, where he died. A ‘Stockdale Memorial Fountain' was put up in Adamsdown Square but it was removed in 1939 as a potential danger in the blackout – and fell to pieces. (
www.southwalespolicemuseum.org.uk
)