Portal:Wales/Selected biography
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Selected biographies list[edit]
Portal:Wales/Selected biography/1
Daniel Leon "Danny" Gabbidon (born 8 August 1979 in Cwmbran, Wales) is a Welsh professional footballer currently playing for West Ham United and for Wales. He plays at centre half. Gabbidon began his career at West Bromwich Albion, joining as an apprentice in November 1996 before turning professional in July 1998. He made his Albion début in a 1–0 home defeat against Ipswich Town on 20 March 1999 and, utilised as a right-back, he went on to make 27 appearances for West Brom in all competitions. Following the appointment of Gary Megson as manager towards the end of the 1999–2000 season, Gabbidon failed to keep his place in the team. Megson switched to a 5-3-2 formation, signing Des Lyttle to fill the right-wingback position. Gabbidon joined Cardiff City on a one-month loan at the start of the 2000–01 season.
Gabbidon signed a permanent four-year deal with Cardiff City in September 2000, for a fee of up to £500,000 depending on appearances and future honours. His performances in the 2001–02 season helped Cardiff to the Division 2 play-offs, saw him make his senior international debut for Wales in March 2002 and win the Welsh clubman of the year award in October 2002. He signed an extension to his contract in April 2002, saying that it was the prospect of exciting times ahead that had persuaded him to do so.
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Alfred Ernest Jones (1 January 1879 – 11 February 1958) was a Welsh neurologist, psychoanalyst and Sigmund Freud’s official biographer. As the first English-language practitioner of psychoanalysis and as President of both of the British Psycho-Analytical Society and the International Psychoanalytic Association in the 1920s and 1930s, Jones exercised unmatched influence in the establishment of its organisations, institutions and publications in the English-speaking world. After obtaining his medical degrees Jones specialised in neurology and took a number of posts in London Hospitals. It was through his association with the surgeon Wilfred Trotter that Jones recalled first hearing of Freud’s work. Having worked together as surgeons at University College Hospital they had become close friends, with Trotter taking the role of mentor and confidant to his younger colleague. They had in common a wide-ranging interest in philosophy and literature, as well as a growing interest in Continental psychiatric literature and the new forms of clinical therapy it surveyed. By 1905 they were sharing accommodation above Harley Street consulting rooms with Jones’s sister, Elizabeth ( later to become Trotter’s wife), installed as housekeeper. Jones, appalled at what he had seen of the institutionalised treatment of the "insane", began experimenting with hypnotic techniques in his clinical work.
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Ryan Joseph Giggs OBE (born Ryan Joseph Wilson on 29 November 1973) is a Welsh professional footballer. He plays as a left winger for Manchester United, and is the most decorated player in the history of English football. He made his first appearance for the club during the 1990–91 season, and holds the club records for competitive appearances and team trophies won by a player (23). Since 1992, he has collected 11 Premier League winner's medals, four FA Cup winner's medals, three League Cup winner's medals and two Champions League winner's medals. He is the only player to have played and scored in every season of the Premier League, and is the first player in UEFA Champions League history to have scored in 11 successive seasons. At the 2008 UEFA Champions League Final, held on 21 May 2008, Giggs surpassed Sir Bobby Charlton's record of 758 appearances for Manchester United to become the club's all-time leader in appearances.
At international level, Giggs played for the Welsh national team prior to his retirement from international football on 2 June 2007, and was once the youngest player ever to represent Wales. He was appointed an OBE in the Queen's 2007 Birthday Honours List, and was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame in 2005. He was named as BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 2009. On 31 January 2011, Giggs was named Manchester United's greatest ever player.
Portal:Wales/Selected biography/4
Manic Street Preachers (known colloquially as the "Manics") are a Welsh rock band, consisting of James Dean Bradfield (lead vocals, guitar), Nicky Wire (bass guitar, vocals) and Sean Moore (drums, vocals). Co-lyricist and guitarist Richey James Edwards (Richey James, as he preferred to be known) mysteriously disappeared in 1995; his whereabouts are unknown.
The band are often associated with the Britpop scene, and gained mainstream popularity in the UK in the late 1990s. They are known for their intelligent and often political lyrics and have a dedicated following. Although during the early part of their career they were regarded as a punk rock band, their music is now often generally regarded as alternative rock, due to changes in their sound. Politically, the Manics appear as a socialist group – a stance inflected by their working class upbringing in Blackwood, Caerphilly, South Wales (they grew up during the miners' strike of the 1980s) as shown by their often highly politicised lyrics and actions (they once dedicated an award to Arthur Scargill, leader of the National Union of Mineworkers and later the Socialist Labour Party). The band also played a highly publicised gig in Cuba as guests of President Fidel Castro.
Portal:Wales/Selected biography/5
Maxwell Boyce, MBE, (born 7 September 1945 in Glynneath) is a Welsh comedian, singer and former coal miner. He rose to fame in the United Kingdom during the mid-1970s with an act that combined musical comedy with his passion for rugby union and his origins in the mining communities of South Wales. Having sold more than two million albums in a career spanning four decades, and playing to full houses all around the world, Boyce is one of the most successful and enduring entertainers in Welsh history. Max Boyce has always lived in the town of Glynneath, but his family were originally from Ynyshir in the Rhondda Valley. Within days of Boyce's birth, his father died in an explosion in the coal pit where he was working. At the age of fifteen, Boyce left school, went to live with his grandfather, and followed his father's footsteps by working in a colliery "for nearly eight years". In his early twenties, he managed to find work in a factory instead, but his earlier mining experiences were to influence his music considerably in later years.
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Owain Lawgoch, (English: "Owain of the Red Hand", French: "Yvain de Galles"), full name Owain ap Thomas ap Rhodri (c. 1330 - July 1378), was a Welsh soldier who served in Spain, France, Alsace and Switzerland. He led a Free Company fighting for the French against the English in the Hundred Years' War. As the last politically active descendant of Llywelyn the Great in the male line, he was a claimant to the title of Prince of Gwynedd and of Wales.
Following the death of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd in 1282, Gwynedd along with the remainder of Wales came under the rule of the king of England. Llywelyn's daughter Gwenllian ferch Llywelyn was committed to a nunnery at Sempringham, while the sons of his brother Dafydd ap Gruffydd were kept in Bristol castle until their deaths. Another of Llywelyn's brothers, Rhodri ap Gruffydd, spent much of his life in England. By his second wife, Katherine, he had a son, Thomas, the father of Owain. Rhodri was content to end his life as a country gentleman in England, and though his son Thomas ap Rhodri used the four lions of Gwynedd on his seal he made no attempt to win his inheritance.
Portal:Wales/Selected biography/7
David Watts Morgan CBE DSO JP (18 December 1867 – 23 February 1933) was a Welsh trade unionist, a Labour politician, and a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1918 to 1933, described as "[straddling] the transition in south Wales miners' politics from Lib-Labism to socialism, but ... never fully representative of either".
Born in Skewen in 1867, Morgan began to work in coal mines from the age of eleven. He was elected unopposed to Glamorgan County Council in 1902, in which year he also joined the newly-founded South Wales Miners' Federation. He enlisted in 1914, and encouraged Rhondda miners to enlist in the army in 1914 following the outbreak of the First World War, for which he was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire. He initially served in the Welsh Regiment, before becoming a lieutenant-colonel in the Labour Corps. Morgan was awarded the Distinguished Service Order for bravery at the Battle of Cambrai in 1917, earning him the nickname Dai Alphabet in South Wales. In February 1918, he was selected as the Labour candidate for the newly formed Rhondda East constituency, and was returned again in the 1922, 1923 and 1931 general elections.
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Guto Pryderi Puw (born 1971) is a Welsh composer, university lecturer and conductor. He is considered to be one of the most promising Welsh composers of his generation and a key figure in current Welsh music. Puw's music has been broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and been featured on television programmes for the BBC and S4C. He has twice been awarded the Composer's Medal at the National Eisteddfod.
Puw's works include pieces for unusual combinations of instruments, such as a tuba quartet or a trio consisting of harp, cello and double-bass, as well as more traditional forces such as solo baritone and piano, choir or orchestra. He was associated with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales as its Resident Composer, the first holder of this title, from 2006 to 2009. Puw wrote an oboe concerto as part of this association, and his latest composition for the orchestra was premiered at the 2007 Proms. Puw's own Welsh identity is a recurrent theme in his music: some of his pieces set Welsh-language poetry to music and one of his pieces, Reservoirs, is written about the flooding of Welsh valleys to provide water for England.
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Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins, CBE (born 31 December 1937), best known as Anthony Hopkins, is a Welsh-born, naturalized American actor of film, stage and television. Considered to be one of the greatest living actors, Hopkins is perhaps best known for his portrayal of cannibalistic serial killer Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs (for which he received the Academy Award for Best Actor), its sequel Hannibal, and its prequel Red Dragon. Other prominent film credits include The Lion in Winter, Magic, The Elephant Man, 84 Charing Cross Road, Dracula, Legends of the Fall, The Remains of the Day, Amistad, Nixon, and Fracture.
Hopkins was born and brought up in Margam, Port Talbot. He became a U.S. citizen on 12 April 2000, retaining his British citizenship. Hopkins' films have spanned a wide variety of genres, from family films to horror. As well as his Academy Award, Hopkins has also won three BAFTA Awards, two Emmys, a Golden Globe and a Cecil B. DeMille Award. Hopkins was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1993 for services to the arts. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2003, and was made a Fellow of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts in 2008.
Portal:Wales/Selected biography/10
Rowan Douglas Williams, DD, DCL, PC, FBA (born 14 June 1950 in Swansea, Wales) is the 104th and current Archbishop of Canterbury, Metropolitan of the Province of Canterbury and Primate of All England. Williams was born in Swansea, Wales, into a Welsh-speaking family. He was educated at Dynevor School, Swansea; Christ's College, Cambridge, where he studied theology; and Wadham College, Oxford, where he took his DPhil in 1975. He lectured at the College of the Resurrection in Mirfield, West Yorkshire for two years. In 1977 he returned to Cambridge to teach theology, first at Westcott House, having been ordained deacon in Ely cathedral that year and was ordained priest in 1978. Unusually, he undertook no formal curacy until 1980 when he served at St George's Chesterton until 1983, having been appointed as a lecturer in Divinity at the University of Cambridge. In 1984 he became dean and chaplain of Clare College, Cambridge, and, in 1986, at the very young age of 36, he was appointed to the Lady Margaret Professorship of Divinity at the University of Oxford and thus also a residentiary canon of Christ Church. He was awarded the degree of Doctor of Divinity in 1989. In 1991 Dr Williams was appointed and consecrated Bishop of Monmouth in the Anglican Church in Wales. In 1997 he was proposed as a potential Bishop of Southwark. George Carey, the then Archbishop of Canterbury, asked Dr Williams to distance himself from his writings sympathetic to the cause of gay rights, but he declined and was not nominated to the post.
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Sir Thomas Jones Woodward, OBE (born 7 June 1940), known by his stage name Tom Jones, is a Welsh pop singer. He was born in Treforest, Rhondda Cynon Taf. Tom Jones rose to fame in the mid-1960s, with an exuberant live act that included wearing tight breeches and billowing shirts, in an Edwardian style popular among his peers at the time. He was known for his overt sexuality, before this was as common as it has become in subsequent years. In 1963 he became the frontman for Tommy Scott and The Senators, a local beat group. Clad in black leather, he soon gained a reputation in South Wales, although the Senators were still unknown in London. In 1964 they laid down seven tracks with maverick Telstar producer Joe Meek, and took them to various labels in an attempt to get a record deal, with no success. The plan was to release a single, Lonely Joe / I Was A Fool, but the ever-flighty Meek refused to release the tapes. Only after It's Not Unusual became a massive hit, Meek was able to sell the tapes to Tower (USA) and Columbia (UK). The group returned to South Wales and continued to play gigs at dance halls and working men's clubs.
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Tommy Cooper (19 March 1921 – 15 April 1984) was a British prop comedian and magician. He made an art form of getting magic tricks wrong. However, despite his purported inability to perform conjuring tricks, he was in reality an accomplished magician and member of The Magic Circle. Famed for his red fez, his appearance was large and lumbering at 6ft 3ins (1.91m) tall and over 15 stone in weight. He had a range of facial expressions and would also say things like, "I must say you've been a wonderful audience" or "Have we got time for more?" immediately after he walked on stage that would convulse audiences with laughter. He had a host of other catchphrases such as "Spoon, jar, jar, spoon!!" and "Whisky, sample, sample, whisky, sample...". His most often quoted catchphrase "Just like that" has never been heard on film. Famously he was once standing for several minutes behind the curtain at the start of a televised show, and the audience, knowing he was there, was in hysterics before he even appeared. "People were laughing, just standing in line, for the tickets to see him" has often been quoted. Born Thomas Frederick Cooper, in Caerphilly, Wales, he was delivered by the woman who owned the house in which the family was lodging. Cooper's parents were Welsh-born army recruiting sergeant father Tom, and his English-born mother Gertrude from Crediton, Devon.
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Katherine Jenkins (born 29 June 1980 in Neath, Wales) is an award-winning mezzo-soprano. Her first album Premiere made her the fastest-selling mezzo-soprano to date and she later became the first British classical artist to have two number one albums in the same year. She also stands as the first female artist to win two consecutive Classical BRIT Awards. Jenkins has released four classical number one studio albums to date, with a fifth album recently released on 19 November 2007. Her albums feature arias, popular songs, hymns and classical crossover music and she has performed in a large number of concerts around the United Kingdom and other countries, including the United States and Australia. At school Jenkins received A grades in both GCSEs and A Levels and participated in productions such as Calamity Jane and Guys and Dolls. Two years after she had become a choir girl at her church, she shattered a chandelier whilst singing "O Holy Night" at Swansea's Brangwyn Hall. Jenkins' music talents continued to progress and she achieved Grade 8 distinctions in singing and piano.
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Llywelyn the Great (Welsh Llywelyn Fawr) was a Prince of Gwynedd in North Wales and eventually de facto ruler over most of Wales. By a combination of war and diplomacy he dominated Wales for forty years, and was one of only two Welsh rulers to be called 'the Great'. During Llywelyn's boyhood Gwynedd was ruled by two of his uncles, who had agreed to split the kingdom between them following the death of Llywelyn's grandfather, Owain Gwynedd, in 1170. Llywelyn had a strong claim to be the legitimate ruler and began a campaign to win power at an early age. He was sole ruler of Gwynedd by 1200, and made a treaty with King John of England the same year. Llywelyn's relations with John remained good for the next ten years. He married John's illegitimate daughter Joan in 1205, and when John arrested Gwenwynwyn ab Owain of Powys in 1208 Llywelyn took the opportunity to annex southern Powys.
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Alfred Russel Wallace OM, FRS (8 January 1823 – 7 November 1913) was a British naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist and biologist. He did extensive fieldwork first in the Amazon River basin, and then in the Malay Archipelago, where he identified the Wallace line dividing the fauna of Australia from that of Asia. He is best known for independently proposing a theory of natural selection which prompted Charles Darwin to publish his own more developed and researched theory sooner than intended.
Wallace was also one of the leading evolutionary thinkers of the 19th century who made a number of other contributions to the development of evolutionary theory, including the concept of warning colouration in animals, and the Wallace effect. He was also considered the 19th century’s leading expert on the geographical distribution of animal species and is sometimes called the "father of biogeography".
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Asser (d. 908/909) was a Welsh monk from St. David's, Dyfed, who became Bishop of Sherborne in the 890s. In about 885 he was asked by Alfred the Great to leave St. David's and join the circle of learned men which Alfred was recruiting for his court. After spending a year at Caerwent due to an illness, he accepted. In 893 Asser wrote a biography of Alfred, called the Life of King Alfred. The manuscript survived to modern times in only one copy, which was part of the Cotton library. That copy was destroyed in a fire in 1731, but transcriptions that had been made earlier, allied with material from Asser's work that was included by other early writers, have enabled the work to be reconstructed. The biography is now the main source of information about Alfred's life, and provides far more information about Alfred than is known about any other early English ruler. Asser also assisted Alfred in his translation of Gregory the Great's Pastoral Care, and possibly with other works.
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John Dee (13 July 1527 – 1609) was a noted English mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, occultist, and consultant to Queen Elizabeth I. He also devoted much of his life to alchemy, divination, and Hermetic philosophy. Dee straddled the worlds of science and magic just as they were becoming distinguishable. One of the most learned men of his time, he had lectured to crowded halls at the University of Paris when still in his early twenties. John was an ardent promoter of mathematics, a respected astronomer and a leading expert in navigation, having trained many of those who would conduct England's voyages of discovery (he coined the term "British Empire"). At the same time, he immersed himself deeply in magic and Hermetic philosophy, devoting the last third of his life almost exclusively to these pursuits. For Dee, as with many of his contemporaries, these activities were not contradictory, but particular aspects of a consistent world-view.
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Rhys ap Gruffydd (1132 – 28 April 1197) was the ruler of the kingdom of Deheubarth in south Wales. He is commonly known as The Lord Rhys, in Welsh Yr Arglwydd Rhys, but this title may not have been used in his lifetime. He usually used the title "Prince of Deheubarth" or "Prince of South Wales", but two documents have been preserved in which he uses the title "Prince of Wales" or "Prince of the Welsh". Rhys was one of the most successful and powerful Welsh princes, and after the death of Owain Gwynedd of Gwynedd in 1170 was the dominant power in Wales.
Rhys's grandfather, Rhys ap Tewdwr, was king of Deheubarth, and was killed at Brecon in 1093 by Bernard de Neufmarche. Following his death, most of Deheubarth was taken over by the Normans. Rhys's father, Gruffydd ap Rhys, was eventually able to become ruler of a small portion, and more territory was won back by Rhys's older brothers after Gruffydd's death. Rhys became ruler of Deheubarth in 1155.
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Sasha (born Alexander Coe on 4 September 1969), is a Welsh DJ and record producer. Sasha began his career playing acid house dance music in the late 1980s, and became a central figure in the development and popularisation of electronic dance music. He partnered with fellow DJ John Digweed in 1993, touring internationally and producing a series of mixes (compilations of other artists work played in a continuous fashion). Through their track selection and mixing techniques, Sasha and Digweed were instrumental in the evolution of progressive trance and house music. Sasha has produced multiple UK-charting singles and has remixed tracks for artists such as Madonna and The Chemical Brothers. His remix of Felix da Housecat's "Watching Cars Go By" earned him a 2004 Grammy nomination. Sasha's remixing and production often combine electronic music genres, making it difficult for critics to pinpoint his musical style, including on his debut album of original work, Airdrawndagger. After achieving success as a producer and DJ, Sasha worked with younger DJs and producers such as Brian Transeau and James Zabiela, influencing their musical styles and techniques.
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Gethin Clifford Jones (born 12 February 1978) is a Welsh television presenter best known for co-presenting the long-running BBC children's show Blue Peter. An active rugby union player when at the Manchester Metropolitan University and for a time after graduation, Jones began his television career on Welsh channel S4C as a presenter of children's programmes such as Popty, Mas Draw and the flagship children's entertainment show Uned 5 (Unit 5, 2002–2005). In 2005, he became the 31st presenter of Blue Peter, the world's longest-running children's television series. He has also hosted major live telecasts of events like Mardi Gras in Cardiff and New Year Live (2007) and, from 2008, co-hosts the entertainment news programme E24 on BBC News 24. He has made guest appearances in various programmes, including The Mighty Boosh (2004) and Doctor Who (2006). In 2007 Jones was a contestant in Series 5 of Strictly Come Dancing, achieving third place.
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Lloyd Owen (born 14 April 1966) is a British actor of Welsh descent. Trained at the National Youth Theatre and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London, he is probably best known for his portrayal of Indiana Jones's father Professor Dr. Henry Jones, Sr. in The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles between 1992 and 1993 and for playing Paul Bowman-MacDonald in the BBC Scotland television series Monarch of the Glen from 2002 to 2005. He played the role of solicitor William Heelis in the film Miss Potter (2006). However, his first love has always been the theatre. His first break on stage was the role of Nick in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? in 1996. Other highlights of his stage career include playing Dan in Closer in 1998 and George in The York Realist in 2002. His most recent role was as Peter in Paul (2005). Growing up in a theatrical family, as a child Owen met many icons who were his father's friends, including John Conteh, Tommy Cooper, Ken Dodd, Ronnie Fraser, Richard Harris, Danny La Rue and Peter O'Toole.
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King Arthur was a fabled British leader and a prominent figure in Britain's legendary history. A real individual may have been the inspiration of the legend, but any core of history is deeply submerged in the later fictional narratives of Arthur. In these he appears as the ideal of kingship both in war and peace; even in modern times he has been ranked as one of the 100 Greatest Britons of all time. Over time, the stories of King Arthur have captured such widespread interest that he is no longer identified as the legendary hero of a single nation. Countless new legends, stories, revisions, books, and films have been produced in Europe and the United States that unabashedly enlarge on and expand the fictional accounts of King Arthur.
The scarce historical background to Arthur is found in the works of Nennius and Gildas and in the Annales Cambriae. The legendary Arthur developed initially through the pseudo-history of Geoffrey of Monmouth and the Welsh collection of anonymous tales known as the Mabinogion.
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Timothy Everest, MBE (born 1961) is a Welsh bespoke tailor and designer who has, according to Vogue, "dressed some of the world's most famous people". Born in Haverfordwest, Wales, he moved to London in his early twenties to work with innovative Savile Row tailor Tommy Nutter, where he learned the art of bespoke. Everest was one of the leaders of the New Bespoke Movement, which brought designer attitudes to the traditional skills of Savile Row tailoring.
Everest has been running his own tailoring business in the East End of London since 1989. Based at his Spitalfields atelier since 1993, he opened a West End store off Bond Street, near Savile Row, in 2008. As well as collaborating on projects with designers and brands such as Brooks England, DAKS, Kim Jones, Levi's, Rapha and Rocawear, as costume designer Everest has dressed the stars of films including Mission: Impossible, Mission: Impossible II, Eyes Wide Shut, Atonement and Mamma Mia!. He has been associated with the British high street retailer Marks and Spencer since 1999, and has been a contributor to men's magazine The Rake since 2008. Everest is at the forefront of the bespoke casual movement.
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William Cragh (born c. 1262, died some time after 1307), or William the Scabby (cragh means "scabby" in Welsh), or William ap Rhys, was a medieval Welsh warrior and supporter of Rhys ap Maredudd, lord of the lands of Ystrad Tywi, in his rebellion against King Edward I of England. Captured in 1290 by the son of William de Briouze, the Cambro-Norman Lord of Gower, he was tried and found guilty of having killed thirteen men. Cragh was executed just outside Swansea within sight of de Briouze's Swansea Castle, twice, as the gallows collapsed during his first hanging. Lady Mary de Briouze decided for reasons unknown to intercede on Cragh's behalf, and prayed to the deceased Bishop of Hereford, Thomas de Cantilupe, asking him to ask God to bring Cragh back from the dead. Cragh began to show signs of life the day after his execution, and over the subsequent few weeks made a full recovery, living for at least another eighteen years.
The main primary source for Cragh's story is the record of the investigation into the canonisation of Thomas de Cantilupe, which is held in the Vatican Library. Cragh's resurrection was one of thirty-eight miracles presented to the papal commissioners who in 1307 were charged with examining the evidence for Cantilupe's saintliness. The hanged man himself gave evidence to the commission, after which nothing more is known of him. Cantilupe was formally canonised by Pope John XXII on 17 April 1320.
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Tom Pryce (full name Thomas Maldwyn Pryce; 11 June 1949 – 5 March 1977) was a Welsh racing driver, famous for winning the Brands Hatch Race of Champions in 1975 and for the circumstances surrounding his death. Pryce is the only Welsh driver to have won a Formula One race and is also the only Welshman to lead a Formula One World Championship Grand Prix.
Pryce started his career in Formula One with the small Token team, making his only start for them at the 1974 Belgian Grand Prix. Shortly after an impressive performance at the Formula Three support race for the 1974 Monaco Grand Prix, Pryce joined the Shadow team and scored his first points in Germany in only his fourth race. Pryce later claimed two podium finishes, his first in Austria in 1975 and the second in Brazil a year later. Pryce was considered by his team as a great wet weather driver. During the practice session for the 1977 South African GP, run in wet conditions, Pryce was faster than everyone, including world champion drivers Niki Lauda and James Hunt. Pryce's third full season at Shadow was cut short by his fatal accident at the 1977 South African Grand Prix, where he collided at high speed with safety marshal Frederik Jansen Van Vuuren.
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Michael Christopher Sheen, OBE (born 5 February 1969) is a Welsh film and stage actor. He was born in Newport to Irene (née Thomas) and Meyrick Sheen, both of whom worked in personnel management; his father is also a part-time professional Jack Nicholson look-alike. When Sheen was five, the family moved to Liverpool, where he became a lifelong Liverpool F.C. fan. He returned to his parents' home of Port Talbot, Wales three years later, where he attended Glan Afan Comprehensive School and played football for Baglan boys club.
Sheen joined the West Glamorgan Youth theatre, where he was a contemporary of writer Russell T Davies. After leaving school, he accepted a place to study acting at the National Youth Theatre of Wales in Cardiff and then trained at the internationally renowned Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Having worked with screenwriter Peter Morgan on five films, Sheen has become known for his portrayals of well-known public figures: Tony Blair in The Deal, The Queen, and The Special Relationship, David Frost in the stage production and film version of Frost/Nixon, and Brian Clough in The Damned United. He also played the Lycan Lucian in all three of the Underworld films, the vampire Aro in The Twilight Saga: New Moon, and more recently, the role of Castor in Tron: Legacy.
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Arthur Joseph "Monkey" Gould (10 October 1864 – 2 January 1919) was a Welsh international rugby union centre and full back who was most associated as a club player with Newport Rugby Football Club. He won 27 caps for Wales, 18 as captain, and is considered the first superstar of Welsh rugby. Gould led Wales to the country's very first Home Nations Championship and Triple Crown titles in 1893; defining himself as a great player and captain in the match against England during the same tournament. Towards the end of his career Gould was at the centre of a controversy which saw Wales withdraw from international rugby for 12 months.
Gould was the most capped Welsh centre until Steve Fenwick of Bridgend beat the record at Lansdowne Road on 15 March 1980. He played 27 times for Wales, twice at full back and 25 at centre, ending his career against England on 9 January 1897. This last game was played in front of 17,000 supporters at Rodney Parade; Wales won 11–0. It was the 18th time Gould had captained Wales and this record stood until broken by Ieuan Evans in 1994.
A superb all round player and even-time sprinter with swerve, Gould could side-step and kick with either foot. He never ceased to practise to develop his fitness and skills. He was considered the outstanding player of his time.
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Barry John (born 6 January 1945) is a former Welsh rugby union fly-half who played, during the amateur era of the sport, in the 1960s and early 1970s. John won 25 caps for the Wales national team and 5 for the British Lions.
John began his rugby career as a schoolboy playing for his local team Cefneithin RFC before switching to Llanelli RFC in 1964, where he was first selected for the Wales national team. He joined Cardiff RFC in 1967 and his partnership with Gareth Edwards became one of the most famous in world rugby. From 1967, John and Edwards were chosen to play together at all levels, for Cardiff, Wales, the Barbarians and in 1968 for the British Lions tour of South Africa, where John suffered a broken collarbone in the first Test against South Africa. In 1971 Wales entered their second 'Golden Age', with a team rich in experience and talent. John was on the team that won the 1971 Five Nations Championship – the first time Wales had achieved a Grand Slam since 1952. He cemented his reputation as one of the sport's greatest players with his pivitol role in the British Lions winning tour over New Zealand in 1971. He retired from rugby at the age of 27, citing the pressure of fame and expectation behind his decision. He is considered by many to be the greatest fly-half in the sport's history, and was known as "The King".
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Caffo was a sixth-century Christian in Anglesey, north Wales, who is venerated as a saint and martyr. Little is known for certain about Caffo; his dates of birth and death are not given in the sources. He is said to have been one of the sons of St Caw, a king in northern Britain who lost his lands and sought safety with his family in Anglesey. Caffo was a companion of St Cybi, and is mentioned as carrying a red-hot coal in his clothes to Cybi without his clothes getting burnt. After leaving Cybi, Caffo was killed by shepherds in the south of Anglesey, possibly acting in retaliation for insults Caffo's brother had paid to the local ruler. The area of Caffo's death became known at some point as Llangaffo, and a church was established there: the Welsh word "llan" originally meant "enclosure" and then "church", and "-gaffo" is a modified form of the saint's name.
Portal:Wales/Selected biography/30
Portal:Wales/Selected biography/30
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