1960 in Wales

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1960 to Wales and its people.

← 1959 1958 1957 1956 1955 1960 in Wales → 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965
Centuries:	18th 19th 20th 21st
Decades:	1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s
See also:	List of years in Wales 1960 in The United Kingdom Ireland Scotland

Incumbents

• Prince of Wales – Charles
• Princess of Wales – vacant
• Archbishop of Wales – Edwin Morris, Bishop of Monmouth
• Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales
  • William Morris (outgoing)
  • Trefin (incoming)

Events

• 1 January – Portmeirion Pottery is established when Susan Williams-Ellis and her husband Euan Cooper-Willis (managers of the gift ship at her father's village of Portmeirion) take over Gray's Pottery in Stoke-on-Trent (England).
• 5 January – Closure of the Swansea and Mumbles Railway (opened to passengers in 1807 and by this date operated by double-deck electric trams).[1] The service is replaced by buses operated by its owner South Wales Transport.
• 12 April – Nine miners are killed in a mining accident at Tower Colliery, Hirwaun.
• 28 June – Forty-five miners are killed in an accident at Six Bells Colliery, Monmouthshire.[2]
• 6 August – At Llandaff Cathedral a service of thanksgiving attended by Queen Elizabeth II is held to mark the end of eleven years' restoration work following air raid damage in 1941.[3]
• 5 September – Poet and peace campaigner Waldo Williams is sentenced at Haverfordwest to imprisonment for six weeks for non-payment of income tax (a protest against defence spending).[4]
• 3 November – Esso opens the first oil refinery at Milford Haven.[5]

Arts and literature

• 29 September – Ricky Valance is the first male Welsh singer to hit number one in the charts, with his cover version of Tell Laura I Love Her.

Awards

• National Eisteddfod of Wales (held in Cardiff)
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Chair – withheld
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Crown – W. J. Gruffydd
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Prose Medal – Rhiannon Davies Jones

New books

• Glyn M. Ashton – Tipyn o Annwyd
• Thomas Glynne Davies – Haf Creulon
• Menna Gallie – Man's Desiring
• Dic Jones – Agor Grwn
• Kate Roberts – Y Lôn Wen
• Bernice Rubens – Set on Edge
• Raymond Williams – Border Country

New drama

• Saunders Lewis – Esther

Music

• Alun Hoddinott – Concerto no. 2
• Arwel Hughes – Serch yw’r Doctor (opera)

Film

• Glynis Johns stars in The Sundowners.
• Rachel Roberts stars in Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, becoming the first Welsh actress to win a BAFTA for Best British Actress.
• Keith Baxter appears alongside Orson Welles in Chimes at Midnight.

Broadcasting

September – The Wales Television Association is formed.[6] On 6 June, the franchise is awarded to the Wales Television Association.

Welsh-language television

• Colegau Cerdd
• Her Yr Ifanc

English-language television

• 1 January – Broadcast of the first weekly episode of an eight-part serialization by BBC Wales of How Green Was My Valley.
• Johnny Morris narrates the imported children's TV series Tales of the Riverbank.

Sport

• Boxing – Dick Richardson wins the European Heavyweight title. Brian Curvis wins the British and Commonwealth welterweight titles.
• Summer Olympics – David Broome wins a bronze medal on Sunsalve in the individual show jumping event.
• Tennis – Mike Davies wins the British hard court title. He also becomes the first Welsh man to reach a Wimbledon final where he partners Bobby Wilson in the Men's Doubles.
• BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year – Brian Curvis

Births

• 16 January – Alun Huw Davies, vascular surgeon[7]
• 30 January – Peter Black AM, politician (in Wirral)
• 6 February – Jeremy Bowen, journalist and television presenter[8]
• 14 February – Dawn Bowden, politician
• 15 February – Russell Coughlin, footballer (d. 2016)[9]
• 18 February – Rhys Parry Jones, actor
• 26 February – Roger Lewis, academic, biographer and journalist
• 30 April – Martin Phillips, darts player
• 3 May – Geraint Davies, politician
• 4 May – Elfyn Edwards, golfer
• 9 May – Jillian Lane, spiritual medium (d. 2013)[10]
• 13 June – Sir Clive Buckland Lewis, judge
• 19 June – Andrew Dilnot, economist, statistician and academic
• 23 June – Ricky Evans, rugby union player
• 29 June – Helen Mary Jones, politician (in Colchester)
• 13 July – Ian Hislop, satirist[11]
• 1 August – Lesley Griffiths, politician
• 18 September
  • Carolyn Harris, politician
  • Ian Lucas, politician
• 12 December – Kelvin Smart, flyweight boxer
• 24 December – Carol Vorderman, television personality (in Bedford)
• date unknown
  • Nigel Davies, chess player
  • Lisa Francis, politician
  • Gareth Jones, orchestral and choral conductor
  • Sue Jones, Dean of Liverpool
  • Malcolm Pryce, novelist (in Shrewsbury)
  • William Owen Roberts, novelist and dramatist

Deaths

Aneurin Bevan, died 6 July

• 2 January – Leila Megàne, opera singer, c. 69[12]
• 13 January – Reginald Herbert, 15th Earl of Pembroke, 79[13]
• 17 January – E. Llwyd Williams, minister and poet, 53[14]
• 19 January – Charles Jones, Wales rugby international, 66
• 27 January – Joseph "Joe" Jones, dual-code rugby international, 60
• 25 February – Sir Edward Enoch Jenkins, judge, 65[15]
• 30 March – Edward Evan, politician, 77
• 11 April – William Llewellyn Morgan, Wales international rugby union player, 76
• 7 May – Mai Jones, songwriter, 61[16]
• 23 May – John Edwards, politician, 77
• 19 June – Thomas Alwyn Lloyd, architect, 78[17]
• 27 June – Harry Pollitt, politician, 69[18]
• 6 July – Aneurin Bevan, politician, 62[19]
• 9 July – John Dyke, Wales international rugby union player, 76
• 24 August – Dai Edwards, Wales dual-code rugby international, 64
• 25 August – Tommy Jones-Davies, Wales international rugby player, 54
• 30 August – "Taffy" Jones, First World War flying ace, 64[20]
• 27 September – George Morgan Trefgarne, 1st Baron Trefgarne, politician, 66[21]
• 29 October – Horace Williams, footballer, c. 60
• 19 December – Billy Bowen, dual-code rugby player, 63[22]
• 20 December – Harry Uzzell, Wales international rugby union captain, 77
• 22 December – Evan Davies, politician, 85[23]

See also

• 1960 in Northern Ireland

References

1. Penguin Pocket On This Day. Penguin Reference Library. 2006. ISBN 0-14-102715-0.
2. "Welsh pit blast kills miners". On This Day. BBC. 28 June 1960. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 2013-03-05.
3. "Cathedral's New Vistas: Llandaff Restoration Work Completed". The Times (54842). London. 1960-08-05. p. 10.
4. "Welsh Nationalist Sent to Prison". The Times (54869). London. 1960-09-06. p. 6.
5. "Duke To Open Milford Haven Oil Refinery Today". The Times (54919). London. 1960-11-03. p. 7.
6. Johnson, Catherine; Turnock, Rob (1 September 2005). Itv Cultures: Independent Television Over Fifty Years: Independent Television Over Fifty Years. McGraw-Hill Education (UK). p. 96. ISBN 978-0-335-21729-8.
7. "Professor Alun Davies". Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust. Retrieved 24 November 2019.
8. "Jeremy Bowen". BBC News. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
9. "COUGHLIN Russell James". Funeral Notices. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
10. "Obituary: Jillian Lane". Telegraph.co.uk. 18 October 2013.
11. "Ian Hislop". BBC. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
12. Obituary, The Times, Monday, 4 January 1960
13. The Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine. Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society. 1963. p. 230.
14. Benjamin George Owens. "Williams, Ernest Llwyd (1899-1960), pianist, composer and producer of light programmes on radio". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
15. The Law Journal. Law Journal. 1960. p. 178.
16. Huw Williams. "Jones, Gladys May, 'Mai' (1906-1960), minister (B), poet and writer". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
17. Evan David Jones. "Lloyd, Thomas Alwyn (1881-1960), architect and town planner". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
18. Morgan, Kevin (2004). "Pollitt, Harry (1890–1960)". In H. C. G. Matthew; Brian Harrison; Lawrence Goldman (eds.). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Online January 2011 ed.). Oxford: OUP. Retrieved 2012-01-12.
19. John Graham Jones. "Bevan, Aneurin (1897-1960), politician and one of the founders of the Welfare State". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
20. "Ira (Taffy) Jones, 65, Famed War Flier, Dies". The Bridgeport Post. Bridgeport, Connecticut. 30 August 1960. p. 29. Retrieved 15 April 2015.
21. Mary Auronwy James. "Morgan, George, 1st Baron Trefgarne of Cleddau (1894-1960), barrister-at-law and politician". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
22. "Statistics at swansearfc.co.uk". swansearfc.co.uk. 31 December 2017. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
23. Stenton, Michael; Lees, Stephen (1979). Who's Who of British Members of Parliament. III. Brighton: Harvester Press. p. 90. ISBN 0855273259.