1988 in Wales

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1988 to Wales and its people.

← 1987 1986 1985 1984 1983 1988 in Wales → 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993
Centuries:	18th 19th 20th 21st
Decades:	1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s
See also:	List of years in Wales 1988 in The United Kingdom England Ireland Scotland

Incumbents

• Prince of Wales – Charles
• Princess of Wales – Diana
• Secretary of State for Wales – Peter Walker
• Archbishop of Wales – George Noakes, Bishop of St David's
• Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales – Emrys Deudraeth

Events

• 14 February - Lynette White is murdered in her Cardiff flat. The case remains controversial for over 20 years, with Jeffrey Gafoor eventually being convicted in 2003.[1]
• 26 March - The Welsh Ornithological Society is founded at Aberystwyth.[2]
• October - County Hall, Cardiff, officially opened as the headquarters of South Glamorgan County Council beside the disused Bute East Dock in the Atlantic Wharf area of Butetown, Cardiff.
• 4 November - British Rail operates the last steam locomotives in its ownership (and its last narrow gauge trains) on the Vale of Rheidol Railway in regular service prior to its privatisation next year (Santa Specials run on 18 December).
• date unknown - The complete Bible translation into Welsh that has been in use since 1620 is replaced with a new version, Y Beibl Cymraeg Newydd (BCN), translated directly from the original languages.[3]

Arts and literature

• January - BAFTA Cymru is founded.[4]
• 28–31 May - First Hay Festival of literature held in Hay-on-Wye.
• The Gregynog festival is re-launched by Anthony Rolfe Johnson.[5]
• The European Centre for Traditional and Regional Cultures opens in Llangollen.[6]
• Independent record label Ankst is formed at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth by Alun Llwyd, Gruffudd Jones and Emyr Glyn Williams.[7]
• This year also sees the foundation of:
  • Ffilm Cymru (Film Foundation for Wales)
  • New Welsh Review

Awards

• National Eisteddfod of Wales (held in Newport)
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Chair - Elwyn Edwards, "Storm"[8]
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Crown - T. James Jones, "Ffin"[9]
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Prose Medal - withheld[10]

New books

English language

• Tony Conran - Blodeuwedd
• Hilary Llywelyn-Williams - The Tree Calendar
• Sheenagh Pugh - Beware Falling Tortoises[11]
• Oliver Reynolds - The Player Queen's Wife
• Bernice Rubens - Our Father[12]
• Glanmor Williams - Recovery, Reorientation and Reformation

Welsh language

• Idris Foster, Rachel Bromwich & D. Simon Evans (eds.), Culhwch ac Olwen[13]
• Bobi Jones - Llenyddiaeth Gymraeg 1902-36
• Rhiannon Davies Jones - Cribau Eryri
• Manon Rhys - Cwtsho
• Wiliam Owen Roberts - Y Pla
• Huw Walters - Canu'r Pwll a'r Pulpud

Music

• Ffa Coffi Pawb - Dalec Peilon
• Trebor Edwards - Goreuon Trebor
• Bonnie Tyler - Hide Your Heart

Film

• Peter Greenaway directs Drowning by Numbers.

Welsh-language films

• Stormydd Awst

Broadcasting

Welsh-language television

• Pobol y Cwm becomes the first European soap opera to be broadcast daily.
• C'mon Midffild (drama)

English-language television

• The Divided Kingdom (HTV/Channel 4)[14]

Sport

• Association football
  • April – Newport County A.F.C., one of four Welsh teams in the English Football League, are relegated to the GM Vauxhall Conference.[15]
• Athletics
  • Steve Jones becomes the first British competitor to win the New York Marathon.
• Rugby union
  • Wales top the 1988 Five Nations Championship winning the Triple Crown.
  • 18 May to 11 June – Wales tour New Zealand, losing heavily in both Tests to the All Blacks.
• Snooker
  • 2 May – Terry Griffiths is defeated in the final of the 1988 World Snooker Championship by Steve Davis.
  • 27 November – Doug Mountjoy defeats Stephen Hendry in the final of the UK Snooker Championship to claim his second UK title.[16]

Births

• 9 January - Glyn Wise, TV personality
• 29 January - Catrin Stewart, actress
• 18 February - Mark Davies, footballer
• 24 March - Curtis McDonald, footballer
• 11 April - Nathan Stephens, athlete and Paralympian
• 20 June - Shefali Chowdhury, actress
• 5 October - Sam Warburton, rugby player[17]
• 15 November - Daniel Evans, rugby player[18]
• 13 December - Darcy Blake, footballer
• 22 December - Leigh Halfpenny, rugby player[19]
• 28 December
  • Ched Evans, footballer
  • Elfyn Evans rally driver
• 31 December - Holly Holyoake, singer

Deaths

• January - George Ewart Evans, folklorist and oral historian, 78
• 26 January - Raymond Williams, writer, 66[20]
• 2 April - Euros Bowen, poet, 83[21]
• April - T. Glynne Davies, poet, novelist and broadcaster, 62[22]
• 13 May - Elfed Evans, footballer, 61
• 18 May - Brandon Rhys-Williams, politician, 60[23]
• 15 June - David Blackmore, cricketer, 88
• 8 September - Mel Rosser, dual-code international rugby player, 87
• 23 September - Arwel Hughes, composer and conductor, 79[24]
• 12 October - Ruth Manning-Sanders, poet and children's author, 102
• 16 October - John Gwilym Jones, dramatist, 84[25]
• 11 November - William Ifor Jones, conductor and organist, 88
• 1 December - Alun Oldfield-Davies, controller of BBC Wales, 83[26]
• 13 December - Brynmor John, politician, 54[27]
• 25 December - W. F. Grimes, archaeologist, 83[28]
• 27 December - Tecwyn Roberts, aerospace engineer, 63[29]
• date unknown
  • John Morgan, journalist
  • Ray Price, rugby player, 64 (brain haemorrhage)[30]

References

1. "Lynette White murder: Timeline of events". BBC News. 14 June 2016. Retrieved 26 February 2019.
2. Everett, Mike; Prytherch, Robin (1988). "News and comment". British Birds. 81 (7): 344–347.
3. The Late F L Cross; Frank Leslie Cross; Elizabeth A. Livingstone (2005). The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. Oxford University Press. p. 1738. ISBN 978-0-19-280290-3.
4. "About BAFTA Cymru". BAFTA Cymru. Retrieved 22 November 2018.
5. George Henry Hubert Lascelles Earl of Harewood (2010). Opera. Rolls House Publishing Company.
6. Dallen J. Timothy (2 March 2017). Managing Heritage and Cultural Tourism Resources: Critical Essays, Volume One. Taylor & Francis. p. 403. ISBN 978-1-351-92053-7.
7. Adams, Owen (2010-05-06). "Label of love: Ankst". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 9 May 2010. Retrieved 2010-05-11.
8. "Winners of the Chair". National Eisteddfod of Wales. 17 November 2019.
9. "Winners of the Crown". National Eisteddfod of Wales. 17 November 2019.
10. "Winners of the Prose Medal". National Eisteddfod of Wales. Retrieved 7 November 2019.
11. Europa Publications (2 August 2004). International Who's Who in Poetry 2005. Routledge. p. 1279. ISBN 978-1-135-35519-7.
12. Bernice Rubens (1988). Our Father. Abacus. ISBN 978-0-349-12904-4.
13. Robert Geraint Gruffydd. "Foster, Idris, Llewelyn (1911-1984), Welsh and Celtic Scholar". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 24 November 2019.
14. Horace Newcomb (3 February 2014). Encyclopedia of Television. Routledge. p. 2550. ISBN 978-1-135-19472-7.
15. George, Ricky (2008-01-14). "There's still some steel in Newport County". The Daily Telegraph. London.
16. "Profile: Doug Mountjoy". Eurosport. 3 December 2009. Retrieved 16 May 2019.
17. "Sam Warburton". ESPN. Retrieved 25 February 2019.
18. "Dan Evans". ESPN. Retrieved 25 February 2019.
19. "Leigh Halfpenny". ESPN. Retrieved 25 February 2019.
20. Alan O'Connor (2006). Raymond Williams. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 7. ISBN 978-0-7425-3550-3.
21. New England review and bread loaf quarterly. 1987.
22. BBC Worldwide; British Broadcasting Corporation (1 December 1998). Annual Report and Accounts. BBC Worldwide. ISBN 978-0-563-22675-8.
23. John Graham Jones. "Rhys-Williams, Brandon Meredith (1927-1988), Conservative politician". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 24 November 2019.
24. Rhidian Griffiths. "HUGHES, ARWEL (1909-1988), musician". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 24 November 2018.
25. William Robert Lewis (1994). John Gwilym Jones. University of Wales Press. p. 1. ISBN 978-0-7083-1251-3.
26. Davies, Geraint Talfan (2011). "Alun Bennett Oldfield-Davies". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/101151. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
27. John Graham Jones. "JOHN, BRYNMOR THOMAS (1934-1988), Labour politician". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 24 November 2018.
28. David Gill, 'Grimes, William Francis (1905–1988)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 3 May 2013
29. Manfred "Dutch" von Ehrenfried (23 March 2016). The Birth of NASA: The Work of the Space Task Group, America's First True Space Pioneers. Springer. p. 280. ISBN 978-3-319-28428-6.
30. "Ray Price joins Warrington Hall of Fame". Warrington Guardian. 4 May 2008. Retrieved 26 February 2019.