1998 in Wales

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1998 to Wales and its people.

← 1997 1996 1995 1994 1993 1998 in Wales → 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003
Centuries:	18th 19th 20th 21st
Decades:	1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s
See also:	List of years in Wales 1998 in The United Kingdom England Ireland Scotland

Incumbents

• Prince of Wales – Charles
• Princess of Wales – vacant
• Secretary of State for Wales
  • Ron Davies (until 27 October)[1]
  • Alun Michael
• Archbishop of Wales – Alwyn Rice Jones, Bishop of St Asaph[2]
• Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales – Dafydd Rowlands

Events

• 24 February - The Criminal Cases Review Commission overturns the murder charge of Mahmood Hussein Mattan, who was executed in 1952 for killing a Cardiff shopkeeper.[3]
• February - Britain's first official register of historic landscapes is published by Cadw. It lists 36 landscapes in Wales of outstanding historic interest.
• 6 March - Flintshire Bridge is officially opened.[4]
• 8-9 April - Torrential rain over eastern Wales results in widespread flooding.
• 13 April - Montgomeryshire MP Lembit Öpik is seriously injured in a paragliding accident in his constituency.[5]
• May - Cistercian Way long-distance trail originates.
• June - The Arts Council of Wales publishes its consultation paper Building A Creative Society.
• Ron Davies is appointed to the highest order of the Gorsedd of the Bards at the 1998 National Eisteddfod in Bridgend
• 31 July - The Government of Wales Act 1998, that will establish a devolved Welsh Assembly, receives its Royal Assent.[6]
• 19 September - Ron Davies is elected in preference to Rhodri Morgan as Labour's candidate for First Secretary of the Assembly.[7]
• 22-31 October - Heavy rainfall across Wales results in river levels rising to warning levels. Flood plains are inundated and there is extensive flooding of houses and other property.
• 27 October - Ron Davies resigns as Secretary of State for Wales after being mugged in an incident on Clapham Common, following what he described as an "error of judgment".[1]
• 18 November - Jon Owen Jones, MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Wales, announces that the Environment Agency has been asked for a report on the October floods.
• November - Maenofferen slate quarry at Blaenau Ffestiniog ceases production.

Arts and literature

• Bryn Terfel gives a recital at Carnegie Hall.

Awards

• Glyndŵr Award - Iwan Bala
• National Eisteddfod of Wales (held in Bridgend)
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Chair - withheld[8]
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Crown - Emyr Lewis, "Rhyddid"[9]
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Prose Medal - Eurig Wyn, Blodyn Tatws
• Wales Book of the Year:
  • English language: Mike Jenkins - Wanting to Belong
  • Welsh language: Iwan Llwyd - Dan Ddylanwad
• Gwobr Goffa Daniel Owen - Geraint V. Jones, Semtecs

New books

English language

• Gillian Clarke - Five Fields
• James Hawes - Rancid Aluminium[10]
• Rhys Hughes - Rawhead & Bloody Bones
• Mario Risoli - When Pele Broke our Hearts: Wales and the 1958 World Cup
• Sarah Waters - Tipping the Velvet

Welsh language

• Dafydd Huws - Dyddiadur Dyn Dŵad
• Huw Ethall - Pennar Davies: Y Dyn a'i Waith

Film

• Anthony Hopkins and Catherine Zeta-Jones star in The Mask of Zorro.

Welsh language films

• Bride of War, starring Huw Garmon (in Welsh, English, French, German and Polish).

Music

• Indie music band Terris are formed in Newport.
• Anweledig - Sombreros yn y Glaw
• Charlotte Church - Voice of an Angel
• Melys - Rumours and Curses
• Bonnie Tyler - All in One Voice

Broadcasting

Welsh-language television

• November – A new digital channel is launched, broadcasting in Welsh for twelve hours a day.[11]

English-language television

Sport

• 8 February – Mark Williams wins his first Masters title.[12]
• September – At the 1998 Commonwealth Games:
  • Kelly Morgan wins the badminton women's singles;
  • Iwan Thomas wins the men's 400 metres;
  • Desmond Davies wins the men's individual skeet shooting;
  • Wales win a total of 15 medals, including the three golds.

Births

• 18 December – Cameron Coxe, footballer
• 29 December–- Mark Harris, footballer

Deaths

• 3 January – Tony Duncan, golfer and cricketer, 83
• 18 February – Robbie James, footballer, 40 (collapsed and died during match)[13]
• 1 April – Mary Wynne Warner, mathematician, 65[14]
• 2 April – Dai Davies, trade unionist
• 4 April – Käte Bosse-Griffiths, author, 87[15]
• 14 April – Dorothy Squires, singer, 83[16]
• 11 May – Vronwy Hankey (née Fisher), archaeologist, 81[17]
• 13 May – Arthur Rees, Wales international rugby player and police Chief Constable, 85[18]
• 17 May – Hugh Cudlipp, journalist, 84[19]
• 23 July – R. Tudur Jones, theologian and politician, 77[20]
• 28 July – Nancy Evans, table tennis player, 95
• 3 August (in Waipukurau, New Zealand) – Ronnie Boon, Wales rugby union player, 89
• 12 September – Horace Charles Jones, poet, 92
• 5 October – Megs Jenkins, actress, 81[21]
• 31 October – Eddie Perry, footballer, 89
• 16 December – Kenyon Jones, rugby player, 87
• 16 December – Tommy Davies, boxer, 78
• 31 December – Alan Morris, footballer, 44

See also

• 1998 in Northern Ireland

References

1. David Pollard; Neil Parpworth; David Hughes (14 June 2007). Constitutional and Administrative Law: Text with Materials. OUP Oxford. p. 172. ISBN 978-0-19-928637-9.
2. Norman Doe (29 February 2020). A New History of the Church in Wales: Governance and Ministry, Theology and Society. Cambridge University Press. p. 113. ISBN 978-1-108-49957-6.
3. Roda P. Roberts (2000). The Critical Link 2: Interpreters in the Community : Selected Papers from the Second International Conference on Interpreting in Legal, Health, and Social Service Setting. John Benjamins Publishing. p. 246. ISBN 90-272-1636-3.
4. "Happy Birthday Flintshire Bridge – It was officially opened on March 6th 1998". deeside.com. 6 March 2018. Retrieved 4 February 2020.
5. Higgit, D. (27 August 2005). "The day my life changed". Western Standard. Archived from the original on 18 January 2008. Retrieved 2007-10-26.
6. Robert Hazell (2000). The State and the Nations: The First Year of Devolution in the United Kingdom. Imprint Academic. p. 2. ISBN 978-0-907845-80-5.
7. Colin Pilkington (2002). Devolution in Britain Today. Manchester University Press. p. 133. ISBN 978-0-7190-6076-2.
8. "Winners of the Chair". National Eisteddfod of Wales. 3 February 2020.
9. "Winners of the Crown". National Eisteddfod of Wales. 3 February 2020.
10. David Armstrong (4 November 2011). How Not to Write a Novel: Confessions of a Midlist Author. Allison & Busby. p. 101. ISBN 978-0-7490-1135-2.
11. Janet Davies (15 January 2014). The Welsh Language: A History. University of Wales Press. p. 125. ISBN 978-1-78316-129-4.
12. "Snooker: Williams wins on respotted black". The Independent. 9 February 1998. Retrieved 14 May 2019.
13. Ivan Ponting (21 February 1998). "Obituary: Robbie James". The Independent. Retrieved 25 November 2010.
14. I. M. James and A. R. Pears, "Obituary: Mary Wynne Warner (1932–1998)" Bulletin of the London Mathematical Society 34(6)(December 2001): 745–752. DOI: 10.1112/S0024609302001467
15. Meic Stephens (10 April 1998). "Obituary: Kate Bosse-Griffiths". The Independent. Retrieved 4 October 2019.
16. Bill Christine (25 October 2017). They Left Their Hearts in San Francisco: The Lives of Songwriters George Cory and Douglass Cross. McFarland. p. 183. ISBN 978-1-4766-6900-7.
17. Peter Warren (23 June 1998). "Vronwy Hankey". The Independent.
18. Cole, Robert (21 May 1998). "Obituary: Arthur Rees". The Independent. Retrieved 1 June 2011.
19. Dennis Griffiths (2006). Fleet Street: Five Hundred Years of the Press. British Library. p. 389. ISBN 978-0-7123-0697-3.
20. D. Densil Morgan. "Jones, Robert Tudur (1921-1998), theologian, church historian and public figure". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 8 October 2019.
21. F. Maurice Speed; James Cameron-Wilson (1999). Film Review. W. H. Allen.