1952 in Wales

← 1951 1950 1949 1952 in Wales → 1953 1954 1955
Centuries:	18th 19th 20th 21st
Decades:	1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s
See also:	List of years in Wales 1952 in The United Kingdom Ireland Scotland

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1952 to Wales and its people.

Incumbents

• Prince of Wales – vacant (The Duke of Cornwall (Prince Charles) was not created Prince of Wales until 1958)
• Princess of Wales – vacant
• Archbishop of Wales – John Morgan, Bishop of Llandaff
• Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales – Cynan

Events

• 10 January - An Aer Lingus Douglas DC-3 aircraft on a London–Dublin flight crashes in Wales due to vertical draft in the mountains of Snowdonia, killing twenty passengers and the three crew.^[1][2]
• 5 July - Six miners are killed in a mining accident at Point of Ayr colliery in north Wales.
• 15 August - Wenvoe transmitting station begins broadcasting 405-line VHF BBC Television to south Wales and the west of England on Band I channel 5 (66.75 MHz).^[3]
• 3 September - Mahmood Hussein Mattan is the last person to be executed at Cardiff Prison.
• 19 October - A small Welsh republican group, Y Gweriniaethwyr, make an unsuccessful attempt to blow up the water pipeline leading from the Claerwen dam in mid Wales to Birmingham.^[4]
• 23 October - Opening of Claerwen reservoir, the first engagement carried out in Wales by Elizabeth II since her accession as Queen of the United Kingdom.^[5] She first sets foot in Wales as monarch at Llandrindod railway station.^[6]
• Lake Bala bursts its banks and floods many parts of the Vale of Edeirnion.
• Following the retirement of Hugh O'Neill, David Grenfell becomes Father of the House.
• Pennar Davies becomes Principal of Swansea Memorial College.

Arts and literature

• English actors Richard Bebb and Gwen Watford marry.

Awards

Renoir's La Parisienne is one of the works of art bequeathed to the people of Wales by Gwendoline Davies in 1952.

• National Eisteddfod of Wales (held in Aberystwyth)
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Chair - John Evans
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Crown - withheld
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Prose Medal - Owen Elias Roberts

New books

• Islwyn Ffowc Elis - Cyn Oeri'r Gwaed
• Jack Jones - Lily of the Valley
• T. J. Morgan - Y Treigladau a’u Cystrawen
• John Dyfnallt Owen - Rhamant a Rhyddid
• R. Williams Parry - Cerddi'r Gaeaf
• Bertrand Russell - The Impact of Science on Society
• Richard Vaughan - Moulded in Earth
• Raymond Williams - Drama from Ibsen to Eliot

Fine arts

• Gwendoline Davies bequeaths a large part of her art collection to the National Museum of Wales, including Renoir's La Parisienne.

Music

• David Wynne - Symphony no. 1

Recordings

• Dylan Thomas records a collection of five of his poems, including Fern Hill and Do not go gentle into that good night, along with the short prose A Child's Christmas in Wales for Caedmon Audio in New York.

Film

• Richard Burton stars in My Cousin Rachel.

Broadcasting

• 12 March - Tommy Cooper's TV series, It's Magic, begins its run.
• 15 August - The Wenvoe television transmitter enters service.
• 26 August - Hit radio series Welsh Rarebit transfers to television.

Sport

• Rugby union - Wales win their fifth Grand Slam.
• Summer Olympics - Harry Llewellyn wins a gold medal in the team showjumping competition, riding Foxhunter.

Births

• 9 January – Mike Watkins, Wales international rugby captain
• 24 January – Tony Villars, footballer
• 22 March – David Jones, politician
• 3 April - Philip Jenkins, academic and former Mastermind champion
• 16 April – Bob Humphrys, sports broadcaster (d. 2008)
• 21 April - Cheryl Gillan, politician
• 5 May – Andrew Davies AM, politician
• 12 June – Jed Williams, jazz journalist
• 7 September – Irene James AM, politician
• 18 October – Hilary Bevan Jones, television producer
• 17 November – David Emanuel, fashion designer
• 20 November – Karen Sinclair, politician
• date unknown
  • Menna Elfyn, poet
  • Robert Minhinnick, poet

Deaths

• 3 March – John Emlyn Emlyn-Jones, shipowner and politician, 63
• 25 April (in Broadstairs) – Sir John Milsom Rees, surgeon, 86
• 25 August – James Kitchener Davies, poet, dramatist and nationalist, 50
• 23 October – Windham Wyndham-Quin, 5th Earl of Dunraven and Mount-Earl, politician, 95
• 28 October (in Sydney) – Billy Hughes, London-born Prime Minister of Australia, 90
• 11 November – Sir William Llewelyn Davies, national librarian, 65
• 28 November – Ernie George, Wales international rugby player, c.81
• 2 December – Tom Jackson, Wales international rugby player, 82
• 15 December (in London) – Sir William Goscombe John, sculptor, 92
• 26 December (in London) – Lyn Harding, actor, 85
• 31 December – John Cledwyn Davies, politician, 83

References