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Author: Niklas George
The Miyazaki Movie Inspired by Welsh Novel
Did you know that the Studio Ghibli & Hayao Miyazaki movie, Howl’s Moving Castle, was based on the Welsh Diana Wynne Jones novel of the same name? In the novel, one of the main characters, Howl, is a Cymraeg-speaking (Welsh-speaking, in English) Welshman with the full name Howell Jenkins. The landscapes and the castle, too,…
Llywelyn the Great? More Like Llywelyn the GOAT
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Cymru had many Kings, Queens and Princes before the Conquest of Wales by Edward Longshanks in the late 13th century. Arguably the greatest of them all was Llywelyn ab Iorwerth (1173-1240), and he is often known as Llywelyn Fawr (Llywelyn the Great). Llywelyn rose to claim the throne from his uncle, Dafydd ab Owain Gwynedd,…
Julius Caesar & His Comments on Ancient Britons
It is sometimes fun to imagine what Ancient Britain was like when the entire island was roamed by those who spoke the Common Brittonic language, an ancestor of the present-day Welsh language. One of the best (though, of course, partisan) and earliest descriptions of the ancient Britons (the Britons before Rome, Saxon and Norman invasions)…
Guto Nyth Brân: Fastest Man in 18th Century?
Here’s a post about Griffith Morgan, perhaps better known as Guto Nyth Brân (Guto, being the shortened version of Griffith, and Nyth Brân (English ‘crows nest’) being his parent’s farm near Porth, in the borough of Rhondda Cynon Taff). Guto (1700-1737) was a remarkable athlete but little is known of the actual truth of his…
19th Century Wales & the Rebecca Riots
In the 19th century, between the years 1839 and 1843, rural Cymru saw a series of protests known as Terfysgoedd Beca (the “Rebecca Riots”). These protests were characterised by peasants disguising themselves as women and taking to the streets to voice their grievances. Origins of the Rebecca Riots The riots were a response to several…