Category: Welsh Histories

  • Robert Owen: Welsh Founder of Utopian Socialism

    Robert Owen: Welsh Founder of Utopian Socialism

    Did you know that one of the founders of utopian socialism and the co-operative movement was a Welshman by the name of Robert Owen? Who Was Robert Owen? Owen was born in Y Drenewydd, Powys, on 14 May 1771. The hard work of his father, who was a saddler, ironmonger and post-master, no doubt inspired…

  • John Charles: Welsh Football’s GOAT

    John Charles: Welsh Football’s GOAT

    Though Wales is known for having produced numerous world class football players over the past few centuries (Gareth Bale, Ian Rush and Billy Meredith, to name but three), arguably no Welsh name shines as brightly as John Charles – a name synonymous with skill, strength, and a gentleman-like spirit. Who Was He? John Charles was…

  • Owain Gwynedd: Prince of Wales

    Owain Gwynedd: Prince of Wales

    One of the most deeply significant of the medieval Welsh princes is none other that Owain ap Gruffudd, who is better known as, simply (though he was by no means a simple man), Owain Gwynedd. Owain Gwynedd was named as such as his real name, Owain ap Gruffudd, was shared by the contemporary ruler of…

  • The Miyazaki Movie Inspired by Welsh Novel

    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,…

  • Julius Caesar & His Comments on Ancient Britons

    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)…