Curriculum Cymreig

What is a 'Welsh' hero?

There are lots of different views on this!

'Welsh' might mean 'born in Wales'. This is a perfectly reasonable interpretation. Its simple and easy, and can be verified. Unfortunately, it also disqualifies David Lloyd George (who was born in Manchester) and Saunders Lewis (born on Merseyside), but we can get then in under some other definition (both were for example born to Welsh parents who were part of the late C19 migrations from north Wales to the north west of England). It also excludes two others who were nominated - David Edward Hughes and Alexander Cordell. And it allows in T.E. Lawrence, who was born in the Lleyn Peninsula, true enough, but his parents were Irish and they moved to Scotland shortly after he was born - and he never again lived in Wales. So it's not a perfect measure, but all in all, 96 out of the 100 heroes were born in Wales, so it probably the best definition as well as the simplest.

Or might it mean that they achieved their greatness within Wales? Is this what marks someone out as a specifically Welsh hero? The problem with that is that we would immediately lose half of our heroes! Only 50 out of the 100 would count as Welsh heroes if we used that definition. We would have some great names: Hywel Dda, Dafydd ap Gwilym, Owain Glyndwr, Bishop William Morgan, Hywel Harris, William Williams, Pantycelyn, Kate Roberts, Hedd Wyn, Saunders Lewis. And we would have some lesser knowns - Bill Frost (the aviation pioneer from Pembrokeshire) and John Jones from (Bangor) 1818 - 1898) 'the working man's astronomer'. He had only very basic education, yet built himself a telescope in his spare time - and also incidentally taught himself Greek and Latin, and English.

But what about Henry Tudor, Lloyd George, Nye Bevan? What about almost all of the performers - Richard Burton, Anthony Hopkins, Cerys Mathews, Catherine Zeta Jones, and the rest? And many of the 'thinkers' and 'groundbreakers', and 'creatives' from Robert Recorde in the sixteenth century to Bertrand Russell in the twentieth, from Gwen John to Kyffin Williams , from Robert Owen to Elizabeth Phillips Hughes. All of these achieved their greatness outside of Wales. There is of course very often no choice in the matter. Until 1999 if you wanted to get on in politics - if you wanted to promote the good of Wales in a political arena - you had to become an MP at Westminster (some might argue that you still have to). Similarly, if you want a career in acting, or music, you have to go further afield, often to America. If you wanted a university education before the end of the nineteenth century, you had to go to Oxford or Cambridge - and even after that, if you wanted what was considered the best university education - you still went there.

Is 'Welshness' an essential part of the hero's identity? Do (or did) they see themselves first and foremost as Welsh, and are (were) they seen by others as Welsh. Looking at our list of 100, and applying this test in a very rough and ready way, it is possible to identify roughly two-thirds Welsh as against one third not Welsh -but there is of course plenty of scope for argument. It could be said, for example, that Richard Burton is not particularly seen as a Welsh actor, whereas Ioan Gruffud, and indeed Catherine Zeta Jones, is. Cerys Matthews, James Dean Bradfield, make a feature of their Welshness - playing on the 'cool Cymru' image. Bryn Terfel is definitely Welsh. So is Dylan Thomas. Lloyd George kept his Welsh identity in London - he even introduced Welsh speaking servants into 10 Downing Street. But there are others whose Welsh-ness is not generally recognised, or not seen as the most important part of their identity. Aneurin Bevan, for example, is perhaps a champion of the working class first, and a Welshman second. And what about Sir Henry Morton Stanley, Bertrand Russell, T.E. Lawrence, Simon Weston, Andrew Vicari, Tommy Cooper - a list of people who some may be surprised to find were born in Wales.