1982 in Wales

← 1981 1980 1979 1982 in Wales → 1983 1984 1985
Centuries:	18th 19th 20th 21st
Decades:	1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s
See also:	List of years in Wales 1982 in The United Kingdom Ireland Scotland

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1982 to Wales and its people.

Incumbents

• Prince of Wales - The Prince Charles
• Princess of Wales – Diana
• Secretary of State for Wales – Nicholas Edwards
• Archbishop of Wales – Gwilym Williams, Bishop of Bangor (retired)
• Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales – Jâms Nicholas

Events

• 2 January - The Welsh Army of Workers claims responsibility for a bomb explosion at the Birmingham headquarters of Severn Trent Water.^[1]
• May - Swansea City complete their first season in the English Football League First Division with a sixth-place finish.^[2]
• 2 June - 100,000 people gather in Pontcanna Fields, Cardiff, to welcome Pope John Paul II on the first-ever papal visit to Wales.
• 8 June - 32 men from the Welsh Guards are killed when the Sir Galahad burns during the Falklands War. The most famous of the survivors is Simon Weston, who is severely burned.
• 16 June - Welsh miners go on strike to support health workers demanding a 12% pay rise.^[3]
• 30 August - St David's Hall opens in Cardiff.
• 11 September - 14 skydivers from Wales die when a Chinook helicopter crashes at an airshow in Mannheim in Germany.^[4]
• 16 September - At the Gower by-election brought about by the death of Ifor Davies, Gareth Wardell holds the seat for Labour.
• 17 October - First issue of Sulyn, the first Sunday newspaper in the Welsh language.
• A monument is erected at Gresford in memory of those who died in the Gresford Disaster of 1934.
• The Inmos microprocessor factory in Newport, Wales, designed by the Richard Rogers Partnership, is completed.
• Swansea is given the right to have a Lord Mayor.
• First students begin courses at the Welsh language study centre at Nant Gwrtheyrn.

Arts and literature

• Roger Rees wins a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his performance in The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby.
• Alice Thomas Ellis is shortlisted for the Booker Prize for The 27th Kingdom.

Awards

• National Eisteddfod of Wales (held in Swansea)
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Chair - Gerallt Lloyd Owen
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Crown - Eirwyn George
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Prose Medal - Gwilym M. Jones

New books

• Gwynfor Evans - Bywyd Cymro
• Alun Jones - Pan Ddaw'r Machlud
• R. Merfyn Jones - The North Wales Quarrymen 1874-1922
• Rhiannon Davies Jones - Eryr Pengwern
• Kenneth O. Morgan - Rebirth of a Nation: Wales 1880-1980
• Wynford Vaughan-Thomas - Princes of Wales

Music

• John Cale - Music For A New Society (album)
• Dafydd Iwan with Ar Log - Rhwng Hwyl a Thaith

Film

• Political Annie’s Off Again, film of a local industrial dispute made by Chapter Video Workshop.

Broadcasting

Welsh-language television

• Cefn Gwlad
• Joni Jones
• Noson Lawen appears for the first time.
• S4C starts broadcasting on 1 November

English-language television

• The Citadel (BBC), filmed in Tredegar.

Sport

• Boxing
  • 14 September - Kelvin Smart becomes British flyweight champion after beating fellow Welsh fighter Dave George.
• Darts - Ann-Marie Davies wins the Women's World Masters Championship.
• Snooker - Terry Parsons wins the World Amateur Championship. Terry Griffiths wins the UK Open and the Mercantile Classic.

Births

• 1 February - Gavin Henson, rugby player
• 4 February - Kevin Gall, footballer
• 2 May - Timothy Benjamin, athlete
• 12 May - David Thaxton, actor and singer
• 21 June - Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, son of the Prince and Princess of Wales
• 29 August - Mike Phillips, rugby player
• 2 September - Matthew Rees, footballer
• 29 November - Imogen Thomas, model
• 25 December - Rob Edwards, footballer
• date unknown - Amanda Hale, actress

Deaths

• 5 January - Janetta Thomas, UK's oldest person and oldest Welsh-born woman of all time, 112
• 11 January - Ronald Lewis, actor, 53
• 5 February - Ronald Welch, historical novelist, 72
• 8 February - Cedric Morris, artist, 92
• 6 May - Jennie Eirian Davies, politician and magazine editor
• 19 May - Elwyn Jones, television writer, 58
• 31 May - Eryl Davies, educationist, 59
• 6 June - Ifor Davies, politician, 71
• 10 July
  • Gwilym Jenkins (in Lancaster), statistician and systems engineer, 49
  • Gwilym Ellis Lane Owen, philosopher, 60
• 17 July - Bob John, footballer, 83
• 16 August - Sydney Hinam, Wales international rugby player, 83
• 18 October - James Idwal Jones, politician, 82
• 19 October - Iorwerth Peate, founder of St Fagans National History Museum, 81
• 4 November - Talfryn Thomas, comedy actor, 60
• 16 November - Ivor Jones, rugby union international, 80
• 19 November - Herbie Evans, footballer, 88
• 4 December - Ivor Williams, artist, 74

References

1. "Those were the days". Wolverhampton: Express & Star. Retrieved 2011-04-04.
3. "1982: Welsh miners back health workers". On This Day. BBC News. 16 June 2008. Retrieved 2007-11-30.
4. Moore, Sarah. "Swansea skydivers remembered 30 years after Mannheim crash". BBC News. Retrieved 11 September 2012.