1963 in Wales

Centuries:	18th; 19th; 20th; 21st; ;
Decades:	1940s; 1950s; 1960s; 1970s; 1980s;
See also:	List of years in Wales; Timeline of Welsh history 1963 in The United Kingdom Scotland Elsewhere

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1963 to Wales and its people.

Incumbents

Archbishop of Wales – Edwin Morris, Bishop of Monmouth
Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales – Cynan

Events

February

2 February – Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg holds its historic first protest in Aberystwyth, in the form of a sit-down at Trefechan Bridge.
9 February – The paramilitary Welsh nationalist organisation Mudiad Amddiffyn Cymru plants a bomb at the construction site of the Tryweryn reservoir.^[1]
date unknown – A record snowfall of nearly 5 ft (1.5m) occurs at Tredegar in Monmouthshire.^[2]

March

6 March – After record freezing weather throughout the winter, it is the first day of the year when there is no frost in Wales.^[3]
28 March – Labour Party candidate Neil McBride wins the Swansea East by-election caused by the death of Labour Member of Parliament (MP) David Mort.

June

28 June – Caerphilly railway works closes.^[4]

August

August – Mandy Rice-Davies gives evidence at the trial of Stephen Ward, including the famous phrase, "Well, he would, wouldn't he?"^[5]^[6]

September

16 September – The Western Mail launches a fund-raising campaign to replace a stained glass window to replace the one shattered in the bombing of a church in Birmingham, Alabama, United States, by the Ku Klux Klan on the previous day; the £500 target is reached within days.^[7]

Date unknown

Dunraven Castle is demolished.^[8]

Arts and literature

The home and cultural centre of Gregynog Hall at Tregynon in Montgomeryshire is given to the University of Wales by owners and art-collectors, Margaret and Gwendoline Davies, granddaughters of Victorian industrialist David Davies.
A scientific journal in the Welsh language, Y Gwyddonydd, is launched.
The Beatles play at Mold 24 January; Cardiff 27 May; Abergavenny 22 June; Rhyl 19–20 July; and Llandudno 12–17 August.

Awards

National Eisteddfod of Wales (held in Llandudno)
National Eisteddfod of Wales: Chair – withheld
National Eisteddfod of Wales: Crown – Tom Parri Jones
National Eisteddfod of Wales: Prose Medal – William Llywelyn Jones

New books

Kenneth O. Morgan – David Lloyd George, Welsh Radical as World Statesman
Bertrand Russell – Essays in Skepticism
R. S. Thomas – The Bread of Truth
Clough Williams-Ellis – Portmeirion, the Place and its Meaning

Music

Arwel Hughes – Pantycelyn (oratorio)
Daniel Jones – The Knife (opera)
Grace Williams – Trumpet Concerto

Film

Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor star in Cleopatra.
Desmond Llewelyn makes his first appearance as "Q" in the James Bond series of films.
Rachel Roberts stars in This Sporting Life
Jack Howells wins the Academy Award for Dylan Thomas at the 35th Academy Awards in the category of Best Documentary Short. As of 2011 it is the only Welsh film to have won an Oscar.

Broadcasting

The ITV franchise Wales (West and North) Television (WWN) (also called "Teledu Cymru") becomes the only company in Independent Television history to go bankrupt,^[9] and is taken over by TWW.

Welsh-language television

Heno

English-language television

23 November – The first episode of BBC's new science fiction series Doctor Who, devised by Welshman Terry Nation, is broadcast.^[10]

Sport

BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year – Howard Winstone^[11]

Births

22 January – Huw Irranca-Davies, politician^[12]
27 April – Russell T Davies, television screenwriter^[13]
14 May – Andrew Lewis, composer
8 June – Louise Jones, cyclist
15 June – Nigel Walker, athlete and rugby player
28 June – Peter Baynham, comedian
10 July – Ian Lougher, motorcycle racer
August – Rebecca Evans, operatic soprano
15 August (in Wolverhampton) – Simon Hart, politician, Secretary of State for Wales
12 September – Julie Roberts (artist), painter^[14]
19 October – Phil Davies, rugby union player
1 November – Mark Hughes, footballer and football manager
28 November – Charles Dale, television actor
7 December – Mark Bowen, footballer
16 December – Hugh Morris, cricketer
19 December – Paul Rhys, actor
28 December – Simon Thomas, politician

Deaths

1 January – David Mort, Labour MP for Swansea East, 74
11 January – Philippa Powys, novelist, 76^[15]
13 March – Margaret Davies, philanthropist, 78^[16]
15 January – Morgan Phillips, politician, 60^[17]
15 March – William Cove, politician, 74
28 March – Alec Templeton, composer, pianist and satirist, 52^[18]
15 April – Edward V. Robertson, US senator, 81
25 May – William Lewis, chemist
17 June – John Cowper Powys, novelist, 90^[19]
6 July – John Osborn Williams, politician in Newfoundland, 77
29 July – Frank Moody, British boxing champion, 62^[20]
11 September – William Richard Williams, civil servant and politician, 68
26 September
- Goronwy Owen, politician, 82^[21]
- Olive Wheeler, educationalist, 77
1 October – Tal Harris, Wales international rugby player, 61
11 October – Emlyn Garner Evans, lawyer and politician, 53^[22]
26 October – Horace Evans, royal physician, 60^[23]
16 December – Llewellyn Evans, Olympic hockey player, 84
20 December – Reg Skrimshire, Wales and British Lions rugby union player, 85
26 December – Gwynn Parry Jones, singer, 72
30 December – Rees Williams, footballer, 63

Notes

^ "Tryweryn: 50 years since bombing of reservoir dam". BBC. 2013-02-10. Retrieved 2013-02-12.
^ "Amazing pictures of Wales' Big Freeze of 1963". WalesOnline. 11 December 2013. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
^ "The winter when Wales stood still". ITV News. 19 December 2012. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
^ "Great Western Railway Caerphilly Locomotive Works". Rail UK. Archived from the original on 2014-04-15. Retrieved 2014-04-14.
^ "Mandy Rice-Davies Obituary". The Telegraph. Retrieved 29 December 2017.
^ "Mandy Rice-Davies Obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 December 2017.
^ "The Wales window, Birmingham, Alabama". National Library of Wales. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
^ "BBC – Dunraven Castle – home of legends". BBC News. 2009-03-19. Retrieved 2011-10-12.
^ The Economist. Economist Newspaper. 1983. p. 54.
^ Chapman, James (2006). Inside the Tardis: The Worlds of Doctor Who. I.B.Tauris. p. 25. ISBN 1-84511-162-1.
^ "BBC Wales Sport Personality winners". BBC Sport. Retrieved 29 July 2021.
^ Valerie Passmore (2005). Dod's Parliamentary Companion: Guide to the General Election, 2005. Dod's Parliamentary Companion Limited. ISBN 978-0-905702-57-5.
^ Adam Pearson (18 August 2014). 101 Interesting Facts on Doctor Who: Learn About the Science-Fiction TV Show. Andrews UK Limited. p. 17. ISBN 978-1-910295-80-9.
^ Grant, Catherine M. (28 September 2001). "Roberts, Julie". Grove Art Online. Retrieved 21 February 2021.(subscription or UK public library membership required)
^ John Cowper Powys; Philippa Powys (1996). The letters of John Cowper Powys to Philippa Powys. C. Woolf. p. 20. ISBN 978-0-900821-51-6.
^ D. Ben Rees (2002). Vehicles of Grace and Hope: Welsh Missionaries in India, 1800-1970. William Carey Library. p. 24. ISBN 978-0-87808-505-7.
^ Saville, John. "Phillips, Morgan Walter". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/35513. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
^ "Alec Templeton, Blind Pianist, Is Dead in Connecticut at 52; He Won Success as Serious Artist and as Innovator-- Skilled as Improviser Self-Pity Excluded Moves to London A Skilled Improviser". New York Times. 29 March 1963. Retrieved 18 November 2021.
^ Herbert Williams (1997). John Cowper Powys. Seren. p. 156. ISBN 978-1-85411-196-8.
^ Encyclopaedia of Boxing. R. Hale. 1979. p. 165. ISBN 978-0-7091-7745-6.
^ Who was who: A Companion to Who's Who, Containing the Biographies of Those who Died. A. & C. Black. 1981. p. 297. ISBN 978-0-7136-3336-8.
^ Who's who of British Members of Parliament: 1945-1979. Harvester Press. 1981. p. 111. ISBN 9780855273354.
^ G. H. Brown; Richard Robertson Trail; Gordon Ethelbert Ward Wolstenholme (1968). Lives of the Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians of London. Royal College of Physicians. p. 123.

[1] "Tryweryn: 50 years since bombing of reservoir dam". BBC. 2013-02-10. Retrieved 2013-02-12.

[2] "Amazing pictures of Wales' Big Freeze of 1963". WalesOnline. 11 December 2013. Retrieved 30 June 2019.

[3] "The winter when Wales stood still". ITV News. 19 December 2012. Retrieved 30 June 2019.

[4] "Great Western Railway Caerphilly Locomotive Works". Rail UK. Archived from the original on 2014-04-15. Retrieved 2014-04-14.

[5] "Mandy Rice-Davies Obituary". The Telegraph. Retrieved 29 December 2017.

[6] "Mandy Rice-Davies Obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 December 2017.

[7] "The Wales window, Birmingham, Alabama". National Library of Wales. Retrieved 30 June 2019.

[8] "BBC – Dunraven Castle – home of legends". BBC News. 2009-03-19. Retrieved 2011-10-12.

[9] The Economist. Economist Newspaper. 1983. p. 54.

[10] Chapman, James (2006). Inside the Tardis: The Worlds of Doctor Who. I.B.Tauris. p. 25. ISBN 1-84511-162-1.

[11] "BBC Wales Sport Personality winners". BBC Sport. Retrieved 29 July 2021.

[12] Valerie Passmore (2005). Dod's Parliamentary Companion: Guide to the General Election, 2005. Dod's Parliamentary Companion Limited. ISBN 978-0-905702-57-5.

[13] Adam Pearson (18 August 2014). 101 Interesting Facts on Doctor Who: Learn About the Science-Fiction TV Show. Andrews UK Limited. p. 17. ISBN 978-1-910295-80-9.

[14] Grant, Catherine M. (28 September 2001). "Roberts, Julie". Grove Art Online. Retrieved 21 February 2021.(subscription or UK public library membership required)

[15] John Cowper Powys; Philippa Powys (1996). The letters of John Cowper Powys to Philippa Powys. C. Woolf. p. 20. ISBN 978-0-900821-51-6.

[16] D. Ben Rees (2002). Vehicles of Grace and Hope: Welsh Missionaries in India, 1800-1970. William Carey Library. p. 24. ISBN 978-0-87808-505-7.

[17] Saville, John. "Phillips, Morgan Walter". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/35513. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)

[18] "Alec Templeton, Blind Pianist, Is Dead in Connecticut at 52; He Won Success as Serious Artist and as Innovator-- Skilled as Improviser Self-Pity Excluded Moves to London A Skilled Improviser". New York Times. 29 March 1963. Retrieved 18 November 2021.

[19] Herbert Williams (1997). John Cowper Powys. Seren. p. 156. ISBN 978-1-85411-196-8.

[20] Encyclopaedia of Boxing. R. Hale. 1979. p. 165. ISBN 978-0-7091-7745-6.

[21] Who was who: A Companion to Who's Who, Containing the Biographies of Those who Died. A. & C. Black. 1981. p. 297. ISBN 978-0-7136-3336-8.

[22] Who's who of British Members of Parliament: 1945-1979. Harvester Press. 1981. p. 111. ISBN 9780855273354.

[23] G. H. Brown; Richard Robertson Trail; Gordon Ethelbert Ward Wolstenholme (1968). Lives of the Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians of London. Royal College of Physicians. p. 123.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

[14]

[15]

[16]

[17]

[18]

[19]

[20]

[21]

[22]

[23]

1963 in Wales

Incumbents

Events

February

March

June

August

September

Date unknown

Arts and literature

Awards

New books

Music

Film

Broadcasting

Welsh-language television

English-language television

Sport

Births

Deaths

See also

Notes