‘As a child the Eisteddfod was like Disneyland in Welsh... I can’t wait to play it on Anglesey’

THE New Year promises to be busy and momentous for popular comedian Tudur Owen.

Not only will the Anglesey-born comic prepare to be one of the stars of the National Eisteddfod, he will also celebrate his 50th birthday.

He said: “I don’t know if the word celebrate is the right word for the 50th birthday. It means I’m looking back at possibly more years than I can look forward to.

“But it’s an opportunity to do a few things I have been meaning to do for a while. I’m planning a new stand-up routine and taking it on tour. The last one went down well and people have been asking me to do another.

“Then I’m planning to go back to the Edinburgh festival. I did well there this year.”

Tudur will head north to Scotland immediately after the National Eisteddfod. He has been asked by Eisteddfod officials to prepare a show in the new pavilion.

“I can’t say too much about it at the moment but I’ve got plans and it’s fair to say it will be something different and varied.

“When the Eisteddfod people announce the evening programme in March I’ll have more to say about it but it is something I’m really looking forward to.

“There’s a buzz on Anglesey at the moment and it will be at feverpitch by next August. I’ve done a few fundraisers in places like Capel Coch and Ty Croes to help the local committees reach their targets and everywhere is going beyond what they were set,” he said.

Tudur said the National Eisteddfod has played an important part in his life.

“Not that I ever competed. I was never good enough for the National, just the Urdd with others and the chapel Eisteddfod and only then if others were ill,” he said.

“But the last two occasions the Eisteddfod has visited Anglesey left their mark on me.”

His first experience of a National Eisteddfod was in 1975.

“It was like a Disneyland in Welsh. Meeting Hywel Gwynfryn was the highlight – as it would be. But then I met Caleb, one of the characters from the TV show, Miri Mawr. I was so disappointed when I realised he was a person dressed up in an animal costume. That made me realise that showbiz is one big con.

“But, I don’t hold that against the Eisteddfod.

“The 1983 Eisteddfod was great – Llangefni – home turf. I was 16 – just the right age. We had so much fun, gigs on the Maes, two nights – without sleeping – on the campsite with a group of lads from Aberffraw. It changed my life.

“The Eisteddfod is unique. It just wouldn’t work anywhere else. There’s something intrinsically Welsh about it, and this appeals to me. When I get to the Maes, I wander around seeing people I know.

“And I’m looking forward to doing just that in Bodedern, which was just a cigarette end flick away from where I went to school,” he said.

The Eisteddfod will be staged from August 4-12. More information online at eisteddfod.cymru