Have your say on train name honour
THE Great Western Railway is in the middle of its biggest fleet upgrade since its first train travelled between London and Bristol 175 years ago.
As part of the upgrade, it is looking to name 50 new trains after the the “Greatest Westerners” of all time.
GWR wants to know who, past or present, has made the greatest contribution to the towns, cities, communities and regions along its routes.
Last week we kickstarted the nominations with six great Welsh men and women we think deserve the honour of having a GWR train named after them and here we have selected another five.
If you want to make your own nomination then you can visit the dedicated site www.greatwesterners.co.uk to submit the name of the person you think most suited.
Ivor Novello Born on January 15, 1893, Ivor Novello was one of the most popular British entertainers of the first part of the 20th Century.
The composer’s song, Keep The Home Fires Burning, was hugely popular during the First World War, and he contributed to several musical comedies after the war, eventually being commissioned to write the scores of complete shows.
He then turned to acting in the 1920s, in British films and then on stage. He was in two silent films by Alfred Hitchcock – The Lodger and Downhill, both in 1927. And on stage he played the title character in Liliom in 1926.
In his name were created the Ivor Novello Awards for songwriting. They began in 1955 and are awarded each year by the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors.
Laura Ashley Synonymous with her clothing brand, which continues to this day, Laura Ashley started making furnishing materials in the 1950s, something the shops bearing her name are also famous for.
She specialised in the romantic style, with natural fabrics and a 19th Century rural feel.
Her parents lived in London, but her mum returned to Wales to allow her daughter to be born here, in her grandmother’s home in Merthyr Tydfil, in 1925. She worked for the Women’s Institute on quilting while working as a secretary and raising her first two children, and then began designing headscarves, napkins, table mats and tea towels.
In 1953 she started to print Victorian-style headscarves and they became successful, retailing at John Lewis and on mail order. Her first shop opened in Maengwyn Street, Machynlleth, in 1961.
Sir Anthony Hopkins Wales’ most famous living actor was born on December 31, 1937 in Margam.
Knighted in 1993 for services to the arts, his acting career began after he graduated from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in 1957, and followed it with training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London.
Laurence Olivier spotted him and invited him to join the Royal National Theatre and he played Richard The Lionheart in the 1968 film The Lion in Winter.
But he shot to worldwide attention when he won a Best Actor Oscar for his role as psychopath Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs in 1991.
Since then Hopkins has starred in films including Remains of the Day, The Mask of Zorro, and Thor: The Dark World, and on the small screen most recently in Westworld.
Sir Harry Secombe Swansea-born Harry Secombe is best known for his role as Neddie Seagoon in BBC radio comedy series The Goon Show.
Born on September 8, 1921, to a shop manageress and a grocer, he was educated at Dynevor School in Swansea.
Short-sighted, he had to cheat his way past the sight test so he could join the Territorial Army in 1938 and served as a Lance Bombardier in No. 132 Field Regiment of the Royal Artillery, seeing action in the North African campaign, Sicily and Italy.
It was in North Africa that he met Spike Milligan and the two would eventually link up with Peter Sellers and Michael Bentine to create Those Crazy People, which soon became The Goon Show.