Remembering 18 Welsh greats
A host of Welsh greats who died in 2020 have been added to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, writes Jenny White
JJ WILLIAMS, Emyr Humphreys and Jan Morris are among the notable Welsh figures who died in 2020 and have now been added to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (ODNB).
The dictionary is the national record of men and women who have shaped British history and culture, worldwide, from the Romans to the 21st century.
Overseen by academic editors at Oxford University and published by Oxford University Press, it receives various annual updates, including the addition of historical figures and key figures who died four years previously.
“We include the recently-deceased once a year, a few years after – 2019 lives in 2023, 2020 in 2024, and so on,” says Alex May, a senior research editor for the ODNB.
“This is for three reasons – we are selective, it takes time to gather materials and write the entry, and it’s best to let dust settle.”
The new “recently deceased” additions are chosen after a extensive consultation with about 450 advisers, who advise on about 45 different occupational categories such as politics, sport, medicine, journalism. There are advisers with specialisms in Welsh literature, politics and rugby.
This year has brought a 15% increase in the number of new recently deceased inclusions, in line with the excess mortality in the UK during 2020, when Covid hit.
However, Alex notes: “The number of inclusions was arrived at independently of the excess mortality – the number of people whom the advisers thought should be included was 15% higher than usual as well.”
Some 1,500 people featured in the current ODNB were born in Wales, and a further 1,800 entries have some life-event connection with Wales. The earliest is Cunedda, a fifth-century BC ruler in north Wales.
“They of course include numerous iconic Welsh figures such as Llywelyn ap Gruffudd or David Lloyd George,” adds Alex. “The average entry is around 1,000 words, but ‘bigger’ figures get longer entries; for example, Lloyd George is about 25,000.”
Here are 18 key Welsh figures who died in 2020 and are now included in the ODNB:
JOHN JAMES (JJ) WILLIAMS
■ John James (JJ) Williams (19482020), born in Maesteg, was a talented athlete who represented Wales in the 100m and 200m at the 1970 Commonwealth Games, but it was as a rugby player for Bridgend, Llanelli, Wales, and the British and Irish Lions that he will be forever remembered: by any account he was one of Wales’ most talented wingers, and he was a key figure in the nation’s Grand Slamwinning teams in 1976 and 1978.
EMYR HUMPHREYS
■ Born in Prestatyn, Flintshire, the novelist, dramatist, and writer Emyr
Humphreys (1919-2020) was a lifelong Welsh nationalist whose writings, in both English and Welsh, explored Welsh history and the modern Welsh predicament. He was particularly acclaimed for The Land of the Living, a septet of novels exploring 20th-century Welsh history. He also wrote short stories, poetry, and non-fiction.
JAN MORRIS
■ Born in Clevedon, Somerset, Jan Morris (1926-2020) was initially famous (as James Morris) as the journalist who scooped the news of the ascent of Everest in 1953, and then the author of dispatches for The Times from the Middle East. After gender reassignment she became a bestselling travel writer and historian, her subjects including the rise and fall of the British Empire, and the history of her adopted homeland, Wales, where she lived from 1964. In 1992 she was elected into the Gorsedd Cymru.
TERRY JONES
■ Born in Colwyn Bay, Terry Jones (1942-2020) began writing and performing comedy sketches while a student at Oxford. He appeared on The Frost Report (1966) and Do Not Adjust Your Set (1967-69) before achieving enduring fame as a member of the Monty Python team (and director of three of their four films). He also wrote many film and television scripts and adaptations, children’s books, and (a serious historian and bibliophile himself) popular history books and programmes, such as The Crusades (1996).
SIR JOHN MEURIG THOMAS
■ Born in Ponthenri, Carmarthenshire, the son of a coalminer, Sir John Meurig Thomas (1932-2020) was a world-renowned scientist for his work in catalytic chemistry, solid state chemistry, and “crystal engineering”, with important ramifications in metallurgy and materials science. He was a director of the Royal Institution, a master of Peterhouse, Cambridge, and a founding fellow of the Learned Society of Wales.
SIR JOHN CADOGAN
■ Born in Pembrey, Carmarthenshire, Sir John Cadogan (1930-2020) was another renowned Welsh chemist and educationist, whose career spanned academia and industry, including as chief scientist at BP. He was the first director-general of the research councils in the Office of Science and Technology, and inaugural president of the Learned Society of Wales.
JOHN (SHôN) FFOWCS WILLIAMS
■ Born in Llansadwrn, into a Welshspeaking family, John (Shôn) Ffowcs Williams (1935-2020) was an engineer, an expert on aeroacoustics,
and noise reduction (noted for his work on Concorde), and later master of Emmanuel College, Cambridge.
MARTIN WILLIAMS
Martin Williams (1947-2020), from Mountain Ash, was a chemist and environmental scientist who worked on air pollution and specifically vehicle pollution. His career switched between academia and government service at the departments of health and the environment, and he was an adviser to the World Health Organisation and the United Nations Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution.
GWILYM ROBERTS
The civil engineer Gwilym Roberts (1925-2020), from Llanfair, Merionethshire, now part of Gwynedd, achieved a worldwide reputation for his work on large-scale water engineering projects, including many in the Middle East, and most notably the Greater Cairo Wastewater Project, with 50km of tunnels, pumping stations, treatment works, and numerous culverts. He was president of the Institution of Civil Engineers and the Smeatonian Society of Civil Engineers.
SIR DAVID PROSSER
Born in Barry, Sir David Prosser (1944-2020) studied pure mathematics at Aberystwyth and worked for the pensions arm of the National Coal Board before joining the insurance group Legal & General; he became chief executive of the firm (then facing huge losses on mortgage indemnity policies) in 1991 and turned it around, in the process becoming one of the most admired leaders in the financial services industry.
TRISTAN GAREL-JONES
Born in Gorseinon, Tristan GarelJones, Baron Garel-Jones (1941-2020), Conservative MP for Watford from 1979 to 1997, served in the whips’ office under Margaret Thatcher for seven years, where he gained a reputation for Machiavellianism. A promitific nent Europhile, he was a central figure in the “Catherine Place conspiracy”, which supposedly played a role in Thatcher’s political demise.
SIR JOHN HOUGHTON
The atmospheric physicist and climate scientist Sir John Houghton (1931-2020), born in Dyserth, Denbighshire, was a professor at Oxford then director of the Meteorological Office from 1983 to 1991. His greatest impact was as co-chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the lead editor of its first three reports. He was, perhaps unusually for a scientist, an evangelical Christian, and he was a co-founder of the John Ray Initiative, to bring together scienhydrodynamics and Christian perspectives on the environmental crisis.
ALUN GWYNNE JONES
From an earlier generation, Alun Gwynne Jones, Baron Chalfont (19192020), born in Llantarnam, Monmouthshire, was a former army officer and a respected defence journalist when in 1964 Harold Wilson elevated him to the House of Lords, where he served for six years as a minister of state at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. He wrote several books on military history and strategy, was a champion of the Welsh language and culture, and filled several public service roles.
IAN MICHAEL
Born in Neath and educated at the grammar school (where he only chose Spanish to avoid physics), the Hispanic scholar Ian Michael (19342020) was best known (and lauded in Spain) for his work on medieval Spanish texts including the Poema de Mio Cid. His work ranged widely, however, from the history of the book and of libraries to fantasy literature and Spanish cinema. He was also a crime writer, as David Serafin.
TERRY HANDS
Terry Hands (1941-2020) was one of the most celebrated theatre directors of his generation. He was a founder of the Liverpool Everyman Theatre in 1964, spent 25 years with the Royal Shakespeare Company (latterly as artistic director; he directed more RSC productions than any other director to date), and then from 1997 to 2015 was artistic director of Theatr Clwyd, establishing it as one of the major theatre companies in Wales and the UK.
JOE BROWN
Joe Brown (1930-2020), from Manchester, began climbing on Kinder Scout using gym shoes and his mother’s clothesline as a rope. He became a celebrated climber and mountaineer, making the first ascent of Kangchenjunga and the Muztagh Tower in the Himalayas, and (for a live broadcast by the BBC) climbing the Old Man of Hoy. From 1966 he lived in Llanberis, where he ran a shop selling climbing gear.
LIZ EDGAR
Born in Cardiff, but brought up near Chepstow, Liz Edgar (1943-2020) was a champion showjumper who won the Queen Elizabeth Cup a record five times, was the first woman to win the Aachen Grand Prix, and was in three winning Nations Cup teams. She later ran a successful training and breeding business with her husband, fellow international showjumper Ted Edgar.
SPENCER DAVIS
Born in Swansea, the guitarist and musician Spencer Davis (1939-2020) read German at the University of Birmingham (leading colleagues to call him “the Professor”) before forming the Spencer Davis Group, who had hits with Keep on Running, Gimme Some Lovin, and I’m a Man. Later he moved to the US, participated in various legacy rock line-ups, and appeared as an occasional actor.
The Oxford DNB is published in print (63 million words in 60 volumes, plus two supplements) and online www.oxforddnb.com