I have signed contracts with Amberley Publishing to deliver two titles by the end of 2017. These are – 50 Gems of South West Wales (Carmarthenshire, Pembrokeshire and Gower) 50 Gems of Mid Wales (Ceredigion and Powys) The books will be an attractive mixture ( I hope) of words and pictures. We are looking forward…
Author: gbadmin
Laurel and Hardy
22 September 1952 Laurel and Hardy appeared at the Empire Theatre on Oxford Street in Swansea. They stayed in the Mackworth Hotel on High Street and often sat on their balcony waving at their fans. They should have played Swansea again in May 1954 but the booking was cancelled due to Oliver Hardy’s illness. …
The Maid of Cefn Ydfa
This is the story of Ann Maddocks, the Maid of Cefn Ydfa, her forlorn love for the bard Wil Hopcyn remembered forever in a folk song we all know so well. You can read the full story in my new book Grave Tales from Wales. There are details below about how to buy a copy …
Swansea Library 17 September 2016
My next talk is approaching fast! In the Discovery Room of the Central Library at 2.00 pm on Saturday 17 September 2016. Swansea in the 1950sOf course, there will be copies of all my books on sale!
How others see us
I came across an interesting piece in The Cambrian published on 17 August 1894. It is called How Others See Us and reports the impressions formed by a visitor to Swansea. Here is an extract from it. In Swansea you are mixed up with a none-too cleanly lot. Of course now I refer to the…
New Blog Posted
I have posted a new blog today, called La Supreme Sagesse and the Brotherhood of Strangers. It is a story we found whilst we were on holiday in Gruissan in the south of France, on the Mediterranean near Narbonne. We visited The Allée des Naufragés – the Path of the Shipwrecked – which winds up…
La Supreme Sagesse and the Brotherhood of Strangers
The Massif de la Clape rises above the Mediterranean outside Narbonne in the south of France. It is a beautiful wilderness, 17 km long and 8 km wide, perfect for rugged walking and cycling. The name comes from the local Occitan word Clapas – meaning a pile of stone. Rather unkind if you ask me…
A-Z of Swansea – Places People History
My latest book – A-Z of Swansea, Places, People, History – has been published by Amberley Press and you can buy a signed copy from the How to Buy Page by clicking here. The link should open in a new page and you will find A-Z of Swansea towards the bottom of the list. The book…
Violet, Victor, Violence
My latest article in Welsh Country Magazine (July 2016) explores the story behind the murder of Violet Pick, strangled on the Vauxhall Bridge over the river Monnow in Monmouth by her boyfriend in 1910. When Victor was sentenced to death at the assizes a couple of months later, he waved to the public gallery shouting “Ta…
Frances Power Cobbe
My article in the May edition of Welsh Country Magazine is about Frances Power Cobbe (1822 – 1904). She was a fascinating nineteenth century personality- a journalist, a campaigner for women’s rights and a leading anti-vivisectionist. She is a buried in a quiet grave in the cemetery of St Illtyd’s church in Llanelltyd near Dollgellau,…