1960 in Wales

Incumbents

Prince of Wales – Charles

Princess of Wales – vacant

Archbishop of Wales – Edwin Morris, Bishop of Monmouth

Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales

William Morris (outgoing)

Trefin (incoming)

Events

1 January - Portmeirion Pottery is established when Susan Williams-Ellis and her husband Euan Cooper-Willis (managers of the gift ship at her father's village of Portmeirion) take over Gray's Pottery in Stoke-on-Trent (England).

5 January - Closure of the Swansea and Mumbles Railway (opened to passengers in 1807 and by this date operated by double-deck electric trams). The service is replaced by buses operated by its owner South Wales Transport.

12 April - Nine miners are killed in a mining accident at Tower Colliery, Hirwaun.

28 June - Forty-five miners are killed in an accident at Six Bells Colliery, Monmouthshire.

6 August - At Llandaff Cathedral a service of thanksgiving attended by Queen Elizabeth II is held to mark the end of eleven years' restoration work following air raid damage in 1941.

5 September - Poet and peace campaigner Waldo Williams is sentenced at Haverfordwest to imprisonment for six weeks for non-payment of income tax (a protest against defence spending).

3 November - Esso opens the first oil refinery at Milford Haven.

Arts and literature

29 September - Ricky Valance is the first male Welsh singer to hit number one in the charts, with his cover version of Tell Laura I Love Her.

Awards

National Eisteddfod of Wales (held in Cardiff)

National Eisteddfod of Wales: Chair - withheld

National Eisteddfod of Wales: Crown - W. J. Gruffydd

National Eisteddfod of Wales: Prose Medal - Rhiannon Davies Jones

New books

Glyn M. Ashton - Tipyn o Annwyd

Thomas Glynne Davies - Haf Creulon

Menna Gallie - Man's Desiring

Dic Jones - Agor Grwn

Kate Roberts - Y Lôn Wen

Bernice Rubens - Set on Edge

Raymond Williams - Border Country

New drama

Saunders Lewis - Esther

Music

Alun Hoddinott - Concerto no. 2

Arwel Hughes - Serch yw’r Doctor (opera)

Film

Glynis Johns stars in The Sundowners.

Rachel Roberts stars in Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, becoming the first Welsh actress to win a BAFTA for Best British Actress.

Keith Baxter appears alongside Orson Welles in Chimes at Midnight.

Welsh-language television

Colegau Cerdd

Her Yr Ifanc

English-language television

1 January - Broadcast of the first weekly episode of an eight-part serialization by BBC Wales of How Green Was My Valley.

Johnny Morris narrates the imported children's TV series Tales of the Riverbank.

Sport

Boxing - Dick Richardson wins the European Heavyweight title. Brian Curvis wins the British and Commonwealth welterweight titles.

Summer Olympics - David Broome wins a bronze medal on Sunsalve in the individual show jumping event.

Tennis - Mike Davies wins the British hard court title. He also becomes the first Welsh man to reach a Wimbledon final where he partners Bobby Wilson in the Men's Doubles.

BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year - Brian Curvis

Births

30 January - Peter Black AM, politician

6 February - Jeremy Bowen, journalist and television presenter

15 February - Russell Coughlin, footballer (d. 2016)

3 May - Geraint Davies, politician

9 May - Jillian Lane, spiritual medium (d. 2013)

23 June - Ricky Evans, rugby union player

29 June - Helen Mary Jones, politician (in Colchester)

13 July - Ian Hislop, satirist

18 September - Ian Lucas, politician

12 December - Kelvin Smart, flyweight boxer

24 December - Carol Vorderman, television personality (in Bedford)

date unknown

Lesley Griffiths, politician

Gareth Jones, orchestral and choral conductor

Malcolm Pryce, novelist (in Shrewsbury)

Deaths

2 January - Leila Megàne, opera singer, c. 69

13 January - Reginald Herbert, 15th Earl of Pembroke, 79

17 January - E. Llwyd Williams, minister and poet, 53

27 January - Joseph Jones, dual-code rugby international, 60

2 February - Joseph "Joe" Jones, rugby league player, 60

30 March - Edward Evan, politician, 77

11 April - William Llewellyn Morgan, Wales international rugby union player, 76

7 May - Mai Jones, songwriter, 61

23 May - John Edwards, politician, 77

19 June - Thomas Alwyn Lloyd, architect, 78

27 June - Harry Pollitt, politician, 69

6 July - Aneurin Bevan, politician, 62

9 July - John Dyke, Wales international rugby union player, 76

24 August - Dai Edwards, Wales dual-code rugby international, 64

25 August - Tommy Jones-Davies, Wales international rugby player, 54

27 September - George Morgan Trefgarne, 1st Baron Trefgarne, politician, 66

29 October - Horace Williams, footballer, c. 60

20 December - Harry Uzzell, Wales international rugby union captain, 77