Harman Patil (Editor)

1998 in Wales

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Centuries:
  
18th 19th 20th 21st

Decades:
  
1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1998 to Wales and its people.

Contents

Incumbents

  • Prince of Wales – Charles
  • Princess of Wales – vacant
  • Secretary of State for Wales
  • Ron Davies (until 27 October)
  • Alun Michael
  • Archbishop of Wales – Alwyn Rice Jones, Bishop of St Asaph
  • Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales – Dafydd Rowlands

    • Events

  • February 24 - The Criminal Cases Review Commission overturns the murder charge of Mahmood Hussein Mattan, who was executed in 1952 for killing a Cardiff shopkeeper.
  • February - Britain's first official register of historic landscapes is published by Cadw. It lists 36 landscapes in Wales of outstanding historic interest.
  • March 6 - Flintshire Bridge is officially opened.
  • April 8-9 - Torrential rain over eastern Wales results in widespread flooding.
  • April 13 - Montgomeryshire MP Lembit Öpik is seriously injured in a paragliding accident in his constituency.
  • June - The Arts Council of Wales publishes its consultation paper Building A Creative Society.
  • Ron Davies is appointed to the highest order of the Gorsedd of the Bards at the 1998 National Eisteddfod in Bridgend
  • July 31 - The Government of Wales Act 1998, that will establish a devolved Welsh Assembly, receives its Royal Assent.
  • September 19 - Ron Davies is elected in preference to Rhodri Morgan as Labour's candidate for First Secretary of the Assembly.
  • October 22-31 - Heavy rainfall across Wales results in river levels rising to warning levels. Flood plains are inundated and there is extensive flooding of houses and other property.
  • October 27 - Ron Davies resigns as Secretary of State for Wales after being mugged in an incident on Clapham Common, following what he described as an "error of judgment".
  • November 18 - Jon Owen Jones, MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Wales, announces that the Environment Agency has been asked for a report on the October floods.

    • Arts and literature

  • Bryn Terfel gives a recital at Carnegie Hall.

    • Awards

  • Glyndŵr Award - Iwan Bala
  • National Eisteddfod of Wales (held in Bridgend)
  • National Eisteddfod of Wales: Chair - withheld
  • National Eisteddfod of Wales: Crown - Emyr Lewis
  • National Eisteddfod of Wales: Prose Medal - Eurig Wyn, Blodyn Tatws
  • Wales Book of the Year:
  • English language: Mike Jenkins - Wanting to Belong
  • Welsh language: Iwan Llwyd - Dan Ddylanwad
  • Gwobr Goffa Daniel Owen - Geraint V. Jones, Semtecs

    • New books

  • Gillian Clarke - Five Fields
  • James Hawes - Rancid Aluminium
  • Rhys Hughes - Rawhead & Bloody Bones
  • Mario Risoli - When Pele Broke our Hearts: Wales and the 1958 World Cup
  • Sarah Waters - Tipping the Velvet

    • Film

  • Anthony Hopkins and Catherine Zeta-Jones star in The Mask of Zorro.

    • Welsh language films

  • Bride of War, starring Huw Garmon (in Welsh, English, French, German and Polish).

    • Music

  • Anweledig - Sombreros yn y Glaw
  • Charlotte Church - Voice of an Angel
  • Melys - Rumours and Curses
  • Bonnie Tyler - All in One Voice

    • Sport

  • September - At the 1998 Commonwealth Games:
  • Kelly Morgan wins the badminton women's singles;
  • Iwan Thomas wins the men's 400 metres;
  • Desmond Davies wins the men's individual skeet shooting;
  • Wales win a total of 15 medals, including the three golds.

    • Deaths

  • 3 January - Tony Duncan, golfer and cricketer, 83
  • 18 February - Robbie James, footballer, 40 (collapsed and died during match)
  • 2 April - Dai Davies, trade unionist
  • 4 April - Käte Bosse-Griffiths, author, 87
  • 14 April - Dorothy Squires, singer, 83
  • 11 May - Vronwy Hankey, archaeologist, 81
  • 13 May - Arthur Rees, Wales international rugby player and police Chief Constable, 85
  • 17 May - Hugh Cudlipp, journalist, 84
  • 23 July - R. Tudur Jones, theologian and politician, 77
  • 28 July - Nancy Evans, table tennis player, 95
  • 3 August - Ronnie Boon, Wales rugby union player, 89
  • 12 September - Horace Charles Jones, poet, 92
  • 5 October - Megs Jenkins, actress, 81
  • November - Eddie Perry, footballer, 89
  • 16 December - Kenyon Jones, rugby player, 87
  • 31 December - Alan Morris, footballer, 44
  • December - Tommy Davies, boxer, 78

    • References

    1998 in Wales Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA