by Mike Hall
1965: John Toshack, aged 16 years and 236 days, came on as a substitute in Cardiff City’s match against Leyton Orient, setting a record as the youngest-ever to play for the club. His record stood until April 28th 2007, when Aaron Ramsey came on in the last minute of Cardiff’s 0-1 defeat by Hull City. (Wikipedia)
November 14th
1840: Fares on the Cardiff to Merthyr mail coach were reduced to 6 shillings (inside) and 4 shillings (outside) in order to counter competition from the new railway. (John Davies et al., The Welsh Academy Encyclopaedia of Wales, 2008)
1894: Holy Trinity, the new church in the rapidly-expanding community of Cogan, was consecrated by the Bishop of Llandaff. (Roy Thorne, Penarth: A History, Starling Press, 1975)
2006: The Medina Mosque in Woodville Road, Cathays, was destroyed by fire. The City Council offered the Muslim community the use of Roath Community Hall instead. ‘We are very grateful to the Council,’ said Mosque spokesman, Taher Majral. However, the hall was not ideal as it was in a busy shopping area and had no car-park. Worshippers were advised to car-share or walk where possible. About 500 worshippers attended at the new venue to celebrate Eid ul-Adha, the festival marking the end of the pilgrimage to Mecca. In the next few years, ownership of the mosque site was the subject of a protracted legal dispute that prevented work being done on a replacement building. (South Wales Echo)
November 15th
1898: ‘Ex-priest Slattery delivered another anti-Catholic lecture at the Andrews Hall, the progress of which was punctuated with a number of exciting scenes and incidents. The lecturer said at the outset that arrangements had been made for the expulsion of any person who might disturb the meeting. He hoped Protestant gentlemen would assist in the ejection of brawling neighbours. He enlarged upon the alleged evils connected with mixed marriages, the celibacy of the clergy and the confessional and was continuing in that strain when someone said “Boo”. The lecturer, amid some excitement, said the least said the better, but the obstructive person in the gallery continued his interruptions. Then there were cries for the police, who shut up the objector and summarily dismissed him. Soon afterwards the interruptors were in the ascendant. The lecturer, taking the bull by the horns, rushed from the platform and up to the gallery where a disturbance lasted for about five minutes. Christians on both sides were engaged with police in the melee and the whole lot fell struggling pell-mell over a flight of stairs.’ (Western Mail)
November 16th
1868: The General Election held on this date was the first after the Reform Act of 1867 which had greatly increased the number of men eligible to vote. Nationally, the result saw the Liberals, led by William Ewart Gladstone, increase their majority over Benjamin Disraeli’s Conservatives to more than 100 seats. The campaigning in Cardiff had led to some disorderly scenes, including a magistrate being felled by a stone while reading the Riot Act. The Liberal Candidate, Lieutenant Colonel James Stuart, polled 2,501 votes. Hardinge S. Giffard QC, the Conservative candidate had 2,055. The result at the 1874 election was much the same: Stuart 2,780, Giffard 2,771. In 1885 Hardinge Giffard was created Lord Halsbury and became Lord Chancellor. (W.R. Williams, ‘Members of Parliament for Cardiff’)
1898: A new chapel was dedicated at Nazareth House, Cardiff. The Western Mail’s architectural critic clearly approved of this addition: ‘The architecture, which is in the Early English style, is in keeping with the rest of the structure,’ he wrote. ‘The general effect is excellent: an air of warmth and comfort being imparted. The ventilation is in the most approved style and the whole building is one of the best of its kind in the town.’
November 17th
1945: Cardiff City hosted the famous Russian football team Moscow Dynamo in a special match at Ninian Park. The Cold War had not yet come into existence and there was still great admiration for the heroism displayed by the Russians during the war. The Lord Mayor of Cardiff gave the team a Civic Reception and there were visits arranged to the National Museum, the docks and a coal mine. They were entertained by a Welsh choir. Before the game the Russians presented the Cardiff captain with a bouquet of flowers and in return received silver-plated miners’ lamps. The Dynamos beat Cardiff 10-1 and afterwards the Echo’s sports cartoonist J.L. Walker suggested that the flowers might have been dipped in chloroform! (Dennis Morgan, Farewell to Ninian Park, 2008)
1967: A bomb planted by nationalists opposed to the Investiture exploded at the Temple of Peace in Cathays Park on the eve of the first meeting of the committee set up to plan the 1969 ceremony at Caernarfon. Shrapnel from the shattered window-frames smashed windows in offices 600 yards away. It would have caused considerable loss of life but was timed to explode at 4 a.m. when there was no one about. (John Humphries, Freedom Fighters: Wales’ Forgotten War, 1963-1993, University of Wales, 2008)
November 18th
1986: Welsh National Ice-Rink opened. It was home to the Cardiff Devils ice-hockey team until September 2006 when it was demolished. In April of that year there was a special ‘end of era’ game between Past and Present Devils. (South Wales Echo)
2010: Glamorgan cricket captain Jamie Dalrymple and President Peter Walker quit the county club in acrimonious circumstances. Dalrymple had been replaced as captain by South African, Alviro Petersen, and Walker left after Cricket Manager Matthew Maynard had chosen to leave rather than accept demotion to coach. They both criticised the way things were being run by chairman Paul Russell who responded by saying that he ‘had determined that the club can no longer accept the poor playing standards that have been the case for the last five years.’ Glamorgan had been challenging for promotion from Division 2 of the Championship only for a poor run at the end of the season – and results elsewhere – to cause them to miss out. (South Wales Echo)
November 19th
1740: Charles Wesley preached at Cardiff and got a much-better reception than he had just received at Newport, where he described the crowd ‘as ill-behaved as ever I have seen in Wales’. As William Rees describes in Cardiff: A History of the City, there was a need for reformation in the eighteenth-century Anglican Church. In 1729 the Sexton at Llandaff had been suspended for a year due to drunkenness. In 1771 the Senior Vicar-Choral at the Cathedral had to be disciplined for ‘persistent evil-living’.
1883: All shares in the Glamorganshire Canal linking Cardiff and Merthyr were purchased by Lord Bute. The canal was then closed and traffic diverted onto the Taff Vale Railway. (John Richards, Cardiff: A Maritime History, The History Press, 2005)
1954: The death of Bart Wilson, ‘The Father of the Bluebirds’, who had developed the former Riverside Cricket Club into a football club in 1899. Riverside FC ultimately became Cardiff City, joining the Football League in 1920. (Dennis Morgan, Farewell to Ninian Park, 2008)
November 20th
1721: The south-west tower of Llandaff Cathedral collapsed during a storm, followed by about 50 foot of the nave roof. The building was left open to the sky and remained in that condition for over a century. (Llandaff Cathedral guidebook)
1909: The National Memorial to Welshmen who fell in South Africa during the Boer War was unveiled in Cathays Park by General Sir John French. He also unveiled a memorial tablet in Llandaff Cathedral. In 1974 the Boer War memorial had to be moved to allow for the construction of the Boulevard de Nantes. (Stewart Williams, Cardiff Yesterday)
1912: Wilf Wooller, all-round sportsman, born at Rhos-on-Sea in North Wales. He captained Glamorgan for fourteen years, leading them to an unexpected County Championship title in 1948. He was secretary of the club for thirty years and president for six. He played rugby for Wales on eighteen occasions and also played for Cardiff. He also played football for Cardiff City. During the Second World War he was a prisoner at the infamous Changi POW camp and survived intensive interrogation by the Japanese. (Wikipedia)
November 21st
1874: In the first known rugby match at the Arms Park, the Wanderers took on the Glamorgan 2nd XV. A local paper reported that ‘thirty muscular young men me
t for a trial of skill and strength. Shins were barked in large numbers, the equilibrium of many was upset and, in short, there was war to the knife between the opposed parties. The contest was very close and exciting and it was a difficult matter to decide which party was superior to the other. Ultimately the match was discontinued by consent and considered a drawn one. Many persons witnessed the match, notwithstanding the thick fog which prevailed.’ (Robert Cole & Stuart Farmer, The Wales Rugby Miscellany, Sports Vision Publishing, 2008)
1918: Royal Navy cruiser HMS Cardiff, the flagship of the Sixth Light Cruiser Squadron, led the seventy-four ships of the defeated German Navy into Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands. The German ships were virtually prisoners. The German officer in command, Rear Admiral von Reuter, knew that Germany would have to accept surrender terms imposed by the British so, when the Cardiff and the best part of the fleet left for exercises, he gave the order for the German fleet to be scuttled. (Western Mail)
November 22nd
1999: The death of Cardiff boxer Jack Petersen, one of Britain’s best-known light-heavyweight champions.. Having been trained by his father and supported by a syndicate, he became one of the most popular and well-supported fighters of the 1930s. Tall and lithe, and of part-Danish descent, he had some difficulty in making the weight but was nevertheless able to move up to become the British & Empire Heavyweight Champion between 1932 and 1936. His fights with Len Harvey and Walter Neusel were particularly remembered by boxing fans of the day. One of his sons, David, became a distinguished artist/blacksmith and a leading Plaid Cymru activist. (Stewart Williams, Cardiff Yesterday / Wikipedia)
2010: Controversial American chain Hooters opened its first restaurant in Wales in Mary Ann Street. The company was famous – or infamous – for the skimpy costumes its waitresses were required to wear. The firm hired fifty-six girls, aged between 18 and 27, to work at the restaurant, only it’s third in the UK after Nottingham and Bristol. (South Wales Echo)
November 23rd
1839: Zephaniah Williams was arrested on board a ship at Cardiff as he attempted to flee abroad after the abortive Chartist Rising in Newport. The arrest was carried out by Superintendent Jeremiah Stockdale of the Cardiff Police (see August 22nd). Williams was on board a boat called The Vintage, lying at the mouth of the Taff near the Sea Lock of the Glamorganshire Canal. He told Stockdale that ‘I had made up my mind to jump into the canal and take you with me.’ (www.southwalespolicemuseum.org.uk)
1840: The Glamorgan, described as ‘a new light post-coach’ began operating a service to Swansea from the Angel Inn, Cardiff, running every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, calling at Cowbridge, Bridgend, Aberavon and Neath. The journey took 5½ hours. Another coach, the St David, offered a journey to London ‘in one day’. It left the Angel Inn every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday at 6 a.m. and called at Newport (7.15 a.m.), Chepstow (9 a.m.), Newnham (11 a.m.), Gloucester (12.30 p.m.), Cheltenham (1.30 pm) and arrived in London at 9 p.m. Passengers were advised that they could catch the train for Worcester, Birmingham and the North at Cheltenham. (Stewart Williams, Cardiff Yesterday)
November 24th
1661: A Quaker meeting in Cardiff was broken up by the authorities, many of those present being sent to prison. The Restoration of Charles II had led to increased persecution of Quakers and other nonconformists, especially in view of their refusal to pay tithes or swear the oaths required under various Acts of Parliament. Some forty Quakers were being held in the town jail at the time. (William Rees, Cardiff: A History of the City, Cardiff Corporation, 1969)
1963: Following the assassination of American President J.F. Kennedy in Dallas, a Requiem Mass, presided over by Archbishop John Murphy, was held at St David’s Roman Catholic Cathedral. The future President had attended Mass there with his father, the American Ambassador, and other family members in 1938. (John O’Sullivan & Bryn Jones, Cardiff: A Centenary Celebration, The History Press, 2005)
1995: Glamorgan County Cricket Club acquired a 125-year lease on the Sophia Gardens ground from Cardiff Athletics Club. The following year the club announced its plans to redevelop the ground with increased capacity, new hospitality suites, a media centre and improved training facilities. (Andrew Hignell, From Sophia to Swalec: A History of Cricket in Cardiff, The History Press, 2008)
November 25th
1865: A row over a donkey escalated into the brutal murder of Honora Dutch of Canton, killed by her husband John. The couple had long had a turbulent relationship and were well-known to the police. To supplement his meagre income as a contractor’s labourer in Llandaff, Dutch and his wife kept a donkey which they hired out to anyone who needed loads carried. The animal was kept tethered near their home and, as was their normal practice, the donkey had been allowed to wander and graze the hedges of nearby gardens. A neighbour, fed up with this, impounded the donkey and demanded the sum of 4s 8d to release it. John Dutch paid up but Honora, incensed at this, swore at him and attacked him. Enraged by this, he dragged her out into the yard and beat her with such violence that she died. When the case came to trial, John Dutch was saved from the gallows by the medical evidence which showed that she was so diseased as a result of her heavy drinking that it was impossible to prove that his assault caused her death. He was instead convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to a long period of hard labour. (Mark Isaacs, Foul Deeds & Suspicious Deaths in Cardiff, Wharncliffe, 2009)
November 26th
1960: Cardiff City beat Manchester United 3-0 in the first game between the two sides since the Munich air-crash killed many of United’s star players. A column in the match programme, headed ‘Lest We Forget’ reminded spectators that ‘this terrible disaster happened less than three years ago and today we remember them with reverence and respect.’ The match was played in a terrible downpour which kept the crowd down to 21,000. (Dennis Morgan, Farewell to Ninian Park, 2008)
2004: The Wales Millennium Centre officially opened. It was the first national cultural facility to be built in Wales for over fifty years and had been financed by the National Lottery. Events during the week included a firework display and a concert with Owain Arwel Hughes conducting the Cory Band. The key officially opening the building had travelled all around the world and arrived in Cardiff by boat. (Western Mail)
November 27th
1909: A leather-bound album of photographs was presented by the Cardiff & District Temperance and Band of Hope Union to Mrs Rosa Bella Bartlett of Newport Road, Cardiff, to mark her 1,500th Saturday night meeting and twenty-nine years of service to the Cardiff Blue Ribbon Choir. The choir had been founded in 1881 to promote the cause of teetotalism and had been very successful in its work. (Stewart Williams, Cardiff Yesterday)
1961: Independent television company WWN (Wales West & North), born out of dissatisfaction about the very limited amount of Welsh language programming on the Independent Television network, was forced to renege on its promise to broadcast programmes in Welsh at peak times. There were complaints that the company had gone back on its word. (Gerald Talfon Davies, ‘When the Capital Made News’ in The Cardiff Book, Vol.2, 1974)
2010: Customers bade a sad farewell to furniture store Maskey’s as it ceased trading after 112 years. Mr Robert Maskey, the firm’s owner, had decided to retire and close the firm’s shops in Cardiff, Newport and Bristol. There were bargains to be had and, despite snow and ice, customers crowded into make the most of them. (South Wales Echo)
November 28th
1828: The contractor responsible for supplying gas for street-lighting in Cardiff was, by special resolution of the Council, allowed to provide gas to balloonist Charles Green to enable him to make a demonstration flight. The ascent was made by Charles’s son who lifted off from a field near the town centre at about 6 p.m. The event ended in tragedy – the balloon was carried off by the wind over the Bristol Channel and was eventually recovered, without its occupant, from near Wedmore in Somerset. (William Rees, Cardiff: A History of the City, Cardiff Corporation, 1969)
1938: The
death of Cardiff ship-owner Reginald Arthur Gibbs (born 1872). A noted sportsman, he had played sixteen times for Wales, including scoring a try against England in 1910 at the first game played at Twickenham. He was part of the team which beat South Africa in 1906. (T.D. Breverton, The Welsh Almanac, Glyndwr Publications, 2002)
2004: The final event in the inaugural week at the new Wales Millennium Centre was a Royal Gala evening attended by the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh and Prince Charles. Stars taking part included Charlotte Church, Bryn Terfil and Shirley Bassey (who had been born barely half a mile away). (John O’Sullivan & Bryn Jones, Cardiff: A Centenary Celebration, The History Press, 2005)
November 29th
