X-Nico

21 unusual facts about Wales


Arwyn Davies, Baron Arwyn

Arwyn Randall Davies, Baron Arwyn (17 April 1897 – 23 February 1978) was a Welsh life peer.

Badminton World Federation

Founded in 1934 as the International Badminton Federation with nine member nations (Canada, Denmark, England, France, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Scotland and Wales), the BWF has since expanded to 176 member nations around the world.

Broadward, Herefordshire

The River Arrow flows to the south of the hamlet and Broadward Bridge takes the road across it.

But What Will the Neighbors Think

The song "Queen of Hearts" was first recorded in 1979 by Welsh rock musician Dave Edmunds for his album Repeat When Necessary.

Calaminarian grassland

In the United Kingdom they are predominantly found on industrial or post-industrial land, especially in the east of Cumbria and western dales, the Peak District and north west Wales and parts of the Scottish Highlands.

Côr Godre'r Aran

Côr Godre'r Aran (English: Choir from the foothills of the Aran mountain) is a famous Welsh Male-voice choir that hail from Llanuwchllyn, near Bala, North Wales.

The choir has won many awards and prizes over the years including winners of the Male-voice choir competition at the National Eisteddfod of Wales & the Llangollen International Eisteddfod.

The choir has recorded 12 times with Welsh record company, SAIN over the years including three CD's - Evviva, Cwlwm Aur, & Byd o Heddwch.

Craswall

It lies in the far west of the county, in the foothills of the Black Mountains, close to the border with Wales.

Ebbw Vale, Queensland

Ebbw Vale is Welsh for Head of the Valley which refers to the location of Ebbw Vale in Wales.

Goodleburg Cemetery

Goodleburg Cemetery is a cemetery located in Wales, New York.

John K. Edmunds

Edmunds was born in Wales, Utah to Thomas Edmunds, an immigrant from Wales, and Frieda Louise Kaestli, an immigrant from Switzerland.

Joseph Stone, Baron Stone

Joe Stone was a General Practitioner, originally from Llanelli in Wales, who after qualifying in Cardiff worked as a GP in and around Hendon.

Mam Cymru

National personification of Wales, also called Dame Wales used in cartoons, most notably by Joseph Morewood Staniforth.

Merry Christmas Everyone

"Merry Christmas Everyone" is a popular festive song by the Welsh singer-songwriter Shakin' Stevens.

Mynydd Llangorse

Mynydd Llangorse is a hill on the western edge of the Black Mountains in the Brecon Beacons National Park in Powys, south Wales.

Secessionism in Western Australia

Western Australia was grouped with Scotland, Wales, the Basque Country, and Catalonia as "places seeking maximum fiscal and policy autonomy from their national capitals" in an October 2013 opinion piece in The New York Times.

Swansea Festival

Swansea Festival may refer to a number of festivals that take place in Swansea, Wales.

The Bloodline

The album was mixed by Jeff and Ginge(Bullet for My Valentine) at Not In Pill Studios in Wales.

Tor y Foel

It gives excellent panoramic views over the valley of the River Usk, across to the Black Mountains and west to the Brecon Beacons.

Y Garn

Y Garn is Welsh for the cairn or the rock and is the name of several hills in Wales.


Aberaeron

In Wales Illustrated in a Series of Views by Henry Gastineau, published in 1810, it states: "Near the town are some remains of an ancient fortress called Castell Cadwgan, thought to have been erected by king Cadwgan, about the year 1148."

Airflight

12 March 1950 - Avro Tudor G-AKBY while operating a rugby charter, crashed on approach to RAF Llandow in Wales with 80 fatalities.

Albert Jenkin

Played at the Cardiff Arms Park, Wales won by a narrow margin thanks to a converted try from Tom Pearson.

Battle of Hill 60

Illowra Battery otherwise known as Hill 60, is a World War II fortification, in Port Kembla, New South Wales

Belmore, New South Wales

Belmore is named after the fourth Earl of Belmore, Governor of New South Wales from 1868-1872.

Blues and Roots Festival

East Coast Blues & Roots Music Festival, a music festival hosted at Byron Bay, New South Wales, Australia

Buddleja davidii 'Corinne Tremaine'

Buddleja davidii 'Corinne Tremaine' is a cultivar raised at the The Herb Garden & Historical Plant Nursery on Anglesey, north Wales.

Builth Castle

Builth Castle was a castle built under King Edward I, today an abandoned site just outside Builth Wells, Powys, Wales.

Caerau Hillfort

Caerau Hillfort (ST13377498) is a large triangular multivallate Iron Age hillfort occupying the western tip of an extensive ridge-top plateau in the western suburbs of Caerau and Ely, Cardiff, Wales.

Charles Darbishire

Darbishire was born in London, the son of Colonel C. H. Darbishire of Plas Mawr, Penmaenmawr in North Wales.

Chwarae Teg

Chwarae Teg was launched by a consortium in 1992 in South Wales, and Jane Hutt now a minister in the Welsh Government was appointed its first director.

Eban Hyams

Earning a scholarship to attend Terra Sancta College in Sydney, Eban was named captain of his school and was introduced to basketball, eventually being selected to the New South Wales Combined Catholic Colleges (NSW CCC) state tryouts.

Edgar Christian

He attended prep school at the Grange School, Shorncliffe Road, Folkestone and hoped to follow his brother Charles to Marlborough College; in the end he went on to Dover College which was more local, despite the fact the family moved in 1919 to Bron Dirion in North Wales.

Edmund Meade-Waldo

He is probably best known for his efforts to preserve the Red Kite in Wales.

Elias Weekes

Weekes was the Colonial Treasurer of New South Wales in the second government of William Cowper between April and October 1859.

Frank Forman

Forman was not selected for the match against Wales on 28 March, but was picked for the match against Scotland on 2 April, when he played alongside Charles Wreford-Brown who was making his final appearance for the national team.

George, Prince of Wales

George II of Great Britain, from his creation as Prince of Wales in 1714 to his accession to the throne in 1727

Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 1st Earl of Minto

The district of Minto in New South Wales, Australia, was named after him in 1809.

Glan-y-Mor Comprehensive School

There was a large amount of feedback given to South West Wales Media (Publisher of South Wales Evening Post & Llanelli Star) with backing being given to the school.

Harry Longueville Jones

Before 1846 Jones moved to Beaumaris, and in 1849 was appointed Inspector for schools in Wales in the Privy Council Office.

Highgrove House

The gardens were the source of inspiration for the British composer Patrick Hawes when he was asked to write a piece of music for the Prince of Wales' 60th birthday in 2008.

Isaac Wilkinson

Isaac became a foundryman in Bristol with involvement in the south Wales Dowlais Ironworks and Cyfarthfa Ironworks, and starting the Plymouth Ironworks with John Guest.

Kerry Beaumont

Beaumont was previously director of music (1994-2002) at Ripon Cathedral in North Yorkshire, England and (1990-1994) at St David's Cathedral in Pembrokeshire, Wales.

Libanus

Libanus, Powys, a village in the Brecon Beacons National Park, in the county of Powys, Wales, United Kingdom

Maid of Kent

Joan of Kent, 14th century Countess of Kent and Princess of Wales

Molly Parkin

Parkin was born in 1932, the second of two daughters, in Pontycymer in the Garw Valley, Glamorgan, Wales.

Mr Duke

Born in Snowdonia, North Wales he took his name from a character in Hunter S. Thompson's 1971 novel Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

Mynydd Cilfach-yr-encil

Mynydd Cilfach-yr-encil attains a height of 445m at OS grid reference SO 079033 making it the high point of the broad ridge of high ground between Taff Vale (Welsh: Cwm Taf) and Cwm Bargod in the Valleys region of South Wales.

Mynydd Maendy

Mynydd Maendy (translation: Maindy Mountain) is a hilltop and moorland, near Gilfach Goch, in south Wales, to the southwest of Tonyrefail.

New South Wales Court of Appeal

Although the New South Wales Court of Appeal commenced operation on 1 January 1966 with the appointment of the President, Sir Gordon Wallace, and six Judges of Appeal, Bernard Sugerman, Charles McLelland, Cyril Walsh, Kenneth Jacobs, Kenneth Asprey and John Holmes Dashwood, the Court of Appeal was established in 1965, replacing the former appellate Full Court of the New South Wales Supreme Court.

Nick Whitehead

He would later teach Physical Education at Carnegie Physical Training College in Leeds, now part of Leeds Metropolitan University and eventually became Director of Development at the Sports Council for Wales (now Sport Wales).

Penelope Wensley

Born in Toowoomba, Queensland, she was educated at Penrith High School in New South Wales, the Rosa Bassett School in London (UK), and the University of Queensland where she graduated with a first class honours degree in English and French literature.

Phil Bayton

Joining the Thornhill Cycling Club in Birmingham he won a handicap race at Hirwaun in South Wales as a 16 year old junior and a year later was part of the GB Olympic squad under Norman Sheil.

Pictures in the Dark

Singers on this single includes his girlfriend at the time, Anita Hegerland, Barry Palmer and well-known Welsh choirboy Aled Jones.

Radio Milinda

Although it has been stated that the power output was of 50 Watts, Radio Milinda had QSLs from Wales, Brighton and other locations in the United Kingdom.

Radnorshire Wildlife Trust

Radnorshire Wildlife Trust (Welsh: Ymddiriedolaeth Natur Maesyfed) is one of six wildlife trusts in Wales.

Robert d'Escourt Atkinson

Robert d'Escourt Atkinson (born April 11, 1898, Rhayader, Wales – died October 28, 1982, Bloomington, Indiana) was a British astronomer, physicist and inventor.

Robert H. Roberts

Robert H. Roberts (June 5, 1837 Nantglyn, Denbighshire, Wales – September 3, 1888 Boonville, Oneida County, New York) was an American politician from New York.

Simon de Burley

In 1382, Richard granted him the office of under-chamberlain of the King's household for life, and appointed him surveyor of the lands in South Wales in the King's hands during the minority of the heir of Edmund Mortimer.

To’o Vaega

Vaega made his debut for Samoa against Wales on 14 June 1986, starting one of the longest international careers in modern rugby union history.

Treason Act 1429

This Act was repealed for England (including Wales) by the Statute Law Revision Act 1863 (26 & 27 Vict c 125) and for Ireland by the Statute Law (Ireland) Revision Act 1872 (35 & 36 Vict c 98).

Tresco

Tresco, Elizabeth Bay, an historic residence in New South Wales, Australia.

Tunnels of Gibraltar

The formation appears to have been laid down in a tropical environment somewhat similar to the Bahamas today, and on the basis of fossil evidence an Early Jurassic (Sinemurian) age has been proposed for the Gibraltar Limestone, though in appearance it has a strong resemblance to the Carboniferous Limestone that underlies large parts of England and Wales.

Vanessa Beeman

She studied prehistory at Manchester and Liverpool, and for a Post Graduate Diploma in Education in Wales before teaching at a school in Truro, going on to a post with the Federal Department of Antiquities in Nigeria, and afterwards to teach at Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria, Nigeria.

William Balmain

(Thomas Jamison, a former colleague of Balmain's on the First Fleet and on Norfolk Island, replaced him as Principal Surgeon of New South Wales.)

WLR

Willandra Lakes Region, a World Heritage Site in New South Wales, Australia

Yr Elen

The etymology of the name is unclear, with the personal name "Helen" or "Eleanor" being one possibility, perhaps after Eleanor de Montfort (d. 1282), princess of Wales and wife of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd.