1945 in Wales

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1945 to Wales and its people.

Incumbents

*Prince of Wales - "vacant"
*Princess of Wales - "vacant"
*Archbishop of Wales - David Lewis Prosser
*Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales - Crwys

Events

*Shortly before his death, former prime minister David Lloyd George is created Earl Lloyd George of Dwyfor and Viscount Gwynedd. He never takes his seat in the House of Lords.
*18 January - Winds of 113 mph are recorded at St Anne's Head, Pembrokeshire.
*7 March - The German submarine U-1302 is sunk off St David's Head.
*10 March - Sixty-seven German prisoners-of-war tunnel to freedom from Island Farm Camp 198 in Bridgend --the biggest escape attempt by German P.O.W.s in the UK during the Second World War.
*30 April - The German submarines U-242 and U-325 are sunk off the Skerries.
*15 May - At the Neath by-election, a Trotskyist candidate contests the constituency, the first time in any UK election.
*5 July - In the United Kingdom general election:
**For the last time in a General Election, a candidate in Wales is elected unopposed - Will John, Labour MP for Rhondda West.
**Ambrose Bebb stands as a Plaid Cymru Parliamentary candidate.
**Hugh Dalton becomes the new Chancellor of the Exchequer.
*27 July - The cause of an outbreak of typhoid in Aberystwyth is traced to locally-made ice cream.
*8 October - Rudolf Hess is flown to Nuremberg to stand trial, ending his three-year internment at Maindiff Court Military Hospital, Abergavenny.
*Closure of the Benallt manganese mine, near Aberdaron.
*Clement Davies becomes leader of the Liberal Party.
*Newspaper publisher Gomer Berry is created Viscount Kemsley.
*Explorer Edward Evans is created Baron Mountevans.
*Broadcaster Wynford Vaughan-Thomas is awarded the Croix de Guerre for his exploits in following the invading troops into France during 1944.

Arts and literature

*

Awards

*National Eisteddfod of Wales (held in Rhosllanerchrugog)

*National Eisteddfod of Wales: Chair - Tom Parri Jones
*National Eisteddfod of Wales: Crown - "withheld"
*National Eisteddfod of Wales: Prose Medal - "withheld"

New books

*Idris Davies - "Tonypandy and other poems"
*D. Gwenallt Jones - "Detholiad o Ryddiaith Gymraeg R. J. Derfel"
*Huw Menai - "The Simple Vision"

Music

*Ivor Novello - "Perchance to Dream"

Film

*Ray Milland wins an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in "The Lost Weekend".

Broadcasting

*

port

*Football - The first post-war match between Wales and England ends in a 1 - 0 victory for Wales.

Births

*6 January - Barry John, rugby player
*7 February - Gerald Davies, rugby player
*12 February - Gareth Thomas, actor
*19 February - Huw Llywelyn Davies, broadcaster
*31 March - Myfanwy Talog, actress (died 1995)
*3 April - Gary Sprake, footballer
*7 April - Martyn Lewis, TV journalist
*8 May - Mike German AM, politician
*9 May - Malcolm Nash, cricketer
*13 August - Howard Marks, drug trafficker
*29 August (in Cromford) - Sue Essex AM, politician
*7 September - Max Boyce, entertainer
*21 December - Alan Wynne Williams MP, politician

Deaths

*11 January - Caradoc Evans, author
*17 January - Reginald Clarry MP, politician
*26 March - David Lloyd George MP, politician
*11 June - Owen Evans MP, politician
*15 November - John Lloyd Williams, botanist
*"date unknown"
**Sir Thomas Lewis, cardiologist
**Edward Prosser Rhys, journalist and poet
**Sir William Thomas, industrialist, after whom Trethomas was named