1998 in Wales

Template:Short description Template:Year in Wales header This article is about the particular significance of the year 1998 to Wales and its people.

Incumbents

• 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

• 24 February – 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.
• 6 March – Flintshire Bridge is officially opened.
• 8–9 April – Torrential rain over eastern Wales results in widespread flooding.
• 13 April – Montgomeryshire MP Lembit Öpik is seriously injured in a paragliding accident in his constituency.
• May – Cistercian Way long-distance trail originates.
• June – The Arts Council of Wales publishes its consultation paper Building A Creative Society.
• 31 July – The Government of Wales Act 1998, that will establish a devolved Welsh Assembly, receives its Royal Assent.
• August – Ron Davies is appointed to the highest order of the Gorsedd of the Bards at the 1998 National Eisteddfod in Bridgend.
• 19 September – Ron Davies is elected in preference to Rhodri Morgan as Labour's candidate for First Secretary of the Assembly.
• 22–31 October – 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.
• 27 October – 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".
• 18 November – 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.
• November – Maenofferen slate quarry at Blaenau Ffestiniog ceases production.

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, "Rhyddid"
• 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

English language

• 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

Welsh language

• Dafydd Huws – Dyddiadur Dyn Dŵad
• Huw Ethall – Pennar Davies: Y Dyn a'i Waith

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

• Indie music band Terris are formed in Newport.
• Anweledig – Sombreros yn y Glaw
• Charlotte Church – Voice of an Angel
• Melys – Rumours and Curses
• Bonnie Tyler – All in One Voice

Broadcasting

Welsh-language television

• November – A new digital channel is launched, broadcasting in Welsh for twelve hours a day.

Sport

• BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year – Iwan Thomas
• Commonwealth Games – September
  • 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.
• Snooker
  • 8 February – Mark Williams wins his first Masters title.

Births

• 12 March – Will Jones, rugby player
• 5 June – Dafydd Jones, footballer
• 18 December – Cameron Coxe, footballer
• 25 December – Will Griffiths, rugby player
• 29 December – Mark Harris, footballer

Deaths

• 3 January – Tony Duncan, golfer and cricketer, 83
• 18 February – Robbie James, footballer, 40 (collapsed and died during match)
• 1 April – Mary Wynne Warner, mathematician, 65
• 2 April – Dai Davies, trade unionist, 88
• 4 April – Käte Bosse-Griffiths, author, 87
• 14 April – Dorothy Squires, singer, 83
• 11 May – Vronwy Hankey (née Fisher), archaeologist, 81
• 13 May – Arthur Rees, Wales international rugby player and police Chief Constable, 85
• 17 May – Hugh Cudlipp, journalist, 84
• 5 July – James Eirian Davies, minister and poet, 80
• 23 July – R. Tudur Jones, theologian and politician, 77
• 28 July – Nancy Evans, table tennis player, 95
• 3 August (in Waipukurau, New Zealand) – Ronnie Boon, Wales rugby union player, 89
• 12 September – Horace Charles Jones, poet, 92
• 5 October – Megs Jenkins, actress, 81
• 31 October – Eddie Perry, footballer, 89
• 16 December – Kenyon Jones, rugby player, 87
• 16 December – Tommy Davies, boxer, 78
• 31 December – Alan Morris, footballer, 44

See also

• 1998 in Northern Ireland