The Cardiff Book of Days (22 page)

1982:
Pope John Paul II was in Cardiff as part of his Papal Visit to Britain. Arriving from Scotland by helicopter, he was met at Blackweir by Archbishop John Murphy and went on to Pontcanna Fields to celebrate Mass. In his homily, part of which was delivered in Welsh, he said ‘today the Bishop of Rome greets the people of Wales in their own beautiful land for the first time'. A choir of 900 took part in the service along with the folk group Ar Log and singer Frank Hennessy. Gifts were presented to the Holy Father, including a miner's lamp and a book of Welsh poems. In the afternoon the Pope led a Youth Service attended by over 30,000 at the Ninian Park stadium. The Papal Visit had been the subject of some opposition from Protestant campaigners and, until the last minute, had been in doubt due to Britain's involvement in the Falklands War in the South Atlantic. (John O'Sullivan & Bryn Jones,
Cardiff: A Centenary Celebration
, The History Press, 2005)

1874:
(Continued from May 12th & 28th) With the discovery and identification of Susan Gibbs' body on July 3rd, the arrest of her husband James Gibbs was a formality. The couple had been seen by a witness arguing in the lane near Hall Farm, Llanrumney. Susan had been heard to cry out in anguish ‘may God rescue me from my pitiful life. I am ruined!' At his trial, which took place in Newport, evidence was presented that he had first bludgeoned her senseless before going back to Llanrumney Hall from where he brought a razor which he used to cut her throat so deeply that her head was nearly detached from her body. James Gibbs was found guilty and executed at Usk Prison. It was the first execution carried out there for fifteen years. It was not a public hanging but nevertheless the quiet little Monmouthshire town was crowded with ghoulish sightseers on the day. Susan Gibbs was laid to rest at St Mellons, far from her Jersey birthplace. (Mark Isaacs,
Foul Deeds & Suspicious Deaths in Cardiff
, Wharncliffe, 2009)

1923:
The Cardiff-owned
Trevessa
, sailing from Liverpool to Australia, sank in severe weather in the Indian Ocean, 1,700 miles from Mauritius. The crew took to two lifeboats and, despite the vast distance, decided to head there. It was inevitable that the two boats should lose contact with each other and drift apart. However, they both made it, arriving on June 26th and 28th. Seven men had died and another died on reaching land. The others were weak and emaciated but still alive. At the official inquiry into the loss of the
Trevessa
it was put on record that ‘the Court is unable to find words to adequately express its members' admiration of the fine seamanship and resolution of the officers, the splendid discipline and courage of the crew, both European and non-European.' (John Richards,
Cardiff: A Maritime History
, The History Press, 2005)

2000:
Archbishop Desmond Tutu addressed an invited audience at City Hall. Speaking of events in South Africa, he said ‘there is no future without forgiveness, which will help to heal the scars of the past. We have a tremendous capacity for evil, but the most important thing is that we have an extraordinary capacity for good.' (John O'Sullivan & Bryn Jones,
Cardiff: A Centenary Celebration
, The History Press, 2005)

1893:
Two pleasure steamers, the
Lorna Doone
and the
Ravenswood
operated by rival Cardiff firms collided as they jostled to be first to arrive at the pier at Weston-super-Mare. The Board of Trade enquiry into the incident decided that P&A Campbells'
Ravenswood
had been ‘navigated negligently'. £125 costs were awarded against her captain, Alec Campbell. The Weston Pier Company was told to employ a harbourmaster in future. (John Richards,
Cardiff: A Maritime History
, The History Press, 2005)

1949:
Birth in Cardiff of Ken Follett, the son of a tax inspector. Banned by his born-again Christian parents from watching television or films, he developed an interest in reading. In 1967 he went to University College London to study Philosophy and after graduating in 1970 he returned to Cardiff to work as a trainee reporter on the
South Wales Echo
, later moving to the
Evening Standard
in London. He began writing fiction as a hobby, later saying he needed the money for car repairs! His 1978 novel
Eye of the Needle
made his name and fortune. Active in Labour politics, he became an advisor to Prime Minister Tony Blair. (Wikipedia)

1917:
Cardiff councillors were informed that the average weekly bill for the animals at Victoria Park was £4 19
s
0
d
, of which £1 14
s
0
d
was for Billy the Seal, resident in the lake and a great attraction, after being accidentally netted off the Irish coast in 1912 (
see
July 10th). It was agreed that the cost of feeding Billy was becoming prohibitive. A sub-committee was formed ‘to report on the best course of action to adopt with regard to the seal'. One suggestion was that the animal should be returned to the sea but it was eventually agreed that Billy be put on short rations for a month. Ominously, it was also decided that the chairman be authorized to have the seal put down if, in his opinion, this became desirable. Billy managed to survive on his short-rations, not least because his many admirers among the park's visitors kept him supplied with titbits. Billy died in 1939, when a post-mortem examination discovered that ‘he' was actually female! (Brian Lee,
Cardiff Remembered
, The History Press, 1993)

1936:
The body of 42-year-old Stephen Gilbert was discovered at his greengrocer's shop on the corner of Croft Street and Clare Road, Roath. He had been subjected to an attack so frenzied that a pool of his blood had formed in the cellar below, having dripped overnight through the floorboards. The police investigation was beset by false leads and a bogus confession (
see
June 22nd) which made something of a laughing-stock of Cardiff's detectives. (Mark Isaacs,
Foul Deeds & Suspicious Deaths in Cardiff
, Wharncliffe, 2009)

1967:
Glamorgan's first County Championship match (versus Northamptonshire) at the new Sophia Gardens ground turned out to be a low-scoring affair. Batsmen on both sides complained bitterly about uneven bounce off the pitch making their task very difficult, if not impossible. There were also complaints about poor drainage and it was even suggested that the drains had been installed incorrectly. The MCC's Inspector of Pitches carried out an investigation and remedial work was undertaken in the autumn. (Andrew Hignell,
From Sophia to Swalec: A History of Cricket in Cardiff
, The History Press, 2008)

1893:
The
L.E. Charlwood
, an 849-ton cargo steamer owned by Lee Finch & Co. of Cardiff, sank after a collision with the Glasgow-registered
Borghese
off The Longships. The
Borghese
struck her amidships with such force that the plates on her port side were completely torn away. The
Charlwood
's engine had not stopped and she kept moving – but in a circle on the port tack and another collision seemed inevitable as she came round again. However, she stopped just short of the
Borghese
, her stern rose in the water and then she sank immediately, only seven minutes after the collision. An unknown vessel, thought to be from Swansea, was signalled to for assistance but her captain, reportedly fearing being put into quarantine, refused to take the stricken seamen on board. Another steamship, the
Ashdene
, did rescue the crew* and landed them safely back in Cardif that evening. (
Western Mail
) [*including my wife's great-grandfather, James John Moses. Along with all his other possessions on the ship, he lost his ‘ticket' in this incident and it had to be re-issued subsequently in Newport – author.]

1790:
An Act of Parliament was passed which authorised the construction of a canal from Merthyr Tydfil to Cardiff. Most of the shares in the new Glamorganshire Canal Navigation were brought by the Merthyr ironmasters, the Crawshays. Their business was thriving – in May 1787 Richard Crawshay had signed a contract with Henry Cort, agreeing to pay a royalty of 10 shillings a ton on iron made by a new technique that Cort had devised and required by the Royal Navy for its ships. Cort had supervised the building of the Crawshays' furnaces at Cyfarthfa and trained the local labour force. Crawshays' iron was to be transported to Cardiff by the new canal and then shipped to Portsmouth to be rolled at nearby Funtley, or to the Thames at Rotherhithe. (John Richards,
Cardiff: A Maritime History
, The History Press, 2005)

1980:
In what could have been a very serious accident, the wing-tip of a taxiing jumbo jet smashed a window of the main lounge at Cardiff Airport. No one was hurt. (
Western Mail
)

1716:
On the reputed birthday of the Old Pretender, several people appeared in Court in Cardiff charged with ‘wearing branches of oaks, a sign of ill-will and disobedience towards King George, assembling riotously and seditiously to show their hatred of the King and to incite sedition and insurrection'. (William Rees,
Cardiff: A History of the City
, Cardiff Corporation, 1969)