The Cardiff Book of Days (27 page)

2010:
It was announced that the skeleton of Billy the Seal (
see
June 6th) had been unearthed from the vaults of the National Museum and was being put on display. After being accidentally netted off the Irish coast in 1912, the seal had been a much-loved attraction at Victoria Park Lake until its death in 1939. A post-mortem examination then discovered that Billy was in fact female. In 1927 Billy had escaped when the lake overflowed. It was later claimed that during this escapade Billy had boarded a tram in Cowbridge Road and patronised several fish & chip shops. The story was later immortalised in a song written and performed by folk singer and BBC Radio Wales presenter, Frank Hennessy. (
South Wales Echo
)

1899:
‘There was quite a ceremony at the Museum on Tuesday morning when the Gorsedd sword was unpacked. It arrived in Cardiff on Monday evening and remained in the Great Western Railway's custody for the night. The museum has been chosen as the best and safest place to keep it. This fact, coupled with the custody of the Hirlais horn, given by Lord Tredegar, will probably be taken as a reason for making Cardiff Museum the home for the Gorsedd regalia. The formal presentation by Professor Herkomer will be one of the features of the brilliant gathering to be held at the Free Library next Monday evening at which the Mayor (Alderman Sir Thomas Morrel) will hold a reception at which the delegates from abroad, as well as the local leaders in the Eistedfodd and the Gorsedd will be present. Miss Lena Evans has been asked to look over the Gorsedd banner and clean it up a little, if that process is found necessary.' (
Western Mail
)

2009:
The first Test Match to be played in Wales ended amid high drama at 6.41 p.m. at the Swalec Stadium. England's last two batsmen, Jimmy Anderson and Monty Panesar, resisted the Australian bowlers for sixty-nine balls to secure a draw in a match that, for most of the final day, Australia looked likely to win. It was not without controversy – Aussie captain Ricky Ponting complained about what he saw as time-wasting tactics by England in the tense last few overs. However, he praised the manner in which the Glamorgan County Cricket Club had hosted the match. ‘You could not have put on a much better spectacle. The hospitality we have been shown, the actual ground and the venue itself have been terrific,' he said. ‘I have really enjoyed my time in Cardiff, as have the rest of the squad.' Australia had scored 674 for 6 declared, England 435 all out and 252 for 9. England saving the game turned out to be crucial as their victory in the final match at the Oval gave them a 2-1 win in the series. (
Daily Telegraph
)

1869:
A special Thanksgiving Service was held at Llandaff Cathedral to celebrate its restoration which had included the provision of its landmark spire to replace the old tower which had collapsed in 1723. (Llandaff Cathedral guidebook)

1907:
King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra visited Cardiff to open the Alexandra Dock which had been built by the Cardiff Railway Company at a cost of £1.5 million. It was the first visit to Cardiff by a reigning monarch for 250 years. The opening was performed by the Royal Yacht cutting through a ribbon between the lock and the dock. The King bestowed a knighthood on the Lord Mayor, Alderman William Smith Crossman who knelt by the side of the dock. Crossman had come to Cardiff from the West Country in 1884 to work on the building of Roath Dock. He was a staunch trade unionist, one of the leaders of the major building trade dispute in 1892 and was the first Labour Lord Mayor. The King and Queen were serenaded by the Madame Hughes Thomas Ladies Choir who were resplendent in full Welsh national costume, tall black hats and all! (John O'Sullivan & Bryn Jones,
Cardiff: A Centenary Celebration
, The History Press, 2005)

1892:
‘On Friday evening two new board schools were opened, one at Stacey Road, Roath, and the other at Splottlands. Both schools were visited and the doors opened by his worship the Mayor (Mr A. Thomas) but the formal ceremony of inauguration took place at the Splottlands school where the public assembled in the infants' department. Mr Lewis Williams (Chairman of the Building Committee) said that these were two of the largest, and unquestionably the fines, schools in the Principality. The total cost of the Stacey Road school, including the site, was £9,583 and the cost per head of accommodation, exclusive of the site, was £7 13
s
6
d
. The Splottlands school cost, with the land, £12,000, and per head, without the land, was £3 19
s
3
d
. The average cost per head in London was about £12 and he thought this fact alone would satisfy the people of Cardiff that the School Board was not extravagant in its expenditure. The Mayor then delivered an address, in the course of which he alluded to the improvement which had taken place among the humbler classes since the introduction of the school board system, of which he entirely approved.' (
Western Mail
)

1658:
Cardiff tailor Tobias Hodge, a Quaker, was jailed for causing a disturbance in St John's Church, protesting against the Puritan Minister there, Benjamin Flower. In December a similar warrant was issued for the committal of Dorcas Emery. Other members of the Society of Friends were brought before the bailiffs for disrupting services at Llandaff and Dinas Powis. Local Quakers had been emboldened by a visit from their leader, George Fox, who had preached at the Town Hall in 1657. (William Rees,
Cardiff: A History of the City
, Cardiff Corporation, 1969)

1872:
The tram route from the High Street to the Docks was opened. For those passengers who could not read, the tramway company provided different-coloured discs on the ends of the trams to signify the different destinations (green for Roath and red for the High Street). It seems that colour-blind illiterates had to manage as best they could! (Stewart Williams,
Cardiff Yesterday
)

1953:
Gladstone County Secondary School for Girls staged ‘The Queenly Tradition', a Coronation Day pageant ‘to look at the part women have played in the great history of our land and to express the hope that, under the leadership of our young and gracious Queen Elizabeth II, there may be even greater opportunities for women in the future'. (Stewart Williams,
Cardiff Yesterday
)

1990:
A teenage Kelly Jones (later of The Stereophonics) was in the crowd at the Arms Park to hear The Rolling Stones perform as part of their ‘Urban Jungle' tour. The gig had had to be rescheduled because Keith Richards had cut his finger. Jones later recalled that, ‘I went to Cardiff with a bunch of older guys. In the streets people were getting drunk and selling bootleg tee-shirts and stuff like that. I remember buying one for a fiver. I didn't take it off for a long time. I remember Jagger shouting out a lot of Welsh town names and being quite impressed that he knew all those places. Thirteen years later I was headlining in the same stadium.' (
www.uncut.co.uk/music
)

1897:
French impressionist painter Albert Sisley (1839-99) was working in and around Penarth. He spent four months in Wales at the suggestion of his friend and patron Francois Depeaux, a Rouen industrialist who had business interests in the Principality. During this time Sisley painted five views around Penarth and thirteen at Langland Bay. From Penarth he wrote to the critic Gustave Geffroy: ‘I have been here for a week after having travelled through the south of England by train and stayed three days at Falmouth in Cornwall. I am resting from this tiring journey before setting to work. The country is pretty and the shipping-lane, with the great boats which go in and out of Cardiff, is superb. I do not know how long I shall be staying in Penarth. I am materially well-off here, in lodgings with worthy people. The climate is very mild, even too warm these present days.' (Roy Thorne,
Penarth: A History
, Starling Press, 1975)

1958:
The sixth Commonwealth Games opened in Cardiff. Thirty-five nations sent a total of 1,130 athletes and 228 officials. Many other these countries, including Brunei, Dominica, Singapore and St Vincent, were participating in the Games for the first time. An innovation for the Cardiff Games was the Queen's Baton Relay which began at Buckingham Palace where the baton, which contained a message from the Queen as Head of the Commonwealth, was entrusted to the first of 664 runners who conveyed it to Cardiff. The Queen was unwell and not able to attend the Closing Ceremony but her recorded message broadcast at the Arms Park revealed her intention to make Prince Charles, then aged 10, Prince of Wales when he came of age. He was officially given the title at the Investiture at Caernarfon Castle in 1969. (John O'Sullivan & Bryn Jones,
Cardiff: A Centenary Celebration
, The History Press, 2005 / Wikipedia)