Cymru Ambyth! (Wales Forever!) Quiz

Answer: Castles

At one time there were more than 600 castles and forts in a country of 8,023 square miles (20,779 km2); more than 100 still stand complete. Dotting the countryside are Iron Age hill forts, ancient Roman ruins, and medieval castles of Welsh princes and English kings. With elaborate water defenses, Caerphilly Castle (Castell Caerffili) is the largest castle in Wales and the second largest in the British Isles and all of Europe, behind Windsor Castle in England. Gilbert De Clare, 7th Earl of Gloucester (Gilbert the Red), built Caerphilly Castle in hopes of conquering Glamorgan in south Wales. Hundreds of years of fragmented conflict from invaders and within Welsh principalities has made Wales the "castle capital of the world".

[Contributed by AndrewWales and gracious1]

Answer: St. Winifred

It seems her father wanted her to marry, but when Winifred refused, the intended, a prince called Caradoc, became enraged at the refusal and pursued her. She fled to her uncle - St Beuno - at his chapel, but before she could enter it, Caradoc cut off her head. A fountain sprang up where her head touched the ground. Her uncle Beuno cursed Caradoc, who immediately melted in his presence like wax before fire. Beuno put her head back on her body and prayed. St. Winifred's body had only a thin scar showing at the neck.

St. Non is the mother of St. David; St. Dwynwen is the patron saint of lovers; and St. Elen Luyddoc is Saint Elen of Caernarfon, where the Prince of Wales receives his investiture.

[Contributed by LLynfi]

Answer: The first-ever performance of the Welsh National Anthem

There is a plaque on the cellar of the Workingmens Club which is the site of the original Welsh Tabor Chapel. The National Anthem was written by father and son Evan and James James. So within a week of writing the song, in 1856 one Sunday at the end of January or the beginning of February, a sixteen-year-old young lady, Miss Elizabeth John, sung "Hen Wald Fy Nhadau" ("Land Of My Fathers").



[Contributed by LLynfi]

Answer: Are you ready?

Marconi assembled his transmission equipment on Flat Holm Island and a zinc cap was fitted to a pole, some twenty-seven metres in height, to receive the signal at Lavernock Point. The initial experiment failed, therefore Marconi relocated the pole nearer to the beach. This entailed the use of more cable which allowed for the equipment to receive Marconi's message in Morse code. The slip documenting the message is now on display in the National Museum of Wales.

[Contributed by jojojenks]

Answer: Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey

Francis Albert Sinatra was known almost as much for late-night drinking bouts as for his golden voice. The drink of choice was Jack Daniel's Old No 7 Tennessee Whiskey -- often a bottle a night! Sinatra was even buried with a bottle of the Tennessee whiskey. In his song "I Love Vegas", fellow Rat-Pack member and heavy drinker Dean Martin included this line: "I love Vegas like Sinatra loves Jack Daniel's"!

Joseph 'Job' Daniel emigrated to the USA in the late 18th century, and his grandson Jasper 'Jack' Daniel founded his distillery in Lynchburg, Tennessee, in the 19th century. A Welshman named Mark Evans claims, however, that his great-great-grandmother, an herbalist in Llanelli, South Wales, wrote the recipe for the whiskey (actually straight bourbon) in 1853, which her brother-in-law, John 'Jack the Lad' Daniel, took with him to America.

Spelling note: In the States, "whisky" takes an "e"!

[Contributed by groovylabloom]

Answer: The Gower Peninsula

The difference between AONBs and National Parks is that AONBs are generally under local authority control, but are not as strictly controlled as to what development can take place within the area. In June 2020, there were 46 AONBs in the UK (none in Scotland, however).

Gower (or Gŵyr) is situated to the west of Swansea, and boasts a dramatic coastline with gorgeous beaches (pebbly or otherwise), along with holiday parks. Tripadvisor has awarded its Travelers' Choice Awards to Rhosili Beach and Worms Head.

[Contributed by AlanT]

Answer: Cwmdonkin Park

Possibly the greatest non-Welsh speaking Welsh poet was born in 5 Cwmdonkin Drive, Uplands, Swansea, on October 27th, 1914, and died in a New York hotel at the age of 39. His last words were, allegedly, "I've had eighteen straight whiskies, I think that's the record ..."

Astoundingly, there is only one known moving film of Thomas, as a fleeting extra in the 1951 film 'Pandora and the Flying Dutchman' (starring James Mason and Ava Gardner). Despite much of the film being shot in Spain, this crowd scene was filmed on Pendine sands, Camarthenshire, in southwest Wales.

[Contributed by AlanT]

Answer: Caerphilly

Caerphilly is a white and crumbly cheese originating, of course, in Caerphilly, a market town in the region of Mid Glamorgan (Morgannwg Ganol) in southeast Wales. Medium-hard with a slightly lemony tang, it was originally made on farms in Caerphilly to feed coal-miners, and it was much more moist and creamy then. After World War II, however, factory production began in earnest, and most of it is now made in Somerset and Wiltshire (counties in England), though there are a scattering of farms in Caerphilly that make it the old way.

[Contributed by AndrewWales of Caerphilly]

Answer: 12

According to the official website of the Great Little Trains of Wales, the eleven railways are Bala Lake, Brecon Mountain, Fairbourne, Ffestiniog, Llanberis Lake, Snowdon Mountain, Talyllyn, Vale of Rheidol, Welsh Highland, Welsh Highland Heritage, Welshpool & Llanfair and Corris.

[Contributed by jojojenks]

Answer: William Mathias

Mathias (1934-1992), was born in Camarthenshire and became interested in music from a very young age, writing his first pieces when he was five. Following his studies in London, much of his life was spent developing music and education in North Wales, and he was a highly respected musician throughout the country. He is mostly known for working within the Anglican choral tradition.

The other composers to choose from are also Welsh! Born in Penclawdd in 1944, Karl Jenkins has become the 'most popular classical' composer in the UK, but started out his career playing with and writing for jazz and progressive rock bands.

Daniel Jones (1912-1993) was born in Pembroke, and brought up in Swansea. He became close friends with many artists in the town, especially Dylan Thomas, setting his works to music and dedicated his 4th Symphony to his memory after Thomas died in 1953.

John Metcalf was born in Swansea in 1946, and has spent much of his time in South Wales (with a short stint in Canada) directing arts centres and festivals, but is still a prolific composer, his 7th opera being based on Dylan Thomas's radio play 'Under Milk Wood' (1954).

[Contributed by gracious1 and AlanT]