Dylan Thomas - A Quiz About Llareggub?

Answer: Swansea

Dylan Marlais Thomas was born in Cwmdonkin Park in the Uplands area of Swansea in the county of Glamorganshire on the 27th of October 1914. Thomas' father was an English teacher and his mother was a seamstress and he had an elder sister, Nancy, who was nine years his senior. Thomas suffered with both asthma and bronchitis as a youngster, two illnesses that had a profound effect on his health and lifestyle for his entire life.

Although Dylan Thomas was a lacklustre student, he more than made up for this with his prolific writing, by the time he was sixteen he had produced upwards of two hundred poems, many of which had been inspired by visits and holidays on an aunt's farm in rural Carmarthenshire.

Answer: South Wales Daily Post

Whilst at school in Swansea Thomas compiled a number of journals that contained around two hundred of his works and was appointed as the editor of the school magazine, in which some of these works were published for the first time. Leaving school at the age of sixteen he gained employment as a journalist working for the South Wales Daily Post but left his post in 1932 after just eighteen months in the job. Thomas was still writing during this period, completing around another ninety poems and other works, over half of which were published whilst he still made ends meet working as a freelance journalist.

As someone who suffered with both asthma and bronchitis, a call-up for military service during the Second World War proved highly unlikely and it was during this period of his life that Thomas borrowed heavily from friends to support his family and developed a heavy drinking habit.

After being turned down for employment by the British government's Ministry of Information, Thomas eventually achieved a position with Strand Films, who at that time were producing public information shorts in support of the war effort for the very ministry that had previously rejected his requests for employment. During his tenure with Strand, Thomas produced scripts for a number of films including 'Our Country', a film which took the viewer on a tour of Great Britain and 'New Towns for Old', a six minute documentary demonstrating the efforts being made to rebuild those towns and cities damaged during the Blitz.

Answer: The Kardomah Gang

Taking their name from a small cafe in central Swansea that Thomas frequented, other artists of the time who were members of the Kardomah Gang included the poets Vernon Watkins and Charles Fisher and artists Alfred Janes and Mabley Owen. The Kardomah Cafe was destroyed along with much of central Swansea by the Luftwaffe over a three night period during February 1941. Thomas had more of an affinity with the Kardomah Cafe than just in an artistic sense; before the building became a cafe it had been the chapel in which his parents had been married.

Answer: Penzance

Caitlin Macnamara was a dancer that Dylan Thomas had met in a public house in the Fitzrovia district of London during the early months of 1936. At that time, Macnamara was involved in a relationship with the Welsh artist Augustus John. Dylan Thomas was smitten with Caitlin and asked her to marry him very shortly afterwards.

The pair embarked on a relationship and married on the 11th of July 1937 at Penzance Registry Office in the far south western corner of Cornwall. It was rumoured that even after their marriage, Caitlin had continued in an illicit relationship with Augustus John.

Answer: Llewelyn Edouard

Llewelyn Edouard Thomas was born on the 30th of January 1939. Their second child, a daughter, Aeronwy Thomas followed just under four years later on the 3rd of March 1943. Their last child, another son, Colm Garan Hart, appeared on the scene on the 24th of July 1949. Surprisingly, very little is known about the offspring of Dylan and Caitlin Thomas especially when one considers the relatively high profile that they both enjoyed. Copywriter Llewelyn Edouard Thomas passed away in 2000 at the age of 61 after spending a lifetime trying to escape from the shadow that his father's reputation had cast.

He spent most of his life travelling the world, finally settling in Dawlish, a small seaside town in Devon, in 1994. The pair's youngest child Colm passed away in Italy after a long illness at the age of 64 in 2012.

Their only daughter, Aeronwy Thomas-Ellis, had moved to Italy with her mother after the death of Dylan Thomas where she also spent much of her life. A translator of Italian poetry and a peripatetic professor, Aeronwy Thomas-Ellis had two children with husband Trefor Ellis. Aeronwy Thomas-Ellis passed away in 2009 after a battle with cancer.

Answer: Laugharne

Laugharne is a small village located on the Taf estuary in the county of Carmarthenshire in south west Wales. Shortly after their marriage in Penzance on the 11th of July 1937, Dylan Thomas and his new wife Caitlin rented a property in Laugharne, Thomas himself using a small shed attached to the property known as the Boathouse, as his workshop. Laugharne featured greatly in the life of Dylan Thomas; it was at Laugharne that Thomas and Augustus John came to blows over the affections of John's lover and Thomas' future wife.

It appears that this falling out between the two men was responsible for forcing Caitlin Macnamara into the arms of Thomas. After his and Caitlin's move there in 1938, Caitlin herself described that period in Laugharne as "the happiest period of our lives together". Contrary to popular belief, although the location for the village of Llareggub in 'Under Milk Wood' was based on Laugharne, very little of the play was actually written whilst Dylan was living in the village; some estimate that as little as three hundred lines of the work were completed there.

Answer: New English Weekly

Taking its title from the Holy Bible's book, Saint Paul's Epistle to the Romans, more commonly referred to by the much shorter 'Romans', this poem was the very first of Thomas' works to be published outside of Wales, appearing in the "New English Weekly" during May 1933 bringing Thomas to the attention of two of the most prominent writers of the day, Stephen Spender and T.S. Eliot.

The poem itself has its origins in an idea first proposed by Mr Bert Trick, a grocer and part-time poet from the Uplands area of Swansea where Dylan Thomas was born, who suggested that they both write about the subject of immortality. Extracts taken from 'And Death Shall Have no Dominion', which consists of just three stanzas, have appeared in a number of entertainment formats in recent years having been used in the 2002 science-fiction move 'Solaris' and in the titles of novels by writers James Blish and Charlie Huston.

Answer: Deaths and Entrances

By the time of publication of 'Deaths and Entrances', Dylan Thomas' reputation was firmly established and the work proved very popular undergoing two print runs in the space of a single month. After publication on the 7th of February, the poet W.J. Turner stated that, in his opinion, Thomas should be considered a major poet from that point onwards.

The work, a collection of some twenty four poems, all inspired by Thomas' experiences of the Second World War included works such as the harrowing 'A Refusal to Mourn the Death, by Fire, of a Child in London', 'When I woke', 'Vision and Prayer' and 'Ceremony after a Fire Raid'.

Answer: Under Milk Wood

The radio play 'Under Milk Wood' is generally considered to be the pinnacle of Thomas' literary output. The play covers a period of twenty four hours in the lives of the population of the small fishing village Llareggub, which those of you familiar with British slang will recognise as a term which is often used to describe somewhere in which not much happens or where there is very little to occupy one's time.

The play was made into a film during 1972 which featured a veritable smorgasbord of Welsh talent of the period; narrated by the great Sir Richard Burton, other cast members included the actress Angharad Rees, actor Anthony Hopkins, singer Tom Jones, Matthew Rhys and, not forgetting, the wonderful Elizabeth Taylor. Scenes in the film were shot at the harbour in the Pembrokeshire port of Fishguard, or Abergwaun, and for those interested in both the play itself and the later film, the Ship Inn public house in Fishguard's Lower Town is home to memorabilia from the making of the film. I always imagine that the Ship Inn would have been the kind of establishment where Dylan Thomas would have felt most at home!

Answer: New York City

It was whilst on a visit to the United States to take a part in a performance of 'Under Milk Wood' that an already unwell Dylan Thomas succumbed to the illnesses that he had suffered with for his entire life. After attending a party held in honour of his 39th birthday, Thomas retired to his hotel complaining of feeling ill.

The following day he took part in an event at the venue Cinema 16. After receiving treatment from the physician Dr Feltenstein who administered a dose of morphine which further impacted on Thomas' ability to breathe properly, Thomas' health continued to decline exacerbated by particularly bad air pollution in New York City at that time. On the 5th of November 1953 Thomas was admitted to the city's St Vincent's hospital in a comatose state where x-rays on his lungs confirmed that the poet was suffering with pneumonia and other infections. Caitlin Thomas arrived from Laugharne to be at her husband's bedside where she remained until Dylan Thomas passed away at midday on the 9th of November.