# 1982 in Wales

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1982 to Wales and its people.

## Incumbents

* Secretary of State for Wales – Nicholas Edwards
* Archbishop of Wales – Gwilym Williams, Bishop of Bangor (retired)
* Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales – Jâms Nicholas

## Events

* 2 January – The Welsh Army of Workers claims responsibility for a bomb explosion at the Birmingham headquarters of Severn Trent Water.
* May – Swansea City complete their first season in the English Football League First Division with a sixth-place finish.
* 2 June – 100,000 people gather in Pontcanna Fields, Cardiff, to welcome Pope John Paul II on the first-ever papal visit to Wales.
* 8 June – 32 men from the Welsh Guards are killed when the Sir Galahad burns during the Falklands War. The most famous of the survivors is Simon Weston, who is severely burned.
* 16 June – Welsh miners go on strike to support health workers demanding a 12% pay rise.
* 30 August – St David's Hall opens in Cardiff.
* 11 September – 14 skydivers from Wales die when a Chinook helicopter crashes at an airshow in Mannheim in Germany.
* 16 September – At the Gower by-election brought about by the death of Ifor Davies, Gareth Wardell holds the seat for Labour.
* 17 October – First issue of Sulyn, the first Sunday newspaper in the Welsh language.
* 26 November – A plaque is unveiled by the Prince of Wales at the monument erected in memory of those who died in the Gresford Disaster of 1934.
* date unknown
** The Inmos microprocessor factory in Newport, Wales, designed by the Richard Rogers Partnership, is completed.
** Swansea is given the right to have a Lord Mayor. Councillor Paul Valerio becomes the first incumbent.
** First students begin courses at the Welsh language study centre at Nant Gwrtheyrn.

## Arts and literature

* Roger Rees wins a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his performance in The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby.
* Alice Thomas Ellis is shortlisted for the Booker Prize for The 27th Kingdom.

### Awards

* National Eisteddfod of Wales (held in Swansea)
* National Eisteddfod of Wales: Chair - Gerallt Lloyd Owen
* National Eisteddfod of Wales: Crown - Eirwyn George
* National Eisteddfod of Wales: Prose Medal - Gwilym M. Jones

### New books

* Gwynfor Evans - Bywyd Cymro
* Alun Jones - Pan Ddaw'r Machlud
* R. Merfyn Jones - The North Wales Quarrymen 1874-1922
* Rhiannon Davies Jones - Eryr Pengwern
* Kenneth O. Morgan - Rebirth of a Nation: Wales 1880-1980
* Wynford Vaughan-Thomas - Princes of Wales

### Music

* John Cale - Music For A New Society (album)
* Dafydd Iwan with Ar Log - Rhwng Hwyl a Thaith

## Film

* Political Annie’s Off Again, film of a local industrial dispute made by Chapter Video Workshop.

## Broadcasting
### Welsh-language television

* Cefn Gwlad
* Joni Jones
* Noson Lawen appears for the first time.
* S4C starts broadcasting on 1 November

### English-language television

* The Citadel (BBC), filmed in Tredegar.

## Sport

* BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year – Steve Barry
* Boxing
** 14 September – Kelvin Smart becomes British flyweight champion after beating fellow Welsh fighter Dave George.
* Darts – Ann-Marie Davies wins the Women's World Masters Championship.
* Snooker
** 13 January – Terry Griffiths wins the Lada Classic.
** 4 December – Terry Griffiths wins the UK Snooker Championship, to complete his career Triple Crown (snooker).
** Terry Parsons wins the World Amateur Championship.

## Births

* 9 January – Catherine Middleton, future Princess of Wales (in England)
* 14 January – Joe Dunthorne, novelist and poet
* 1 February – Gavin Henson, rugby player
* 4 February – Kevin Gall, footballer
* 2 May – Timothy Benjamin, athlete
* 12 May – David Thaxton, actor and singer
* 21 June – Prince William, first child of the Prince and Princess of Wales (in London)
* 29 August – Mike Phillips, rugby player
* 2 September – Matthew Rees, footballer
* 29 November – Imogen Thomas, model
* 25 December – Rob Edwards, footballer

## Deaths

* 5 January – Jeanetta Thomas, UK's oldest person and oldest Welsh-born woman of all time, 112
* 11 January – Ronald Lewis, actor, 53
* 5 February – Ronald Welch, historical novelist, 72
* 8 February – Cedric Morris, artist, 92
* 6 May – Jennie Eirian Davies, politician and magazine editor
* 19 May – Elwyn Jones, television writer, 58
* 31 May – Eryl Davies, educationist, 59
* 6 June – Ifor Davies, politician, 71
* 10 July
** Gwilym Jenkins (in Lancaster), statistician and systems engineer, 49
** Gwilym Ellis Lane Owen, philosopher, 60
* 17 July – Bob John, footballer, 83
* 16 August – Sydney Hinam, Wales international rugby player, 83
* 18 October – Idwal Jones, politician, 82
* 19 October – Iorwerth Peate, social anthropologist and poet, founder of St Fagans National Museum of History, 81
* 4 November – Talfryn Thomas, character actor, 60
* 16 November – Ivor Jones, rugby union international, 80
* 19 November – Herbie Evans, footballer, 88
* 4 December – Ivor Williams, portrait painter, 74