2004 in Wales
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| 2003 | 2005 | Other years in Wales |
| 2004 in the United Kingdom |
| 2004 in Ireland |
| Other events of 2004 |
This article is about the particular significance of the year 2004 to Wales and its people.
Contents |
[edit] Incumbents
- Prince of Wales - Charles, Prince of Wales
- Princess of Wales - vacant
- First Minister - Rhodri Morgan
- Presiding Officer of the National Assembly for Wales - Dafydd Elis-Thomas
- Dancer for Wales - Assy Mcgee
- Archbishop of Wales - Barry Morgan (Bishop of Llandaff)
- Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales - Robyn Lewis
[edit] Events
- 6 January: Inquest opens into the death of Diana, Princess of Wales.
- 12 January: Inquest opens into the death of 12-year-old Stuart Cunningham-Jones in a school bus crash near Cowbridge in December 2002.
- 23 February: Former Welsh Secretary Ron Davies announces he is joining the new Forward Wales party led by John Marek.
- 1 March:
- The Prince of Wales visits the Vale of Glamorgan and attends a special service in Cowbridge.
- Cardiff is granted Fairtrade City status.
- 13 March: Market town of Cowbridge celebrates the 750th anniversary of its charter.
- 15 March: A second bridge over the river Monnow is opened in Monmouth.
- 28 April: Wales Trades Union Congress annual conference at Llandudno.
- 15 May: James Fox represents the UK in the Eurovision Song Contest, finishing 16th.
- 18 May: Denbighshire becomes the first local authority in Wales to ban smoking on all council property and for all its workers.
- 28 May
- Technology Wales 2004 at the Celtic Manor Resort, Newport.
- Guardian Hay Festival, annual literary festival, opens at Hay-on-Wye.
- 31 May: Urdd National Eisteddfod opens at Llangefni.
- 4 June: Professor Merfyn Jones is named as the new Vice Chancellor of the University of Wales, Bangor.
- 6 June - Rhodri Morgan, the First Minister of Wales is criticized for not attending celebrations to mark the 60th anniversary of D-Day.
- 10 June: As a result of the local elections, there is power sharing in nine councils across Wales, Labour control in eight, Independents in three, and Plaid Cymru and the Conservatives control one each.
- 24 June: Police in Swansea arrest twenty people on charges of drug dealing.
- July: Jeffrey John, an openly gay clergyman originally from Tonyrefail, becomes Dean of St Albans.
- 6 July:
- International Musical Eisteddfod opens in Llangollen.
- The Queen unveils the memorial fountain erected in London in memory of Diana, Princess of Wales.
- 14 July:
- The National Assembly for Wales brings the Wales Tourist Board, Welsh Development Agency and Elwa under its immediate control.
- National Woollen Museum re-opens at Dre-fach Felindre.
- 19 July: Royal Welsh Show opens at Builth Wells.
- 28 July: It is announced that the North East Wales Institute of Higher Education, Swansea Institute of Higher Education, Trinity College, Carmarthen and the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama will all become part of the University of Wales.
- 30 July: National Eisteddfod of Wales opens at Tredegar House near Newport.
- 12 August: Keep Cardiff Tidy campaign wins a special merit award at the Association of Public Service Excellence Awards 2004.
- 26 August: Festival of History in North Wales opens in Llanfairfechan.
- 28 August: Bryn Terfel's Faenol Festival opens.
- 7 September: Kalan Kawa Karim, an Iraqi Kurd, dies after what police take to be a racist attack in Swansea city centre.
- 8 October: Breconshire Brewery wins the "Champion Beer of Wales" competition at the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) Great Welsh Beer Festival in Cardiff.
- 26 October: Monmouth-based inventor, Andrew Hubert von Staufer, wins the Platinum Award for Design and Gold Award for Leisure at the British Invention Show.
- 2 November: Flights to Egypt are available for the first time from Cardiff International Airport.
- 8 November: Launch of the Welsh Assembly Government's "free swimming for over-60s" pilot scheme.
- 19 November: The Wales Children in Need concert is held at Wrexham, starring Bryan Adams.
- 26 November: Official opening of the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff
- 31 December: In the New Year Honours List, author Leslie Thomas is made an OBE for services to literature.
- The Western Mail changes from broadsheet to tabloid/compact format.
[edit] Arts and literature
- 23 March: National Library of Wales successfully bids for an 18th century Welsh manuscript auctioned in Los Angeles.
- 5 April: Launch of Katherine Jenkins' first album, Première.
- May: Foundation of Swansea City Opera company.
- 17 August: Announcement of the Dylan Thomas Prize, a new £60,000 literary prize. The first award will be made in 2006.
- November - Roger Rees is appointed artistic director of the Williamstown Theatre Festival in Williamstown, Massachusetts.
- November - Welsh National Opera moves into the Wales Millennium Centre.
- 7 December: The Stereophonics introduce their new drummer, Argentinian Javier Weyler.
- Magenta wins the Classic Rock Society award for Best Live Band. Christina Booth wins Best Female Vocalist.
[edit] Awards
- National Eisteddfod of Wales: Chair - Huw Meirion Edwards
- National Eisteddfod of Wales: Crown - Jason Walford Davies
- National Eisteddfod of Wales: Prose Medal - Annes Glyn
- National Eisteddfod of Wales: Music Medal - Owain Llwyd
- Wales Book of the Year:
- English language: Niall Griffiths, Stump
- Welsh language: Jerry Hunter, Llwch Cenhedloedd
- Gwobr Goffa Daniel Owen - Robin Llywelyn, Un Diwrnod yn yr Eisteddfod
- John Tripp Award for Spoken Poetry: Clare Potter
[edit] New books
- Peter Finch - Real Cardiff
- Niall Griffiths - Stump
- Bethan Gwanas - Hi yw fy Ffrind
- Mererid Hopwood - Singing in Chains: Listening to Welsh Verse
- Rhys Hughes - A New Universal History of Infamy
- Jon Ronson - The Men Who Stare at Goats
- Eirug Wyn - Dyn yn y Cefn Heb Fwstash
[edit] Music
- Karl Jenkins - In These Stones Horizons Sing
- Dill Jones - Davenport Blues (posthumous album release)
- Katell Keineg - July
- Alun Tan Lan - Aderyn Papur
- Lostprophets - Start Something
- Manic Street Preachers - Lifeblood
- Tom Jones and Jools Holland (album)
- Tystion - Miwsig I'ch Traed A Miwsig I'ch Meddwl
[edit] Film
- Ioan Gruffudd stars as Lancelot in King Arthur.
- I'll Sleep When I'm Dead is filmed partly in Fishguard.
[edit] Welsh-language films
- Dal: Yma/Nawr, with John Cale, Ioan Gruffudd, Guto Harri, Cerys Matthews, Sian Phillips
[edit] Broadcasting
- 3 May: New community radio station, WHAM! RADIO 1449, is launched in Blaenavon.
- 16 July: Filming of a new Doctor Who series begins in Cardiff.
- 28 July: S4C and the Royal Welsh Agricultural Society sign a deal guaranteeing nation-wide TV coverage of the Royal Welsh Show for the next five years.
- 17 October: Pobol y Cwm, the Welsh language soap opera, celebrates its thirtieth anniversary by receiving a "Hall of Fame" award from the Royal Television Society.
- November: Bread of Heaven, a series of six programmes about the history of religion in Wales, presented by Huw Edwards, begins its run on BBC 1 Wales.
- Rob Brydon stars in The Keith Barret Show.
[edit] Sport
- 4 June: Simon Khan breaks the course record at the Celtic Manor Wales Open golf tournament.
- 24 June: Joe Calzaghe pulls out of scheduled world title fight against Glen Johnson because of injury.
- 30 August (August Bank Holiday Monday): The 19th World Bog Snorkelling Championships are held at Llanwrtyd Wells.
- 15 September: Mark Hughes resigns as manager of the Welsh national football team after being appointed manager of Blackburn Rovers.
- 16 September: Wales Rally GB begins in Cardiff.
- 17 September: Opening of the Paralympics in Athens. Welsh athletes returned home with twelve gold, six silver and nine bronze medals.
- 9 October: The Welsh national football team loses 2-0 to England at Old Trafford in Manchester.
- 12 November: John Toshack becomes the new manager of the Welsh national football team.
- 20 November: Wales Rugby Union side lose 25-26 to New Zealand at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff.
- 6 December: Tanni Grey-Thompson becomes the BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year 2004 (50th anniversary of the award).
[edit] Deaths
- 22 January - Islwyn Ffowc Elis, author
- 21 February - John Charles, legendary footballer
- 18 April - Geraint Howells, politician
- 25 April - Eirug Wyn, author
- 2 June - Alun Richards, novelist
- 17 July - Sir Julian Hodge, banker
- 18 July - Emrys Evans, banker
- 10 September - Glyn Owen, actor
- 15 September - Sue Noake, athletics official
- 13 October - Bernice Rubens, novelist
- 21 October - Brinley Rees, academic
- 28 November - Jonah Jones, author
- 4 December - Sir Anthony Meyer, politician
