X-Nico

22 unusual facts about Wales


Badminton World Federation

Founded in 1934 as the International Badminton Federation with nine member nations (Canada, Denmark, England, France, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Scotland and Wales), the BWF has since expanded to 176 member nations around the world.

Broadward, Herefordshire

The River Arrow flows to the south of the hamlet and Broadward Bridge takes the road across it.

Buckland Hill

Sitting transversely across the Usk valley between the river and the village of Bwlch, it provides excellent panoramic views down the valley and across to the Black Mountains.

Calaminarian grassland

In the United Kingdom they are predominantly found on industrial or post-industrial land, especially in the east of Cumbria and western dales, the Peak District and north west Wales and parts of the Scottish Highlands.

Côr Godre'r Aran

Côr Godre'r Aran (English: Choir from the foothills of the Aran mountain) is a famous Welsh Male-voice choir that hail from Llanuwchllyn, near Bala, North Wales.

The choir has won many awards and prizes over the years including winners of the Male-voice choir competition at the National Eisteddfod of Wales & the Llangollen International Eisteddfod.

The choir has recorded 12 times with Welsh record company, SAIN over the years including three CD's - Evviva, Cwlwm Aur, & Byd o Heddwch.

Craswall

It lies in the far west of the county, in the foothills of the Black Mountains, close to the border with Wales.

District registry

a part of the High Court situated in various districts of England and Wales dealing with High Court family and civil business.

Ebbw Vale, Queensland

Ebbw Vale is Welsh for Head of the Valley which refers to the location of Ebbw Vale in Wales.

Elfyn Lewis

Lewis's paintings are held in the collections of the Cynon Valley Museum, MOMA Wales and Gwynedd Museum and Art Gallery.

Herefordshire Trail

The terrain varies from panoramic views at Harley's Mountain (376m, the highest point), Garway Hill Common (366m), and Merbach Hill (318m), and the hidden Golden Valley below the looming bulk of the Black Mountains, Wales, to the river valleys and Black and white villages trail passing through cider orchards and many of the lesser-known hidden places in the secret corners of this quiet county.

John K. Edmunds

Edmunds was born in Wales, Utah to Thomas Edmunds, an immigrant from Wales, and Frieda Louise Kaestli, an immigrant from Switzerland.

Joseph Stone, Baron Stone

Joe Stone was a General Practitioner, originally from Llanelli in Wales, who after qualifying in Cardiff worked as a GP in and around Hendon.

Merry Christmas Everyone

"Merry Christmas Everyone" is a popular festive song by the Welsh singer-songwriter Shakin' Stevens.

Pembridge

Pembridge is a village located just south of the River Arrow on the A44 between Leominster and Kington in Herefordshire, England.

Swansea Festival

Swansea Festival may refer to a number of festivals that take place in Swansea, Wales.

The Bloodline

The album was mixed by Jeff and Ginge(Bullet for My Valentine) at Not In Pill Studios in Wales.

Wales, New York

Adoniram J. Warner, former US Congressman, Union Army General in American Civil War

This community lies at the south end of NY-400 on NY-16 and is the home of the The Gow School.

Wales, Utah

The small mining town of Wales was named for the country of the immigrants that were sent there by Brigham Young in 1854 to mine the "rock that burns".

Y Garn

Y Garn is Welsh for the cairn or the rock and is the name of several hills in Wales.


Aberaeron

In Wales Illustrated in a Series of Views by Henry Gastineau, published in 1810, it states: "Near the town are some remains of an ancient fortress called Castell Cadwgan, thought to have been erected by king Cadwgan, about the year 1148."

Airflight

12 March 1950 - Avro Tudor G-AKBY while operating a rugby charter, crashed on approach to RAF Llandow in Wales with 80 fatalities.

Angharad Mason

Mason represented Wales in the women's road race at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi.

Archibald Jacob

Jacob was born in Jessore, Bangladesh, second surviving son of Captain Vickers Jacob (1789-1836), Indian army and later merchant and landholder in New South Wales, and his wife Anne née Watson (1796-1836).

Becca Hall

Later used as a control centre, it performed as one of the control centres for the Dinorwig hydroelectric storage facility in North Wales.

Belmore, New South Wales

Belmore is named after the fourth Earl of Belmore, Governor of New South Wales from 1868-1872.

Buddleja davidii 'Corinne Tremaine'

Buddleja davidii 'Corinne Tremaine' is a cultivar raised at the The Herb Garden & Historical Plant Nursery on Anglesey, north Wales.

Builth Castle

Builth Castle was a castle built under King Edward I, today an abandoned site just outside Builth Wells, Powys, Wales.

Cadoxton, Glamorgan

Cadoxton, Vale of Glamorgan, in the Vale of Glamorgan county borough in Wales

Charles Darbishire

Darbishire was born in London, the son of Colonel C. H. Darbishire of Plas Mawr, Penmaenmawr in North Wales.

Charmaine Dragun

Dragun was engaged to Simon Struthers (forensic pathologist with the New South Wales police, bass guitarist for Adam Said Galore and photographer), with the pair planning to marry at their joint thirtieth birthday celebrations.

Conway Stewart

The company relocated to Crumlin in Wales in 1968 taking advantage of regional development grants but its financial health continued to deteriorate.

Crowdy

Crowdy Bay National Park is a national park in New South Wales (Australia), 271 km northeast of Sydney.

Edmund Meade-Waldo

He is probably best known for his efforts to preserve the Red Kite in Wales.

Elias Weekes

Weekes was the Colonial Treasurer of New South Wales in the second government of William Cowper between April and October 1859.

George Cotterill

This time, Cotterill was selected as part of a predominately amateur team (most of the players were members of the Corinthian club) to play against Wales at the Racecourse Ground, Wrexham, and was one of only three players in the side who had previous international experience.

George, Prince of Wales

George II of Great Britain, from his creation as Prince of Wales in 1714 to his accession to the throne in 1727

Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 1st Earl of Minto

The district of Minto in New South Wales, Australia, was named after him in 1809.

Graigwen

Graigwen is served by one pub - the Tŷ Mawr Hotel in Pantygraigwen, (which was used in the BBC Wales soap, Belonging), one club - the Pontypridd District Club, a garage and two news agents/grocery stores one of which previously served as Graigwen Post Office.

Gunning, New South Wales

Millicent Armstrong was a playwright and farmer in Gunning, New South Wales, who wrote primarily about the experiences of country life in early 20th century Australia.

Highgrove House

The gardens were the source of inspiration for the British composer Patrick Hawes when he was asked to write a piece of music for the Prince of Wales' 60th birthday in 2008.

Humphrey de Bohun, 3rd Earl of Hereford

In 1282, war with Wales broke out again; this time it would not be simply a punitive campaign, but a full-scale war of conquest.

James Farnell

The gold discoveries in California in 1848 led to his visiting America, and he also travelled in New Zealand before finally returning to New South Wales.

James Motley

He worked as an engineer and manager (at Tewgoed (or 'Terrgoed') Colliery at Cwmafan); then underground surveyor to William Chambers of Llanelli; and finally, at Abercrave colliery, iron works, iron mines, and limestone quarries while maintaining an active interest in natural history, especially botany (he left a herbarium at the Royal Institution of South Wales, Swansea), and folklore.

James Sommerin

Returning to Wales to be closer to his family, Sommerin joined The Crown at Whitebrook in Monmouthshire in 2000 as Sous Chef.

John B. Haberlen

Haberlen has participated as a jury member and auditor in major choral festivals worldwide, including the St. Petersburg Choral Festival, the World Choir in Cardiff, Wales; Marktoberdorf, Germany; Riva del Garda, Italy; Budapest, Hungary; Denmark and Sydney, Australia.

John Jones, Talysarn

John Jones, Talysarn (1 March 1796 - 16 August 1857), was a Welsh Calvinistic Methodist minister, regarded as one of the greatest preachers in the history of Wales.

Kerry Beaumont

Beaumont was previously director of music (1994-2002) at Ripon Cathedral in North Yorkshire, England and (1990-1994) at St David's Cathedral in Pembrokeshire, Wales.

Kingdoms of Elfin

The stories range across various traditional lands of Europe and beyond, including Brocéliande in Brittany, Elfhame in Scotland, Mynydd Prescelly in Wales, the Forest of Arden and Bury St. Edmunds in England, and as far away as the Peris of Persia.

Maid of Kent

Joan of Kent, 14th century Countess of Kent and Princess of Wales

Mam Cymru

National personification of Wales, also called Dame Wales used in cartoons, most notably by Joseph Morewood Staniforth.

Michelle Scutt

Competing for Wales at the 1982 Commonwealth Games in Brisbane, Australia, she won a silver medal in the 400 metres, behind Australia's Raelene Boyle.

Molly Parkin

Parkin was born in 1932, the second of two daughters, in Pontycymer in the Garw Valley, Glamorgan, Wales.

Monaseed

William Curry - Entrepreneur & owner of Horizon Taxis in North Wales.

Mr Duke

Born in Snowdonia, North Wales he took his name from a character in Hunter S. Thompson's 1971 novel Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

Mynydd Cilfach-yr-encil

Mynydd Cilfach-yr-encil attains a height of 445m at OS grid reference SO 079033 making it the high point of the broad ridge of high ground between Taff Vale (Welsh: Cwm Taf) and Cwm Bargod in the Valleys region of South Wales.

Mynydd Maendy

Mynydd Maendy (translation: Maindy Mountain) is a hilltop and moorland, near Gilfach Goch, in south Wales, to the southwest of Tonyrefail.

Neuf-Marché

Bernard de Neufmarché, Norman lord active in the conquest of Wales 1088-1095.

New South Wales Court of Appeal

Although the New South Wales Court of Appeal commenced operation on 1 January 1966 with the appointment of the President, Sir Gordon Wallace, and six Judges of Appeal, Bernard Sugerman, Charles McLelland, Cyril Walsh, Kenneth Jacobs, Kenneth Asprey and John Holmes Dashwood, the Court of Appeal was established in 1965, replacing the former appellate Full Court of the New South Wales Supreme Court.

Nick Whitehead

He would later teach Physical Education at Carnegie Physical Training College in Leeds, now part of Leeds Metropolitan University and eventually became Director of Development at the Sports Council for Wales (now Sport Wales).

Robert d'Escourt Atkinson

Robert d'Escourt Atkinson (born April 11, 1898, Rhayader, Wales – died October 28, 1982, Bloomington, Indiana) was a British astronomer, physicist and inventor.

Ronnie Boon

He joined the blues during the 1928/29 season, and by 1930 he was selected to represent Wales in a Five Nations Championship match against Scotland in an all-Cardiff three-quarter line alongside Davies, Jones and Turnbull.

Scalford

The Colonel was a friend of the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VIII, and throughout their much publicised courtship, Edward and American divorcee Wallis Simpson regularly stayed at Scalford Hall.

Simon de Burley

In 1382, Richard granted him the office of under-chamberlain of the King's household for life, and appointed him surveyor of the lands in South Wales in the King's hands during the minority of the heir of Edmund Mortimer.

Sound Space Studios

Sound Space Studios is a recording studio and rehearsal facility located in Cardiff, Wales.

SS Escambia

The casualties included Chief Officer Stephen George of Wales, Second Officer John Simpson of Liverpool, Third Officer J. Meyler of London, Chief Engineer James Sturrock, Second Engineer P. Walker, all the stokers (most of whom were Chinese), other hands, and a passenger named O. Detchon of South Shields.

Treason Act 1429

This Act was repealed for England (including Wales) by the Statute Law Revision Act 1863 (26 & 27 Vict c 125) and for Ireland by the Statute Law (Ireland) Revision Act 1872 (35 & 36 Vict c 98).

Vanessa Beeman

She studied prehistory at Manchester and Liverpool, and for a Post Graduate Diploma in Education in Wales before teaching at a school in Truro, going on to a post with the Federal Department of Antiquities in Nigeria, and afterwards to teach at Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria, Nigeria.

Ysgol Bryn Elian

This led to a place alongside Ysgol Y Creuddyn, Ysgol Dyffryn Conwy and Ysgol Aberconwy in Band 2, in the Conwy Round of best schools in North Wales.

Ystalyfera

The Brewery on site produced the Champion Beer of Wales in 2002/3 and 2003/4, coming 3rd in 2004/5.