Did you know?

For your information, our collection of anecdotal bits and bobs about Wales. Some are just speculation but all have an element of truth in there somewhere. You decide.

Welsh national icon the daffodil helps Alzheimer sufferers
The old Klondike saying "There's gold in them there hills" could come true in Brecon. It seems a variety of daffodil which is naturally high galanthamine will flourish there.

So what? Well galanthamine can be used to inhibit Alzheimers and a synthetic version is used in specialist drugs. Ounce for ounce galanthamine is worth its weight in gold!

It seems the daffodil produces galanthamine as a defence, it makes more of it when the plant is stressed. The poor soil on the Black Hills provides the ideal environment for this making the flowers there yield very high levels.

Glamour, it's a Welsh thing.
Next time you hear of a super model or film star described as glamorous remember the word 'glamour' originates from the ancient Welsh. Glamour was a paint they applied to their face and body before going to battle! When we say someone has her 'war paint' on, we really mean it!

 

Yellow Fever
In 1865 fifteen Swansea residents died of Yellow Fever, the only time the disease has occurred in Britain.

 

Union Hi-Jack
The curious case of the missing country. Why Wales is missing from the Union Flag. Click HERE to read this article now.

 

'Welshing' is an English invention!
In the 1800's (and early 1900's too) speaking Welsh in school was not allowed, an English policy. Young school children in Wales were rewarded (with Sweets/Candy) for 'telling' on their fellow class mates if they'd heard them speaking Welsh during school time! Some say they were punished for speaking Welsh outside of school too. Hence the term 'Welshing' came originally from these children. The meaning has changed over the years and in America it is now used to describe someone who goes back on a promise.

 

'D Day' advances
At the end of 'D Day', the first day of the allied invasion of Nazi Europe, it was the South Wales Borders (The Royal Regiment of Wales) who'd made the greatest penetration into enemy territory! They'd manage to get as far as the outskirts Bordeaux some eight miles from the beach head!

 

Spina Bifida Advance
Tenovus, the cancer charity opened the world’s first fully equipped Spina Bifida unit in Cardiff.

 

Manhattan connection!
Descendants of the West Wales adventurer Robert Edwards fight it out in court to prove their ownership of Wall Street, the world famous financial centre at the heart of New York.



The Edwards family claim when the property; pasture land at the time, was leased to the brothers 'Kruger' the terms stated the lease would expire in about 100 years. The Kruger brothers in turn allowed the Catholic church to use the land as it saw fit. The church has controlled the land since, building on it themselves and renting to other parties too, hence the Manhattan we know today. The rent for this use is stored in a vault in Manhattan itself, now estimated at over $800,000000,00!

Robert Edwards died childless, leaving his property to his sister in Wales and her decedents who are estimated now to number some 3000. If they win that means a payout of over $26m EACH!

 

Declaration of Independence!
The largest ethnic group of signatories (16 in all) on the original draft of the American Declaration of Independence were Welsh! Thomas Jeffersons' family who came from Snowdonia spoke Welsh too! Click HERE for more information.

 

Welsh in Washington!
The famous Washington Memorial (needle thing the shadow goes up in the movie Independence Day) is inscribed with the words "Cymru am Byth" Click HERE for more information.

 

Hippocratic Oath
As of 1989, doctors can take their Hippocratic Oath in Welsh.

 

America or Vespucciland?
Richard Amerik was a Welshman based in Bristol as a British customs official (there were lots of Welshmen in Bristol in the 15th century). Amerik invested in the explorations of John Cabot, who arrived in the 'New World' in 1497, becoming the first recorded European to do so. This predates the Amerigo Vespucci claim. The name "Amerik" would have appeared on maps and documents used by these early adventurers, those used by Vespucci too. The custom of naming a place after the discoverers surname means that if the 'New World' had really been named after Amerigo Vespucci it should now be known as 'Vespucciland' or something similar!

 

Ole' Ma Garibaldi
Apparently, the Italian leader Garibaldi was partly Welsh.
It seems his grandmother was from the village of Cerrig y Drudion. There's another interesting snippet related to Cerrig y Drudion - According to Colonel Mainwaring in a speech he gave in 1887, Lawn Tennis derives from the Welsh game known as Cerrig y Drudion!

 

Yorks' Penn friend...
The Duke of York gave Penn (who was more Irish than Welsh) the parcel of land now known as Pennsylvania as payment for a debt he owed his father, the Admiral Penn. William Penn wanted to name it 'New Wales' but by the time he got his act together his secretary (another Welshman) had called it 'Pennsylvania' - the local, newly established Welsh community were already calling it 'pen this and pen that' after places they'd left behind in Wales.

 

Welsh claim on first car...?
In 1805 Oliver Evans, American of Welsh descent drove his steam powered digging machine to work! - Not only the first automobile but a company car too! - The hook to hang his jacket on came a lot later :-)

 

Utopia found...
Two Irish ladies broke all social conventions to live in their country idyll, click here to read more about the famous Ladies of Llangollen.

 

Ghostly canine for best seller...
The Hound of the Baskervilles may be based on a mid Wales tale of a ghostly canine. There is a Baskerville Hall near Brecon.

 

An apple a day?
We all know of the old proverb 'An apple a day keeps the doctor away' - well it's thought to have originated in Pembrokeshire. Another form is 'Eat an apple before your bed and keep the doctor from his bread'.

 

Welsh Elvis debate will run and run...
Many people now believe the great (greatest?) rock & roll singer to swell his lungs on the planet Earth, the one and only Elvis Presley, may be of Welsh descent. The surname Presley actually comes from the world Preseli - a chain of mountains in mid-Wales! And to make the story more believable there is an ancient Celtic church in the area called St Elvis's Church!

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