Facts and Fiction

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

Typical symptoms of yellow fever include:

headache
high temperature
nausea and vomiting
jaundice – yellowing of the skin and whites of the eyes
bleeding

Yellow fever is a virus known as a flavivirus. It is transmitted through mosquito bites. Clearly there are not so many mosquito in Swansea but, it can be spread from one host to another, usually between monkeys, or from monkeys to humans and of course from person to person.

Mmm. interesting because Yellow fever can't be spread by close contact between two people like a cold. However, there is more than enough contact in ordinary situations to allow it to transfer. Luckily the outbreak was confined to Swansea.

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

The official website states:

In 1943, Tenovus was founded by ten businessmen. Initially, the charity funded a wide range of projects in the local area. These ranged from building the Sunshine House for Blind Babies just outside Cardiff, to donating a washing machine to a widow with seven children who had lost an arm. In the 1960s, Tenovus embarked on a project which was to influence our work for the next 40 years.

We built the Tenovus Institute for Cancer Research in Cardiff which carried out vital research into the causes of cancer. Since then, we have concentrated our efforts on cancer and are now recognised for our pioneering work.

Helping the charity

This is a well managed and dedicated charity who have help patients and contiinued research sincde they were founded. If you would like to donate to this great cause please visit their website today.

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!

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

Known as the 'Cradle of Mankind' the high plains West of Johannesburg, South Africa's biggest city and capital of Gauteng province palaeontologists have found the remains of some of our earliest ancestors.

It seems modern-day scientists have to thank a group of Welsh miners, quite ordinary men who had gone to South Africa to help build the new city of Johannesburg. Hunting for limestone, needed for construction they detonated explosives to unearth the limestone, unearthing the ancient remains as they did.

Even though there was limestone there they went no further, we can only guess why but it may have been having seen the bone fragments they felt it wrong to disturb graves further. Whatever the cause of their decision, we can thank them for giving us a glimpse into our evolution from primitive hominids to modern humans.

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'.

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.

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!

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 :-)