- Person's Name:
Peter Gill (OBE)
- Fame as?:
Theatre Director, Playwright and Actor
- Fame Hilite:
Renowned theatre director and playwright, former actor (Zulu), founding director of Riverside Studios and the National Theatre Studio
- Birth info:
Peter Gill was born on the 7th of September, 1939, in Cardiff, Wales.
- Body Text 2:
After an acting career between 1957 and 1965, Gill became Assistant Director at the Royal Court Theatre in 1964 and Associate Director in 1970. He is particularly remembered for his 1968 staging of three D. H. Lawrence plays and for premiering his own early works, The Sleepers' Den and Over Gardens Out, at the Royal Court in 1969. He later founded Riverside Studios and the Royal National Theatre Studio, and has directed over a hundred productions across the UK, Europe and North America.
- Career Highlights:
- Career Highlight:
Appeared in Zulu (1964) as Private 612 Williams
- Career Highlight:
Associate Director of the Royal Court Theatre from 1970
- Career Highlight:
Founding director of Riverside Studios and the Royal National Theatre Studio
- Connection:
Born and raised in Cardiff, Wales, and educated at St Illtyd's College, Cardiff.
- Related Material:
- Location String:
Cardiff, Wales
- Connection Place Map:
51.4816,-3.1791
Peter Gill OBE was born on 7 September 1939 in Cardiff and educated at St Illtyd's College. He began his career as an actor between 1957 and 1965, appearing in the 1964 film Zulu as Private 612 Williams, before turning to directing. He directed his first production without decor at the Royal Court Theatre in August 1965, and went on to become Assistant Director there in 1964 and Associate Director from 1970.
Gill is best known at the Royal Court for directing a celebrated 1968 group presentation of three under-rated...
Peter Rodrigues
Football (Soccer captain) player, for Southampton when they won the FA Cup at Wembley, England.
- Person's Name:
Peter Wingfield
- Fame as?:
Actor (and Doctor!) from Cardiff
- Fame Hilite:
Cardiff-born actor best known as Methos in Highlander: The Series.
- Birth info:
Born 5 September 1962, Cardiff
- Body Text 2:
Before finding fame as an actor, Wingfield trained as a doctor, and he later combined the two careers, qualifying as an anaesthesiologist.
- Career Highlights:
- Career Highlight:
Played Methos in Highlander: The Series
- Career Highlight:
Played David Emerson in Season 7 of 24 (2009)
- Career Highlight:
Trained and worked as an anaesthesiologist alongside acting
- Connection:
Born in Cardiff, Wales.
- Related Material:
- Location String:
Cardiff, Wales
- Connection Place Map:
51.4816,-3.1791
Peter Wingfield was born on 5 September 1962 in Cardiff, Wales. Before turning to acting, he studied medicine at Brasenose College, Oxford, and at Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, later training as an actor at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
He is best known for playing the immortal Methos in the television series 'Highlander: The Series'. He also played the mercenary leader David Emerson in the seventh season of '24' in 2009, and has appeared in 'Holby City' as Dan Clifford and in 'Queen...
Phil Dwyer
Football (Soccer) player. Was longest serving player for Cardiff City (he also played for Wales) A striker and centre half.
Phil Edwards
Boxer who twice fought Terry Downs for the middleweight championship.
- Person's Name:
Pino Palladino
- Fame as?:
Bass Guitarist / Session Musician
- Fame Hilite:
One of the most recorded and revered session bassists in modern music, celebrated for his fretless bass playing.
- Birth info:
Born 17 October 1957 in Cardiff, Wales.
- Body Text 2:
Palladino's career has spanned rock, soul, funk and jazz, taking in landmark albums with Gary Numan, Paul Young, D'Angelo (Voodoo, Black Messiah), Jeff Beck and Nine Inch Nails, alongside his long tenure with The Who. He also toured with Simon & Garfunkel on their Old Friends reunion and formed the John Mayer Trio with drummer Steve Jordan. His son Rocco and daughters Fabiana and Giancarla are also professional musicians.
- Career Highlights:
- Career Highlight:
Bass player on Paul Young's hit cover of "Wherever I Lay My Hat (That's My Home)"
- Career Highlight:
Toured and recorded with The Who as bassist from 2002 onward, including Super Bowl XLIV
- Career Highlight:
Formed the John Mayer Trio, releasing the album Try! in 2005
- Connection:
Born in Cardiff to a Welsh mother and Italian father; began his professional career playing on local Cardiff television.
- Related Material:
- Location String:
Cardiff
- Connection Place Map:
51.4816,-3.1791
Giuseppe Henry "Pino" Palladino was born in Cardiff on 17 October 1957, the son of a Welsh mother and an Italian father from Campobasso. Raised Catholic in Cardiff, he took up guitar at 14 under the influence of his parish priest, then switched to bass at 17 after being taken to a Ralph McTell concert featuring bassist Danny Thompson. He bought his first fretless bass a year later and began his professional career playing on local Cardiff television in the late 1970s.
From those beginnings Palladino became one of the...
Rhiannon Hale
Musician, accompanist for the 'Treorchy Male Choir' (1998-2002) 'Bridgend Male Choir' - (2003 to present day).
Musical director - 'Ynysybwl Ladies Choir' ( 2002 to present day) freelance solo accompanist to many well known singer's.
Rhodri Morgan
Oxford/Harvard educated Rhodri is commited to developing Wales for the benefit of all. Rt. Hon Rhodri Morgan AM, the second First Minister of Wales and Leader of the Welsh Assembly.
Rhodri Williams
Played Rugby for Wales and has presented a number of TV shows including '5's Company' on UK Channel 5, the 'Rugby reports' on S4C in Wales and is a Sky Sports presenter. He is a lovely man in real life, very down to earth, personable and gorgeous!
Richard Lewis
Author of best seller 'The small business guide to the internet: a practical guide to going online'.
- Person's Name:
Richard Marquand
- Fame as?:
Film Director from Llanishen, Cardiff
- Fame Hilite:
Cardiff-born film director best known for Return of the Jedi and Jagged Edge.
- Death info:
Richard died on the 4th of September 1987, Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England, aged 49.
- Birth info:
Born 22 September 1937, Llanishen, Cardiff, Wales.
- Body Text 2:
Marquand married screenwriter Josephine Elwyn-Jones in 1960 (the couple divorced in 1970), and married film director Carol Bell in 1981. He had two children from each marriage.
- Career Highlights:
- Career Highlight:
Directed Return of the Jedi (1983), winning the 1984 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation
- Career Highlight:
Directed the thriller Jagged Edge (1985) and the war drama Eye of the Needle (1981)
- Career Highlight:
Served as associate director on the landmark 1970 BBC television production of Edward II, starring Ian McKellen
- Connection:
Richard Marquand was born in Llanishen, Cardiff
- Related Material:
- Location String:
Cardiff, Wales
- Connection Place Map:
51.5233,-3.1908
Richard Marquand was a Welsh-born film and television director, best known for directing Return of the Jedi (1983), the concluding film of the original Star Wars trilogy. He was born on 22 September 1937 in Llanishen, Cardiff, the son of Hilary Marquand, a Labour Member of Parliament and government minister who served as Minister of Pensions and later Minister of Health, and Rachel Marquand (née Rees). His elder brother, David Marquand, also became a Labour MP and later a noted political historian and academic.
...
- Person's Name:
Ritchie Blackmore
- Fame as?:
Guitarist
- Fame Hilite:
Founding guitarist of Deep Purple and Rainbow, and one of the most influential hard rock guitarists of all time.
- Birth info:
Born 14 April 1945 in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, England (not Wales).
- Body Text 2:
Blackmore later reinvented his sound entirely with Blackmore's Night, a Renaissance and folk-music project formed with his wife Candice Night in 1997, moving from stadium hard rock to acoustic, medieval-inspired music while continuing to record and perform into his eighth decade.
- Career Highlights:
- Career Highlight:
Co-founded Deep Purple, 1968
- Career Highlight:
Formed Rainbow after leaving Deep Purple, 1975
- Career Highlight:
Formed Blackmore's Night with Candice Night, 1997
- Connection:
English by birth, with a Welsh father: Lewis J. Blackmore is recorded as born in Cardiff, and the wider paternal Blackmore family line traces to South Wales (Monmouthshire and Glamorganshire).
- Related Material:
- Location String:
Cardiff, Wales (father's birthplace)
- Connection Place Map:
51.4816,-3.1791
Ritchie Blackmore, one of rock's most influential and idiosyncratic guitarists, was born Richard Hugh Blackmore on 14 April 1945 in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, England — so he is English by birth. His Welsh connection runs through his father, Lewis J. Blackmore, who multiple biographical sources record as having been born in Cardiff, making Ritchie the son of a Welshman even though he himself grew up in England, first in Weston-super-Mare and then, from the age of two, in Heston, Middlesex.
The Welsh line runs further...
Roald Dahl
Much loved writer of children's books. Roald Dahl also wrote for other genres too. These include the Bond movie 'You Only Live Twice' as well as numerous film conversions of his children's books and 'Tales of Mystery and Imagination' which ran on British TV for years.
- Person's Name:
Rob Allen
- Fame as?:
Singer-songwriter and guitarist
- Fame Hilite:
Wrote and recorded 'Made in Wales' with the Morriston Orpheus Choir, one of the most requested songs on Welsh radio.
- Birth info:
Born in Cardiff, Wales (exact date not publicly documented).
- Body Text 2:
Allen wrote songs for fellow Welsh entertainers Owen Money and Mike Doyle and once played in Max Boyce's backing band. His music has charted in the European Country Charts, including a reported number one, and reached the top thirty of the US Country charts.
- Career Highlights:
- Career Highlight:
Wrote and recorded 'Made in Wales' with the Morriston Orpheus Choir, tipped by BBC Wales's Owen Money as a possible second national anthem
- Career Highlight:
Charted multiple times in the European Country Charts, including a reported number one
- Career Highlight:
Former member of Max Boyce's backing band; wrote songs for Owen Money and Mike Doyle
- Connection:
Cardiff-born singer-songwriter, closely associated with Welsh country and popular music through his song 'Made in Wales' and his work with fellow Welsh entertainers.
- Related Material:
- Location String:
Cardiff, Wales
- Connection Place Map:
51.4816,-3.1791
Rob Allen is a Cardiff-born singer-songwriter and guitarist who built a career in country and Welsh popular music, performing across Wales and further afield. He is best known in Wales for writing and recording 'Made in Wales', a song performed with the Morriston Orpheus Choir that became a favourite on Welsh radio, with BBC Wales broadcaster Owen Money reportedly suggesting it could serve as a second national anthem for the country.
Beyond his own recordings, Allen has written songs for other Welsh entertainers,...
Robert Cornish
Attended Grangetown Council School; Canton High School and the graduated at the University College Cardiff. He represented Welsh schools and served in the Royal Navy during the first world war.
Robert Griffiths
General Secretary of the Communist Party of Britain.
- Person's Name:
Roger Nott
- Fame as?:
Actor
- Fame Hilite:
Stage and TV actor who played King Arthur in Camelot and founded the Cardiff Open Air Theatre Company
- Death info:
Roger died on the 13th of October, 2022.
- Birth info:
Roger Nott was born in Cardiff, Wales, in 1943.
- Body Text 2:
Roger Nott understudied Richard Harris in the West End production of Camelot, going on to play King Arthur himself on four occasions. He was a founder member of the movement to establish Equity representation in Wales, reflecting his long-standing commitment to the Welsh acting profession.
Together with his wife Christine, he ran the Cardiff Open Air Theatre Company, which staged children's theatre in Roath Park and at the New Theatre, Cardiff, and toured Wales for around ten years, launching the careers of many Welsh performers. He is also said to have convinced director John Schlesinger that he was American, winning a small part in the film Yanks.
- Career Highlights:
- Career Highlight:
Played King Arthur four times in the West End production of Camelot
- Career Highlight:
Founded the Cardiff Open Air Theatre Company with wife Christine
- Career Highlight:
Founder member of the campaign to establish Equity representation in Wales
- Connection:
Born in Cardiff, Wales, and a lifelong figure in the Cardiff theatre
- Related Material:
- Location String:
Cardiff, Wales
- Connection Place Map:
51.4816,-3.1791
Roger Nott was a Welsh stage and television actor, born in Cardiff in 1943. He built a long career as a jobbing actor and theatre-maker, understudying Richard Harris in the West End and playing King Arthur four times in Camelot, and he later appeared in the TV series Darklands and a one-man show about fellow Welshman Richard Burton.
With his wife Christine, Roger founded and ran the Cardiff Open Air Theatre Company through the 1970s and 1980s, staging productions for children in Roath Park and at the New Theatre,...
Roger Royle
Clergyman, broadcaster and writer.
Ronald Lockley
Famous naturalist and author. Best known for his life on Skokholm Island off Pembrokeshire 1927-1940 and at Orielton in 1950's early 1960's.
Ronald Thomas
Poet and rector of Church of Wales.