- Person's Name:
Ronan Vibert
- Fame as?:
Actor, from vampire shadows to Cats Meows
- Fame Hilite:
Actor who grew up in Penarth, South Wales, with a long career in British and American film and television.
- Death info:
Ronan died on the 22nd of December 2022 in Florida, USA.
- Birth info:
Born 23 February 1964, Cambridge, England (raised in Penarth, South Wales).
- Body Text 2:
Though born in Cambridge, Vibert always regarded Penarth as home, and tributes following his death recalled him as an actor who grew up in the seaside town before going on to a long and respected career on both sides of the Atlantic.
- Career Highlights:
- Career Highlight:
Played Maximilien Robespierre in the BBC's The Scarlet Pimpernel (1999-2000) and the Duke of Wellington in Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (2015)
- Career Highlight:
Appeared in the Oscar-winning film The Pianist (2002) and alongside Tom Hanks and Emma Thompson in Saving Mr Banks (2013)
- Connection:
Born in Cambridge, England, but raised in Penarth, South Wales, from birth until age eighteen, when he left for RADA.
- Related Material:
- Location String:
Penarth, South Wales
- Connection Place Map:
51.4361,-3.1711
Ronan Vibert
Ronan David Jackson Vibert was born on 23 February 1964 in Cambridge, England, the son of artists Dilys and David Vibert. Although born in England, he grew up in Penarth, South Wales, living there until he left at eighteen to train at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), graduating in 1985.
Vibert built a long and varied career across theatre, radio, television and film. His television work included Lovejoy, Jeeves and Wooster (as Wilmot, Lord Pershore), Cadfael, the BBC's The Buccaneers, Midsomer...
Ryan Giggs
Football Player (Soccer) for Wales and Manchester United
Ryan Green
Football (Soccer) player. Wales' youngest ever international footballer.
- Person's Name:
Sandra Gage
- Fame as?:
Choreographer and Dance Teacher
- Fame Hilite:
Choreographer and dance teacher, credited with shows in Cardiff, London and Paris.
- Birth info:
Born in Cardiff, South Wales (birth date not established).
- Body Text 2:
Reader comments on the original listing describe Sandra Gage as a greatly respected figure in the world of Welsh dance and a formative teacher for performers who went on to work in theatre across Britain.
- Career Highlights:
- Career Highlight:
Choreography credited in Cardiff, London and Paris
- Career Highlight:
Productions credited at St David's Hall, New Theatre and Sherman Theatre, Cardiff
- Career Highlight:
Choreography credited at Her Majesty's Theatre and Sadler's Wells
- Connection:
Born in Cardiff
- Related Material:
- Location String:
Cardiff, South Wales
Sandra Gage is described in this site's original listing as a choreographer and dance teacher born in Cardiff, who has worked in choreography in Cardiff, London and Paris. According to that listing, she produced numerous shows at Cardiff's St David's Hall, New Theatre and Sherman Theatre, and more recently choreographed routines for productions at Her Majesty's Theatre and Sadler's Wells.
No independent press coverage, listings or company records could be found to corroborate these career details during research for...
- Person's Name:
Shakin Stevens
- Fame as?:
Rock 'n' Roll Singer
- Fame Hilite:
The UK's biggest-selling singles artist of the 1980s, known for "This Ole House" and "Merry Christmas Everyone".
- Birth info:
Born Michael Barratt on 4 March 1948 in Ely, Cardiff, Wales.
- Body Text 2:
One of thirteen children, Stevens grew up in modest circumstances in Ely before rock and roll gave him a route out. He played Elvis Presley in the West End musical "Elvis" in the 1970s before his own solo career took off, and his enduring popularity has seen him continue selling out UK tours decades after his 1980s chart peak, cementing his status as one of Cardiff's most successful musical exports.
- Career Highlights:
- Career Highlight:
Biggest-selling UK singles artist of the 1980s
- Career Highlight:
Number one hits including "This Ole House", "Green Door" and "Oh Julie"
- Career Highlight:
"Merry Christmas Everyone" remains a perennial UK Christmas chart fixture
- Connection:
Born and raised in Ely, Cardiff — Wales's best-selling rock and roll son.
- Related Material:
- Location String:
Ely, Cardiff, South Wales
- Connection Place Map:
51.4787,-3.2308
Shakin' Stevens was born Michael Barratt on 4 March 1948 in Ely, Cardiff, one of thirteen children in a working-class family. He began performing rock and roll in the late 1960s, fronting Shakin' Stevens and the Sunsets before launching a solo career that would make him one of the biggest-selling recording artists Britain has ever produced.
Through the 1980s Stevens racked up an extraordinary run of hits, including "This Ole House", "Green Door", "Oh Julie" and the perennial festive favourite "Merry Christmas...
- Person's Name:
Shirley Bassey
- Fame as?:
Singer
- Fame Hilite:
One of Britain's greatest and most enduring voices, famed worldwide for three James Bond theme songs and decades of chart success.
- Birth info:
Born 8 January 1937 in Tiger Bay, Cardiff, Wales
- Body Text 2:
Bassey remains one of Wales's most iconic cultural figures, and in 2019 was granted the Freedom of the City of Cardiff, formally honouring her lifelong connection to her hometown.
- Career Highlights:
- Career Highlight:
1959 – Became the first Welsh artist to reach number one on the UK singles chart with As I Love You
- Career Highlight:
Recorded three official James Bond theme songs: Goldfinger, Diamonds Are Forever and Moonraker
- Career Highlight:
2000 – Appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire
- Connection:
Born and raised in the Tiger Bay and Splott districts of Cardiff; began her singing career performing in working men's clubs around the city.
- Related Material:
- Location String:
Tiger Bay, Splott, Cardiff
- Connection Place Map:
51.4620,-3.1657
Dame Shirley Bassey was born on 8 January 1937 in Tiger Bay, Cardiff, the youngest of seven children of a Nigerian father and an English mother. She grew up in the nearby Splott district, in a poor and multicultural dockside community, facing racial discrimination and hardship, and left school at fourteen to work in a factory. Her powerful voice was evident from an early age, and she began performing in working men's clubs around Cardiff as a teenager.
Bassey's professional career began in 1953, and she rose to...
Steve Andrews
Music, poetry and writing: 'Bard of Ely' has performed at the Glastonbury festival on many occasions and is signed to Crai Records as front man for TAFFIA. He is the author of 'Herbs of the Northern Shaman'.
Steve Jones
Dubbed 'Channel 4's Serial Snogger'
Steve's fluid and casual style has made quite an impact at Channel 4, with his guests too! Steve's career took off when a talent scout for Esquire Magazine offered him some freelance modeling work.
He's charming, intelligent , very good looking and has an easy going style - so it was a matter of time before he graduated from stills to TV and Channel 4 were smart enough to spot a good thing when it comes along!
HTV the TV station based in Cardiff has dibs on him too, he...
- Person's Name:
Suzanne Packer
- Fame as?:
Actress from Cardiff
- Fame Hilite:
Welsh actress from Cardiff, best known as Tess Bateman in the BBC medical drama Casualty (2003-2015), and older sister of Olympic hurdler Colin Jackson.
- Birth info:
Born 26th November 1962, Cardiff, Wales.
- Body Text 2:
Packer took her stage surname, Packer, from her maternal grandmother, having been born Suzanne Jackson. Her younger brother, Colin Jackson, is one of Britain's most decorated athletes, a former world and European 110m hurdles champion.
- Career Highlights:
- Career Highlight:
Played Tess Bateman in BBC drama Casualty from 2003 to 2015, returning for the 30th-anniversary episodes in 2016
- Career Highlight:
Older sister of Olympic hurdler Colin Jackson
- Career Highlight:
Studied Theatre and Drama at the University of Warwick before training at the Webber Douglas Academy
- Connection:
Born in Cardiff, Wales.
- Related Material:
- Location String:
Cardiff, Wales (raised partly in Abergavenny)
- Connection Place Map:
51.4816,-3.1791
Suzanne Packer, born Suzanne Jackson, was born on 26th November 1962 in Cardiff, Wales, the daughter of Jamaican immigrant parents who settled in Abergavenny, where her mother Angela worked as a nurse. She is the older sister of the Olympic hurdler Colin Jackson. While a pupil at Llanedeyrn High School in Cardiff, she took leading roles in school productions of 'Oklahoma!' and 'The King and I', which set her on course for a career in acting. She went on to study Theatre and Drama at the University of Warwick, followed...
Terry Holmes
Former Welsh rugby union captain; went to play rugby league.
Terry Nation
Writer for BBC TV creating scripts for 'Doctor Who', 'Blake's Seven' and creator of 'The Daleks'.
Terry Yorath
Football (Soccer Captain) player for Leeds United and Tottenham and Wales. He went on to captain then manage the Wales squad.
Father of sport presenter Gabby Yorath
- Person's Name:
Tessie O'Shea
- Fame as?:
Actress, Singer from Cardiff
- Fame Hilite:
Cardiff-born singer and actress, known as 'Two Ton Tessie from Tennessee'; won the 1964 Tony Award for The Girl Who Came to Supper.
- Death info:
Tessie died on the 21st of April, 1995.
- Birth info:
Born 13 March 1913, Riverside, Cardiff, Wales.
- Body Text 2:
O'Shea also appeared in Walt Disney's Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971) as Mrs Hobday, bringing her music hall warmth to a new generation of screen audiences.
- Career Highlights:
- Career Highlight:
Won the 1964 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for The Girl Who Came to Supper.
- Career Highlight:
Known throughout her career as 'Two Ton Tessie from Tennessee'.
- Career Highlight:
Received an Emmy Award nomination for The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1968).
- Connection:
Born and raised in the Riverside district of Cardiff.
- Related Material:
- Location String:
Riverside, Cardiff, Wales
- Connection Place Map:
51.4779,-3.1897
Teresa Mary 'Tessie' O'Shea was born on 13 March 1913 at 61 Plantagenet Street, in the Riverside district of Cardiff, to James Peter O'Shea, a newspaper wholesaler and former soldier whose parents were Irish immigrants, and his wife Nellie Theresa Carr. Raised in the British music hall tradition, she performed on stage from the age of six and made her solo debut at just 12 at the Bristol Hippodrome, billed as 'The Wonder of Wales'.
O'Shea became a much-loved variety and radio entertainer through the 1930s and 1940s,...
Tracey Williams
Has gained international recognition for her unique style of painting, exhibiting throughout Wales and Europe.
Trezza Azzopardi
First novel, 'The Hiding Place', nominated for Guardian 'First Book Award' and short listed for 'Booker Prize' in 2000.
- Person's Name:
Sir Tudor Thomas
- Fame as?:
Ophthalmic surgeon, pioneer of corneal graft surgery
- Fame Hilite:
Welsh eye surgeon who pioneered corneal graft surgery and inspired the founding of Britain's first eye bank.
- Death info:
Tudor died on the 23rd of January, 1976.
- Birth info:
Tudor was born on the 23rd of May, 1893, in Ystradgynlais, Breconshire, Wales.
- Body Text 2:
Beyond his surgical work, Tudor Thomas served as President of the British Medical Association in 1953 and was knighted in the 1956 Birthday Honours for his services to ophthalmology. His conception of an organised donor system for corneal tissue directly led to the establishment of Britain's first eye bank at East Grinstead in 1955, a legacy that continues to help restore sight today.
Worth noting: There are no publicly available images of Sir Tudor, our representation here is a rendition.
- Career Highlights:
- Career Highlight:
Born: 23 May 1893, Ystradgynlais, Breconshire
- Career Highlight:
Known for: Pioneering corneal graft (keratoplasty) surgery
- Career Highlight:
Category: Scientists / Medicine
- Connection:
Born in Ystradgynlais, Breconshire
- Related Material:
- Location String:
Ystradgynlais, Powys, Wales
- Connection Place Map:
51.7825,-3.7508
Sir James William Tudor Thomas (23 May 1893 – 23 January 1976) was a Welsh ophthalmic surgeon, born in Ystradgynlais, Breconshire. He is remembered as a pioneer of corneal graft surgery (keratoplasty), the operation that replaces a diseased or scarred cornea with healthy donor tissue.
In 1921 Thomas was appointed Ophthalmic Surgeon at Cardiff Royal Infirmary and the United Cardiff Hospitals, a post he held for 37 years. Working at the King Edward VII Hospital in Cardiff, he combined clinical practice with painstaking...
Will Carling
Rugby. England centre and captain.