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Arwel Hughes, composer and conductor born in Rhosllannerchrugog, Wales

  • Person's Name: Arwel Hughes
  • Fame as?: Composer and conductor
  • Fame Hilite: Directed the music for the 1969 Investiture of Charles, Prince of Wales, and was appointed OBE the same year.
  • Death info: Died 23 September 1988.
  • Birth info: Born 25 August 1909 in Rhosllannerchrugog, near Wrexham, North Wales.
  • Body Text 2:

    As Head of BBC Wales from 1965 to 1971, Hughes shaped Welsh music broadcasting for a generation, championing the work of contemporaries such as Grace Williams and Alun Hoddinott. His opera Menna (1954) broke new ground as the first with a Welsh-language libretto, and his choral works and oratorios remain part of the Welsh choral tradition. His son Owain Arwel Hughes carried the family name into a distinguished international conducting career.
  • Career Highlights:
    • Career Highlight: Head of BBC Wales music, later Head of BBC Wales (1965–1971)
    • Career Highlight: Composed Menna (1954), the first opera with a Welsh-language libretto
    • Career Highlight: Appointed OBE in 1969 for services to Welsh music
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  • Connection: Born and raised in Rhosllannerchrugog near Wrexham; returned to Wales in 1935 to join the BBC's music department, later becoming Head of BBC Wales.
  • Related Material:
  • Location String: Rhosllannerchrugog, Wrexham
  • Connection Place Map: 53.0104,-3.0399
Arwel Hughes OBE was born on 25 August 1909 in Rhosllannerchrugog, a large village near Wrexham in North Wales. He was educated at Ruabon Grammar School before studying at the Royal College of Music in London under Ralph Vaughan Williams and C. H. Kitson, one of the most respected training grounds a young Welsh composer of his generation could pass through. After a spell as organist at the church of St Philip and St James in Oxford, Hughes returned to Wales in 1935 to join the BBC's music department, where he spent the...

Jonathan Edwards, business man with a connection to Wales (Wrexham)

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Jonathan Edwards Theologian, controversialist and principal of Jesus college, Oxford from 1686 to 1712. He became a fellow of Jesus college in 1662, vice-principal in 1668 and principal in 1686. He was also vice-chancellor of Oxford University from 1689 to 1691, the first principal of the college to do so.

Russell Crowe, actor with family from Wrexham

  • Person's Name: Russell Crowe
  • Fame as?: Actor with family from Wrexham
  • Fame Hilite: Oscar-winning New Zealand actor whose paternal grandfather, John Crowe, was born and raised in Wrexham, north Wales.
  • Birth info: Born 7 April 1964 in Strathmore Park, Wellington, New Zealand.
  • Body Text 2:

    Crowe's Welsh grandfather, John Crowe, played water polo for Grove Park School in Wrexham in the 1920s before his emigration. Alongside his Welsh ancestry, Crowe's family background also includes Scottish, English, Irish and M\u0101ori heritage through his mother's side.
  • Career Highlights:
    • Career Highlight: Academy Award for Best Actor for Gladiator (2000)
    • Career Highlight: Academy Award nominations for L.A. Confidential (1997) and A Beautiful Mind (2001)
    • Career Highlight: Paternal grandfather John Crowe was born and raised in Wrexham, north Wales
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  • Connection: His Welsh connection is through his father's side: paternal grandfather John Doubleday Crowe was from Wrexham, where the wider Crowe family ran a fruit and vegetable business before emigrating.
  • Related Material:
  • Location String: Wrexham, Wales (ancestral connection)
  • Connection Place Map: 53.0478,-3.0166
  • Comments:
    • Comment By: LifeOnMars , This Comment: Please bless us, people who like to dream with movies. Bless us with another movie.
Russell Ira Crowe was born on 7 April 1964 in Strathmore Park, a suburb of Wellington, New Zealand, to film and television set caterers Jocelyn and John Alexander Crowe. His Welsh connection comes through his father's side of the family: his paternal grandfather, John Doubleday Crowe, was born and raised in Wrexham, north Wales, where the Crowe family ran a fruit and vegetable business in the town centre. When John's own parents, Fred and Kezia Crowe, emigrated from Wrexham to Calgary, Canada, in 1925, John chose to...