5 Aug: Let’s Revive Welsh
Plaid Cymru, the Welsh Nationalist Party, was founded on 5th August, 1925, with a principal mission to revive the Welsh language.
Despite boasting a history of over 1,400 years – evolving from the Celtic language spoken by ancient Britons – Welsh was on the decline in the 20th century, following significant suppression dating back to the 1536 Act of Union that banned Welsh in legal and public spheres.
In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain how protests over an RAF training camp in Gwynedd altered Plaid’s fortunes; discover the punishments dolled out to Victorian schoolchildren who dared to speak their native language; and – inevitably – have a crack at pronouncing Wales’s longest place-name…
Further Reading:
• ‘A Profile of Plaid Cymru – All you need to know’ (Politics.co.uk):
https://www.politics.co.uk/reference/plaid-cymru/
• ‘Why the Welsh language deserves respect not ridicule’ (Metro, 2021): https://metro.co.uk/2021/02/15/disrespect-for-the-welsh-language-in-the-uk-needs-to-stop-14048261/
• ‘Now You’re Talking’ (S4C, 1990):