Sat, 05 Jul 2008 15:24:18 GMT
A plaque is unveiled in NHS founder Aneurin Bevan's constituency to mark the health service's 60th birthday.
Sat, 05 Jul 2008 14:50:55 GMT
Competitors gather in a tiny Powys town to take part in the World Mountain Bike Bog Snorkelling Championships.
Sat, 05 Jul 2008 11:49:48 GMT
Sporting shorts from around Wales
Sat, 05 Jul 2008 11:29:05 GMT
A guest who flew in from Canada a year too early for a wedding gets the date right at last.
Sat, 05 Jul 2008 09:47:36 GMT
Declining numbers of members and rising costs are forcing an old miners' club to close after 85 years.
The next smallest of the constituent nations of the UK after Northern Ireland, Wales has a population of just under 3 million. Welsh cultural identity is best identified with the use of the Welsh language. In Welsh, the name of the country is Cymru, and the language is Cymraeg.
Welsh history was first recorded effectively during the Roman occupation of Brittannia. At that time, Wales was divided into a number or tribal regions, of which the most powerful were the Silures and the Ordivices. It was during the 4th Century that Christianity was introduced to Wales by the Romans.
The originally Welsh lands of Mercia were eventually settled by Saxons (Welsh Saeson which is the Welsh equivalent of the more well-known Scots Sassenach, and a common term for Englishman). The remaining Brythonic (Welsh Celtic) lands were now divided by sea into Cornwall and Wales, which became independent Kingdoms. It was only in medieval times that Wales gradually became known as Cymru in Welsh, rather than Brythoniaid, the Welsh name for Roman Brittania.
Through the early middle ages, a series of dynastic and marriage successions began to unite the ruling Lords of the regions of Wales. Owain Gwynedd was the first leader to use the Latin title princeps Wallensium (Prince of Wales).
After a series of disputes between English and Welsh armies, the English king Edward I invaded and conquered Wales in 1282, permanently ending Welsh independence. Welsh king Llewllyn's head was paraded through the streets of London, and his one year old daughter was locked in the priory at Sempringham, where she continued to be imprisoned until her death fifty four years later!
Through the twentieth century, Welsh nationalism has undergone something of a revival, resulting in a narrow yes vote in the 1997 devolution referendum.
In the 1535 Laws in Wales Act, Wales was fully legislatively annexed by England, creating a single legal system. Prior to this, Welsh law had remained de facto independent in a similar way to Scots Law in the present day. The autonomy of the 1997 devolution, and subsequent Welsh Assemblies are beginning to create minor differences between English and Welsh law for the first time in almost 500 years.
Wales is officially a bilingual country, with over 20% of Welsh citizens speaking Welsh as a first language. There are very few Welsh monoglots other than pre-school children and a small number of more remote inhabitants with less-than-fluent spoken English skills.
Sport enjoys an enthusiastic following in Wales, particularly rugby, which forms part of the national identity, rivalled only by football (particularly in the North East of Wales due to the proximity to the major English football superpowers of Liverpool and Manchester united).