The Cardiff Book of Days (36 page)

1985:
Scotland football manager Jock Stein (62) collapsed on the touchline at Ninian Park in the closing minutes of the World Cup qualifying match against Wales. He was taken on a stretcher to the medical room but attempts to revive him were unsuccessful and he died without regaining consciousness. Stein had been one of the most successful football managers of his time. In 1967 Celtic, under Stein's management, had become the first British team to win the European Cup. (Dennis Morgan,
Farewell to Ninian Park
, 2008)

1945:
The survivors of the 77
^th
Heavy Royal Artillery Regiment who had been captured by the Japanese were finally released from Prisoner of War camps. The 77
^th
had included many well-known sportsmen including five Cardiff City footballers: Ernie Curtis (who had played in the 1927 FA Cup-winning team), Billy James, Bobby Tobin, Billy Baker and Jackie Pritchard. There were also rugby players, including Les Spence and Fred Street of Cardiff RFC and all-round sports star Wilf Wooller. The unit had spent the first part of the war guarding Cardiff from gun emplacements ar Maerdy Farm, Rumney and Sloper Road (near Ninian Park). In 1942 they had been sent out to Java, only to be taken prisoner six weeks later. More than 300 of them died, many while working on the infamous Burma Railway. (John O'Sullivan & Bryn Jones,
Cardiff: A Centenary Celebration
, The History Press, 2005)

1947:
John Crichton-Stewart, 5th Marquis of Bute, placed Cardiff Castle and 400 acres of its grounds in the care of the City Council. He was presented with a casket containing a scroll bearing their message of thanks for this most generous bequest. Another 400 acres of Bute land was set aside for the building of a new Roman Catholic cathedral – which more than sixty years later still has not happened. (John O'Sullivan & Bryn Jones,
Cardiff: A Centenary Celebration
, The History Press, 2005)

1759:
There was fighting in Womanby Street between sailors from the Bristol galley the
Eagle
, who were armed with pikes, swords, cutlasses and muskets, and those of HMS
Aldeborough
, who were equally well equipped. One man was killed. (William Rees,
Cardiff: A History of the City
, Cardiff Corporation, 1969)

1826:
The Theatre Royal, described at the time as ‘handsome but not comfortable' opened with a performance of
Macbeth
. The so-called ‘curse of the Scottish play' took some time to take effect but the theatre was destroyed by fire in 1877. (William Rees,
Cardiff: A History of the City
, Cardiff Corporation, 1969)

1868:
Thousands of people turned out to greet the 3rd Marquis of Bute as his yacht tied up at 8.20 a.m. at the dock built by his father. He was given a seventeen-gun salute to mark his coming of age. (John Richards,
Cardiff: A Maritime History
, The History Press, 2005)

1997:
Prime Minister Tony Blair laid the Foundation Stone of the Millennium Stadium. It was to become ‘one of the world's grandest arenas. All that was needed to put Welsh rugby back among the game's leading lights was a team worthy of it'. (Steve Lewis,
The Priceless Gift: 125 Years of Welsh Rugby Captains
, Mainstream, 2005)

1916:
The birth of children's author Roald Dahl. He was born in Llandaff to Norweigian parents and, like his three sisters, christened in the Norweigian Church, being named after the explorer Roald Amundsen, a national hero at the time. His parents were Harald and Sophie (
née
Hesselberg). Harald had moved from Sarpsborg in Norway and settled in Cardiff in the 1880s. Roald attended the Cathedral School, Llandaff. At the age of 8, along with four friends he was caned by the headmaster after they put a dead mouse in a jar of gobstoppers at a local sweet shop. He later moved on to a boarding school at Weston-super-Mare, chosen by his parents (who wanted him educated at an English public school) because of the regular ferry service across the Bristol Channel. He later went to Repton School where he got into more trouble, being caned by the headmaster, Geoffrey Fisher, a future Archbishop of Canterbury. He served with distinction in the RAF during the Second World War and was involved in writing propaganda for American audiences in support of the Allied cause. His autobiography
Boy
refers to his early life in Cardiff. (Wikipedia)

1766:
‘Mr Bedford [John Bedford of Bassaleg] says that Newport is a cheaper port for sending to Bristol. The freight from Newport is 2
s
per ton, from Cardiff it is 3s or 3/6. Newport, I am of the opinion, will be a more convenient port for us and ground may be obtained there much cheaper and more convenient than at Cardiff. Vessels can go out of Newport oftener and more certain than from Cardiff.' (Joseph Gross (ed.),
The Diary of Charles Wood of Cyfarthfa Ironworks, Merthyr Tydfil, 1766-1767
, Merton Priory Press, 2001)

1859:
The
Illustrated London News
reported that ‘owing to the sudden death of Lord James Stuart, the intended festivities were dispensed with and Bute Dock was opened for trade in the quietest possible manner'. The
Cardiff & Merthyr Guardian
noted that only a few people ‘who had heard of the intended formal opening, hastened to the spot'.

1998:
Tesco introduced twenty-four hour shopping at its Western Avenue store. (
South Wales Echo
)

1999:
A Britannia plane from Cardiff crash-landed at Genoa Airport. The plane broke into three pieces but all 236 passengers and crew survived. (
Western Mail
)

1899:
‘At the Cardiff Waterworks Committee meeting the Waterworks Engineer Mr C.H. Priestley reported upon the storage of water at the various reservoirs. On September 1st there was a total quantity of 381,000,000 gallons, which was 230,000,000 less than on August 1st. Mr Priestley reported that a fortnight ago it appeared that the drought had broken but the slight rainfall on the gathering grounds at Cwm Taff was entirely absorbed by the land; consequently there was no increase in water in the reservoirs. Since May 19th there had been no rain to affect the storage. More rain fell at Cantreff in one week during the month of January than has fallen during the past seventeen weeks, the drought having lasted 116 days. Mr Priestley throught that something should be done to prevent the reservoir water being used for street purposes and that notice should be given to customers to economise as far as possible. The Chairman asked how many days supply there was now. Mr Priestley replied thirty days – or at the outside, forty. The Clerk was requested to stop street watering from hydrants and to issue a notice for customers to economise as much as possible.' (
Western Mail
)