| NAME | FIELD | NOTABLE WORKS | DESCRIPTION |
| Ice, Isabel |
Porn Star | Big Booty White Girls (2004) | Amongst other things Isabel's Welsh accent is discussed in this hardcore American porn film |
| Icons of Filth | Band | Onward Christian Soldiers (1984) | Anarchy, class-war, anti-vivisection and nuclear paranoia all delightfully embellished with speed-punk guitars |
| Ifans, Rhys | Actor | Accidental Death of an Anarchist (2003) | Deserved high praise for Ifans' high-octane performance as the maniac in Dario Fo's political masterpiece. Directed by Robert Delamere at the Donmar Warehouse |
| Iverson, Jeffrey | Writer | More Lives Than One? The Evidence of the Remarkable Bloxham Tapes (1976) | Iverson (from Newport) re-examines the taped interviews of Arnall Bloxham, a Cardiff-based psychiatrist. Patients under hypnosis - such as Welsh housewife Jane Evans - reveal their past lives in convincing detail |
| James, Bill | Writer | Whose Little Girl are You? (1974) (as David Craig) | Story of the kidnapping of a child, later turned into a film - The Squeeze, with Stacy Keach |
| James, Bill | The Tattooed Detective (1998) (as David Craig) | Along with Forget It, Bay City and Torch this book is part of the excellent Brade and Jenkins detective series set in Cardiff's docklands | |
| James, Bill |
Middleman (2002) | Middleman Julian Corbett is plucked from the Brade and Jenkins series and given a standalone novel | |
| James, David | Pornographer | Vivid Entertainment Group | Ex-miner turned porn king. As co-founder of the Vivid Video empire James is probably the most culturally influential Welshman alive. Vivid's uber-babe star system approach to porno has made them industry leaders in America |
| James, Richard | Music | The Seven Sleepers Den (2006) | There's a warmth and intimacy to all of these songs. Lots of lovely guitar playing too and an essentially folk sensibility |
| James, Shani Rhys | Artist | The Morning Shave (1993) | Blood-soaked domestic, expressionistic in style, with her usual unhealthy introspection |
| Jarman, Geraint | Music | Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau (1978) | Jarman shamelessly jumps on the New Wave and reggae bandwagons but hey, what a great job he does. Excellent record |
| Jarman, Geraint | Gwesty Cymru (1979) | Jarman gave Welsh-language popular music a more sophisticated and cosmopolitan outlook. Another quality release | |
| Jarman, Geraint | Neb yn Deilwng 1977-1997 (1997) | This is a great introduction to Geraint Jarman's work for Sain | |
| Jenkins, John | Revolutionary | Prison Letters (1981) | Collection of correspondence written by Jenkins whilst he was a Category A prisoner in Albany on the Isle of Wight |
| Jenkins, Mike | Writer | Graffiti Narratives (1994) | Excellent collection of urban poems written in dialect which manage to be political and humorous |
| Job, Thomas | Writer | Uncle Harry (1942) | This superb 3 act play which ran on Broadway for a year was turned into film noir classic The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry (although they changed the ending to appease Hollywood censors). A revival would be nice |
| John, Augustus |
Artist | Portrait of Talullah Bankhead (1930) | In the current climate of celebrity worship John's proto-Warholian oeuvre ought to be ripe for re-evaluation. Bankhead kept this picture in her boudoir - it now hangs in the US Portrait Gallery |
| John, Augustus | Portrait of Aleister Crowley | He may have been the Hello magazine of his day but John also captured some of the darker figures of the beau monde including Crowley whom he immortalised twice | |
| John, Gwen | Artist | The Convalescent (1923) | This painting from the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge is one of ten versions painted by John. It exhibits that now familiar sense of stillness and repose which has catapulted her reputation way beyond that of her brother's |
| John, Gwen | Young Woman Holding a Black Cat (1923-28) | Oil on canvas. The sitter for this picture (John's favourite model) has never been identified. Painted at Meudon, it now hangs in the Tate | |
| Johns, Mervyn | Actor | Next of Kin (1942) | Propaganda film turned seedy thriller. Churchill considered this work a threat to morale and wanted it banned. Johns, eschewing his usual rent-paying Welsh Uncle Tom parts, proves himself to be something of a Celtic Peter Lorre |
| Johns, Mervyn | The Halfway House (1944) | Pattern-play ghost story set in a dream-like ethereal Wales. Johns is the haunted hotelier | |
| Johns, Mervyn | Dead of Night (1945) | Johns was expert at suggesting strangeness and incipient danger. As architect Walter Craig he is the conduit through which the spooky portmanteau of ghost stories are funnelled | |
| Jones, Allen | Artist | Table (1969) | Pop artist Jones made six versions of this sculpture, one of which is owned by Roman Polanski. A sexually submissive mannekin props up a table-top. A misogynist's wet dream |
| Jones, Allen | Maid to Order 111 (1992) | Fetishised womanhood is once again Jones's preferred subject matter. His skill as a colourist - often overlooked - is here amply demonstrated | |
| Jones, Brian | Artist | Madollar (2003) | Jones' subversive New Pop artworks toy with notions of pop cuture and celebrity |
| Jones, Charles | Writer | The Challenger (1966) | Collection of work by eccentric Merthyr poet. The best of them have a concern for the environment |
| Jones, Dafydd | Photographer | Red Carpet (time-lapse) Panoramas | Multiple captures of celebrities as they progress along the world's red carpets. An interesting, slightly Warholian, take on the beautiful people |
| Jones, David | Artist/Writer | The Garden Enclosed (1924) | Beautiful, sexually-charged oil painting transmits the ambivalent strangeness of a folk tale |
| Jones, David | Interchanging the Occiputs (for Gulliver's Travels) (1925) | Disturbing wood carving taken from an inspired set for an edition of Gulliver's travels. It's not often you see a pictorial representation of a labotomy | |
| Jones, Dill | Jazz Pianist | Davenport Blues (2004) | In this posthumous collection Jones interprets works by Bix Beiderbecke, amongst others, as well as playing some of his own compositions. Jones lived and performed in New York |
| Jones, Dylan | Writer | Haircults (1990) | Historical and aesthetic analysis of fifty years of hairstyles |
| Jones, Elias Henry | Writer | Road to En-dor (1920) | An incredible ripping yarn about the escape of two soldiers (one Welsh) from a Turkish POW camp. Set for a reprint in 2005 |
| Jones, Elwyn | Writer | The Last Two to Hang (1966) | Early true-crime classic nominated for an Edgar award. Jones examines the life and crimes of the last two men to hang in Britain (one of whom bizarrely pretended to be Welsh throughout his trial!) |
| Jones, Ernest | Psychoanalyst | Sigmund Freud: Life and Work (1953-57) | Still the closet biographical insight into one of the most original minds of the twentieth century. Friend, disciple and saviour (from the Nazis) of Freud |
| Jones, Ernest | On the Nightmare (1931) | In this, his most famous work, Jones applies his Freudian principles to vampirism | |
| Jones, George Cecil | Magician | A .'. A .'. System of Magic | Aleister Crowley's mentor and the man responsible for his induction into the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Together they developed the A .'. A .'. system of magic |
| Jones, Gareth | Writer | Lord of Misrule (1984) | Man adopts the role of Lord of Misrule to create dissension in a Welsh kingdom. Overlooked agent provocateur fantasy published by Penguin |
| Jones, Gwyn | Writer | The Nine Days Wonder (1937) | Jones gets down and dirty in this sordid trawl through Manchester's lowlife |
| Jones, Heather | Music | Goreuon Heather Jones - The Best of Heather Jones (2004) | A fine selection from the golden throated Jones' 60s/70s back catalogue. Released by Sain |
| Jones, Idwal | Writer | High Bonnet (1945) | Foodie classic. The adventures of Jean-Marie Gallois, a confisseur, seeking fame in Paris. A sensuous read with utterly mouth-watering descriptions of food. The 2001 reprint has an introduction by Anthony Bourdain |
| Jones, Lloyd | Writer | Mr Vogel (2004) | Psychogeography may well prove to be the dominant strain of post-devolution Welsh fiction (in English). Jones takes the form to its logical conclusion with an idiosyncratic romp around Wales |
| Jones, Mary | Writer | Resistance (1985) | A woman suffering from cancer of the jaw seeks refuge in a Welsh hotel. To her horror it is peopled by grotesques with a nationalistic outlook. Gothic allegory |
| Jones, Mervyn | Writer | Joseph (1970) | A fictional biography of Joseph Stalin. Mervyn is the son of psychoanalyst Ernest Jones (see above) |
| Jones, Rhodri | Photographer | Made in China (2002) | Jones portrays cultural upheaval in China as workers adapt to the unstoppable demands of western consumerism |
| Jones, Russell Celyn | Writer | The Eros Hunter (1998) | Investigation into the murder of a child psychiatrist set against a toxic London landscape |
| Jones, Stead | Writer | Make Room for the Jester (1964) | Excellent novel from another forgotten Welsh writer. Like Catcher in the Rye only set in Porthmawr (ie Pwllheli). Definitely worth a reprint |
| Jones, Steve | Scientist/Writer | In the Blood: God, Genes and Destiny (1997) | Science can be fun - no really. Genetics guru Jones applies his theories to criminal behaviour and homosexuality |
| Jones, Terry | Writer/Director | Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979) | As well as directing this irreverent biblical parody Jones also managed to star as Brian's mum: "He's not the Messiah, he's a very naughty boy!" |
| Jones, Tom | Musical Artist | Live at Caesar's Palace (1971) | Before Tom got the post-modern make-over treatment with Reload and before his live performances became an ironic pantomime, he cut this prime slab of vinyl - medallion man at his peak |
| Kashfi, Anna | Actress | Brando for Breakfast (1979) | Cardiff girl on the make. Kashfi's vitriolic autobiography gives a rather one-sided account of her marriage to Marlon Brando, and their painful custody battles over son Christian |
| KelleMarie |
Model | Blonde and Brunette (2001) | Cardiff's very own Sapphic goddess stars in Andrew Blake's arthouse erotica |
| Kerrigan, Justin | Director | Human Traffic (1999) | Young people take drugs and go dancing - terrible business. E-generated hedonism in downtown Cardiff |
| King, Clive | Artist | Maddog | You don't often see 9ft high pencil drawings. King's intricate and downright weird images emerge straight from the subconscious |
| King, Gwyneth | Artist/Dancer | Dancer and Mother (1937) | King, from Barry, sketched some of the great dancers of the twentieth century including Mary Wigman; Escudero; La Argentina; Shan-Kar; Doris Humphrey; and Charles Weidman |
| Knight, Bernard | Writer | The Thread of Evidence (1965) (as Bernard Picton) | Holiday-makers find a human thigh bone in Cardiganshire. A murder investigation ensues. One of the first crime writers to emphasize the role of pathologists |
| Knight, Bernard | Tiger at Bay (1970) (as Bernard Picton) | Old Nick on the trail of local villain Tiger Ismail in an early Butetown procedural | |
| Knight, Bernard | Murder, Suicide or Accident: The Forensic Pathologist at Work (1971) (as Bernard Picton) | Popular forensic pathology. The man who would later assess the dug up victims of Fred West tells us how it's done | |
| Knight, Stephen | Writer | Crime Fiction 1800-2000: Detection, Death, Diversity (2004) | Exhaustive but readable survey of crime fiction from its early roots to the post-modern |
| Lan, Alun Tan | Music | Y Distawrwydd (2005) | Acoustic loveliness from Alun Evans. Perfect |
| Lang, Doug | Writer | Freaks (1973) | Sex and drugs and a spaced out Welsh poet are the essential ingredients in this authentic helping of hippy trash (published by NEL). Lang, himself, would later dabble in experimental poetry in the US. Far out man! |
| Langford, David | Writer | The Leaky Establishment (1984) | Nuclear warheads go missing with hilarious consequences. Whoops apocalypse shenanigans based upon the Welsh sci-fi guru's experiences as a weapons physicist at Aldermaston |
| Langford, Jon |
Music/Artist | Skull Orchard (1998) | First solo album from eternal Mekon Langford. The adopted Chicagoan finds inspiration back home in Newport and Wales for this record |
| Langner, Lawrence | Playwright and Theatre Director | The Magic Curtain (1951) | Langner, from Swansea, was a huge influence on Twentieth Century American theatre. He formed the Theatre Guild in NY in 1918 and promoted the works of Eugene O'Neill. This is his autobiography |
| Lawman, Peter | Artist | The Light | Best known as a book illustrator Lawman's enigmatic, medievalist and sometimes occult work is more appreciated on the Continent. Reclusive artist pursuing a unique vision |
| Lee, Lara | Porn Star | Hot Cinders (2006) | An assured performance in her debut hardcore film - an update of the Cinderella story. The Glamorgan model is destined to be a big star in the adult entertainment industry |
| Lewis, Alun | Writer | Ha! Ha! Among the Trumpets (1946) | Published posthumously with a foreword by Robert Graves. Contains classic WW2 poems like The Jungle and Song (on seeing dead bodies floating off the Cape) |
| Lewis, D. Miles | Writer | Chapel (1916) | Subtitled The Story of a Welsh Family this saga of the Chapel family is positively Nietzschean in its portrayal of the will to power. Like Dynasty... only set in Porth and Cardiff. Deserves a reprint |
| Lewis Dennis | Writer | The Fevered Hive (2005) | Gritty, alcohol-fuelled, but very funny collection of Cardiff-set short stories. Some of the best urban writing to come out of Wales |
| Lewis, Norman | Writer | The Honoured Society (1964) | Travel writer Lewis was uniquely positioned to provide this insight into Sicilian gangster culture - his first wife came from a mafia family |
| Lewis, Robert | Writer | The Last Llanelli Train (2005) | Welsh detective in Bristol slides deeper into alcohol-fuelled despair. Excellent debut novel that adroitly mixes noir and black comedy into a kind of extended pub crawl |
| Lewis, Roger | Writer | The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (1995) | Regarded as character assassination on its release this controversial biography has recently been turned into a film |
| Lewis, Roger | Charles Hawtrey 1914-1988: The Man who was Private Widdle (2001) | A slim biography on the eccentric Carry On star. Lewis comes from a family of South Walian butchers | |
| Lewis, Roger | Anthony Burgess: A Biography (2004) | Lewis caused a stir by incorporating Burgess's bombastic personality into the writing style of this biog | |
| Lewis, Ronald | Actor | The Secret Place (1957) | Lewis, a largely forgotten leading man of fifties cinema, plays a gang leader involved in a jewel heist. Teddy boys, spivs, and east-end villains run amok in post-war London |
| Lewis, Ronald | Stop me Before I Kill (1961) | Motor racer turns psychotic after crashing his car. Lewis is the driving ace suffering from a bad case of road-rage. The Welsh actor took his own life in 1982 | |
| Lewis, Ronald | Scream of Fear (1961) | Lewis does his square-jawed strong man bit opposite a wheelchair bound Susan Strasberg (daughter of method coach Lee). Hammer classic written by Jimmy Sangster | |
| Lewis, Saunders | Writer | The Condemned Cell (1975) | Playlet dealing with the last hours of a condemned murderer and the man who guards him. Wales' most technically accomplished playwright remains shamefully neglected |
| Lewis, Simon | Writer | Go (1998) | Morality tale in which three disparate characters avoid reality in favour of the seduction of escape. From dreamy Welsh villages to Hong Kong high rises, a global chase ensues |
| Living Legends | Music | Better Dead Than Wed (1985) | Swanesa punk/anarchist collective led by Class War founder Ian Bone. Once got kicked off a Crass tour for being too punk rock. This single topped the indy charts for 3 weeks |
| Llewellyn, Alun |
Writer | The Strange Invaders (1934) | Giant lizards arrive along with a new Ice-Age. Llewellyn's anti-totalitarian allegory was an inspiration to many sci-fi writers and even anticipates the work of George Orwell |
| Llewellyn, Alun | Writer | Jubilee John (1939) | Ancient Welsh-speaker on the loose in London. The action takes place during one frenzied night of jazz clubs, decadent parties and lowlife trouble. Amusing satire of pre-war London |
| Llewelyn, Desmond | Actor | Bond Films (1963-1999) | Welshman pretending to be an Englishman who's supposed to be a Welshman. There's a cultural essay in there somewhere. Q: pop icon |
| Lloyd, Ellis | Writer | Scarlet Nest (1919) | Flawed but fascinating romantic melodrama which pits personifications of nonconformity, Socialism, the squirearchy and Welsh folk culture against each other. Better than it sounds and worth a reprint |
| Llywelyn, Robin | Writer | From Empty Harbour to White Ocean (1994) | Excellent piece of fantastical fiction which incorporates Welsh myth and a very European sense of the absurd |
| Machen, Arthur | Writer | The Great God Pan (1894) | The tale that brought Machen fame and notoriety, featuring one of the earliest brain operations in literature. Mad scientist turns woman into monster. Smashing |
| Machen, Arthur | The Three Imposters (1895) | Three interlocking novellas including The Novel of the White Powder | |
| Machen, Arthur | The Hill of Dreams (1907) | Condemned by some as the outpourings of a diseased mind this is Machen's masterpiece. His 'Robinson Crusoe of the soul' is a brilliant examination of the doomed artist | |
| Maddocks, Rick | Writer | Sputnik Diner (2001) | A fine debut collection of inter-related stories by cool Welsh-Canadian writer Maddocks. Opens with the tale of an emigrant family from Wales |
| Manic Street Preachers | Band | The Holy Bible (1994) | Increasingly perceived as an extended suicide note set to music. The talismanic presence of Richie Edwards looms large on what amounts to an unholy relic. The myth lives on |
| Marks, Howard | Writer | Mr Nice (1997) | Amusing autobiographical account of Marks's life as an international drugs smuggler and Britain's 'most wanted' |
| McBean, Angus | Photographer | Angus McBean (1982) | A selection of photographs by Wales's greatest Surrealist. Some of his pieces are so kitsch they make Jeff Koons's work look like Social Realism. Hepburn, Leigh, Dietrich, Mae West, Olivier, Quentin Crisp and The Beatles are among his sitters |
| McBean, Angus | Vivien: A Love Affair in Camera (1989) | McBean's favourite muse Vivien Leigh immortilised over several decades. Leigh, like Burton and Taylor, always insisted McBean was behind the camera | |
| Mclusky | Band | My pain and sadness is more sad and painful than yours (2000) | Apart from having the greatest title of all time this record sets out Mclusky's agenda for the future. And the future is punk-rock |
| Mclusky | Mclusky do Dallas (2002) | Steve Albini produced mayhem. Includes Alan is a Cowboy Killer and The World Loves us and is our Bitch. I'll second that emotion | |
| Meilen, Bill | Writer/Actor | The Division (1967) | Excellent autobiographical tale of a Welsh boy in an ultra-tough approved school. Violent, trashy, cult-fiction worth a reprint |
| Meilen, Bill | Moving On (1968) | Another incarceration novel, this time a British army military corrective establishment. Taffy Thomas endures the sadism | |
| Meilen, Bill | The Bull Pen (US title: KKK) (1968) | Bit of a change of direction for Meilen as he sets this thriller in the world of the ku klux klan. He still manages to make the central character a bloke from Cardiff though. Good work! And check out that cover! | |
| Meilen, Bill | Delta Two (1970) | I reckon Frederick Forsythe must have read this before he wrote The Day of the Jackal | |
| Melville, Frederick | Playwright | The Ugliest Woman on Earth (1904) | Melville, from Swansea, was famous for his bad women playlets including this, Her Road to Ruin, The Bad Girl of the Family and many others |
| Melys | Band | Chinese Whispers (2001) | Betws-y-coed's finest topped John Peel's Festive Fifty for 2001 with this moody offering |
| Milland, Ray | Actor | The Lost Weekend (1945) | As a recognised romantic lead Milland took something of a gamble tackling such an unsavoury lowlife role. The risk paid off however when he picked up an Oscar for his portrayal of a dipsomaniac writer |
| Milland, Ray | Dial M for Murder (1954) | With his looks on the wane Milland began taking on seedier roles. Here he is perfect as a faded tennis pro plotting his wife's murder. Directed by Hitchcock with 3D affects | |
| Milland, Ray | Premature Burial (1962) | Nasty little horror film that taps into a fear of claustrophobia. Milland is the victim turned avenger | |
| Milland, Ray | The Man With X-Ray Eyes (1963) | An overreaching scientist tampers with nature and goes mental. Hardly an original theme but Milland as the mad scientist who gives himself X-ray eyes is top quality | |
| Minhinnick, Robert | Writer | Badlands (1996) | Terrific read that takes in Tirana, Porthcawl and other badlands. An eco book that manages to be funny and not at all preachy. Although reliving Paul Bodin's penalty miss is quite painful |
| Minhinnick, Robert | To Babel and Back (2005) | More fragmentary than Badlands, this Welsh Book of the Year winner mixes fictional passages with documentary and eco-travel pieces | |
| Morgan, Carlton B/ Jon Langford | Music | Great Pop Things: The Real History of Rock and Roll from Elvis to Oasis (1999) | Character assassination by comic strip. The world's major pop stars are mercilessly ridiculed by this iconoclastic Newport duo |
| Morgan, George | Architect | Ebenezer, Baptist Chapel, Port Talbot (1880) | Welsh Chapel architecture remains a mountain of critical neglect. Morgan's rather camp work is recognizable by its combination of the Gothic and the Romanesque |
| Morgan, Diana | Playwright | Time to Kill (1962) | The dramas of Wales's foremost female playwright are now all but forgotten. This murderous thriller was one of her last works. A Welsh writer in need of reevaluation |
| Morgan, Helen | Beauty Queen | Miss World (1974) | Resigned her Miss World title after just 4 days upon the discovery that she was an unmarried mother. The queen of Twentieth Century Welsh popular culture |
| Morgan, John | Writer | No Gangster More Bold (1985) | 'Murry Humphreys, the Welsh political genius who corrupted America.' Fine biography of Al Capone's right hand man and Wales' most famous criminal export |
| Morgan, Lorna | Model/Actress | www.lorna-morgan.com | Web mistress, lap-dancer, model, actress and all round renaissance woman. Lorna Morgan represents the new breed of Welsh femininity - smart, modern and in control of her own destiny |
| Morrigan Hel | Model/Actress | Dirty Girls 1 | Growing up in Lampeter can do strange things to a girl. Morrigan Hel is the Queen of Weird, High Priestess of Fetish. Great website too (see Links) |
| Morris, Cedric | Artist | Rosamund Lehmann (1932) | Best known as a painter of flowers Morris' distinctive portraits are often overlooked. Lehmann, a novelist, was part of the artist's rarified social circle |
| Morris, Cedric | The Sisters (1935) | This satirical portrait of two aristocratic sisters - also known as 'The English Upper Classes' - is one of his finest works | |
| Morris, Cedric | Lucien Freud (1940) | Painted before Freud himself went on to achieve international fame as an artist | |
| Morris, Jan | Writer | Conundrum (1974) | Painfully honest account of Morris's ten year transition from a male to a female. The best book on gender reassignment ever written |
| Morris, Jan | Destinations: Essays from Rolling Stone (1982) | Manhattan, Istanbul, Cairo, Delhi and many other exotic places are memorably evoked in this exemplary travel collection | |
| Morris, Jan | Last Letters from Hav (1985) | Booker-nominated sci-fi offering from the esteemed transsexual travel writer | |
| Morris, Kenneth | Writer | The Dragon Path: Collected Tales of Kenneth Morris (1996) | Theosophist and forgotten man of Welsh fiction. Recently championed by Fantasy guru Ursula le Guin as one of the twentieth century's top literary fantasists |
| Morris, Kenneth | The Chalchiuhite Dragon (1992) | A second-coming story using the pre-Columbian legend of Quatzacoatl. Lost fantasy classic | |
| Murry the Hump | Band | Songs of Ignorance (2001) | A band that managed to sound louche and naive at the same time. The album contains killer singles Green Green Grass and Thrown Like a Stone |
| Naish, John | Writer | The Clean Breast (1961) | Autobiographical novel of a Port Talbot man's journey from Wales to Australia via London |
| Nation, Terry | Writer | Survivors (1975) | 95% of Earth's population is wiped out when a test tube containing a killer virus is dropped. Life suddenly gets rather Darwinian for the survivors. Nation's most pessimistic view of humanity |
| Nation, Terry | Blake's 7 (1978) | An assorted group of outlaws in groovy space costumes come into weekly conflict with the fascistic Terran Federation. Nation's inspired space opera | |
| Nation, Terry | The Official Dr Who and the Daleks Book (1988) | "Ex-term-in-ate! Ex-term-in-ate!" Surely Wales's greatest contribution to post-war popular culture. Nation who invented the Dalek in 1963 finally cashed in with this book in the late eighties | |
| Nicol, C W | Writer | Moving Zen: Karate as a Way to Gentleness (1975) | Regarded as something of a classic in martial arts literature. In 1962 Nicol, from Neath, travelled to Japan to learn judo and karate from various masters. He's now a huge celebrity in Japan. |
| Novello, Ivor | Actor | The Lodger (1927) | Matinee idol Novello stars as a hauntingly beautiful stranger suspected of being a serial killer. Hitchcock's first cinematic success is also a critique of media hysteria |
| Novello, Ivor | Downhill (1928) | A study of moral dissolution written by and starring Novello. The Welsh Valentino just about gets away with playing a sixth former gone bad in his second collaboration with Hitchcock | |
| Oliver, Richard | Artist | Ed: Hmmm, This is the Life (1996) | His squat, pugnacious, characters are presented in a cartoon-like style. An insightful illustrator of contemporary Valleys life |
| The Oppressed | Band | The Best of The Oppressed (1996) | The Oppressed are a Cardiff skinhead band who formed during the early 80s. Fronted by skin icon Roddy Moreno, they have always been vocal in their hatred of fascism and racism |
| Owen, Alun | Writer | A Hard Day's Night (1964) | Owen earned an Academy Award Nomination for his surreal screenplay. An exercise in fantasy that still looks fresh today |
| Parker, John | Writer | The Alien Land (1961) | A book about Italian immigration to the Valleys. Angelo Fidelli's love for a Welsh girl inevitably causes friction |
| Parry, Gwenlyn | Writer | Saer Doliau (Doll Doctor) (1966) | Absurdist play set in a doll repairer's workshop with a bit of Pinteresque menace thrown in for good measure |
| Peers, Donald | Singer | Pathway (1951) | Huge pre-rock'n'roll pop idol. Billed as Britain's number 1 heart-throb his cheesy records sold in droves. This autobiography tells of his rise from obscurity in Ammanford to being the biggest name in Variety |
| Phillips, Adam | Psychotherapist / Writer | Houdini's Box (2002) | Fascinating book which examines ideas of escape and escapism using case studies and an analysis of Houdini |
| Phillips, John | Photographer | Free Spirit in a Troubled World: A Photoreporter for Life 1936-59 (1996) | Retrospective work by the Welsh-American Life magazine photographer, published just before his death |
| Phillips, Margaret | Actress | A Life of her Own (1950) | Welsh-speaker Phillips steals the show as Ray Milland's paraplegic wife. Lana Turner also starred |
| Phillips, Margaret | The Evil Within (1953) | Phillips upstaged James Dean and Rod Steiger in this updated tv version of the Jekyll and Hyde and story | |
| Phillips, Margaret | King Lear (1953) | The girl from Cwmgwrach excelled as Regan in this tv version of Shakespeare's drama. Orson Welles hammed it up in the title role | |
| Pip | Amateur porn | 'www.pipsworld.com' | Gwent housewife Pip is in the vanguard of the DIY internet porn revolution. Interesting use of the Welsh flag too |
| Powys, John Cowper | Writer | Morwyn: or the Vengeance of God (1937) | An 'anti-vivisection romance' set in hell, which just happens to be beneath the Berwyn mountains. The Marquis de Sade, Torquemada and the Emperor Nero are amongst his cast of characters |
| Powys, John Cowper | Porious: A Romance of the Dark Ages (1951) | Epic evocation of the Dark Ages. A prime example of the Powys 'multiverse', giant aboriginals and all | |
| Powys, John Cowper | The Inmates (1952) | Bizarre tale of the incarceration of a sexual fetishist in a mental home. A large helicopter also figures quite prominently | |
| Powys, John Cowper | Atlantis (1954) | Lying beneath its Homeric fairy story veneer is a thinly disguised attack on mechanistic science. A celebration of animism and an insect lovers' delight | |
| Price, Malcolm | Hard Man | Street Warrior (2003) | The life and times of the hardest (allegedly) man in Wales. From boxing prospect to pub brawler |
| Price, Mary Grant | Costume Designer | We're No Angels (1955) | Price dressed Humphrey Bogart and the rest of the cast. She also did a trio of Burt Lancaster films: Sweet Smell of Success, Separate Tables and The Devil's Disciple. Mary was married to Vincent Price |
| Prichard, Caradog | Writer | Un Nos Ola Leuad (One Moonlit Night) (1961) | Don't know what he was smoking when he wrote this. Sexual deviancy, murder, suicide and madness - what more could you want? |
| Pritchard, John | Writer | The Witching Hour (1997) | Pritchard seems to have the 'hospitals and horror' market sewn up |
| Pritchard, John | Dark Ages (1998) | 9th-century sect returns to haunt the land and protect it from invasion. Epic horror | |
| Pritchard, Matthew/ Dainton, Lee | Skateboarders | Pritchard Vs Dainton | 45 minute video epic of competitive lunacy snapped up by MTV. The Dirty Sanchez contract quickly followed |
| Pryce, Jonathan | Actor | Brazil (1985) | A morose Pryce is ideal as the put upon functionary in Terry Gilliam's Orwellian dystopia |
| Pryce, Malcolm | Writer | Aberystwyth Mon Amour (2001) | Perfectly observed genre crime writing is ironically applied to an exaggeratedly parochial Aberystwyth. Very amusing |
| Pryce, Malcolm | Last Tango in Aberystwyth (2003) | Aberystwyth is once again comically shoe-horned into a Raymond Chandler novel. More druid trouble for Louie Knight |
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richard oliver
alun owen clive king rhodri jones bill james robin llywelyn idwal
jones idwal jones alun lewis Stephen knight angus mcbean cw nicol
dill jones thomas job isabel ice mike jenkins angus mcbean angus
mcbean stead jones jon langford carlton b morgan dennis lewis
lara lee Bill Meilen robert minhinnick geraint jarman alun tan
lan brian jones