| NAME |
FIELD |
NOTABLE WORKS |
DESCRIPTION |
| Abse, Leo |
Writer |
Fellatio, Masochism, Politics and
Love (2000) |
Freudian exploration of the links
between political self-destruction and sex. The
best cultural analysis of the blow-job you are
ever likely to read |
| Allan, Laurence |
Playwright |
Dangerous Acquaintances (1997) |
Not one, not two, but three Marianne
Faithfulls feature in this gothic musical
dramatization of a fan's obsession |
| Anhrefn |
Music |
Defaid Skateboard A Wellies (1987) |
Seminal Welsh-language punk band who
refused to sing in English. The music's good too
as this debut LP demonstrates. John Peel was a
big fan |
| Auger, George |
Giant |
Jack the Giant
Killer (1908) |
After leaving Wales to work in a
circus in the US the 'Cardiff Giant' went on to
write this satirical playlet starring himself and
a cast of midgets which ran in New York for 18
months. A huge star (literally) in America he was
allegedly 8ft 3" tall |
| Azzopardi, Trezza |
Writer |
The Hiding Place
(2000) |
Booker-nominated
debut novel set in the criminal underworld of
Tiger Bay in the 1960s. Gothic account of
familial sadism |
| Baines, Elizabeth |
Writer |
The Birth Machine (1983) |
Feminist sci-fi satire on the
mythologies of birth. Re-released in 1996 as The
Birth Machine - The Author's Cut |
| Baker, Stanley |
Actor |
Violent
Playground (1958) |
Baker's sheer
physicality transcends the melodramatic script
and lends this film a gritty realistic edge. Love
and arson in the slums of Liverpool |
| Baker, Stanley |
|
Hell
is a City (1959) |
Baker's
harrassed police inspector is perfectly realised
in Val Guest's seedy semi-documentary crime film |
| Baker, Stanley |
|
The Criminal (1960) |
Outstanding performance as an
existential gangster in Joseph Losey's classic
portrayal of prison life |
| Bala, Iwan |
Artist |
Gwalia series (1999) |
Deconstructed Welsh myths are
reconstructed with a fresh polemical twist.
Powerful political art in a naif
style |
| Barry, Desmond |
Writer |
The Chivalry of Crime (2001) |
The James Gang and the glamour of
masculine violence seen through the eyes of a
Welsh-American adolescent |
| Barry, Desmond |
|
A Bloody Good Friday (2002) |
Barry returns to his roots in this
fictional account of a race riot in 1977.
Skinheads, Shop Boys and gypsies kick it all off
in Merthyr Tydfil |
| Bassey, Shirley |
Musical Artiste |
Goldfinger (1964) |
The 'Girl from Tiger Bay' becomes an
international diva and instant gay icon with 2
minutes and 47 seconds of pure vocal melodrama |
| Bassey, Shirley |
|
Thought I'd Ring You (Pense
Telefonearte) (1983) |
Cheesy duet with French heart-throb
actor Alain Delon |
| Bennett, Hywel |
Actor |
Twisted Nerve
(1968) |
Outrageous shocker sees Bennett
disguising himself as a retard to commit murder.
Attacked in its day for stigmatising mongoloids,
this tasteless cult flick remains difficult to
get hold of |
| Berry, Ron |
Writer |
So Long, Hector Bebb (1970) |
Berry uses the interior monologue to
full effect in his hard-hitting pugilistic
masterpiece. Fighting machine commits murder then
goes primitive on a Welsh mountain |
| Big Leaves |
Band |
Racing Birds/Getaway Days (1999) |
The last great pop record of the
Twentieth Century. Fin de
siecle brilliance |
| Blonde on Blonde |
Band |
Contrasts (1969) |
Terrible name but this Newport
psychedelic rock outfit's debut album was
critically acclaimed upon release. They made two
further albums before splitting |
| Bowen, David |
Pathologist |
Body of Evidence (2003) |
Grisly memoir of 40 years as a forensic
pathologist. Inside account of the Denis Nilsen
case; the death of Roberto Calvi; Keith
Blakelock; and the mysterious demise of Rudolf
Hess |
| Brito, Leonora |
Writer |
Dat's Love (1995) |
Brito's collection of short stories
successfully poeticizes the black female
experience in Cardiff. An insider rather than a noir
tourist |
| Brydon, Rob |
Comedian |
Marion and Geoff (2002-3) |
Keith Barrett - Brydon's heroic loser
- elicits pathos and mirth in equal measure in
this perfect example of the comedy of
embarrassment |
| Burke, Sean |
Writer |
Deadwater (2002) |
As the ultimate antithetical Welsh
landscape Butetown holds a special fascination
for local writers. Burke's well-written journey
into a drug-fuelled and murderous heart of
darkness is another welcome addition to the Tiger
Bay canon |
Burns, Jim
 |
Artist |
Transluminal (1999) |
Burns' futuristic paintings and book
covers have won numerous sci-fi awards. This
collection spans 15 years of top quality work |
Burton, Richard
|
Actor |
The Night of the Iguana (1964) |
Drunken apostate Burton fends off Ava
Gardner and Deborah Kerr in Huston's fine
adaptation of a Tennessee Williams play |
| Burton, Richard |
|
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
(1966) |
Burton and Taylor snipe, goad and
physically assault each other whilst performing a
psychological dance macabre
around the memory of their 'dead' child. The
Oscar that got away - Burton is mesmerizing |
| Burton, Richard |
|
Villain (1971) |
Burton brought a strong element of
Jacobean malevolence to his portrayal of
mother-fixated gangster Vic Dakin |
| Bush, Duncan |
Writer |
Glass Shot (1991) |
Bush's criminally overlooked novel is
a dark depiction of male sexual obsession. A
jilted Cardiff cowboy takes up stalking
full-time. Flip-side to Nick Hornby |
| Cale, John |
Musical Artist |
Vintage Violence (1970) |
More velvet than underground, Cale's
post VU comeback record surprised many with its
pop sensibility. Cale recorded it in three days |
| Cale, John |
|
Fear (1974) |
The most
melodic and haunting of all Cale's albums |
| Cale, John |
|
What's Welsh
for Zen? (1999) |
Generously
illustrated autobiography outlines Cale's journey
from Garnant to the New York avant
garde, as well as life
after Lou Reed |
| Cardini |
Magician |
Multiplying cigarettes trick |
Became a huge star abroad. His
'drunk' sleight-of-hand routines freed magic from
the complex staging of the Houdini era |
| Castaldi, Julian |
Artist/ Photographer |
Polaroid People (2003) |
An exhibition of Castaldi's polaroid
snaps of everyone from John Malkovich to various
porn stars. A breath of fresh air in Welsh
photography |
| Chamberlain, Brenda |
Artist/Writer |
The Fisherman's Return (1949) |
A work that exemplifies Chamberlain's
twin artistic obsessions: the sea and isolation.
Hangs in the National Museum of Wales, Cardiff |
| Charles, John |
Footballer |
King of Soccer (1957) |
Autobiographical portrait of
Britain's first modern footballer and most
successful soccer export. Golden Balls eat your
heart out |
| Charles, John |
|
The Gentle Giant (1962) |
A second autobiography in five years
demonstrated il gigante
buono's superstar status |
| Childs, Euros |
Singer |
Chops (2006) |
Wonderfully eclectic debut from Euros
Childs - more ideas per song than most chart
fodder can muster in a career |
| Clews, Roy |
Writer |
To Dream of Freedom (1980) |
Romantic freedom fighters or
crypto-fascists? You decide. Fascinating insight
into MAC and the Free Wales Army |
| Clive, E E |
Actor |
The Invisible
Man (1933) |
One of
Hollywood's favourite character actors Clive put
in a typically eccentric performance as Jaffers
in this cult flick |
| Clive, E E |
|
The Bride of
Frankenstein (1935) |
The former
stage thespian from Monmouth provided another
show-stealing turn in James Whale's vintage
horror |
| Club Artistic des
Coiffeures |
Hairdressers |
The Cariad (1968) / The Croeso (1969) |
In the late Sixties a visionary group
of salon owners got together and decided to
invent Welsh hairstyles! |
| Cocks, Bev |
Porn Actress |
Licensed to Thrill (2002) |
Wrexham's answer to Linda Lovelace.
Already an established star on the British
hardcore scene, Ms Cocks has recently exported
her talents to the US |
| Conway, David |
Writer |
Magic: An Occult Primer (1972) |
A bestseller in its day, this
well-researched book took some of the obfuscation
out of ritual magic and helped popularise it.
Foreword by Colin Wilson |
| Conway, David |
|
Secret Wisdom: The Occult Universe
Revealed (1984) |
Conway (a pseudonym), a grocer's son
from a village just outside Aberystwyth has been
a hugely influential writer on magic and the
occult |
| Cooper, Tommy |
Comedian |
Cooperama (1966) |
'So I was getting into my car, and
this bloke says to me "Can you give me a
lift?" I said: "Sure, you look great,
the world's your oyster, go for it!"' Class |
| Counsell, Melanie |
Artist |
Coronet Cinema (1993) |
Counsell has often utilized derelict
spaces for her artworks. At the disused Coronet
Cinema on London's Mile End Road she showed a 30
min film of a glass of liquid evaporating.
Site-specific art at its most elegaic |
| Crud, Neil |
Anarchist |
Crud Fanzine (1980s) |
Influential North Walian fanzine
which dispensed advice on committing arson and
shoplifting. Incurred the wrath of the Daily
Express over a
cannabis-growing Rupert the Bear cartoon |
| Cummins, Peggy |
Actress |
Gun
Crazy (aka Deadly is the Female) (1950) |
Bored misfit
couple become bankrobbers for kicks. Cummins is
superb as a thrill-seeking femme
fatale with a fascination
for sex and violence. Shockingly amoral it was
the Natural Born Killers
of its day |
| Dahl, Roald |
Writer |
Switch Bitch (1974) |
Cosmopolitan collection of adult
stories each with a characteristically malevolent
sting in the tail |
| Daniel, Jennifer |
Actress |
Kiss of the Vampire (1963) |
Hammer babe Daniel is splendid as the
sexually frustrated newlywed kidnapped by a
vampire cult |
| Daniel, Jennifer |
|
The Reptile
(1968) |
Daniel does her innocence in the
presence of evil act to perfection in this
influential horror |
| Datblygu |
Music |
Pyst (1990) |
Welsh-language musical guerillas from
Brecon. Their general 'fuck you' attitude
continues to prove inspirational to new
Welsh-language bands |
| Davies, Andrew |
Writer |
Dirty Faxes (1990) |
Witty collection of short stories,
sophisticated in technique but without ever
becoming pretentious |
| Davies, Arthur
Bowen |
Artist |
Maya, Mirror of Illusions (1910) |
Welsh-American artist famed for his
dreamy landscapes, his unconventional sex-life
and for organising the Armory Show |
| Davies, Barrie J |
Artist |
Painting to Wipe Your Ass With (2004) |
Barrie J Davies is an artist. His
visual puns and use of the comedic make him one
of the more compelling figures on the
contemporary art scene in Wales |
| Davies, Betty
Evelyn |
Writer |
The Welsh Widow (1948) (as Pauline
Warwick) |
The trials and tribulations of a
Welsh-speaking widow. Intelligent romance with
plenty of Anglo-Welsh cultural friction. Worth a
reprint. |
| Davies, Grahame |
Writer |
Everything Must Change (2007) |
At what point does political
self-sacrifice become self-defeating? Davies
weaves the life of a Welsh nationalist into that
of Simone Weil's. Political novel with a strong
masochistic streak |
| Davies, Howell |
Writer |
Minimum Man or Time to be Gone (as
Andrew Marvell) (1938) |
Sci-fi thriller set in a near-future
Britain depicting a fascist coup and its
overthrow by a new race of tiny telepaths whose
parthenogenetic births were caused by poison gas!
The Howell Davies revival starts here |
| Davies, Howell |
|
Three Men Make a World (as
Andrew Marvell) (1939) |
A disaster story. Britain is turned
back into an agrarian society by petroleum
destroying bacteria! |
| Davies, Howell |
|
Congratulate The Devil (as Andrew
Marvell) (1939) |
A happiness drug is found to be
intolerable to society. Davies describes the
process by which its disseminators are hounded to
death. Howell Davies died in 1985. Reprints
please |
| Davies, Hugh Sykes |
Writer |
Petron (1935) |
Probably the most significant British
text produced during the heyday of Surrealism. A
gory reaction against his strict Methodist
upbringing |
| Davies, Hugh Sykes |
|
The Papers of Andrew Melmoth (1960) |
Weird sci-fi tale concerning rat
intelligence. Scientist heads for the sewers to
be with his furry friends |
| Davies, Idris |
Poet |
Gwalia Deserta (1938) |
Miner turned poet whose The
Bells of Rhymney has been
interpreted by The Byrds and... erm... Cher |
| Davies, Ivor |
Artist |
Destruction in Art Symposium (1966) |
First person to use explosives in
Art. Yoko Ono was a fellow member of the group |
| Davies, Merryl Wyn |
Anthropologist |
Why do People Hate America? (2003) |
Co-written with Ziauddin Sardar,
Davies examines America's often fraught
relationship with the rest of the world |
| Davies, Merryl Wyn |
|
American Dream, Global Nightmare
(2004) |
Sequel to the above. Davies
deconstructs the cultural myths which underpin
America's current foreign policy |
| Davies, Paul |
Playwright |
Vagina Dentata (1995) |
Outrageous work performed by Davies'
own innovative Volcano theatre group, based in
Swansea |
| Davies, Paul |
|
Talk Sex Show (2002) |
Anarchic satire on sex therapists and
new-age gurus in general. Watch out for that
giant penis |
| Davies, Rhys |
Writer |
The Dark Daughters (1947) |
A great gothic novel, full of
malignant family hatreds. Also contains an
excellent cocaine snorting scene |
| Davies, Rhys |
|
Print of a
Hare's Foot (1969) |
Ever the
outsider, Davies the homosexual Rhondda-boy
provides an entertaining account of his life as a
European emigre writer and pal of DH Lawrence.
Reads like an extended after-dinner anecdote |
| Davies, Rhys |
|
Honeysuckle Girl (1975) |
Life of a middle-class heroin addict.
Heavily influenced by his friendship with cult
novelist Anna Kavan |
| Davies, Russell T |
Writer |
Second Coming (2003) |
Queer as Folk
writer Davies scripted the best TV drama in years
with this creepy messianic tale |
| Davies, Stevie |
Writer |
Kith and Kin (2004) |
Hallucinogenics? Hippy communes? In
Abertawe? Yup, Davies sets this novel in Swinging
Swansea in the Sixties. A 'flower-power on the
Gower' rites of passage focussing on a pair of
warring female cousins |
| Davies, W H |
Writer |
Autobiography
of a Supertramp (1908) |
Proto-Beat
novel, not so much 'on the road' as 'on the piss
and jumping trains'. From Newport to North
America with the amputation of his foot en route |
| Dee, Sophie |
Porn Actress |
Black Cock Addiction (2006) |
Sophie Dee is a rising star in
American porn where she specializes in
interracial films |
| Demented Are
Go |
Band |
In Sickness
and in Health (1986) |
Overlooked in
the recent revisionist history of Welsh pop
music. Demented's unique brand of high-camp
psychobilly more than stands the test of time |
| Demented Are Go |
|
Orgasmic Nightmare (1991) |
Sick titles and toe-tapping tunes are
once more the order of the day. Who
put Grandma Under the Stairs
is the stand out track |
| Dickson, Paul |
Film Director |
The Depraved (1956) |
Menage a trois
murder story done in an American film noir style.
Dickson went on to direct cult TV shows like Jason
King, Department
S, and The
Champions |
| Dickson, Paul |
|
Satellite in the Sky (1956) |
Feisty female reporter stows herself
away on a space rocket that happens to be
carrying a bomb! |
| Dirty Sanchez |
DIY Stuntmen |
Dirty Sanchez (2003) |
The Dirty Sanchez crew bring a
skate-park ethos to their masochistic
daredevilry. Wales' contribution to 'Jackass'
culture |
| Donovan, James |
Artist |
Cariad (1998) |
Donovan eschews social realism in
favour of a refreshingly whimsical vision of
Valleys life |
| Dronfield, Jeremy |
Writer |
The Locust Farm (1998) |
Described by one critic as Psycho
meets Wuthering Heights.
Mysterious stranger turns up on doorstep of
lonely locust breeder. Is he a homicidal maniac? |
| Edwards, Dic |
Playwright |
Utah Blue (1995) |
Edwards' witty philosophical plays
have seldom won the credit they deserve. This
dramatization of the twisted psyche of killer
Gary Gilmore is a cracking piece of gallows
theatre |
Edwards, Dorothy
|
Writer |
Rhapsody (1927) |
Chekhovian collection of short
stories with a musical theme. Edwards would later
commit suicide by throwing herself under a train |
| Edwards, Dorothy |
|
Winter Sonata (1928) |
Modernist novel emphasising situation
and atmosphere rather than plot. Reprinted in
1986 by Virago |
| Elwyn, John |
Artist |
Aftermath (1945) |
Ink, gouache and chalk. Anti-war work
influenced by film of the Belsen death camp |
| Evans, B Ifor |
Writer |
In Search of Stephen Vane (1946) |
Mock-biography in which the narrator
travels the world piecing together the life of
egotistical author Stephen Vane. Post-war angst |
| Evans, Caradoc |
Writer |
My People (1915) |
The Old Testament meets Royston
Vasey. Evans' savage satire of Welsh
Nonconformity is one of the weirdest, nastiest,
most original books you'll ever read |
| Evans, Cerith Wyn |
Artist |
Inverse, Reverse, Perverse (1996) |
Included in the controversial
Sensation exhibition, Evans's distorting mirror
creates disturbing self-portraits. Visually
interactive and a wry comment on narcissism |
Evans, Christopher
|
Writer |
The Insider (1981) |
The alien within. An alien takes over
a man's body turning him into a social outcast.
Excellent novel and very collectible too |
| Evans,
Christopher |
|
Aztec Century
(1993) |
BSFA award
winner for best novel of 1993. An alternative
history that sees the Aztec empire extending into
Europe (and Wales) |
| Evans, David Delta |
Writer |
Daniel Evelyn, Heretic (1913) (as
Cadvan Rhys) |
An attack on the narrowness and
hypocrisy of the Church by this expert on magic,
freemasonry and folklore |
| Evans, David Delta |
|
The Rosicrucian (1920s) (as Cadvan
Rhys) |
An occult tale that takes place
during World War One. Influenced by Machen |
| Evans, Gerald |
Writer |
The Black Sphere (1952) (as Victor
LaSalle) |
Sci-fi adventure. Evans was a pioneer
of cryogenics, even appearing on the Frost Show
advocating the philosophy of: Freeze,
Wait, Re-animate |
| Evans, Gwyn |
Writer |
Satan Ltd (1935) |
Author of numerous trashy novels in
the 1930s. Others include: The
Homicide Club; The
Man With The Scarlet Skull;
and Castle Sinister |
| Evans, Jason |
Photographer |
Strictly (1991) |
Evans' fashion photos of young black
men dressed as toffs in suburbia challenge
traditional ideas of class |
| Evans, John |
Writer |
Giants (2000) |
Confirms all your nightmare visions
of council estate life in the Valleys. How
Green was my Valley it
ain't |
| Evans, Kenneth |
Writer |
Oasis of Fear (1968) |
Newport's forgotten thriller writer.
Also published No Cause for
Dying (1969) and Shadows
of Violence (1971) |
| Evans, Marc |
Director |
Resurrection Man (1997) |
Ultra-violent and luridly shot
portrayal of the Shankill Butchers. Hard-hitting
film that didn't get the critical credit it
deserved |
| Evans, Marc |
|
My Little Eye (2002) |
Evans playfully incorporates our
current obsession with reality tv into the horror
genre |
| Evans, Merlyn |
Artist |
The Chess Players (1940) |
Evans did his best work in the
Thirties and during the war. This Surrealist oil
on canvas symbolizes the Nazi-Soviet pact signed
by Hitler and Stalin |
| Evans, Merlyn |
|
The Mark of the Beast (1940) |
Evans invokes Revelations to
illustrate the rise of Hitler. A painting of
energetic violence now hanging in the Tate |
| Evans,
Nicholas |
Artist |
Disaster at
Colliery (1979) |
Evans'
apocalyptic paintings are reminiscent of Meidner.
Pulsing with psychological and religious
intensity, his art conveys the dehumanizing
effects of heavy industry |
| Evans, Nicholas |
|
Symphonies in Black (1987) |
Evans' daughter Rhoda outlines her
father's dark and disturbing work. The Welsh Van
Gogh explained |
| Evans, Powys |
Caricaturist |
Eighty-Eight Cartoons (1926) |
The great and the good of Twenties
society are caricatured in this sleek collection.
George Bernard Shaw, WH Davies, Jacob Epstein and
many others get the pen and ink treatment |
| Evans, Richard J |
Historian |
In Defence of History (1996) |
The death of history has been greatly
exaggerated. Evans sticks the boot into amoral
Po-Mo theorizing |
| Evans, Richard J |
|
Telling Lies About Hitler (2002) |
Evans points the finger of
holocaust-denial at David Irving. The Welsh
historian was an expert witness at the Irving
versus Penguin Books libel trial |
| Evans, Richard John |
Writer |
Entertainment (2000) |
Into the Valleys! Young disaffected
working-class intellectual and his crippled pal
reject dull employment and patronising pity for
drink, drugs and sex. Hurrah! |
| Evans, Stuart |
Writer |
The Caves of Alienation (1977) |
Mock-biography of fictional Welsh
writer Michael Caradock. Intellectual book about
truth and identity. One of the most ambitious
Welsh novels of the twentieth century |
| Evans-Pritchard,
Ambrose |
Writer |
The Secret Life of Bill Clinton: the
unreported stories (1997) |
Tenacious political muck-raking from
Evans-Pritchard, a perennial thorn in the side of
the Clinton administration. Mysterious deaths,
Waco and the Oklahoma bombing all come under his
microscope |
| Finch, Peter |
Poet |
Second Aeon (1966-75) |
International in outlook,
experimental, with gratuitous nudity - everything
a poetry mag should be! Poems by Paz, Bukowski,
Neruda, Tzara, Burroughs and many more.
Magnificent! |
| Finch, Peter |
|
Selected Poems (1987) |
Visually as well as phonically
interesting. Experimental and surreal collection |
| Finch, Peter |
|
Real Cardiff Two (2004) |
Finch continues his psychogeographic
odyssey through the capital. Like its
predecessor, Real Cardiff
One, this is an essential
guide to the psyche of a city |
| Finnemore, Peter |
Artist |
Gwendraeth House (2000) |
Amusing and inventive collection of
photos relating to the artist's Welsh identity |
| Flyscreen |
Band |
Girls Can't Make Gun Noises (1999) |
Proof if proof were needed that punk
never really died in Newport. A 'best of', from
the Gwent outfit |
| Ford, Trevor |
Footballer |
I Lead the Attack (1957) |
Controversial autobiography in which
Ford revealed illegal payments made to players.
Forced to miss the 1958 World Cup Finals,
"Terrible" Trevor was exiled to PSV
Eindhoven |
| Frayne, Leighton |
Criminal |
The Frayne Brothers (2003) |
An insider's view of prison,
organised crime and being one half of the
"Welsh Krays" |
| Freeman, Kathleen |
Writer |
Death and the Pleasant Voices (1946)
(as Mary Fitt) |
Classics scholar Freeman published
over twenty detective novels after the war. This
is one of the best |
| George, Llewellyn |
Astrologist |
A to Z Horoscope Maker and Delineator
(1910) |
What star sign are you? Swansea-born
Godfather of popular astrology helped pioneer the
art in America with this seminal work |
| George, Peter |
Writer |
Two
Hours to Doom (aka Red Alert) (1958)
(as Peter Bryant) |
The grimly
apocalyptic pulp novel upon which Dr
Strangelove is based.
George went on to co-write the film script with
Stanley Kubrick and Terry Southern |
| George, Peter |
|
Commander 1
(1965) |
Sequel to Two
Hours to Doom in which a
nuclear submarine is trapped under ice. George
shot himself whilst writing the third and
unpublished part of the trilogy |
| Gnome Photographic |
Photographic Equipment |
Gnome Pixie-Flex |
After fleeing Nazi Germany Heinrich
Loebstein relocated to Cardiff where he launched
a Welsh camera - the Gnome Pixie-Flex |
| Goble, Anthony |
Artist |
The Suicide |
One of his darker pictures. Have fun
trying to work out the symbolism of a hanging
man, a fish and some fruit |
| Goldie Lookin'
Chain |
Music |
The Party Album (2003) |
Scorching EP from kleptomaniac
Newport rappers. Lyrical snapshots of life in the
Gwent ghetto including, of course, references to
monkey-love. Can't fault it |
| Goldie Lookin'
Chain |
|
The Manifesto (2003) |
Clartastic album. Your
Mother's Got a Penis is a
personal favourite. Cult-status guaranteed and
you knows it bra' |
| Gorky's
Zygotic Mynci |
Band |
Introducing
Gorky's Zygotic Mynci (1996) |
That Euros
Childs is the best writer of melodies on the
planet is beyond doubt. This compilation is less
folky than their later work. Frighteningly
precocious |
| Gorky's Zygotic
Mynci |
|
Barafundle (1997) |
The record that best encapsulates the
magical essence of GZM: a nostalgia for childhood
innocence; a tendency toward the pastoral;
schizoid shifts in tempo; and textually
interesting bi-lingualism |
| Gorky's Zygotic
Mynci |
|
How I Long to Feel that Summer in my
Heart (2001) |
GZM let the melodies do the talking
and create their finest album. One day normal
people will realise what a great record this is.
A classic |
| Gower, Jon |
Writer |
Big Fish (2000) |
Lyrical and highly amusing set of
short stories from that bloke off the telly |
| Gray, Raphael |
Hacker |
'e-crackers.com' |
Website created by Gray to display
hacked credit card details. As the 'Angel of
E-Commerce' who sent a shipment of Viagra to Bill
Gates, the boy from Clynderwen has become an
internet folk hero |
| Greenwood, Gary |
Writer |
The Dreaming Pool (1998) |
Jack returns to Caerphilly for the
funeral of his murdered father (whose had his
head ripped off). Guilt and familial discomfort
underscore the horror of the dreaming pool |
Greenwood, Gary
|
|
What Rough Beast (2003) |
The Son of God is risen in Newport,
only he doesn't realise it. The malevolent
Wandering Jew and the immortal Prodigals contest
his fate. The perfect Xmas present |
| Griffith, Hugh |
Actor |
Ben Hur (1959) |
One of the most famous cameos in
cinematic history. Oscar-winning performance as a
(curiously Welsh) Arab sheik |
| Griffith, Kenneth |
Actor |
The Shop at Sly Corner (1947) |
Griffith was always excellent at
playing sly twitchy perverts. Here he is in fine
form as a seedy blackmailer |
| Griffith, Kenneth |
|
I'm All Right Jack (1959) |
One of 6 films in which Griffith
appeared with Peter Sellers |
| Griffiths, Niall |
Writer |
Grits (2000) |
Heroin and geology - it's a potent
combination. Don't overlook the mythic qualities
of this book nor the rhapsodic descriptions of
landscape |
| Griffiths, Niall |
|
Sheepshagger (2001) |
Feral mountain boy revenges himself
upon 'civilized' English interlopers. At last, in
Ianto, literary Wales has its first true cult
anti-hero |
Griffiths, Niall
|
|
Stump (2003) |
Liverpool gangsters on the trail of a
one-armed man hiding out in a Welsh seaside town.
Griffiths's funniest novel |
| Griffiths,
Philip Jones |
Photographer |
Vietnam Inc.
(1971) |
The American
military machine is tellingly contrasted with
Vietnamese folk culture. Griffiths' haunting
photographs indirectly helped to hasten the end
of the Vietnam war |
| Gwyn, Richard |
Writer |
The Colour of a Dog Running Away
(2005) |
Welsh translator gets caught up in
all sorts of weirdness in Barcelona's gothic
quarter. Part adventure story, part city study,
part clever po-mo book. Whichever way you choose
to read it, Gwyn's (Dickie White anyone?) debut
novel is hugely enjoyable |
| Halborg, Kirstyn |
Porn Actress |
Amsterdam-Paris Sex Connection (1996) |
Veteran of the British porn scene
both in front of the camera and as an agent.
Kirstyn employs her Welsh accent to good effect
in this hardcore European jaunt |
| Hamnett, Nina |
Artist |
Laughing Torso (1932) |
Best-selling autobiographical account
of Hamnett's bohemian lifestyle. Aleister Crowley
unsuccesfully sued for libel over allegations of
black magic made in this book |
| Harding, Kat |
Writer |
The Lesbian Kama Sutra (2004) |
The ultimate guide to uninhibited
sexual pleasure for the twenty first century
lesbian |
| Harding, Lyn |
Actor |
The Triumph of Sherlock Holmes (1935) |
Harding who specialized in villain
parts is widely regarded as the best ever
Moriarty. He reprised the role in 1937 in The
Silver Blaze |
| Harris, George W |
Photographer |
Harris and Ewing Photographic Agency
(1905-45) |
Co-founded the hugely influential
Harris and Ewing photographic agency in
Washington DC. As photographer to Presidents, his
studio took official portraits of everyone from
Teddy Roosevelt to Eisenhower. Harris was
originally from Bargoed |
| Harris, Melvin |
Writer |
The Ripper File (1989) |
Jack the Ripper expert Harris has
published numerous titles concerning the infamous
serial killer |
Helen Love
|
Band |
Love and
Glitter, Hot Days and Music (1999) |
Sparkling
offering from Welsh pop post-modernists Helen
Love, a group whose very existence is a homage to
the Ramones. A duet with Joey Ramone on Punk
Boy is the CD's highlight |
| Hopkins,
Anthony |
Actor |
Audrey Rose
(1977) |
Eerie
performance from Hopkins as a man obsessed with a
twelve year old girl, whom he believes to be the
reincarnation of his dead daughter |
| Hopkins,
Anthony |
|
The Elephant
Man (1980) |
Tone's most
accomplished performance to date. John Hurt won
all the plaudits for his make-up laden portrayal
of John Merrick but Hopkins shone as the
sympathetic medic |
| Hopkins,
Anthony |
|
Silence of the
Lambs (1991) |
Hopkins moved
up to superstar status after this bravura turn as
sociopath Hannibel Lecter. Not his best work but
a big hit with punters and Oscar judges alike |
| Hopkins, Bill |
Writer |
The Divine and the Decay (1958) |
Caused a furore upon release with
accusations of fascism leading to copies being
pulped. One of the original 'Angries', Hopkins's
rather dubious novel was recently reissued as The
Leap with an introduction
by Colin Wilson |
| House, Gordon |
Artist |
Welsh (portfolio). Ten Coloured
Etchings from Copper (1984) |
Renowned Sixties artist, worked on
The Beatles White Album.
Also collaborated with Ian Dury. In this
selection he gets back to his Welsh roots. The
results are as striking as ever |
| Hughes, Cledwyn |
Writer |
The King who Lived on Jelly (1961) |
Children's book but also a superb
collection of fantasy tales. Characters include a
king who can only eat jelly; a seller of
sunshine; a controller of rainbows; and a mouse
that can't say the letter 's' without sneezing |
| Hughes, Gareth |
Actor |
And the Children Pay (1918) |
Acting against type Hughes is cast as
a villain in what appears to be an anti-VD
melodrama. Hughes was Wales's first Hollywood
film star |
| Hughes, Gareth |
|
Eyes of Youth (1919) |
This silent film also starred Rudolf
Valentino. Hughes would later give up acting to
become a missionary working with native American
indians |
| Hughes, John Alwyn |
Artist |
Horsemen series (2003) |
Images of the Four Horsemen of the
Apocalypse are pointedly combined with symbols of
Western capitalism |
| Hughes, John L |
Writer |
Tom Jones Slept Here (1971) |
Early Welsh noir.
Hughes adopts a lyrical truncated style to
describe life in a stagnant Pontypridd. A
somewhat neglected book |
| Hughes, John L |
|
Before the Crying Ends (1977) |
More louche sex and recusant
behaviour in Hughes's sequel to Tom
Jones Slept Here |
| Hughes, Rhys |
Writer |
Rawhead and
Bloody Bones & Elusive Plato (1998) |
Wales's best
kept literary secret. Dead comedians, incest,
suicide, auto-erotic asphyxiation. We may soon
have to start using the term 'Hughesian' |
| Hughes, Rhys |
|
The Smell of Telescopes (1999) |
26 surreal stories. Imagine
Hieronymus Bosch squinting through a kaleidoscope
and you have some idea of Hughes' world view |
| Hughes, Rhys |
|
Stories from a Lost Anthology (2002) |
Advice on how to kidnap Dylan Thomas
decades after his death and that kind of thing.
Michael Moorcock is a big fan - need I say more? |
Hughes, Rhys
|
|
The Percolated Stars (2003) |
Imagine, if you will, a kind of
sexually perverted Chitty
Chitty Bang Bang. And if
you're a clown... maybe you should read something
else |
| Hughes, Rhys |
|
A New Universal History of Infamy
(2004) |
Never one to shirk a challenge Hughes
only goes and reinterprets Borges's Historia
Universal de la Infamia
(1935)!! |
| Hughes, Tristan |
Writer |
The Tower (2003) |
Excellent lyrical novella that uses
an old windmill as a central motif from which to
explore time, place and identity |
| Hughes, Tristan
|
|
Send My Cold Bones Home (2006) |
An Ynys Môn recluse meets a rootless
drifter. Essentially a gothic novel that plays
around with ideas of stasis and movement |
| Humphreys, Emyr |
Writer |
The Little Kingdom (1946) |
Humphreys rejects a
Nietzschean style of Nationalism for a more
humane version |
| Humphreys, Gerry |
Film Sound Recordist |
Repulsion (1965) |
Veteran sound recordist whose credits
also include The Italian Job
and Bladerunner
amongst many others |
| Humphries, John |
Architect |
Tabernacl, Congregational, Morriston
(1872) |
Salem, Zion, Bethel - one of the
chapel builders who helped turn Wales into a
weird architectural reference to Palestine. This
work is often referred to as the Non-Conformist
Cathedral of Wales |
| Hurn, David |
Photographer |
Striptease girls (1965) |
Hurn's social documentary photos for
Magnum during the 1960s, featuring strippers and
Soho prostitutes, remain among his best works |
| Hurn, David |
|
Barbarella publicity shots (1967) |
Iconic snaps of Jane Fonda for the
cult Sixties film. Hurn also did the classic From
Russia With Love James Bond
publicity pics |