0:00:22 > 0:00:24'Are you British?
0:00:26 > 0:00:28'Are you Welsh?
0:00:30 > 0:00:32'Are you a bit of both?
0:00:34 > 0:00:38'Since WWII, the pace of life here has been hotting up.
0:00:40 > 0:00:43'And our sense of belonging has been shifting.'
0:00:43 > 0:00:47The modern story of Wales is all about these two flags.
0:00:47 > 0:00:51The Red Dragon and the Union Jack, fighting for prominence.
0:00:51 > 0:00:53But the positions are changing.
0:00:53 > 0:00:56And that makes the final chapter of our story much more exciting.
0:01:32 > 0:01:35'In this series, we've traced the story
0:01:35 > 0:01:38'of life in Wales across 30,000 years.
0:01:42 > 0:01:48'We've followed humanity's journey from cave dweller to modern citizen.
0:01:52 > 0:01:55'Since the dawn of history, people have been fascinated
0:01:55 > 0:01:57'by the passage of time itself.
0:02:02 > 0:02:03'But in the last 70 years,
0:02:03 > 0:02:07'Wales has changed more rapidly than ever before.
0:02:10 > 0:02:12'In this final part of our series,
0:02:12 > 0:02:15'we'll see Wales fight for a British victory.
0:02:15 > 0:02:17'A Welshman battles
0:02:17 > 0:02:21'to set up Britain's most cherished institution.
0:02:21 > 0:02:25'The British Parliament votes to drown a Welsh valley,
0:02:25 > 0:02:29'sparking a debate about democracy and language.
0:02:31 > 0:02:36'A new generation of sporting heroes sets the flags waving.
0:02:37 > 0:02:41'And television itself becomes part of the story of Wales.
0:02:44 > 0:02:46'As our nationalised industries decline,
0:02:46 > 0:02:48'our sense of nationhood changes.
0:02:50 > 0:02:53'We become a society of commuters and consumers,
0:02:53 > 0:02:56'much like the rest of Britain.
0:02:57 > 0:03:00'But our sense of identity and of our own history
0:03:00 > 0:03:02'revives and strengthens.
0:03:05 > 0:03:07'Wales and Britain...
0:03:07 > 0:03:09'nation and state...
0:03:09 > 0:03:14'we'll hear that it's not quite as simple as a race.
0:03:14 > 0:03:18'This story of Wales has all the tension and drama of a dance.
0:03:25 > 0:03:26'The Second World War.
0:03:28 > 0:03:32'Wales suffers and fights shoulder to shoulder with the rest of Britain
0:03:32 > 0:03:35'under the leadership of Winston Churchill
0:03:35 > 0:03:38'and, of course, under the Union Flag.'
0:03:38 > 0:03:40SIREN WAILS
0:03:40 > 0:03:43'And the war comes to Wales.
0:03:43 > 0:03:47'German bombs set Pembroke Dock ablaze for three weeks.
0:03:48 > 0:03:52'And there are devastating raids on our major towns and cities.'
0:03:56 > 0:04:00For three terrifying nights in February of 1941,
0:04:00 > 0:04:04the port of Swansea is hammered by German bombers.
0:04:04 > 0:04:08The firestorm can be seen in the sky for miles around.
0:04:08 > 0:04:11It's clear that when the fighting is over,
0:04:11 > 0:04:13this town will have to be rebuilt.
0:04:13 > 0:04:15Lives will have to be rebuilt.
0:04:15 > 0:04:18There are thousands of Welsh people in the armed forces.
0:04:18 > 0:04:22Their lives will never be the same again.
0:04:29 > 0:04:31'In every Welsh town, you'll find a memorial,
0:04:31 > 0:04:36'like this one in Tredegar, to those who make the ultimate sacrifice.
0:04:39 > 0:04:42'The whole of Britain united against fascism.
0:04:42 > 0:04:44'It seems obvious now, but it isn't something
0:04:44 > 0:04:48'the authorities in 1939 take for granted.
0:04:48 > 0:04:51'They take deliberate steps to bolster patriotism,
0:04:51 > 0:04:56'as an expert in the period, Doctor Sian Nicholas, reminds me.'
0:04:56 > 0:04:59Sian, I'm interested in this concept of Britishness.
0:04:59 > 0:05:02The idea of Britishness is obviously fundamental
0:05:02 > 0:05:05to the idea of getting everybody together for the war effort.
0:05:05 > 0:05:07The idea of it being a people's war.
0:05:07 > 0:05:10So, on the radio, for instance, accents become very important.
0:05:10 > 0:05:13You want a Welsh accent, you want a Scottish accent,
0:05:13 > 0:05:18you want a rural accent to balance an urban accent.
0:05:18 > 0:05:20In the BBC, in the Ministry of Information even,
0:05:20 > 0:05:22do not use English where you mean British.
0:05:22 > 0:05:26You see the memos. Do not use English where you mean British.
0:05:26 > 0:05:29It upsets people in other constituent nations of Great Britain.
0:05:29 > 0:05:31I don't think they get it perfect.
0:05:31 > 0:05:34A famous example is JB Priestley in his Dunkirk postscript,
0:05:34 > 0:05:39where he's talking about what an English epic it is and says,
0:05:39 > 0:05:41"When I say English, I really mean British."
0:05:41 > 0:05:43But that's a problem through the whole war.
0:05:43 > 0:05:47A lot of people in England, when they say English, they really meant British.
0:05:47 > 0:05:49- They still do today. - They still do today.
0:05:49 > 0:05:51It's something relatively new.
0:05:51 > 0:05:55The idea that you do recognise every part of the country
0:05:55 > 0:05:57within the idea of being British.
0:05:57 > 0:06:01- TELEVISION: "This is the BBC..." - 'The BBC, the British Broadcasting Corporation,
0:06:01 > 0:06:04'stopped its regional services during the war.'
0:06:04 > 0:06:06"Here is the news. Two Germans..."
0:06:06 > 0:06:09'But its single, unified, UK-wide station
0:06:09 > 0:06:12'is careful to reach out to Wales.
0:06:12 > 0:06:15'And not just in English-language programmes.'
0:06:15 > 0:06:18What actually you find is from February 1940,
0:06:18 > 0:06:21at 5:00pm every night on the Home Service, you have the news in Welsh.
0:06:21 > 0:06:25- And that goes right through the war. - For everyone?- For everybody.
0:06:25 > 0:06:28Welsh, which would have been compartmentalised on the Welsh region,
0:06:28 > 0:06:33becomes a national language for the duration of the war.
0:06:33 > 0:06:37I wonder what they made of that in, I don't know, Scunthorpe or Hull,
0:06:37 > 0:06:40- or even Essex, or somewhere like that.- I can't imagine.
0:06:40 > 0:06:43And on Tuesdays, after the news in Welsh,
0:06:43 > 0:06:46you had 20 minutes of Awr y Plant - Children's Hour.
0:06:52 > 0:06:55'When victory comes, Wales, like the rest of Britain,
0:06:55 > 0:06:57'rejoices and waves the flag.
0:06:57 > 0:07:01'And there's no doubt about which flag it is.
0:07:04 > 0:07:09'Our returning troops are determined to make a new world, a new society.
0:07:09 > 0:07:11'And no wonder.'
0:07:11 > 0:07:15In 1945, people who live in places like Tredegar
0:07:15 > 0:07:18have to put up with some rather basic conditions.
0:07:18 > 0:07:21They don't have any inside toilet, no central heating,
0:07:21 > 0:07:23certainly no televisions or telephones.
0:07:23 > 0:07:26What's needed is a new Wales.
0:07:26 > 0:07:30But any strategic decision to build that new Wales
0:07:30 > 0:07:34will have to be taken at a British level.
0:07:34 > 0:07:38Wales is fully plugged in to British institutions.
0:07:38 > 0:07:41We don't have many institutions of our own in any case,
0:07:41 > 0:07:44apart from the University or the Eisteddfod.
0:07:44 > 0:07:49We don't even have an officially-recognised capital city.
0:07:50 > 0:07:53'Wales is looking for British answers.
0:07:53 > 0:07:58'And it's to Westminster that Welsh eyes turn in the 1945 election.
0:07:58 > 0:08:02'Despite winning the war, Winston Churchill is thrown out of office.'
0:08:02 > 0:08:04CHANTING
0:08:07 > 0:08:10'The voters want Clement Attlee,
0:08:10 > 0:08:12'and the decisive reason is the Labour Party's promise
0:08:12 > 0:08:14'to create the Welfare State,
0:08:14 > 0:08:19'which the Beveridge report of 1942 had proposed.'
0:08:23 > 0:08:26Labour wins because it talks about better housing.
0:08:26 > 0:08:28Of support for the unemployed.
0:08:28 > 0:08:31Of heavy industry owned by the people
0:08:31 > 0:08:34and not driven by the kind of private profit
0:08:34 > 0:08:38that built this impressive building, Bedwellty House.
0:08:38 > 0:08:42In a way, it's a victory for old Welsh working-class traditions.
0:08:42 > 0:08:46The solidarity of the pit, the co-op and the choir.
0:08:46 > 0:08:49All of it linked to a big agenda for change.
0:08:49 > 0:08:53We have to be resolute about it and clear about it
0:08:53 > 0:08:57and say we can only safeguard employment for British workers
0:08:57 > 0:08:59by socialist planning in Great Britain
0:08:59 > 0:09:02and socialist planning in other parts of the world.
0:09:02 > 0:09:04APPLAUSE
0:09:04 > 0:09:07'Labour's leaders want change that embraces all of Britain.
0:09:07 > 0:09:10'One of them is Aneurin Bevan.
0:09:10 > 0:09:14'He was born into a mining family in Tredegar in 1897.
0:09:14 > 0:09:18'He left school at the age of 13, he worked down the pit.
0:09:18 > 0:09:19'At 21, he was running a club
0:09:19 > 0:09:22'that provided medical care for the local community
0:09:22 > 0:09:26'based on contributions made by the miners themselves.'
0:09:30 > 0:09:33This isn't an orthodox government.
0:09:33 > 0:09:37And I'm not an orthodox Minister of Health.
0:09:37 > 0:09:38'Unorthodox, he certainly is.
0:09:38 > 0:09:42'As Minister for Health in the 1945 Labour cabinet,
0:09:42 > 0:09:46'he's getting the chance to put into action on a much grander scale
0:09:46 > 0:09:50'what he'd been doing in Tredegar during the 1920s.
0:09:51 > 0:09:55'Bevan is going to Tredegar-ise the rest of Britain.'
0:10:07 > 0:10:08'On July 5th, the new
0:10:08 > 0:10:11'National Health Service starts...'
0:10:11 > 0:10:13'Bevan is a firebrand.
0:10:13 > 0:10:15'Though for some, his tongue is a little too sharp.'
0:10:15 > 0:10:20If you, if you're as quick on the job as you are on the questions, you're pretty quick.
0:10:20 > 0:10:21LAUGHTER
0:10:21 > 0:10:24'Maybe it's because he's a Welshman.
0:10:25 > 0:10:27'But he's much more than a rabble-rouser.
0:10:27 > 0:10:31'You don't force through the most far-reaching change in healthcare
0:10:31 > 0:10:35'in the teeth of fierce opposition from senior doctors
0:10:35 > 0:10:38'unless you're on top of your brief
0:10:38 > 0:10:42'and you're a specialist at the negotiating table.'
0:10:44 > 0:10:47How could anyone deny Aneurin Bevan
0:10:47 > 0:10:51his place among the political greats of the 20th Century?
0:10:51 > 0:10:56For the scale of his ambition and his monumental determination.
0:10:56 > 0:10:59The scheme he devises, the National Health Service,
0:10:59 > 0:11:03enriches the life of just about every family in the country.
0:11:03 > 0:11:06It is still cherished and fought over today.
0:11:06 > 0:11:10It's a great example of an idea pioneered here in Wales
0:11:10 > 0:11:13which benefits the rest of Britain.
0:11:17 > 0:11:20'Like many other parts of Britain, work in Wales
0:11:20 > 0:11:24'is still dominated by the old heavy industries.
0:11:24 > 0:11:28'Attlee's government nationalises the mines
0:11:28 > 0:11:31'and the post-war boom gives fresh impetus to coal and steel.
0:11:43 > 0:11:47'In the late '40s, the Steel Company of Wales begins to drain lakes
0:11:47 > 0:11:50'and marshland near the beach in Aberavon.
0:11:51 > 0:11:54'They shift the sand dunes
0:11:54 > 0:11:58'and raise the level of the whole site by three metres.
0:12:00 > 0:12:04'And all to build the most modern steelworks in the world.
0:12:07 > 0:12:11'Down the road, the Baglan Bay petrochemical complex
0:12:11 > 0:12:14'and the Llandarcy oil refinery.
0:12:15 > 0:12:19'This is about to become a modern, industrial boomtown.'
0:12:27 > 0:12:30It doesn't look like Treasure Island, does it?
0:12:30 > 0:12:32Certainly not in this weather.
0:12:32 > 0:12:34But that's what they call this place.
0:12:34 > 0:12:38This is the massive Sandfields estate in Port Talbot.
0:12:38 > 0:12:41Built to house thousands of workers and their families.
0:12:41 > 0:12:46Because Port Talbot, after the war, is all about heavy industry.
0:12:46 > 0:12:48Good money to be earned.
0:12:48 > 0:12:52And the housing conditions are far better than in the valleys,
0:12:52 > 0:12:54where most of these people come from.
0:12:54 > 0:12:59So, yes, in many ways, it is Treasure Island.
0:13:01 > 0:13:05'There is a flipside to how rapidly our world is changing these days.
0:13:07 > 0:13:12'It's how different even the most recent past must have been.
0:13:12 > 0:13:17'Today's world moves at a pace our grandparents would find dizzying.
0:13:19 > 0:13:23'And they're excited by tastes that seem...
0:13:23 > 0:13:26'well, rather vanilla to us.'
0:13:27 > 0:13:31This is a very Welsh experience, isn't it? For me, at any rate.
0:13:31 > 0:13:34Coming to the seaside without the sunshine.
0:13:34 > 0:13:37The annual Sunday school trip comes to mind.
0:13:37 > 0:13:40I think it's fair to say that people in Wales in the 1950s
0:13:40 > 0:13:46and early '60s have a rather limited notion of leisure.
0:13:46 > 0:13:48But as living standards start to rise,
0:13:48 > 0:13:50so do people's expectations.
0:13:50 > 0:13:53And they start to look beyond the horizon
0:13:53 > 0:13:55for more exciting possibilities.
0:14:00 > 0:14:04'All the conveniences that American housewives are enjoying
0:14:04 > 0:14:06'are becoming available to Welsh women.'
0:14:06 > 0:14:10TELEVISION: "A woman who proudly owns a new Hoover..."
0:14:10 > 0:14:14'We're even making labour-saving white goods here in Wales,
0:14:14 > 0:14:17'as Hoover's factory at Merthyr Tydfil keeps on growing.
0:14:17 > 0:14:20'Welsh women have never had it so good.
0:14:22 > 0:14:25'But the vacuum cleaner is not the only noise
0:14:25 > 0:14:28'to reach Wales from across the Atlantic.'
0:14:28 > 0:14:30ROCK AND ROLL MUSIC
0:14:30 > 0:14:34'It's easy to forget how shocking the first blast of rock and roll is
0:14:34 > 0:14:37'for Welsh ears more at tune to hymns and arias.
0:14:37 > 0:14:40'But actually, industrialised Wales
0:14:40 > 0:14:45'has been fully part of the modern world for three generations by now.
0:14:46 > 0:14:51'By 1955, our newly-designated official capital city
0:14:51 > 0:14:53'is full of dancehalls and cinemas
0:14:53 > 0:14:57'and clubs with all kinds of modern sins, if that's what they are.
0:14:57 > 0:15:00'They can easily cope with pop music
0:15:00 > 0:15:02'and enjoy it and adapt it
0:15:02 > 0:15:07'and produce its own stars in the new modern idiom.
0:15:08 > 0:15:10'Shirley Bassey emerges from a community
0:15:10 > 0:15:12'which has always been ready to rock -
0:15:12 > 0:15:15'Butetown, or Tiger Bay.'
0:15:17 > 0:15:20# It was St David's Day
0:15:20 > 0:15:24# When we docked in Tiger Bay
0:15:24 > 0:15:28# Tiger Bay... #
0:15:28 > 0:15:32Butetown was a profoundly intercultural,
0:15:32 > 0:15:35multicultural community with a huge amount of talent.
0:15:37 > 0:15:40I knew a black woman in Butetown who spoke good Norwegian.
0:15:40 > 0:15:44She was not Norwegian, she was a cosmopolitan.
0:15:45 > 0:15:46I'll tell you a story.
0:15:46 > 0:15:50Um...Sheikh Zayed, who I knew rather well,
0:15:50 > 0:15:53who recently died, who was a local imam,
0:15:53 > 0:15:57um, I was talking to him once about a photograph that I'd seen
0:15:57 > 0:16:01of a Muslim procession that went on annually on Muhammad's birthday.
0:16:01 > 0:16:04CHANTING
0:16:04 > 0:16:05And so I asked him,
0:16:05 > 0:16:09was this a traditional celebration that came from the Yemen?
0:16:09 > 0:16:11And he sort of laughed, and he said, "No".
0:16:11 > 0:16:15"We saw the Catholics at Corpus Christi had a nice little procession
0:16:15 > 0:16:17"and we thought it was a pretty good idea
0:16:17 > 0:16:19"and so we decided to have our own."
0:16:21 > 0:16:23'Butetown's special racial mix
0:16:23 > 0:16:27'comes from its history as the world's busiest coal port,
0:16:27 > 0:16:29'attracting sailors from all around the world.'
0:16:29 > 0:16:34Crucial to this story is that almost all the immigrants were male.
0:16:34 > 0:16:39Males who then married or had relationships with local women.
0:16:39 > 0:16:43Many of whom might have been from the South Wales valleys or Cardiff.
0:16:43 > 0:16:47And so you get a community of males who are from different countries,
0:16:47 > 0:16:48but of women who are local.
0:16:50 > 0:16:53'Butetown poses questions about Welshness
0:16:53 > 0:16:55'in a post-war nation
0:16:55 > 0:16:58'which is still overwhelmingly white.'
0:16:58 > 0:17:02I think that being black and Welsh
0:17:02 > 0:17:06is less problematic in some ways than being black and English.
0:17:06 > 0:17:10Welsh identity includes a kind of notion of being anti-colonial.
0:17:10 > 0:17:12Of being an oppressed people.
0:17:12 > 0:17:16So when people say, "We were slaves," they say, "And we were coalminers."
0:17:16 > 0:17:20You know? Then, "Kids went down the mines and it was awful," and so on.
0:17:20 > 0:17:24And, er...you know, even occasionally, the joke that
0:17:24 > 0:17:28everybody's black under the ground and so on because of the coal dust.
0:17:29 > 0:17:33So there is a sense in Wales, quite a deep one,
0:17:33 > 0:17:35that we are an oppressed people
0:17:35 > 0:17:38who have some kind of identity with other oppressed people.
0:17:39 > 0:17:43That's different than, say, economic integration.
0:17:43 > 0:17:48So if you asked a question about employment, job opportunities and so on, it's different.
0:17:48 > 0:17:52And I think that very often, because people feel fairly comfortable,
0:17:52 > 0:17:54that it's very rare that someone insults you in the street.
0:17:54 > 0:17:58That people are mostly nice to you. So you can live in that place.
0:17:58 > 0:18:01It doesn't necessarily mean it's a land of opportunity.
0:18:04 > 0:18:06'Butetown is about to be redeveloped.
0:18:08 > 0:18:11'The housing stock here and elsewhere
0:18:11 > 0:18:14'desperately needs modernising.
0:18:16 > 0:18:18'All over the country.
0:18:18 > 0:18:21'In Wrexham, Caernarfon, the valleys,
0:18:21 > 0:18:24'new council houses are going up...
0:18:24 > 0:18:27'and up...and up.'
0:18:28 > 0:18:31CHORAL SINGING
0:18:37 > 0:18:41'Change is coming, even to Wales' most settled communities.'
0:18:44 > 0:18:46In the heart of rural Wales in the 1950s,
0:18:46 > 0:18:50the traditional Welsh way of life is still strong.
0:18:50 > 0:18:53The people of these communities have grown up together.
0:18:53 > 0:18:56They know each other. They tend to be Welsh speaking.
0:18:56 > 0:18:59They tend to be loyal members of church and chapel.
0:18:59 > 0:19:03And they're bound together by those values of community
0:19:03 > 0:19:06and Christianity and Welsh-speaking culture.
0:19:06 > 0:19:09And suddenly, all of that seems to be under threat.
0:19:14 > 0:19:18'Television is an alien intruder.'
0:19:18 > 0:19:21'TV can be awkward.
0:19:21 > 0:19:22'It's the mountains, see.
0:19:22 > 0:19:25'But extra transmitters are coming along.'
0:19:27 > 0:19:30'In homes where Welsh has always held sway,
0:19:30 > 0:19:34'the English language is now advertising all the delights of modernity.'
0:19:36 > 0:19:40Life here isn't all Bible black. It's very pleasant.
0:19:40 > 0:19:42Lots of nice village pubs around.
0:19:42 > 0:19:44Someone's got to be drinking in them.
0:19:44 > 0:19:47But the fact is, in rural Wales in the 1950s,
0:19:47 > 0:19:51if you enter licensed premises, it does say something about you.
0:19:51 > 0:19:55And it is the kind of thing your neighbours are going to notice.
0:19:55 > 0:19:57Though there is one day of the week
0:19:57 > 0:19:59when they don't need to be on the lookout.
0:20:10 > 0:20:14That day is Sunday, when the doors of the chapels
0:20:14 > 0:20:18and churches are open and the pubs are firmly shut.
0:20:18 > 0:20:23'But now that tradition is put to a referendum.
0:20:23 > 0:20:28'Eastern Wales votes for Sunday service of the alcoholic kind.
0:20:28 > 0:20:30'Dividing the country in two.'
0:20:33 > 0:20:38That dividing line passes right here, across the Loughor Bridge.
0:20:38 > 0:20:41I'm not talking about the new bridge, I'm talking about the old bridge.
0:20:41 > 0:20:44You can see the approach to it here today.
0:20:44 > 0:20:47This is the dividing line
0:20:47 > 0:20:50between Glamorgan and Carmarthenshire.
0:20:50 > 0:20:53Still a very important dividing line today, believe me,
0:20:53 > 0:20:56between Swansea and Llanelli.
0:20:56 > 0:20:58In 1961, after the vote,
0:20:58 > 0:21:01this was the prime dividing line
0:21:01 > 0:21:04between two different versions of Wales.
0:21:04 > 0:21:07This side, Glamorganshire, wet.
0:21:07 > 0:21:11That side, Carmarthenshire, very dry.
0:21:16 > 0:21:20'The symbolic importance of Sunday closing may be hard to appreciate
0:21:20 > 0:21:25'now that we've all experienced 21st-Century licensing laws.
0:21:25 > 0:21:30'But it shows how many people feel their traditional way of life
0:21:30 > 0:21:34'has to be defended as we move into the swinging '60s.
0:21:35 > 0:21:38'If you want a more graphic sense of the threat,
0:21:38 > 0:21:41'come to this peaceful reservoir near Bala.'
0:21:43 > 0:21:48'In 1961, despite massive popular opposition,
0:21:48 > 0:21:51'this dam wall is under construction.
0:21:52 > 0:21:55'And there's nothing anyone in Wales can do to stop it.
0:22:02 > 0:22:06'The bill to dam the Tryweryn River to provide water for Liverpool
0:22:06 > 0:22:08'has been up before Parliament.
0:22:08 > 0:22:11'It means drowning the village of Capel Celyn.
0:22:15 > 0:22:20'When the vote is called, one of the 36 Welsh MPs abstains,
0:22:20 > 0:22:23'the other 35 all vote against it.
0:22:26 > 0:22:29'The bill is passed, just the same.'
0:22:29 > 0:22:32You know, it's one thing to contemplate
0:22:32 > 0:22:36the vast expanse of Llyn Celyn from the shore,
0:22:36 > 0:22:39but to take on the scale of events here,
0:22:39 > 0:22:42you need to come onto the lake itself.
0:22:42 > 0:22:46And to be immersed in the silence in the early morning like this,
0:22:46 > 0:22:51I have to say, is a profound experience.
0:22:52 > 0:22:55It's a silence that speaks of loss.
0:22:55 > 0:22:59The loss of a precious Welsh-speaking community
0:22:59 > 0:23:01in the heart of Wales.
0:23:01 > 0:23:05And yes, we can argue about the political waves
0:23:05 > 0:23:07that Tryweryn produces,
0:23:07 > 0:23:10but there is an irony here too.
0:23:10 > 0:23:12Because the village of Capel Celyn,
0:23:12 > 0:23:16which lies submerged deep beneath these waters,
0:23:16 > 0:23:19plays a bigger part in our national life
0:23:19 > 0:23:22than it ever would've done
0:23:22 > 0:23:25had it been left in peace.
0:23:48 > 0:23:50Is it any surprise that this becomes
0:23:50 > 0:23:54the most famous piece of graffiti in the Story of Wales?
0:23:54 > 0:23:56Cofiwch Dryweryn.
0:23:56 > 0:23:58Remember Tryweryn.
0:23:58 > 0:24:01Well, Tryweryn is remembered.
0:24:01 > 0:24:06Because it kick-starts the two big engines of change in Welsh life
0:24:06 > 0:24:09for the rest of the 20th Century.
0:24:09 > 0:24:12I'm talking about devolution and the language movement.
0:24:12 > 0:24:17RADIO: Bydd terfyn ar y Gymraeg tua dechrau...
0:24:17 > 0:24:19'In a radio lecture in 1962,
0:24:19 > 0:24:22'the writer and prominent nationalist Saunders Lewis
0:24:22 > 0:24:25'predicts that the Welsh language
0:24:25 > 0:24:27'will be dead by the end of the century.'
0:24:27 > 0:24:31RADIO: Trwy ddulliau chwyldro yn unig y mae llwyddo.
0:24:31 > 0:24:34'Revolutionary means are needed to save it.
0:24:36 > 0:24:41'The lecture sparks the formation of the Welsh Language Society.
0:24:41 > 0:24:45'Its protests capture the spirit of the time,
0:24:45 > 0:24:47'but divide English and Welsh speakers.
0:24:49 > 0:24:52'To address the democratic deficit,
0:24:52 > 0:24:55'the Council for Wales and Monmouthshire.
0:24:55 > 0:24:58'An advisory body with no elected mandate,
0:24:58 > 0:25:00'but the only national forum Wales has,
0:25:00 > 0:25:03'recommends the creation of a Welsh Office.
0:25:05 > 0:25:09'When Labour wins the 1964 general election,
0:25:09 > 0:25:12'the former collier and veteran MP for Llanelli, Jim Griffiths,
0:25:12 > 0:25:16'becomes the first Secretary of State for Wales.
0:25:18 > 0:25:20'But for nationalists,
0:25:20 > 0:25:24'a Welsh Office reporting to the British government is not enough.
0:25:24 > 0:25:26'They want more.
0:25:26 > 0:25:29'And they seem to have a following wind.
0:25:34 > 0:25:37'The historian John Davies
0:25:37 > 0:25:42'was an eyewitness to the election of Plaid Cymru's first MP.'
0:25:42 > 0:25:46- John, you were here.- I was here, and it was a very remarkable night.
0:25:46 > 0:25:48I mean, for anybody who had been
0:25:48 > 0:25:51associated with politics in Wales,
0:25:51 > 0:25:55it was, I felt, a turning point. There were people crying.
0:25:55 > 0:25:57There were people yelling with delight.
0:25:57 > 0:26:02Gwynfor Richard Evans, 16,179.
0:26:02 > 0:26:03APPLAUSE
0:26:03 > 0:26:07And then they came out to the windows there to announce.
0:26:07 > 0:26:10There were rumours coming through, but nobody quite believed it.
0:26:10 > 0:26:15And when they heard that it was true and that it was quite a decent majority, in fact,
0:26:15 > 0:26:18people were absolutely dazed.
0:26:18 > 0:26:20And people couldn't believe it.
0:26:20 > 0:26:23I mean, the idea that Plaid Cymru could win a seat.
0:26:23 > 0:26:26It was generally lagging around 5%-10%,
0:26:26 > 0:26:28even in the most promising seats.
0:26:28 > 0:26:33That it could jump to 38%, which is a huge jump in electoral terms,
0:26:33 > 0:26:35seemed, to many people, impossible.
0:26:35 > 0:26:38This election has made history.
0:26:38 > 0:26:42So many people have declared, through their vote,
0:26:42 > 0:26:44that Wales is a nation
0:26:44 > 0:26:48and that they intend securing for this nation a full national future.
0:26:48 > 0:26:53'The result also highlights a debate within the nationalist movement
0:26:53 > 0:26:56'between supporters of civil disobedience
0:26:56 > 0:27:00'and those like Gwynfor Evans, who back more conventional politics.'
0:27:00 > 0:27:06He had been a very strong advocate of constitutional action.
0:27:06 > 0:27:10People said, "The constitutional path isn't taking us anywhere."
0:27:10 > 0:27:13And that was the kind of tension you had in the early '60s.
0:27:13 > 0:27:17When he won here in Carmarthen in 1966,
0:27:17 > 0:27:20it put paid to that sort of protest, to a very great extent.
0:27:20 > 0:27:22It stilled the whole thing.
0:27:22 > 0:27:25The Cymdeithas carried on with its own protests,
0:27:25 > 0:27:27but on the broader political front,
0:27:27 > 0:27:30the notion that action through elections,
0:27:30 > 0:27:34through constitutional means, was the only path forward
0:27:34 > 0:27:38was one of the most important results of the election here in Carmarthen.
0:27:40 > 0:27:44'So the Carmarthen by-election is a victory for those nationalists
0:27:44 > 0:27:48'who believe that home rule can be secured through the ballot box.
0:27:48 > 0:27:52'From now on, nationalism isn't just about protest,
0:27:52 > 0:27:55'civil disobedience and revolution.'
0:27:55 > 0:27:57The political landscape is changing.
0:27:57 > 0:28:01And for a while, it looks as if the nationalist pitch of Plaid Cymru
0:28:01 > 0:28:05will bring seats here, in the South Wales valleys.
0:28:05 > 0:28:07Not just in Welsh-speaking Wales.
0:28:07 > 0:28:11But it doesn't happen. That momentum stalls.
0:28:11 > 0:28:15And it's difficult to avoid the conclusion that here in Ebbw Vale, for example,
0:28:15 > 0:28:21what motivates people isn't nationalism, it is nationalisation.
0:28:21 > 0:28:26Their big local industry is being taken into public ownership.
0:28:26 > 0:28:29There's a sense of confidence, a sense of pride.
0:28:29 > 0:28:33That industry is steel. British Steel.
0:28:34 > 0:28:37'The British Steel Corporation
0:28:37 > 0:28:42'brings together the UK's 14 main steel-producing companies.
0:28:43 > 0:28:45'After years of underinvestment,
0:28:45 > 0:28:48'steelworkers can see a bright new future.
0:28:50 > 0:28:53'And they're helping to forge that future themselves
0:28:53 > 0:28:56'through the powerful works council.
0:29:01 > 0:29:04'But if South Wales reckons it's got a grip
0:29:04 > 0:29:06'on a thriving future in steel and coal,
0:29:06 > 0:29:08'one terrible Friday morning
0:29:08 > 0:29:11'reminds the valleys and the whole world
0:29:11 > 0:29:14'of the price that heavy industry can exact.'
0:29:15 > 0:29:19Pantglas Junior School Memorial Garden.
0:29:19 > 0:29:21Dedicated to 116 children
0:29:21 > 0:29:23and 28 adults
0:29:23 > 0:29:25who lost their lives,
0:29:25 > 0:29:29October 21st, 1966.
0:29:34 > 0:29:38'A massive heap of spoil from Merthyr Vale colliery
0:29:38 > 0:29:40'collapses onto the village of Aberfan.
0:29:48 > 0:29:53'20 houses and the Pantglas junior school are buried.
0:30:20 > 0:30:24'Despite the enormity of the disaster that day,
0:30:24 > 0:30:28'the chair of the National Coal Board, Lord Robens,
0:30:28 > 0:30:30'goes ahead with his plans to be installed as
0:30:30 > 0:30:33'Chancellor of the University of Surrey.
0:30:33 > 0:30:37'He doesn't arrive in Aberfan until the following evening.
0:30:37 > 0:30:40'At first, Robens claims the disaster was caused
0:30:40 > 0:30:44'by natural unknown springs beneath the tip.
0:30:44 > 0:30:48'The existence of these springs was common knowledge.'
0:30:48 > 0:30:51Did you give an explanation of your interview
0:30:51 > 0:30:53when you said that no-one could have known
0:30:53 > 0:30:57the centre of the mountain was turning into slush because of a stream?
0:30:57 > 0:31:01Well, I answered all the questions that were put to me
0:31:01 > 0:31:04and I hope that the answers did convey such explanations
0:31:04 > 0:31:07as were required by the tribunal.
0:31:07 > 0:31:11'In the final stage of the disaster tribunal,
0:31:11 > 0:31:14'Robens concedes that the NCB is at fault.
0:31:14 > 0:31:16'An admission which would have made
0:31:16 > 0:31:19'much of the 76-day enquiry unnecessary
0:31:19 > 0:31:21'had it been made at the outset.
0:31:23 > 0:31:26'But Robens doggedly refuses to fund the removal
0:31:26 > 0:31:29'of the remaining tips from Aberfan.
0:31:29 > 0:31:33'The work is eventually paid for by raiding the disaster relief fund
0:31:33 > 0:31:37'that had been raised by a public appeal for the bereaved families.
0:31:41 > 0:31:43'The tragedy of Aberfan
0:31:43 > 0:31:46'is the tragedy of Wales' most terrible accident.
0:31:46 > 0:31:47'But it is also a story
0:31:47 > 0:31:50'of the distance between ordinary people in Wales
0:31:50 > 0:31:53'and the bosses of a nationalised industry
0:31:53 > 0:31:56'organised on a British basis.
0:32:15 > 0:32:18'Wales and Britain. So intimately linked,
0:32:18 > 0:32:22'but sometimes pulling in different directions.'
0:32:24 > 0:32:26By the end of the decade,
0:32:26 > 0:32:29those underlying tensions
0:32:29 > 0:32:33come to a head right here at Caernarfon Castle.
0:32:33 > 0:32:37The occasion is the investiture of the Prince of Wales.
0:32:37 > 0:32:41It is one of the biggest royal pageants of the 20th Century.
0:32:41 > 0:32:45Despite a vigorous campaign by some nationalists
0:32:45 > 0:32:49and a failed bomb plot, the event goes ahead,
0:32:49 > 0:32:54watched worldwide by a television audience of many millions of people.
0:32:54 > 0:32:57But what is the dominant Welsh attitude to this event?
0:32:57 > 0:33:00An opinion poll published on the day itself
0:33:00 > 0:33:03suggests that three quarters of Welsh people
0:33:03 > 0:33:08are delighted with the choice of Charles as Prince of Wales.
0:33:08 > 0:33:11But how do we square that with poll after poll
0:33:11 > 0:33:16that suggests Welsh people want self-government as well?
0:33:16 > 0:33:18FANFARE
0:33:19 > 0:33:22I, Charles, Prince of Wales,
0:33:22 > 0:33:26do become your liege man of life and limb.
0:33:26 > 0:33:29FANFARE
0:33:29 > 0:33:31It is indeed my firm intention
0:33:31 > 0:33:35to associate myself in word and deed
0:33:35 > 0:33:40with as much of the life of the Principality as possible.
0:33:40 > 0:33:42And what a Principality!
0:33:43 > 0:33:46'After all, he is joining a winning team.'
0:33:46 > 0:33:49COMMENTATOR: A lovely run by Gravell.
0:33:49 > 0:33:52A chance for Fenwick. JJ Williams is bound to score.
0:33:52 > 0:33:54What a try!
0:33:54 > 0:33:56'Wales and rugby.
0:33:56 > 0:34:01'Broadly speaking, in the 1970s, football is just as popular.
0:34:01 > 0:34:02'Female fans are in the minority
0:34:02 > 0:34:06'and North Wales hasn't even caught the bug yet,
0:34:06 > 0:34:10'and yet, it's rugby and Wales that seem to go together.'
0:34:10 > 0:34:14# Ei gwrol ryfelwyr gwladgarwyr tra mad... #
0:34:14 > 0:34:18'To find out why, I've come to a British Legion club
0:34:18 > 0:34:22'to meet an historian of modern Wales, Doctor Martin Johnes.'
0:34:22 > 0:34:26Martin, let's talk about emblems of Welshness.
0:34:26 > 0:34:30The biggest emblem of all for lots of people, rugby.
0:34:30 > 0:34:33Rugby is very important as an expression of Welshness
0:34:33 > 0:34:36because it was one of the few popular areas of life
0:34:36 > 0:34:38where Wales could say, we are a nation,
0:34:38 > 0:34:40we are distinct from the rest of Britain.
0:34:40 > 0:34:44Rugby had helped keep alive a popular sense of Welshness.
0:34:44 > 0:34:47It was able to do that because it didn't involve any questions
0:34:47 > 0:34:49about what Welshness actually meant.
0:34:49 > 0:34:52You didn't have to speak Welsh to follow the Welsh rugby team.
0:34:52 > 0:34:55It didn't really matter what part of Wales you were from,
0:34:55 > 0:34:57what class you were from.
0:34:57 > 0:35:00COMMENTATOR: ..Gareth Edwards. Edwards over...
0:35:00 > 0:35:04Rugby brought Wales together without raising any awkward questions.
0:35:04 > 0:35:07..Can he score? It would be a miracle if he could!
0:35:07 > 0:35:10He may well get there! And he has!
0:35:10 > 0:35:14'No awkward questions, maybe, but some awkward moments.'
0:35:14 > 0:35:17Wales played Japan. They played the Japanese national anthem,
0:35:17 > 0:35:19then started playing God Save The Queen.
0:35:19 > 0:35:22And really unexpectedly, the crowd started booing God Save The Queen.
0:35:22 > 0:35:25And you can't hear the band, according to the press reports.
0:35:25 > 0:35:28From that moment, the Welsh Rugby Union started to say,
0:35:28 > 0:35:30when England are playing, or even Scotland,
0:35:30 > 0:35:33because that's the anthem they wanted, it's fair enough.
0:35:33 > 0:35:37But when other countries are playing Wales, should we be playing God Save The Queen?
0:35:37 > 0:35:41And in 1974, Wales dropped God Save The Queen for the visit of France.
0:35:41 > 0:35:43And that's a really symbolic moment.
0:35:43 > 0:35:46'According to The Times, it's through rugby
0:35:46 > 0:35:51'that the Welsh express their tribal loyalty and surface nationalism.
0:35:51 > 0:35:54'But is it a symbol of anything deeper?'
0:35:56 > 0:36:00Being Welsh really mattered to people in the 1970s.
0:36:00 > 0:36:02And rugby is a great expression of that.
0:36:02 > 0:36:05But it only mattered so far.
0:36:05 > 0:36:09Nobody imagined Wales could survive on its own economically.
0:36:09 > 0:36:12Most people didn't feel tension between being Welsh and being British.
0:36:12 > 0:36:16Back in the '70s, clubs like this were full of men.
0:36:16 > 0:36:19Does the role of women change as the '70s progresses?
0:36:19 > 0:36:22The 1970s sees the number of working-class women
0:36:22 > 0:36:25who are working rise hugely.
0:36:25 > 0:36:27They might not have been getting paid the same as men
0:36:27 > 0:36:30or working the same amount of hours.
0:36:30 > 0:36:34They were relatively limited in the kind of jobs they could do, but they were working.
0:36:34 > 0:36:36And that made a big economic difference to Wales.
0:36:37 > 0:36:41They were also starting to question some of the bastions of life.
0:36:41 > 0:36:44Women, before the '70s, were often barred in clubs like this.
0:36:44 > 0:36:47In the 1970s, they are literally banging on the door, asking to be let in.
0:36:47 > 0:36:50When they are being let in, they're asking to be served.
0:36:50 > 0:36:52Even asking to be served in a pint glass.
0:36:52 > 0:36:56There was a case in Newport where a woman made an official complaint
0:36:56 > 0:36:59to the government in London that she'd been refused a pint.
0:37:00 > 0:37:02'And Newport is one of those places
0:37:02 > 0:37:06'which is much better connected in the 1970s.
0:37:06 > 0:37:07'The extension of the M4,
0:37:07 > 0:37:11'like the later upgrading of the A55 in the North,
0:37:11 > 0:37:16'eases the path from Wales to the centre of the British economy.
0:37:16 > 0:37:19'But that economy is in trouble.
0:37:19 > 0:37:22'The price of oil soars and British industry can't compete.
0:37:24 > 0:37:29'In 1975, the Ebbw Vale steelworks partially closes.
0:37:29 > 0:37:33'Nationalisation has turned into rationalisation.'
0:37:33 > 0:37:37..Something that might be popular in Ebbw Vale tomorrow, but fatal...
0:37:39 > 0:37:46'Between 1976 and 1979, 60,000 jobs are lost in Wales.
0:37:46 > 0:37:48'Interest rates are 28%.
0:37:48 > 0:37:50'The International Monetary Fund
0:37:50 > 0:37:54'has to bail out the British economy.'
0:37:54 > 0:37:56In the middle of all of this turmoil,
0:37:56 > 0:37:57the people of Wales experience
0:37:57 > 0:38:03one of the most explosive political campaigns of the 20th Century.
0:38:03 > 0:38:07We are really going... If we want extra resources...
0:38:07 > 0:38:11It affects these rural Welsh-speaking parts
0:38:11 > 0:38:12just as much as it does
0:38:12 > 0:38:15the industrialised English-speaking ones.
0:38:15 > 0:38:18On St David's Day 1979,
0:38:18 > 0:38:21the Welsh people take part in a referendum.
0:38:22 > 0:38:27The Labour government is offering them a Welsh Assembly in Cardiff.
0:38:27 > 0:38:33And by a crushing majority of 4-1, they say, "No, thanks".
0:38:33 > 0:38:36And the impact of that result is still being debated today.
0:38:36 > 0:38:38Some people see it
0:38:38 > 0:38:44as one of the most shameful and demeaning episodes in Welsh history.
0:38:44 > 0:38:46There is another perspective.
0:38:46 > 0:38:49Given the economic mess of the time,
0:38:49 > 0:38:53it can be seen as a simple expression of priorities.
0:38:53 > 0:38:56People were more concerned about jobs
0:38:56 > 0:38:59and livelihoods than about anything else.
0:38:59 > 0:39:01APPLAUSE
0:39:01 > 0:39:02'Labour is in disarray
0:39:02 > 0:39:06'and Margaret Thatcher sweeps to power in 1979
0:39:06 > 0:39:10'with a mandate to sort out Britain's problems.
0:39:11 > 0:39:14'But when the Conservatives go back on a promise to set up
0:39:14 > 0:39:18'a Welsh-language television channel, nationalists make a stand.
0:39:18 > 0:39:21'For Gwynfor Evans, it might be his last stand.
0:39:21 > 0:39:23'He threatens to fast to death.
0:39:23 > 0:39:25'But he wins the argument.'
0:39:27 > 0:39:30The government has been humiliated. The government has been defeated.
0:39:30 > 0:39:33And that by a comparitively small people.
0:39:35 > 0:39:39'The Tories are for turning after all,
0:39:39 > 0:39:41'and S4C hits the airwaves.
0:39:46 > 0:39:50'British living standards start to rise again in the 1980s.
0:39:50 > 0:39:52'Wales becomes a summer playground
0:39:52 > 0:39:55'for those who can afford to splash the cash.'
0:39:59 > 0:40:03It's not difficult to see why the hardworkers of Manchester
0:40:03 > 0:40:06and Merseyside invest so much of their leisure time
0:40:06 > 0:40:09and their money here on the North Wales coast.
0:40:09 > 0:40:13But they're just a small fraction of the great influx of people
0:40:13 > 0:40:17who come in from England to Wales over the years.
0:40:17 > 0:40:21They come here to live and to retire and to work, of course.
0:40:21 > 0:40:24But in the 1980s, that trend increases.
0:40:24 > 0:40:28There's more disposable income. They start to buy property.
0:40:28 > 0:40:30Permanent homes and holiday homes.
0:40:30 > 0:40:34And they buy them not just in areas like Llandudno,
0:40:34 > 0:40:37but further inland, in the heart of Welsh-speaking Wales.
0:40:37 > 0:40:40Often outbidding some of the locals in the process.
0:40:40 > 0:40:43And some of the people who care for the language
0:40:43 > 0:40:47are now concerned that a television channel won't be enough.
0:40:49 > 0:40:52'Violence is back in the news.
0:40:52 > 0:40:55'Across the decade, there are more than 200 attacks
0:40:55 > 0:40:58'on holiday homes in Welsh-speaking areas.
0:40:58 > 0:41:02'Though there are some arrests, the identiy of those
0:41:02 > 0:41:06'behind Meibion Glyndwr, the Sons of Glyndwr, remains a mystery.
0:41:07 > 0:41:10'The support they seem to have in some communities
0:41:10 > 0:41:12'is seen as a sign the Conservative government
0:41:12 > 0:41:15'isn't doing enough to protect the language.
0:41:20 > 0:41:22'1980.
0:41:22 > 0:41:24'Government-owned British Steel
0:41:24 > 0:41:28'makes 6,500 Shotton steelworkers redundant.
0:41:28 > 0:41:30'For north-east Wales, it is a body blow.'
0:41:32 > 0:41:35But it's worth reminding ourselves
0:41:35 > 0:41:39that Wales does embrace Thatcherism to quite an extent.
0:41:39 > 0:41:41Things are changing.
0:41:41 > 0:41:43The old heavy industries are weakening.
0:41:43 > 0:41:47The emphasis on the individual is strengthening.
0:41:47 > 0:41:49And radical policies,
0:41:49 > 0:41:53like allowing council house tenants to buy their homes, are very popular.
0:41:53 > 0:41:58And after the 1979 election, it's possible for the Conservatives to say
0:41:58 > 0:42:02that you can travel from the fields of Monmouthshire at this end of Wales
0:42:02 > 0:42:06and, without one sleeve in Conservative-held territory,
0:42:06 > 0:42:08you can walk all the way to Ynys Mon,
0:42:08 > 0:42:11the Isle of Anglesey, here in the north.
0:42:11 > 0:42:16'At the next general election in 1983,
0:42:16 > 0:42:20'Wales elects even more Conservative MPs to join Mrs Thatcher's crew.
0:42:20 > 0:42:24'14. A record number in modern times.'
0:42:24 > 0:42:25And here's the significant part.
0:42:25 > 0:42:28Even those voters who are not backing Mrs Thatcher
0:42:28 > 0:42:30are still looking to Westminster
0:42:30 > 0:42:33for the answer to their political problems.
0:42:33 > 0:42:36It is still very much a British agenda.
0:42:37 > 0:42:40'But that may be about to change.
0:42:46 > 0:42:48'The year-long strike by the National Union of Miners
0:42:48 > 0:42:52'is a watershed for industrial Wales.
0:42:52 > 0:42:55'The solidarity of whole communities is put to the test.
0:42:55 > 0:42:58'They pass with flying colours.
0:43:02 > 0:43:05'But they do end up on the losing side.'
0:43:05 > 0:43:10What I would say about that strike is that it wasn't about Wales at all.
0:43:10 > 0:43:14It was about a class struggle. It was about wage struggles.
0:43:14 > 0:43:18And yet when it was ended, and when the NUM was defeated,
0:43:18 > 0:43:20there came a sense very slowly, I think,
0:43:20 > 0:43:24to the people of this world that what they had been experiencing
0:43:24 > 0:43:29from the 1960s through the 1970s had in fact come to a dramatic end.
0:43:33 > 0:43:36That strike ended the particular kind of industrial,
0:43:36 > 0:43:39male, working-class world
0:43:39 > 0:43:42that Wales had predominantly been about in the 20th Century.
0:43:42 > 0:43:48And I think that Wales dematerialised. It sort of vanished.
0:43:48 > 0:43:51You could certainly taste a sense of despair in Wales
0:43:51 > 0:43:54at the end of the '80s and into the 1990s.
0:43:54 > 0:43:57The institutions that it had created to defend it,
0:43:57 > 0:44:01including the unions and the Labour party, were powerless.
0:44:01 > 0:44:04So, what were they now going to do?
0:44:04 > 0:44:08'The choices for the industrial valleys are narrowing.
0:44:08 > 0:44:11'Deep mining disappears.
0:44:11 > 0:44:13'A rich history seems redundant.'
0:44:13 > 0:44:18The Welsh people had to find a new way of expressing their sense of society.
0:44:18 > 0:44:22Their sense of grievances and perhaps their sense of a national identity.
0:44:22 > 0:44:27That sense of nationhood isn't something that can be taken for granted.
0:44:27 > 0:44:30Look, Wales is an entity. It's a geographical entity.
0:44:30 > 0:44:33But it's a fragmented one. It always has been.
0:44:33 > 0:44:36Wales is united because of the language.
0:44:36 > 0:44:38But it's also divided because of the language.
0:44:38 > 0:44:41Wales comes together because of its history.
0:44:41 > 0:44:43But there are many histories of Wales
0:44:43 > 0:44:46and many different ways of expressing that identity.
0:44:46 > 0:44:50So, how did we find a new form of unity?
0:44:50 > 0:44:53We certainly decided as a people
0:44:53 > 0:44:55to invest in those civic institutions
0:44:55 > 0:44:58that would give us a sense of citizenship.
0:44:59 > 0:45:03We became citizens of Wales as never before.
0:45:05 > 0:45:10'But a citizens' Wales can't shield its industrial communities
0:45:10 > 0:45:13'from the effects of losing so many jobs.
0:45:16 > 0:45:18'Young people suffer most of all.
0:45:23 > 0:45:27'Poverty and unemplyment leave scars on a whole generation.
0:45:27 > 0:45:28'Drug and alcohol abuse soar.
0:45:32 > 0:45:36'And the government's determination to restructure the Labour market
0:45:36 > 0:45:38'becomes a divisive issue.'
0:45:42 > 0:45:44'But there is a plan.
0:45:44 > 0:45:49'Butetown is about to be redeveloped all over again.
0:45:49 > 0:45:53'The Cardiff Bay Barrage is meant to regenerate business life,
0:45:53 > 0:45:55'and not just in the capital.
0:45:59 > 0:46:03'Big projects and inward investment pulling in manufacturers
0:46:03 > 0:46:06'from abroad are intended to get the whole economy moving.
0:46:11 > 0:46:15'And the momentum towards a citizens' Wales gathers pace.'
0:46:17 > 0:46:21When we think of national institutions in Wales,
0:46:21 > 0:46:22we think of places like this.
0:46:22 > 0:46:26The University of Wales here in Aberystwyth.
0:46:26 > 0:46:28Or the National Eisteddfod or the National Museum.
0:46:28 > 0:46:30They're the obvious ones.
0:46:30 > 0:46:32But in the middle of the 1980s,
0:46:32 > 0:46:36someone decides to draw up a list of these national bodies.
0:46:36 > 0:46:40And they come up with 466 of them.
0:46:40 > 0:46:44It's a kind of devolution process by committee.
0:46:44 > 0:46:47As the Welsh Office creates more and more quangos,
0:46:47 > 0:46:51you have unions and charities and other bodies
0:46:51 > 0:46:53all wanting to have a presence in Wales.
0:46:55 > 0:46:59And the fact is, under the Conservative and Unionist party,
0:46:59 > 0:47:02Wales is quietly organising itself
0:47:02 > 0:47:04in ways that are notably different
0:47:04 > 0:47:07to the rest of the United Kingdom.
0:47:08 > 0:47:12'And you can't move anywhere in Wales without spotting that.'
0:47:12 > 0:47:16There was a time when our roadsigns had no Welsh on them.
0:47:16 > 0:47:20I remember the shock of seeing a bilingual roadsign for the first time.
0:47:20 > 0:47:24And I'll be honest, I was very pleased.
0:47:24 > 0:47:26But under the Conservatives, in the 1980s,
0:47:26 > 0:47:28with Margaret Thatcher in charge,
0:47:28 > 0:47:31funding for the language mutliplies.
0:47:31 > 0:47:34And that trend continues under John Major's government
0:47:34 > 0:47:39with a Welsh language act cementing the place of the language in society
0:47:39 > 0:47:42and in schools as well.
0:47:42 > 0:47:44No-one can be in any doubt
0:47:44 > 0:47:48that Wales is a nation of two languages.
0:47:48 > 0:47:52Even if one of those languages is missing the letter X.
0:47:52 > 0:47:54Ni'n mynd i ganol y dref, plis. Diolch yn fawr.
0:48:00 > 0:48:03'In communities which turned to English two generations before,
0:48:03 > 0:48:07'Welsh-medium schools are now full to bursting.
0:48:09 > 0:48:13'Migration from England to coast and countryside is still on the up,
0:48:13 > 0:48:17'but industrial Wales is rediscovering its Welshness.
0:48:19 > 0:48:23'The language has ceased to be such a divisive issue.
0:48:25 > 0:48:28'People who say they're Welsh rather than British...
0:48:28 > 0:48:32'well, most of them, are now to be found in the former coalfield.
0:48:35 > 0:48:36'But does this mean
0:48:36 > 0:48:39'a majority is ready for devolution?'
0:48:39 > 0:48:40For the second time in 18 years,
0:48:40 > 0:48:42the Welsh are being offered
0:48:42 > 0:48:46a modest measure of self-government, but will they take it?
0:48:46 > 0:48:5126,000. So I think that's a yes all round.
0:48:53 > 0:48:54Well, look at that!
0:48:57 > 0:48:59'Incredibly emotional pictures, really.
0:48:59 > 0:49:01'People crying and dancing and laughing.
0:49:01 > 0:49:04'To go from depression to elation'
0:49:04 > 0:49:06in a matter of moments is an incredible feeling.
0:49:06 > 0:49:07Good morning.
0:49:10 > 0:49:13And it is a very good morning in Wales.
0:49:13 > 0:49:17The shift from 1979, when the Welsh people voted 4-1
0:49:17 > 0:49:20against a Welsh assembly,
0:49:20 > 0:49:23to 1997, where there was that wafer-thin
0:49:23 > 0:49:256,721 votes difference
0:49:25 > 0:49:27between the yes and no votes
0:49:27 > 0:49:31is really substantial, by any stretch of the imagination.
0:49:31 > 0:49:35The objective was to get the majority, and we got the majority.
0:49:35 > 0:49:40The biggest changes happened in areas which were traditional Labour-supporting areas.
0:49:40 > 0:49:42If you look across the South Wales valleys,
0:49:42 > 0:49:44areas like Neath Port Talbot,
0:49:44 > 0:49:47all the way really across that mining or former-mining belt.
0:49:50 > 0:49:54But the slim majority becomes an issue for the new assembly.
0:49:54 > 0:49:59It wasn't a great foundation for the new politicians when they took office.
0:49:59 > 0:50:00They were up against it from the start.
0:50:00 > 0:50:04Justifying their existence, the existence of the institution,
0:50:04 > 0:50:07the location of the National Assembly.
0:50:08 > 0:50:12Every country anywhere in the world has some resentment expressed
0:50:12 > 0:50:15towards its capital by those areas most remote.
0:50:17 > 0:50:21'The Assembly struggles to make an impact across the country.
0:50:23 > 0:50:27'In its first decade, it has no more success in lifting Wales out of poverty
0:50:27 > 0:50:32'than the British government has achieved over the centuries.
0:50:33 > 0:50:39'Much of Wales still receives funding intended for Europe's poorest regions.
0:50:39 > 0:50:41'Educational performance is weak.
0:50:41 > 0:50:44'Health and social problems trouble us.
0:50:45 > 0:50:48'But the Assembly does have its successes.
0:50:48 > 0:50:52'Working effectively when farms are affected
0:50:52 > 0:50:54'by foot-and-mouth disease in 2001.
0:50:54 > 0:50:58'And the principle that Welsh issues should be tackled
0:50:58 > 0:51:01'here in Wales begins to gain wider acceptance.'
0:51:01 > 0:51:03All of the opinion polling,
0:51:03 > 0:51:07all of the shift in national identity indicators
0:51:07 > 0:51:09shows that Welsh people are very pragmatic.
0:51:09 > 0:51:12They recognise that it is appropriate and right
0:51:12 > 0:51:16for decisions about Wales to be made at a Welsh level.
0:51:16 > 0:51:18But then, on the other hand, they're very clear
0:51:18 > 0:51:21that there is still real integrity
0:51:21 > 0:51:23within the union of the United Kingdom.
0:51:23 > 0:51:25They want to be part of that Britishness as well.
0:51:25 > 0:51:30'As our traditional industries have disappeared,
0:51:30 > 0:51:33'we've become a nation of commuters, like so many others.
0:51:35 > 0:51:38'Wales is much more diverse these days.
0:51:38 > 0:51:41'Home to people from many parts of the world.
0:51:41 > 0:51:45'Multiculturalism no longer starts and ends in Butetown.
0:51:48 > 0:51:50'And yet miraculously in a globalised world,
0:51:50 > 0:51:53'Wales has kept a sense of itself.
0:51:54 > 0:51:58'A referendum in 2011, albeit with a low turnout,
0:51:58 > 0:52:02'backs law-making powers for the Assembly.'
0:52:02 > 0:52:05Wales has said yes! CHEERING
0:52:05 > 0:52:09Today, an old nation came of age.
0:52:11 > 0:52:14'Support for Wales these days seems genuinely deeper
0:52:14 > 0:52:16'than surface nationalism.
0:52:16 > 0:52:20'We are a people with roots,
0:52:20 > 0:52:22'with a real sense of where we come from.'
0:52:30 > 0:52:34'Hundreds of schoolchildren march through Tonypandy,
0:52:34 > 0:52:36'remembering the miners' riots 100 years ago.'
0:52:36 > 0:52:39This is living history. This is history in the making.
0:52:41 > 0:52:44'History matters to us.
0:52:44 > 0:52:47'It's what has shaped the spaces we live in.'
0:52:47 > 0:52:51That's why it's so important to have these beautiful buildings
0:52:51 > 0:52:54like the Senedd and the Wales Millennium Centre,
0:52:54 > 0:52:57because they give us frameworks in which to dream of futures,
0:52:57 > 0:52:59to be critical of ourselves,
0:52:59 > 0:53:01but also, to project outwards.
0:53:02 > 0:53:04'Gwyneth Lewis is the poet
0:53:04 > 0:53:07'whose words sing out from the Millennium Centre.'
0:53:07 > 0:53:11One of the big payoffs of devolution
0:53:11 > 0:53:15has been the way in which the definition of Welshness
0:53:15 > 0:53:18has expanded, grown more complex,
0:53:18 > 0:53:21has become more hospitable, I think,
0:53:21 > 0:53:24in a way that I think is very creative.
0:53:25 > 0:53:29It's given us a freedom to play with our sense of identiy
0:53:29 > 0:53:34and it's broadened the base of people who are excited about being in Wales,
0:53:34 > 0:53:37about living in Wales and getting some serious work done here.
0:53:38 > 0:53:41'Gwyneth Lewis believes this excitement
0:53:41 > 0:53:43'is beginning to change our sense of belonging.'
0:53:45 > 0:53:49The two terms Welshness and Britishness
0:53:49 > 0:53:52have been dancing a tango for a long time.
0:53:52 > 0:53:54INSTRUMENTAL
0:53:59 > 0:54:05And there are periods when we're dancing very close, cheek-to-cheek.
0:54:08 > 0:54:12Other times, we're pulling apart, we're angry with each other.
0:54:13 > 0:54:17There's tension. And that's actually what creates the dance.
0:54:21 > 0:54:26These are not small shifts in our sense of ourselves.
0:54:28 > 0:54:33The time since the beginning of devolution has been quite a painful one.
0:54:33 > 0:54:36We've been looking at the new assembly, learning to crawl,
0:54:36 > 0:54:39walk, stumble, and there have been failures.
0:54:39 > 0:54:42And these have been painful to watch.
0:54:42 > 0:54:45Welshness and Britishness,
0:54:45 > 0:54:48I think it's actually a dynamic relationship.
0:54:49 > 0:54:52The more we're able to tolerate that change in that development,
0:54:52 > 0:54:57the more it changes into something very creative for citizens.
0:54:57 > 0:55:00We're freed from worrying about things,
0:55:00 > 0:55:03we're just enjoying the dance.
0:55:04 > 0:55:08We're at the stage now that the story is to be continued.
0:55:08 > 0:55:13But I think we're developing a far more sophisticated view
0:55:13 > 0:55:16of what it is to be Welsh and what's required
0:55:16 > 0:55:20to make the best of those resources that we do have.
0:55:20 > 0:55:24So I'll be very, very interested to see what happens next.
0:55:38 > 0:55:41In this series, I've tried to step back from the turmoil
0:55:41 > 0:55:44and the immediacy of today's news
0:55:44 > 0:55:46to tell the story of an entire country
0:55:46 > 0:55:50over the course of 30,000 years.
0:55:50 > 0:55:53'The story of Wales, like the story of any nation,
0:55:53 > 0:55:57'has seen dark days and troubled times.
0:55:58 > 0:56:02'But it has never been a story of people turned in on themselves.'
0:56:02 > 0:56:06You're saying we should think of Wales in a much bigger world.
0:56:06 > 0:56:09'And all through its history, there have been times
0:56:09 > 0:56:11'when it has lead the way.'
0:56:11 > 0:56:15Llandudno copper was being exported 4,000 years ago.
0:56:16 > 0:56:21'In the Dark Ages, Welsh saints carried the light of Christianity
0:56:21 > 0:56:25'to Scotland and Ireland, Cornwall, Brittany and Spain.
0:56:26 > 0:56:28'Welsh laws based on putting things right,
0:56:28 > 0:56:30'rather than an eye for an eye,
0:56:30 > 0:56:34'were the most progressive of the Middle Ages.
0:56:36 > 0:56:38'In the 1700s, the Welsh became
0:56:38 > 0:56:41'one of the most literate nations on Earth.'
0:56:41 > 0:56:46Half the population of Wales learns to read in these travelling schools.
0:56:46 > 0:56:50'And in a modern world which Wales helped to power,
0:56:50 > 0:56:54'we've been leaders in technology, in education,
0:56:54 > 0:56:57'in the struggle for workers' rights...and decent health care.
0:56:57 > 0:57:01'Are we Welsh? Are we British?
0:57:01 > 0:57:05'In the last 70 years, the balance has shifted.
0:57:05 > 0:57:09'We've always been a people who love our square mile.
0:57:09 > 0:57:12'Our own little bit of Wales.
0:57:12 > 0:57:14'But now we also have a national frame
0:57:14 > 0:57:17'in which to address our problems.
0:57:17 > 0:57:20'A politics and a set of instituions all of our own.
0:57:21 > 0:57:25'And above all, we are a people with a story.
0:57:25 > 0:57:28'And that story gives us power.'
0:57:28 > 0:57:31The story of Wales is being rewritten.
0:57:31 > 0:57:33And not before time.
0:57:33 > 0:57:36It's the story of a people who embrace the big world
0:57:36 > 0:57:39beyond that horizon.
0:57:39 > 0:57:41Not insular and inward-looking,
0:57:41 > 0:57:45but imaginative and dynamic and creative.
0:57:45 > 0:57:48We're an ancient people more certain of our identity
0:57:48 > 0:57:52than at any point in the past 1,000 years.
0:57:53 > 0:57:58And in that sense, the story of Wales has only just begun.
0:58:13 > 0:58:15The Open University has produced a free booklet
0:58:15 > 0:58:18for you to learn more about the history of the people of Wales.
0:58:18 > 0:58:23You can call 0845 366 0253
0:58:23 > 0:58:27or go to bbc.co.uk/storyofwales
0:58:27 > 0:58:29and follow the links
0:58:29 > 0:58:31to the Open University.
0:58:31 > 0:58:34Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd