0:00:02 > 0:00:06Sian Phillips - the glamorous Welsh actress of stage and screen.
0:00:06 > 0:00:09Her high-profile film and theatre roles
0:00:09 > 0:00:12have made her one of Hollywood's most-respected names.
0:00:13 > 0:00:17She starred with former husband Peter O'Toole in many films,
0:00:17 > 0:00:20but she's much-loved for the unforgettable performance
0:00:20 > 0:00:23as the scheming Livia in I, Claudius.
0:00:25 > 0:00:26Travelling to her birthplace
0:00:26 > 0:00:28for the first time in many years,
0:00:28 > 0:00:32Sian Phillips is coming home.
0:00:34 > 0:00:39On this journey, Sian will learn of her family's involvement
0:00:39 > 0:00:40at the Battle of Waterloo...
0:00:40 > 0:00:42How extraordinary!
0:00:42 > 0:00:44I'm pole-axed.
0:00:44 > 0:00:46I can't tell you how astonished I am.
0:00:47 > 0:00:51..finds closure to a question that has plagued her for decades...
0:00:51 > 0:00:52No!
0:00:52 > 0:00:54Yes.
0:00:54 > 0:00:56Which has a long association with your family, of course.
0:00:56 > 0:00:58Yes...
0:01:00 > 0:01:03..and Sian feels the nerves as she performs a reading
0:01:03 > 0:01:04at the National Eisteddfod
0:01:04 > 0:01:07for the first time in almost 70 years.
0:01:07 > 0:01:09APPLAUSE
0:01:09 > 0:01:13Sian now lives in London's cosmopolitan East End -
0:01:13 > 0:01:18a far cry from her beginnings in rural Welsh-speaking Carmarthenshire.
0:01:19 > 0:01:22As a teenager she headed for the bright lights of London
0:01:22 > 0:01:25to pursue a career in stage acting.
0:01:25 > 0:01:28But Sian has never forgotten her roots.
0:01:28 > 0:01:31I realised that I wasn't going to be able to stay in this wonderful place
0:01:31 > 0:01:34when I grew up a bit, and I...
0:01:34 > 0:01:36I was heartbroken.
0:01:36 > 0:01:40I broke my heart quietly and secretly and...and...slowly.
0:01:40 > 0:01:42Because I knew I was going to have to leave,
0:01:42 > 0:01:44so I really...
0:01:44 > 0:01:46I really appreciated
0:01:46 > 0:01:48all of my childhood,
0:01:48 > 0:01:54and all the places in Pontardawe, Brynamman, Cilmaengwyn...
0:01:54 > 0:01:57all those villages. I just loved the whole neighbourhood.
0:01:57 > 0:02:01Genealogist Mike Churchill-Jones has been invited to Sian's home
0:02:01 > 0:02:03on Brick Lane.
0:02:03 > 0:02:06Sian already knows much about her mother's family history,
0:02:06 > 0:02:10so Mike is here to find out where his research should begin.
0:02:10 > 0:02:12Come on in.
0:02:12 > 0:02:13Thank you. Thanks very much.
0:02:13 > 0:02:16This was, I think, maybe my first appearance.
0:02:16 > 0:02:18I would have been about four
0:02:18 > 0:02:23and it was a play at school called Mair A'r Wyau,
0:02:23 > 0:02:27I think my mother may have written it - Mair And The Eggs -
0:02:27 > 0:02:29and it was a little, erm...
0:02:29 > 0:02:32That was my Welsh costume, of course, for St David's Day.
0:02:32 > 0:02:34- Terribly cute, weren't you? - Yes!
0:02:34 > 0:02:36SHE LAUGHS
0:02:36 > 0:02:38- In your little Welsh costume. - Yes, in my Welsh costume.
0:02:38 > 0:02:40I was very, very proud that.
0:02:40 > 0:02:43It got lengthened and lengthened and lengthened as I got older.
0:02:43 > 0:02:44Lovely.
0:02:44 > 0:02:46- That is lovely.- Sweet.
0:02:46 > 0:02:47Yeah.
0:02:47 > 0:02:52There's one family photograph Sian always keeps close,
0:02:52 > 0:02:54but someone she knows very little about.
0:02:54 > 0:02:56I always keep that with me.
0:02:56 > 0:02:58You know, wherever...
0:02:58 > 0:03:00In my drawing room, wherever I live.
0:03:00 > 0:03:04I just love the look of Sali, we think, maybe.
0:03:04 > 0:03:06Sali Wernwgan?
0:03:06 > 0:03:08Sali Wernwgan. Yeah.
0:03:08 > 0:03:11SHE LAUGHS
0:03:11 > 0:03:12She looks great.
0:03:12 > 0:03:15But this elderly women clutching a Welsh Bible
0:03:15 > 0:03:18is a mystery to Sian.
0:03:18 > 0:03:21Sali Wernwgan will be Mike's starting point
0:03:21 > 0:03:24for his search into Sian's ancestry.
0:03:24 > 0:03:25I'll get on with the research.
0:03:25 > 0:03:28Oh, well, I'd be very grateful, actually.
0:03:28 > 0:03:31Well, I hope I'll be very grateful. You never know, do you?
0:03:31 > 0:03:33- We'll meet up again in a couple of weeks in South Wales.- Yes.
0:03:33 > 0:03:36- Hopefully, I'll have plenty to tell you.- Well, oh, gosh...
0:03:36 > 0:03:37SHE LAUGHS
0:03:37 > 0:03:41I do feel a bit apprehensive, but mostly I'm looking forward to it.
0:03:41 > 0:03:43I don't mind what it is, really.
0:03:43 > 0:03:45I'd just like to know more. I would like to.
0:03:45 > 0:03:49- I'll see what I can do. - OK. Thank you.
0:03:49 > 0:03:53A few weeks have gone by and Sian is travelling home to Carmarthenshire
0:03:53 > 0:03:56for the first time in many years.
0:03:56 > 0:04:01And she is still intrigued about this mystery woman with that unusual name.
0:04:01 > 0:04:03It's such a great photograph.
0:04:03 > 0:04:06And I've got it where I see it every day, at home.
0:04:06 > 0:04:10In a frame. And people say, "Where is it? What is it, exactly?"
0:04:10 > 0:04:13"Where does she live? Where was she?"
0:04:13 > 0:04:15And I can never tell them.
0:04:15 > 0:04:16But I say, "Well, it's Sali."
0:04:16 > 0:04:19And it's supposed to be Sali... S-A-L-I...Wernwgan.
0:04:19 > 0:04:23And "Wernwgan" is obviously a farm, or a little place...
0:04:23 > 0:04:25I just don't know.
0:04:25 > 0:04:27But I'd like to know.
0:04:31 > 0:04:34Sian is now in the village of Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen,
0:04:34 > 0:04:37where she and generations of her family lived.
0:04:38 > 0:04:41I think, for me to get the full flavour,
0:04:41 > 0:04:44I'd have to come on a very small, rattly bus.
0:04:44 > 0:04:46SHE CHUCKLES
0:04:47 > 0:04:50Sian's first stop is Carmel Chapel,
0:04:50 > 0:04:53a place very close to her heart.
0:04:55 > 0:04:57- Sian.- Hello!
0:04:57 > 0:05:00She's arranged to meet here with Mike Churchill-Jones
0:05:00 > 0:05:02for the reading of her family tree,
0:05:02 > 0:05:04and it's been over 70 years
0:05:04 > 0:05:07since she last entered this chapel.
0:05:09 > 0:05:11Well... Oh, my goodness.
0:05:11 > 0:05:13Oh, it's...
0:05:14 > 0:05:16It's amazing.
0:05:18 > 0:05:21- Oh... - What's it like being back here?
0:05:21 > 0:05:23It's wonderful.
0:05:23 > 0:05:29My earliest memories as a child are of the sort of honey-coloured varnish on the...
0:05:29 > 0:05:32on the seats, and the smell of the polish they use.
0:05:32 > 0:05:34I think everyone...
0:05:34 > 0:05:38There must've been a huge job-lot of polish, I think, in South Wales,
0:05:38 > 0:05:41because all chapels smelled of... beeswax, I suppose.
0:05:41 > 0:05:43Wonderfully.
0:05:43 > 0:05:45How different does it strike you?
0:05:45 > 0:05:47It doesn't strike me as different, at all.
0:05:47 > 0:05:49This is what I remember.
0:05:49 > 0:05:52And these are the places I first performed in
0:05:52 > 0:05:54when I was a child, of course.
0:05:54 > 0:05:57I remember sitting waiting, on a Saturday, especially,
0:05:57 > 0:06:01in chapels all around me here - and this one, too, probably -
0:06:01 > 0:06:05to go up into the...erm...
0:06:05 > 0:06:07Not into the pulpit, necessarily,
0:06:07 > 0:06:09but into the Sedd Fawr - the Big Seat -
0:06:09 > 0:06:13where there would be a dais and one would perform from there.
0:06:13 > 0:06:15On a Saturday. Compete.
0:06:16 > 0:06:18- Well, I've done a family tree for you.- OK.
0:06:18 > 0:06:22Would you like to come down the front and I'll do a reading for you?
0:06:22 > 0:06:24Yes, I'd love to.
0:06:24 > 0:06:27Sian has many unanswered questions about her genealogy,
0:06:27 > 0:06:31and Mike can make a start on filling in the many blanks of her ancestry.
0:06:31 > 0:06:36- This is what we have come up with. - Oh, goodness!
0:06:36 > 0:06:37Wow!
0:06:39 > 0:06:43Sian can see she has deep Carmarthenshire roots
0:06:43 > 0:06:44on both sides of the family.
0:06:46 > 0:06:50And Glamorganshire roots, dating back to the 1600s.
0:06:51 > 0:06:54Mike begins with Sian's great-great-grandfather,
0:06:54 > 0:06:56one Thomas Thomas.
0:06:57 > 0:07:00- Thomas started his working life as a coal miner...- Yeah.
0:07:00 > 0:07:03- ..but then he worked in the tin works.- Yes.
0:07:03 > 0:07:06- ..and he became a pickler. - What is that? What's a pickler?
0:07:06 > 0:07:08- I don't know. - You don't know what it is!
0:07:08 > 0:07:10SHE LAUGHS
0:07:10 > 0:07:13So Thomas worked in the tin works, as did many of his children,
0:07:13 > 0:07:15- and some of his siblings.- Yes.
0:07:15 > 0:07:19But Sian is here to learn more about the mystery woman in the photograph -
0:07:19 > 0:07:22Sali Wernwgan.
0:07:22 > 0:07:25Mike can reveal that her name began as Sarah Jones,
0:07:25 > 0:07:29and that Sali was often used as a family nickname for Sarah.
0:07:29 > 0:07:31- Sarah Jones...- Yeah.
0:07:31 > 0:07:35..is the lady you know
0:07:35 > 0:07:36as Sali Wernwgan.
0:07:36 > 0:07:39- No!- Yeah.- Oh, my goodness.
0:07:39 > 0:07:40So...
0:07:40 > 0:07:41I see.
0:07:41 > 0:07:43Oh, so she was Daniel's mother?
0:07:43 > 0:07:45She's your great-grandmother.
0:07:45 > 0:07:47So, she is... She IS my great-grandmother?
0:07:47 > 0:07:50I was never quite sure. I used to say, "This is my great-grandmother."
0:07:50 > 0:07:53I was hoping. Oh, wonderful.
0:07:53 > 0:07:55This is where the Wernwgan comes in.
0:07:55 > 0:08:00- Oh, I see.- The Wernwgan farm. Belonged to this man.
0:08:00 > 0:08:02So, where is Gwy... Oh, it's Gwynfe!
0:08:02 > 0:08:05It's Gwynfe in Llangadock.
0:08:05 > 0:08:07Which is lovely. I love Gwynfe.
0:08:07 > 0:08:11I didn't realise that Wernwgan was in Gwynfe.
0:08:11 > 0:08:13Oh, wonderful.
0:08:13 > 0:08:18Later, Sian will be visiting the farm that bore this Wernwgan name.
0:08:21 > 0:08:23Thank you very much.
0:08:23 > 0:08:25- Terrific. Thank you.- Good.
0:08:28 > 0:08:30Sali's father was Thomas Jones,
0:08:30 > 0:08:33who lived during the Napoleonic Wars
0:08:33 > 0:08:35and Sian is going to learn about his life
0:08:35 > 0:08:39by visiting the beautiful Glynhir Estates
0:08:39 > 0:08:41in Llandybie in Carmarthenshire.
0:08:41 > 0:08:44This place is brimming with Napoleonic history,
0:08:44 > 0:08:46with tales of French spies in hiding
0:08:46 > 0:08:50and a weapons factory on this very site.
0:08:51 > 0:08:54Thomas Jones started life as a simple farmer
0:08:54 > 0:08:56but his life took a dramatic turn
0:08:56 > 0:09:00as historian Gareth Glover can explain.
0:09:02 > 0:09:05I want to reveal to you today a little bit of his earlier life.
0:09:05 > 0:09:09You may not know that he actually fought at the Battle of Waterloo.
0:09:12 > 0:09:13No...
0:09:13 > 0:09:15How extraordinary.
0:09:15 > 0:09:16I'm pole-axed.
0:09:16 > 0:09:19I can't tell you how astonished I am.
0:09:19 > 0:09:22I didn't think anybody had ever gone anywhere.
0:09:22 > 0:09:24How extraordinary.
0:09:24 > 0:09:29So Sian now knows that her great-great-grandfather Thomas Jones
0:09:29 > 0:09:33fought alongside Wellington to defeat this man,
0:09:33 > 0:09:37Emperor of the French, Napoleon Bonaparte.
0:09:38 > 0:09:41And this very dovecot standing behind Sian
0:09:41 > 0:09:45was built in celebration of that victory at Waterloo.
0:09:45 > 0:09:48What I want to do now is talk a bit more about Thomas Jones himself.
0:09:48 > 0:09:52So let's go inside and see... We've got more to show you.
0:09:52 > 0:09:54Oh, that would be so interesting. Thank you.
0:09:57 > 0:10:01Inside the grand mansion, Sian can read from
0:10:01 > 0:10:05an autobiography written by Thomas's own granddaughter.
0:10:05 > 0:10:09"Thomas Jones was a cavalryman and was active in the war.
0:10:09 > 0:10:13"The relics of the war were a tricorn hat with feathers,
0:10:13 > 0:10:17"Wellington boots with a yellow or red band,
0:10:17 > 0:10:20"silver buckles and stirrups.
0:10:20 > 0:10:22"I remember the silver buckles."
0:10:22 > 0:10:27Now, that little bit of information helped us a lot
0:10:27 > 0:10:30because, as you can imagine, there are lots of Thomas Joneses...
0:10:30 > 0:10:34- Yes.- ..but there was only one cavalryman
0:10:34 > 0:10:37who was a Thomas Jones from West Wales.
0:10:37 > 0:10:40Let me just show you some papers we found in Kew, et cetera.
0:10:40 > 0:10:44- Yes.- This one here, actually shows the day he actually joined the Army.
0:10:44 > 0:10:46- Gosh.- And if you look at number two,
0:10:46 > 0:10:50"Thomas Jones" joined the Army on 19th March 1805,
0:10:50 > 0:10:53- which was the year of the Battle of Trafalgar.- Yes.
0:10:53 > 0:10:54So, six months before that.
0:10:54 > 0:10:58And, as a major part of that, there was a bounty in those days.
0:10:58 > 0:11:01They actually gave soldiers money to join - to encourage them to join -
0:11:01 > 0:11:06- Yes.- ..and Thomas received £9 6s 4d,
0:11:06 > 0:11:10which actually equates in modern money to about £400.
0:11:10 > 0:11:12- So he got £400 for joining the Army. - Right.
0:11:12 > 0:11:15He then went into the 18th Hussars.
0:11:15 > 0:11:19Now, the 18th Hussars, or Light Dragoons as they were known,
0:11:19 > 0:11:22would actually wear a very, very garish
0:11:22 > 0:11:24- and sort of smart uniform.- Oh!
0:11:24 > 0:11:28But that's what he would've looked like...
0:11:28 > 0:11:29Oh, my goodness!
0:11:29 > 0:11:31Look at that.
0:11:31 > 0:11:35- ..on his charger, ready for battle. - It scarcely seems possible.
0:11:35 > 0:11:39This is the type of sword that Thomas would have carried.
0:11:39 > 0:11:42It is actually a real sword from the Battle of Waterloo.
0:11:42 > 0:11:45It was found... As you can see, it's very rust-encrusted, et cetera.
0:11:45 > 0:11:49- Yes.- And this is exactly what he would have carried.
0:11:49 > 0:11:51It was very much a slashing weapon.
0:11:51 > 0:11:55- I don't know if you want to hold it?- I'd love to.- Please do.
0:11:55 > 0:11:58- Still a little sharp on the edge, so please be careful.- Yes... Yes.
0:11:58 > 0:12:01- So you hold it...- You hold it like that... Yeah, of course.
0:12:02 > 0:12:05- Wow.- As you can see, it was a very nasty weapon.- Oh, yes.
0:12:05 > 0:12:08Very frightening weapon to be against.
0:12:08 > 0:12:12Thomas found himself at the very heart of the famous
0:12:12 > 0:12:14Battle of Waterloo.
0:12:14 > 0:12:16In a field in Belgium,
0:12:16 > 0:12:20he fought alongside 68,000 of his allies,
0:12:20 > 0:12:23well outnumbered by Napoleon's troops.
0:12:23 > 0:12:27The battle was bloody, and the death toll enormous.
0:12:27 > 0:12:29But Thomas's victory here,
0:12:29 > 0:12:34finally halted Napoleon's march towards European domination.
0:12:34 > 0:12:37And he's very lucky, from what I can see, to have actually survived
0:12:37 > 0:12:40all of these battles and wars without any injury or loss to himself.
0:12:40 > 0:12:43So he's been very lucky in that sense.
0:12:43 > 0:12:46- A Lieutenant Colonel Malley, in 1886...- Yes.
0:12:46 > 0:12:48..actually made this large cup.
0:12:48 > 0:12:52- Yes.- Now this large cup has around it
0:12:52 > 0:12:54a large number of medals.
0:12:54 > 0:12:58And it is a big enough cup for that to be real medals.
0:12:58 > 0:13:02- Oh.- He collected medals from his regiment, the 18th Hussars,
0:13:02 > 0:13:06because he'd written the history of the bat...of the regiment, as well.
0:13:06 > 0:13:10- When we have looked at the catalogue...- Yes.
0:13:10 > 0:13:15..for that cup, we notice Corporal Thomas Jones...
0:13:15 > 0:13:16Oh, my goodness!
0:13:16 > 0:13:19..Waterloo medal is on the side.
0:13:19 > 0:13:22- On that cup.- And so is his bar...
0:13:22 > 0:13:25- My goodness!- ..his military service and service medal with bars,
0:13:25 > 0:13:28for Sahagun, Benevente, Vitoria Orthez and Toulouse.
0:13:28 > 0:13:30Toulouse...
0:13:30 > 0:13:32And just to show you them,
0:13:32 > 0:13:36- that is actually his Waterloo medal. - Yes.
0:13:36 > 0:13:39As you can see, that's his name on the side...
0:13:39 > 0:13:42- T Jones.- Yes!- Now, if you notice... It says "sergeant".- Yes, it does.
0:13:42 > 0:13:46- Because of sergeant at the battle.- No, no.
0:13:46 > 0:13:47- But they've backdated it.- Yes.
0:13:47 > 0:13:50- They've actually put "sergeant" on the medal.- Right.
0:13:50 > 0:13:55And there is his actual Military General Service Medal with the bars.
0:13:55 > 0:13:56Look at that.
0:13:56 > 0:13:59And again, his name on the side. Next to it.
0:13:59 > 0:14:02- Isn't that wonderful? - "Thomas Jones."
0:14:02 > 0:14:04That is so wonderful.
0:14:04 > 0:14:06- Isn't that extraordinary? - It is fantastic, isn't it?
0:14:06 > 0:14:08That's fantastic.
0:14:08 > 0:14:10It's fantastic to find that!
0:14:10 > 0:14:14- Where is it? There it is. - Yes.- I mean... That's extraordinary.
0:14:14 > 0:14:16It's a huge cup, as I say, from the 1880s.
0:14:16 > 0:14:20- Well, it must be big. - It's a big punch bowl.- Yes.
0:14:20 > 0:14:21Oh, how wonderful.
0:14:21 > 0:14:23What a lovely piece of research.
0:14:23 > 0:14:25- That's really lovely. - You very welcome.
0:14:25 > 0:14:28Thank you so much. That is so interesting.
0:14:28 > 0:14:31And I'm so glad to understand that bit of the story.
0:14:31 > 0:14:33It all helps.
0:14:33 > 0:14:37It certainly does. Wow, that is so interesting. Thank you.
0:14:37 > 0:14:38You're very welcome.
0:14:38 > 0:14:42Whilst Sian is taking in this fascinating story,
0:14:42 > 0:14:46she's about to receive a surprise from her very own family.
0:14:47 > 0:14:49This is her daughter Pat O'Toole
0:14:49 > 0:14:51and granddaughter Jess.
0:14:51 > 0:14:54Pat's father is the late actor Peter O'Toole,
0:14:54 > 0:14:57and she is joining her mother
0:14:57 > 0:15:00to discover what Sian has been learning on this journey
0:15:00 > 0:15:02into her past.
0:15:04 > 0:15:07They're travelling to Aberdulais Falls near Neath
0:15:07 > 0:15:09because Sian learned earlier
0:15:09 > 0:15:11that her great-great-grandfather Thomas Thomas
0:15:11 > 0:15:16was a pickler at a tin works - a job she knows nothing about.
0:15:16 > 0:15:18- Hello!- Hello!
0:15:20 > 0:15:24- How has it gone so far? - Well, very good. Hello, darling.
0:15:24 > 0:15:27With the family back together, Sian, Pat
0:15:27 > 0:15:29and granddaughter Jess can enjoy the sunshine
0:15:29 > 0:15:32and the sights of this well-preserved tin works
0:15:32 > 0:15:35and hear all about Thomas's life as a pickler
0:15:35 > 0:15:38from site manager Lee Freeman.
0:15:38 > 0:15:42They'd have iron coming onto a site like this, like your Aberdulais tin works,
0:15:42 > 0:15:44and that would have been put through rollers.
0:15:44 > 0:15:46It would've gone through a hot-rolling process,
0:15:46 > 0:15:49and after that process it would've been left in what we call
0:15:49 > 0:15:53a black plate, and it would've been dipped into a black acid
0:15:53 > 0:15:56to, basically, remove the scale from the iron plate,
0:15:56 > 0:15:59ready for it to be annealed in a furnace.
0:15:59 > 0:16:02So what would have happened to Thomas, then?
0:16:02 > 0:16:05You said the chemicals were... It was toxic.
0:16:05 > 0:16:07It must've been really dangerous.
0:16:07 > 0:16:09Well, my understanding is that Thomas passed away
0:16:09 > 0:16:13- at the age of 52 years old. - Oh.- He had tuberculosis. TB.
0:16:13 > 0:16:14Oh, did he?
0:16:14 > 0:16:17One thing they say about tin-plate workers - they never got colds.
0:16:17 > 0:16:20- And that was because of the acidic fumes...- Oh, I see.
0:16:20 > 0:16:23..it kept them... There were other issues.
0:16:23 > 0:16:26They had lots of respiratory problems, lots of...
0:16:26 > 0:16:30lost fingers and lost toes from the sharp objects they worked with,
0:16:30 > 0:16:31and lots of burns.
0:16:31 > 0:16:34The average life expectancy at that time, working in tin plate,
0:16:34 > 0:16:35was around 45 years old.
0:16:35 > 0:16:39- Oh, it was a hard life. - It was a very difficult life.
0:16:39 > 0:16:41So, you said Thomas died...
0:16:41 > 0:16:43Do you know what happened to Thomas's wife and children
0:16:43 > 0:16:46- after he died?- Erm... So his wife Ann, his widow -
0:16:46 > 0:16:51she was left with ten children to look after.
0:16:51 > 0:16:52Very sad. Terrible.
0:16:52 > 0:16:55Ten children...
0:16:58 > 0:17:02Sian and her family are being driven to a location on the western slopes
0:17:02 > 0:17:04of Carmarthenshire's Black Mountain.
0:17:04 > 0:17:06Oh, look at that! Oh, my God!
0:17:06 > 0:17:07Isn't that beautiful?
0:17:09 > 0:17:11You come over this very bleak mountain,
0:17:11 > 0:17:14and suddenly you see it's so rich the other side.
0:17:18 > 0:17:22Sian's had this photograph of her great-grandmother Sali Wernwgan,
0:17:22 > 0:17:25who she discovered was actually called Sarah Jones.
0:17:26 > 0:17:29Desperate to know where the name Wernwgan came from,
0:17:29 > 0:17:32she's about to discover the answer here -
0:17:32 > 0:17:33at this small farmhouse
0:17:33 > 0:17:36in Gwynfe in the parish of Llangadock.
0:17:37 > 0:17:40Here to explain more is historian Dr Eirwyn William.
0:17:42 > 0:17:46Well, this is the farm, Sian, of Wernwgan...
0:17:46 > 0:17:47- No!- Yes.
0:17:47 > 0:17:51..which has a long association with your family, of course.
0:17:51 > 0:17:52Yes.
0:17:52 > 0:17:55So this is where Sali Wernwgan lived.
0:17:55 > 0:17:57Wow.
0:17:57 > 0:18:00And she stood in the doorway somewhere here holding a Bible
0:18:00 > 0:18:01to be photographed.
0:18:01 > 0:18:04- And here you are.- Oh, my goodness.
0:18:04 > 0:18:07Well, we can trace your family back nearly 200 years, really.
0:18:07 > 0:18:09- Oh, really.- To this farm.
0:18:09 > 0:18:13Erm...the earliest detail we have is about 1839...
0:18:13 > 0:18:17- Yes.- ..when a William Thomas owned the farm -
0:18:17 > 0:18:19no relation, we think -
0:18:19 > 0:18:22but the tenant was a William Phillips.
0:18:22 > 0:18:24Oh, really. Yes.
0:18:24 > 0:18:27He had died by about 1850,
0:18:27 > 0:18:29and his widow Ann
0:18:29 > 0:18:31carried on the tenancy.
0:18:31 > 0:18:32Yes.
0:18:32 > 0:18:35- Erm, she lived here with her son... - Yes.
0:18:35 > 0:18:38..David, who was aged 33.
0:18:38 > 0:18:40Yes.
0:18:40 > 0:18:43- He was married to Sarah, only 23... - Yes.
0:18:43 > 0:18:47- ..and their two little girls.- Mm-hm.
0:18:47 > 0:18:50And that Sarah, then,
0:18:50 > 0:18:53when they moved from here in 1854,
0:18:53 > 0:18:57entered your family history as Sali Wernwgan.
0:18:57 > 0:18:58Oh, I see.
0:18:58 > 0:19:00- Beautiful.- Hm!
0:19:00 > 0:19:02Oh, stunning.
0:19:02 > 0:19:04So lovely.
0:19:05 > 0:19:08So with a big question finally answered for Sian,
0:19:08 > 0:19:12she can explore the home in which generations of her family once lived.
0:19:12 > 0:19:14I'd almost come to think it wasn't real,
0:19:14 > 0:19:16because I didn't know where it was.
0:19:16 > 0:19:18I didn't know anything about it.
0:19:18 > 0:19:19It's odd to see a place
0:19:19 > 0:19:22where the name has been on your lips for a long time
0:19:22 > 0:19:24and then there it is.
0:19:24 > 0:19:26It actually existed,
0:19:26 > 0:19:27and she lived here.
0:19:29 > 0:19:34And before leaving, Sian can't resist having a few family snapshots
0:19:34 > 0:19:35with Sali Wernwgan,
0:19:35 > 0:19:38who she now knows was her great-grandmother
0:19:38 > 0:19:40and lived in this very farm.
0:19:44 > 0:19:47The National Eisteddfod is as much a part of Sian's ancestry
0:19:47 > 0:19:50as her home in Carmarthenshire.
0:19:50 > 0:19:53The first Eisteddfod dates back to 1176,
0:19:53 > 0:19:57and has become Wales's biggest festival of music and poetry
0:19:57 > 0:20:00with Welsh people travelling from all over the world
0:20:00 > 0:20:01to attend the festivities.
0:20:01 > 0:20:04And Sian has her own fond memories of the Eisteddfod.
0:20:04 > 0:20:07And I remember mostly... I can still smell it.
0:20:07 > 0:20:12It is the smell of trodden grass, of new-cut wood...
0:20:12 > 0:20:16because the stage was always made of wood that had just been cut,
0:20:16 > 0:20:19I would imagine, and the steps up to the stage.
0:20:19 > 0:20:23Being on the stage was extraordinary, because the audience was gigantic.
0:20:23 > 0:20:26For a little girl, it was enormous.
0:20:26 > 0:20:31The Eisteddfod in 21st-century Wales, isn't so different -
0:20:31 > 0:20:34the coming together of people of all ages to celebrate
0:20:34 > 0:20:38Welsh dance, poetry and culture.
0:20:38 > 0:20:41Sian has been invited to perform at this year's Eisteddfod,
0:20:41 > 0:20:44in the Grand Pavilion, in front of 2,500 people.
0:20:46 > 0:20:48Word is out that Sian has arrived
0:20:48 > 0:20:51and the media are keen to learn more about her upcoming recital
0:20:51 > 0:20:56which she last performed at the Eisteddfod aged just 13.
0:20:57 > 0:21:01But first, Sian is meeting with historian Gerald Morgan
0:21:01 > 0:21:05who wants to learn more about Sian's history at the Eisteddfod.
0:21:05 > 0:21:08Sian Phillips, I can't tell you what a thrill it is to meet you here
0:21:08 > 0:21:11and to welcome you to the Eisteddfod in Meifod.
0:21:11 > 0:21:13Thank you very much indeed.
0:21:13 > 0:21:17- I've discovered that you have an Eisteddfod history...- A bit.
0:21:17 > 0:21:20..that goes back quite a way.
0:21:20 > 0:21:23What do you remember about that first Eisteddfod that you went to?
0:21:23 > 0:21:25Well, it seemed I'd travelled for days to get there.
0:21:25 > 0:21:27It was only Llandybie, I think -
0:21:27 > 0:21:30I had to go there from Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen or Alltwen,
0:21:30 > 0:21:33but it seemed like a very long journey. And Mair and I went -
0:21:33 > 0:21:37her name was Mair Lynn Edwards, we called her Mair,
0:21:37 > 0:21:40and Mair and I had to do a recitation, would you believe,
0:21:40 > 0:21:46which was a dialogue between two men, in the old meter,
0:21:46 > 0:21:47and it was about a man,
0:21:47 > 0:21:52between his cheerful self and his very depressed self.
0:21:52 > 0:21:54And that was our recitation.
0:21:54 > 0:21:57We acted this...this middle-aged man, really -
0:21:57 > 0:22:00the split personalities of a middle-aged man.
0:22:00 > 0:22:03It was a very strange thing to choose for little girls.
0:22:03 > 0:22:05Were you dressed up for the occasion?
0:22:05 > 0:22:07No, we weren't dressed,
0:22:07 > 0:22:10but my mother said, "Ask for a table and a chair.
0:22:10 > 0:22:12"And don't start until they're quiet."
0:22:12 > 0:22:14So Mair and I, very nervous,
0:22:14 > 0:22:17sort of got a table and a chair and we put them there,
0:22:17 > 0:22:19and then we waited and waited
0:22:19 > 0:22:21for what seemed like five minutes
0:22:21 > 0:22:24and then we launched ourselves into our dramatic duologue.
0:22:24 > 0:22:26- And you won!- And we won!
0:22:26 > 0:22:28And it was the beginning of a career.
0:22:28 > 0:22:30It was the beginning of my career, believe it or not,
0:22:30 > 0:22:33because they broadcast the same piece later that day
0:22:33 > 0:22:35from the Eisteddfod.
0:22:36 > 0:22:38Next, Sian Phillips is going to learn
0:22:38 > 0:22:41something about a woman she met as a very young girl.
0:22:41 > 0:22:45Sali Wernwgan's niece was Rosina Davies -
0:22:45 > 0:22:48a famous evangelist who travelled the world preaching
0:22:48 > 0:22:51at a time when women were rarely seen in this type of role.
0:22:52 > 0:22:55Rosina wrote a book about her life,
0:22:55 > 0:22:57and Dr Wyn James can tell Sian more
0:22:57 > 0:23:01about this extraordinary woman's time as an evangelist.
0:23:01 > 0:23:05She came under the influence of the Salvation Army initially,
0:23:05 > 0:23:08and, of course, the Salvation Army were using girls in a way
0:23:08 > 0:23:11- that the traditional nonconformist chapels weren't using.- Sure.
0:23:11 > 0:23:14And she was converted, apparently, they say,
0:23:14 > 0:23:17hearing the Salvation Army people preaching and singing
0:23:17 > 0:23:20- on the square in Treherbert.- Really? - When she was 16 years of age.
0:23:20 > 0:23:23- No!- Yes. By the time she was about 20,
0:23:23 > 0:23:26she's up in London moving in the London-Welsh circles there.
0:23:26 > 0:23:30- That's right.- And getting to know people like David Lloyd George.
0:23:30 > 0:23:32Did she really?
0:23:32 > 0:23:35David Lloyd George, actually, was a subscriber, I think.
0:23:35 > 0:23:38- His name is one of the first in the list for the book.- Oh, really?
0:23:38 > 0:23:39- Really.- So they obviously...
0:23:39 > 0:23:43- Of course.- ..obviously, had a link together, in that sense.
0:23:43 > 0:23:47- So she was moving in those Welsh high-society circles.- Yes.
0:23:47 > 0:23:49And she played a very, very prominent role
0:23:49 > 0:23:52in the 1904-1905 revival.
0:23:52 > 0:23:55Over that two-year period of the revival, 1904-1905,
0:23:55 > 0:23:59she preached I think about 500 times altogether.
0:23:59 > 0:24:03- No...- Mainly in North and West Wales.- Extraordinary.
0:24:03 > 0:24:06- So there was a remarkable energy, as well.- That's incredible.
0:24:06 > 0:24:09- People started calling her the Rose of Glamorgan.- Yes.
0:24:09 > 0:24:13- And then she said that people in North Wales didn't like that...- Oh!
0:24:13 > 0:24:15..because they wanted to own her, as well.
0:24:15 > 0:24:20- So she changed her name to the Rose of Wales.- Of Wales - yes!
0:24:22 > 0:24:25And that name followed the very popular Rosina across to America,
0:24:25 > 0:24:27as Dr James can explain.
0:24:27 > 0:24:32- They named a racehorse after her... - No!- ..in Pennsylvania.
0:24:32 > 0:24:34Well, I don't think she would've liked that, at all!
0:24:34 > 0:24:36And she says in her biography,
0:24:36 > 0:24:39"They named this racehorse after me in Pennsylvania,
0:24:39 > 0:24:43"called it the Rose of Wales, and I'm not sure I really like it."
0:24:43 > 0:24:44THEY CHUCKLE
0:24:46 > 0:24:48Oh, it's wonderful!
0:24:50 > 0:24:54Time is now quickly approaching for Sian's performance.
0:24:54 > 0:24:58She's due to recite a poem inside the main pavilion
0:24:58 > 0:25:00in front of 2,500 people,
0:25:00 > 0:25:04a solo performance she last delivered at the age of just 13.
0:25:05 > 0:25:08Sian has memorised the three-minute piece,
0:25:08 > 0:25:11and is feeling more than a little apprehensive.
0:25:11 > 0:25:13It is marvellous to be here,
0:25:13 > 0:25:16but it is a long time since I did this poem
0:25:16 > 0:25:19at the National Eisteddfod,
0:25:19 > 0:25:21and I do feel nervous.
0:25:21 > 0:25:23Yes, I am very nervous, actually.
0:25:29 > 0:25:33Sian has been given her five-minute warning
0:25:33 > 0:25:35and it's time to head backstage.
0:25:38 > 0:25:42She can see thousands of people waiting to see her perform.
0:25:44 > 0:25:47The production team are behind schedule,
0:25:47 > 0:25:48so the wait goes on.
0:25:52 > 0:25:54Sian finally gets her call,
0:25:54 > 0:25:57and it's time for her to perform her poem
0:25:57 > 0:26:00for the first time since 1946.
0:26:00 > 0:26:04Rhowch groeso gwresog, os gwelwch yn dda,
0:26:04 > 0:26:07i'r actores Sian Phillips.
0:26:07 > 0:26:10APPLAUSE
0:26:32 > 0:26:37Baled y Pedwar Brenin gan Cynan.
0:26:39 > 0:26:41O bedair gwlad yn y dwyrain poeth
0:26:41 > 0:26:46cychwynodd y pedwar brenin doeth am eira'r gorllewin,
0:26:46 > 0:26:47dan ganu hyn,
0:26:47 > 0:26:51O, seren glir ar yr eira gwyn.
0:26:51 > 0:26:57Pa fodd, fy Arglwydd, y cefaist ti,
0:26:57 > 0:27:01y perl dros y gaethferch a rhoddais i.
0:27:03 > 0:27:10Yn gymaint a'i wneithir i un o'r rhai hyn.
0:27:10 > 0:27:16Fe gwnaethost ti, Arglwydd, yr eira gwyn.
0:27:16 > 0:27:18APPLAUSE
0:27:20 > 0:27:24Her performance is wonderfully received by the audience.
0:27:24 > 0:27:28A standing ovation in celebration of an incredible career,
0:27:28 > 0:27:31and a performance not seen for 70 years,
0:27:31 > 0:27:34originally performed by a 13-year-old girl
0:27:34 > 0:27:36from Carmarthenshire.
0:27:39 > 0:27:43So, did Sian enjoy coming home to the very stage she started on?
0:27:43 > 0:27:46Yes. It took me right back!
0:27:46 > 0:27:49It was strange doing something I did as a little girl,
0:27:49 > 0:27:51now that I'm old.
0:27:51 > 0:27:52But, erm...
0:27:52 > 0:27:56Because I learned it then when I was young and...
0:27:56 > 0:27:58It was a little bit odd doing it,
0:27:58 > 0:28:01but the audience... I remember that feeling,
0:28:01 > 0:28:05and that kind of audience in this kind of place.
0:28:05 > 0:28:07Yeah. It was great.
0:28:07 > 0:28:10Sian's journey into her past is nearly over.
0:28:11 > 0:28:15She's heard stories of a hero from the Napoleonic Wars,
0:28:15 > 0:28:19and had a decades-old question finally answered.
0:28:19 > 0:28:23So how does she feel about all she's learned about her ancestors?
0:28:23 > 0:28:25I feel wiped out, actually.
0:28:25 > 0:28:29Not because I'm tired, but I do feel...
0:28:29 > 0:28:31I do feel I've been through the mill.
0:28:31 > 0:28:33It's taken me back
0:28:33 > 0:28:35and made me think about a lot of things.
0:28:35 > 0:28:40I've also been reminded, though, how very tough their lives were.
0:28:40 > 0:28:44And, erm, how hard they all had to work,
0:28:44 > 0:28:47very often at things they didn't want to do.
0:28:47 > 0:28:49And, erm...
0:28:49 > 0:28:51I don't know, I...I felt very close to them,
0:28:51 > 0:28:54and I feel I owe those people a lot.
0:28:54 > 0:28:55A lot.
0:28:55 > 0:28:57Everything, really.