Sian Phillips Coming Home


Sian Phillips

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Sian Phillips - the glamorous Welsh actress of stage and screen.

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Her high-profile film and theatre roles

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have made her one of Hollywood's most-respected names.

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She starred with former husband Peter O'Toole in many films,

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but she's much-loved for the unforgettable performance

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as the scheming Livia in I, Claudius.

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Travelling to her birthplace

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for the first time in many years,

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Sian Phillips is coming home.

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On this journey, Sian will learn of her family's involvement

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at the Battle of Waterloo...

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How extraordinary!

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I'm pole-axed.

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I can't tell you how astonished I am.

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..finds closure to a question that has plagued her for decades...

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No!

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Yes.

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Which has a long association with your family, of course.

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Yes...

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..and Sian feels the nerves as she performs a reading

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at the National Eisteddfod

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for the first time in almost 70 years.

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APPLAUSE

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Sian now lives in London's cosmopolitan East End -

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a far cry from her beginnings in rural Welsh-speaking Carmarthenshire.

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As a teenager she headed for the bright lights of London

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to pursue a career in stage acting.

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But Sian has never forgotten her roots.

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I realised that I wasn't going to be able to stay in this wonderful place

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when I grew up a bit, and I...

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I was heartbroken.

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I broke my heart quietly and secretly and...and...slowly.

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Because I knew I was going to have to leave,

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so I really...

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I really appreciated

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all of my childhood,

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and all the places in Pontardawe, Brynamman, Cilmaengwyn...

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all those villages. I just loved the whole neighbourhood.

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Genealogist Mike Churchill-Jones has been invited to Sian's home

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on Brick Lane.

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Sian already knows much about her mother's family history,

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so Mike is here to find out where his research should begin.

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Come on in.

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Thank you. Thanks very much.

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This was, I think, maybe my first appearance.

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I would have been about four

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and it was a play at school called Mair A'r Wyau,

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I think my mother may have written it - Mair And The Eggs -

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and it was a little, erm...

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That was my Welsh costume, of course, for St David's Day.

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-Terribly cute, weren't you?

-Yes!

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SHE LAUGHS

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-In your little Welsh costume.

-Yes, in my Welsh costume.

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I was very, very proud that.

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It got lengthened and lengthened and lengthened as I got older.

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Lovely.

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-That is lovely.

-Sweet.

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Yeah.

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There's one family photograph Sian always keeps close,

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but someone she knows very little about.

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I always keep that with me.

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You know, wherever...

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In my drawing room, wherever I live.

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I just love the look of Sali, we think, maybe.

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Sali Wernwgan?

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Sali Wernwgan. Yeah.

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SHE LAUGHS

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She looks great.

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But this elderly women clutching a Welsh Bible

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is a mystery to Sian.

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Sali Wernwgan will be Mike's starting point

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for his search into Sian's ancestry.

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I'll get on with the research.

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Oh, well, I'd be very grateful, actually.

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Well, I hope I'll be very grateful. You never know, do you?

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-We'll meet up again in a couple of weeks in South Wales.

-Yes.

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-Hopefully, I'll have plenty to tell you.

-Well, oh, gosh...

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SHE LAUGHS

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I do feel a bit apprehensive, but mostly I'm looking forward to it.

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I don't mind what it is, really.

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I'd just like to know more. I would like to.

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-I'll see what I can do.

-OK. Thank you.

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A few weeks have gone by and Sian is travelling home to Carmarthenshire

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for the first time in many years.

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And she is still intrigued about this mystery woman with that unusual name.

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It's such a great photograph.

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And I've got it where I see it every day, at home.

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In a frame. And people say, "Where is it? What is it, exactly?"

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"Where does she live? Where was she?"

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And I can never tell them.

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But I say, "Well, it's Sali."

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And it's supposed to be Sali... S-A-L-I...Wernwgan.

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And "Wernwgan" is obviously a farm, or a little place...

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I just don't know.

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But I'd like to know.

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Sian is now in the village of Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen,

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where she and generations of her family lived.

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I think, for me to get the full flavour,

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I'd have to come on a very small, rattly bus.

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SHE CHUCKLES

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Sian's first stop is Carmel Chapel,

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a place very close to her heart.

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-Sian.

-Hello!

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She's arranged to meet here with Mike Churchill-Jones

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for the reading of her family tree,

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and it's been over 70 years

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since she last entered this chapel.

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Well... Oh, my goodness.

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Oh, it's...

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It's amazing.

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-Oh...

-What's it like being back here?

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It's wonderful.

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My earliest memories as a child are of the sort of honey-coloured varnish on the...

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on the seats, and the smell of the polish they use.

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I think everyone...

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There must've been a huge job-lot of polish, I think, in South Wales,

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because all chapels smelled of... beeswax, I suppose.

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Wonderfully.

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How different does it strike you?

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It doesn't strike me as different, at all.

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This is what I remember.

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And these are the places I first performed in

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when I was a child, of course.

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I remember sitting waiting, on a Saturday, especially,

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in chapels all around me here - and this one, too, probably -

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to go up into the...erm...

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Not into the pulpit, necessarily,

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but into the Sedd Fawr - the Big Seat -

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where there would be a dais and one would perform from there.

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On a Saturday. Compete.

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-Well, I've done a family tree for you.

-OK.

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Would you like to come down the front and I'll do a reading for you?

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Yes, I'd love to.

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Sian has many unanswered questions about her genealogy,

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and Mike can make a start on filling in the many blanks of her ancestry.

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-This is what we have come up with.

-Oh, goodness!

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Wow!

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Sian can see she has deep Carmarthenshire roots

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on both sides of the family.

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And Glamorganshire roots, dating back to the 1600s.

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Mike begins with Sian's great-great-grandfather,

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one Thomas Thomas.

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-Thomas started his working life as a coal miner...

-Yeah.

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-..but then he worked in the tin works.

-Yes.

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-..and he became a pickler.

-What is that? What's a pickler?

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-I don't know.

-You don't know what it is!

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SHE LAUGHS

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So Thomas worked in the tin works, as did many of his children,

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-and some of his siblings.

-Yes.

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But Sian is here to learn more about the mystery woman in the photograph -

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Sali Wernwgan.

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Mike can reveal that her name began as Sarah Jones,

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and that Sali was often used as a family nickname for Sarah.

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-Sarah Jones...

-Yeah.

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..is the lady you know

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as Sali Wernwgan.

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-No!

-Yeah.

-Oh, my goodness.

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So...

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I see.

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Oh, so she was Daniel's mother?

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She's your great-grandmother.

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So, she is... She IS my great-grandmother?

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I was never quite sure. I used to say, "This is my great-grandmother."

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I was hoping. Oh, wonderful.

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This is where the Wernwgan comes in.

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-Oh, I see.

-The Wernwgan farm. Belonged to this man.

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So, where is Gwy... Oh, it's Gwynfe!

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It's Gwynfe in Llangadock.

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Which is lovely. I love Gwynfe.

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I didn't realise that Wernwgan was in Gwynfe.

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Oh, wonderful.

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Later, Sian will be visiting the farm that bore this Wernwgan name.

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Thank you very much.

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-Terrific. Thank you.

-Good.

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Sali's father was Thomas Jones,

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who lived during the Napoleonic Wars

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and Sian is going to learn about his life

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by visiting the beautiful Glynhir Estates

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in Llandybie in Carmarthenshire.

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This place is brimming with Napoleonic history,

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with tales of French spies in hiding

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and a weapons factory on this very site.

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Thomas Jones started life as a simple farmer

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but his life took a dramatic turn

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as historian Gareth Glover can explain.

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I want to reveal to you today a little bit of his earlier life.

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You may not know that he actually fought at the Battle of Waterloo.

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No...

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How extraordinary.

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I'm pole-axed.

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I can't tell you how astonished I am.

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I didn't think anybody had ever gone anywhere.

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How extraordinary.

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So Sian now knows that her great-great-grandfather Thomas Jones

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fought alongside Wellington to defeat this man,

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Emperor of the French, Napoleon Bonaparte.

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And this very dovecot standing behind Sian

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was built in celebration of that victory at Waterloo.

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What I want to do now is talk a bit more about Thomas Jones himself.

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So let's go inside and see... We've got more to show you.

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Oh, that would be so interesting. Thank you.

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Inside the grand mansion, Sian can read from

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an autobiography written by Thomas's own granddaughter.

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"Thomas Jones was a cavalryman and was active in the war.

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"The relics of the war were a tricorn hat with feathers,

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"Wellington boots with a yellow or red band,

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"silver buckles and stirrups.

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"I remember the silver buckles."

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Now, that little bit of information helped us a lot

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because, as you can imagine, there are lots of Thomas Joneses...

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-Yes.

-..but there was only one cavalryman

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who was a Thomas Jones from West Wales.

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Let me just show you some papers we found in Kew, et cetera.

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-Yes.

-This one here, actually shows the day he actually joined the Army.

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-Gosh.

-And if you look at number two,

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"Thomas Jones" joined the Army on 19th March 1805,

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-which was the year of the Battle of Trafalgar.

-Yes.

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So, six months before that.

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And, as a major part of that, there was a bounty in those days.

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They actually gave soldiers money to join - to encourage them to join -

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-Yes.

-..and Thomas received £9 6s 4d,

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which actually equates in modern money to about £400.

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-So he got £400 for joining the Army.

-Right.

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He then went into the 18th Hussars.

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Now, the 18th Hussars, or Light Dragoons as they were known,

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would actually wear a very, very garish

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-and sort of smart uniform.

-Oh!

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But that's what he would've looked like...

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Oh, my goodness!

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Look at that.

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-..on his charger, ready for battle.

-It scarcely seems possible.

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This is the type of sword that Thomas would have carried.

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It is actually a real sword from the Battle of Waterloo.

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It was found... As you can see, it's very rust-encrusted, et cetera.

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-Yes.

-And this is exactly what he would have carried.

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It was very much a slashing weapon.

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-I don't know if you want to hold it?

-I'd love to.

-Please do.

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-Still a little sharp on the edge, so please be careful.

-Yes... Yes.

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-So you hold it...

-You hold it like that... Yeah, of course.

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-Wow.

-As you can see, it was a very nasty weapon.

-Oh, yes.

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Very frightening weapon to be against.

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Thomas found himself at the very heart of the famous

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Battle of Waterloo.

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In a field in Belgium,

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he fought alongside 68,000 of his allies,

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well outnumbered by Napoleon's troops.

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The battle was bloody, and the death toll enormous.

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But Thomas's victory here,

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finally halted Napoleon's march towards European domination.

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And he's very lucky, from what I can see, to have actually survived

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all of these battles and wars without any injury or loss to himself.

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So he's been very lucky in that sense.

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-A Lieutenant Colonel Malley, in 1886...

-Yes.

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..actually made this large cup.

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-Yes.

-Now this large cup has around it

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a large number of medals.

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And it is a big enough cup for that to be real medals.

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-Oh.

-He collected medals from his regiment, the 18th Hussars,

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because he'd written the history of the bat...of the regiment, as well.

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-When we have looked at the catalogue...

-Yes.

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..for that cup, we notice Corporal Thomas Jones...

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Oh, my goodness!

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..Waterloo medal is on the side.

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-On that cup.

-And so is his bar...

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-My goodness!

-..his military service and service medal with bars,

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for Sahagun, Benevente, Vitoria Orthez and Toulouse.

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Toulouse...

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And just to show you them,

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-that is actually his Waterloo medal.

-Yes.

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As you can see, that's his name on the side...

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-T Jones.

-Yes!

-Now, if you notice... It says "sergeant".

-Yes, it does.

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-Because of sergeant at the battle.

-No, no.

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-But they've backdated it.

-Yes.

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-They've actually put "sergeant" on the medal.

-Right.

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And there is his actual Military General Service Medal with the bars.

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Look at that.

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And again, his name on the side. Next to it.

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-Isn't that wonderful?

-"Thomas Jones."

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That is so wonderful.

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-Isn't that extraordinary?

-It is fantastic, isn't it?

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That's fantastic.

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It's fantastic to find that!

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-Where is it? There it is.

-Yes.

-I mean... That's extraordinary.

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It's a huge cup, as I say, from the 1880s.

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-Well, it must be big.

-It's a big punch bowl.

-Yes.

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Oh, how wonderful.

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What a lovely piece of research.

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-That's really lovely.

-You very welcome.

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Thank you so much. That is so interesting.

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And I'm so glad to understand that bit of the story.

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It all helps.

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It certainly does. Wow, that is so interesting. Thank you.

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You're very welcome.

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Whilst Sian is taking in this fascinating story,

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she's about to receive a surprise from her very own family.

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This is her daughter Pat O'Toole

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and granddaughter Jess.

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Pat's father is the late actor Peter O'Toole,

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and she is joining her mother

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to discover what Sian has been learning on this journey

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into her past.

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They're travelling to Aberdulais Falls near Neath

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because Sian learned earlier

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that her great-great-grandfather Thomas Thomas

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was a pickler at a tin works - a job she knows nothing about.

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-Hello!

-Hello!

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-How has it gone so far?

-Well, very good. Hello, darling.

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With the family back together, Sian, Pat

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and granddaughter Jess can enjoy the sunshine

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and the sights of this well-preserved tin works

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and hear all about Thomas's life as a pickler

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from site manager Lee Freeman.

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They'd have iron coming onto a site like this, like your Aberdulais tin works,

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and that would have been put through rollers.

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It would've gone through a hot-rolling process,

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and after that process it would've been left in what we call

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a black plate, and it would've been dipped into a black acid

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to, basically, remove the scale from the iron plate,

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ready for it to be annealed in a furnace.

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So what would have happened to Thomas, then?

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You said the chemicals were... It was toxic.

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It must've been really dangerous.

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Well, my understanding is that Thomas passed away

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-at the age of 52 years old.

-Oh.

-He had tuberculosis. TB.

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Oh, did he?

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One thing they say about tin-plate workers - they never got colds.

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-And that was because of the acidic fumes...

-Oh, I see.

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..it kept them... There were other issues.

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They had lots of respiratory problems, lots of...

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lost fingers and lost toes from the sharp objects they worked with,

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and lots of burns.

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The average life expectancy at that time, working in tin plate,

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was around 45 years old.

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-Oh, it was a hard life.

-It was a very difficult life.

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So, you said Thomas died...

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Do you know what happened to Thomas's wife and children

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-after he died?

-Erm... So his wife Ann, his widow -

0:16:430:16:46

she was left with ten children to look after.

0:16:460:16:51

Very sad. Terrible.

0:16:510:16:52

Ten children...

0:16:520:16:55

Sian and her family are being driven to a location on the western slopes

0:16:580:17:02

of Carmarthenshire's Black Mountain.

0:17:020:17:04

Oh, look at that! Oh, my God!

0:17:040:17:06

Isn't that beautiful?

0:17:060:17:07

You come over this very bleak mountain,

0:17:090:17:11

and suddenly you see it's so rich the other side.

0:17:110:17:14

Sian's had this photograph of her great-grandmother Sali Wernwgan,

0:17:180:17:22

who she discovered was actually called Sarah Jones.

0:17:220:17:25

Desperate to know where the name Wernwgan came from,

0:17:260:17:29

she's about to discover the answer here -

0:17:290:17:32

at this small farmhouse

0:17:320:17:33

in Gwynfe in the parish of Llangadock.

0:17:330:17:36

Here to explain more is historian Dr Eirwyn William.

0:17:370:17:40

Well, this is the farm, Sian, of Wernwgan...

0:17:420:17:46

-No!

-Yes.

0:17:460:17:47

..which has a long association with your family, of course.

0:17:470:17:51

Yes.

0:17:510:17:52

So this is where Sali Wernwgan lived.

0:17:520:17:55

Wow.

0:17:550:17:57

And she stood in the doorway somewhere here holding a Bible

0:17:570:18:00

to be photographed.

0:18:000:18:01

-And here you are.

-Oh, my goodness.

0:18:010:18:04

Well, we can trace your family back nearly 200 years, really.

0:18:040:18:07

-Oh, really.

-To this farm.

0:18:070:18:09

Erm...the earliest detail we have is about 1839...

0:18:090:18:13

-Yes.

-..when a William Thomas owned the farm -

0:18:130:18:17

no relation, we think -

0:18:170:18:19

but the tenant was a William Phillips.

0:18:190:18:22

Oh, really. Yes.

0:18:220:18:24

He had died by about 1850,

0:18:240:18:27

and his widow Ann

0:18:270:18:29

carried on the tenancy.

0:18:290:18:31

Yes.

0:18:310:18:32

-Erm, she lived here with her son...

-Yes.

0:18:320:18:35

..David, who was aged 33.

0:18:350:18:38

Yes.

0:18:380:18:40

-He was married to Sarah, only 23...

-Yes.

0:18:400:18:43

-..and their two little girls.

-Mm-hm.

0:18:430:18:47

And that Sarah, then,

0:18:470:18:50

when they moved from here in 1854,

0:18:500:18:53

entered your family history as Sali Wernwgan.

0:18:530:18:57

Oh, I see.

0:18:570:18:58

-Beautiful.

-Hm!

0:18:580:19:00

Oh, stunning.

0:19:000:19:02

So lovely.

0:19:020:19:04

So with a big question finally answered for Sian,

0:19:050:19:08

she can explore the home in which generations of her family once lived.

0:19:080:19:12

I'd almost come to think it wasn't real,

0:19:120:19:14

because I didn't know where it was.

0:19:140:19:16

I didn't know anything about it.

0:19:160:19:18

It's odd to see a place

0:19:180:19:19

where the name has been on your lips for a long time

0:19:190:19:22

and then there it is.

0:19:220:19:24

It actually existed,

0:19:240:19:26

and she lived here.

0:19:260:19:27

And before leaving, Sian can't resist having a few family snapshots

0:19:290:19:34

with Sali Wernwgan,

0:19:340:19:35

who she now knows was her great-grandmother

0:19:350:19:38

and lived in this very farm.

0:19:380:19:40

The National Eisteddfod is as much a part of Sian's ancestry

0:19:440:19:47

as her home in Carmarthenshire.

0:19:470:19:50

The first Eisteddfod dates back to 1176,

0:19:500:19:53

and has become Wales's biggest festival of music and poetry

0:19:530:19:57

with Welsh people travelling from all over the world

0:19:570:20:00

to attend the festivities.

0:20:000:20:01

And Sian has her own fond memories of the Eisteddfod.

0:20:010:20:04

And I remember mostly... I can still smell it.

0:20:040:20:07

It is the smell of trodden grass, of new-cut wood...

0:20:070:20:12

because the stage was always made of wood that had just been cut,

0:20:120:20:16

I would imagine, and the steps up to the stage.

0:20:160:20:19

Being on the stage was extraordinary, because the audience was gigantic.

0:20:190:20:23

For a little girl, it was enormous.

0:20:230:20:26

The Eisteddfod in 21st-century Wales, isn't so different -

0:20:260:20:31

the coming together of people of all ages to celebrate

0:20:310:20:34

Welsh dance, poetry and culture.

0:20:340:20:38

Sian has been invited to perform at this year's Eisteddfod,

0:20:380:20:41

in the Grand Pavilion, in front of 2,500 people.

0:20:410:20:44

Word is out that Sian has arrived

0:20:460:20:48

and the media are keen to learn more about her upcoming recital

0:20:480:20:51

which she last performed at the Eisteddfod aged just 13.

0:20:510:20:56

But first, Sian is meeting with historian Gerald Morgan

0:20:570:21:01

who wants to learn more about Sian's history at the Eisteddfod.

0:21:010:21:05

Sian Phillips, I can't tell you what a thrill it is to meet you here

0:21:050:21:08

and to welcome you to the Eisteddfod in Meifod.

0:21:080:21:11

Thank you very much indeed.

0:21:110:21:13

-I've discovered that you have an Eisteddfod history...

-A bit.

0:21:130:21:17

..that goes back quite a way.

0:21:170:21:20

What do you remember about that first Eisteddfod that you went to?

0:21:200:21:23

Well, it seemed I'd travelled for days to get there.

0:21:230:21:25

It was only Llandybie, I think -

0:21:250:21:27

I had to go there from Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen or Alltwen,

0:21:270:21:30

but it seemed like a very long journey. And Mair and I went -

0:21:300:21:33

her name was Mair Lynn Edwards, we called her Mair,

0:21:330:21:37

and Mair and I had to do a recitation, would you believe,

0:21:370:21:40

which was a dialogue between two men, in the old meter,

0:21:400:21:46

and it was about a man,

0:21:460:21:47

between his cheerful self and his very depressed self.

0:21:470:21:52

And that was our recitation.

0:21:520:21:54

We acted this...this middle-aged man, really -

0:21:540:21:57

the split personalities of a middle-aged man.

0:21:570:22:00

It was a very strange thing to choose for little girls.

0:22:000:22:03

Were you dressed up for the occasion?

0:22:030:22:05

No, we weren't dressed,

0:22:050:22:07

but my mother said, "Ask for a table and a chair.

0:22:070:22:10

"And don't start until they're quiet."

0:22:100:22:12

So Mair and I, very nervous,

0:22:120:22:14

sort of got a table and a chair and we put them there,

0:22:140:22:17

and then we waited and waited

0:22:170:22:19

for what seemed like five minutes

0:22:190:22:21

and then we launched ourselves into our dramatic duologue.

0:22:210:22:24

-And you won!

-And we won!

0:22:240:22:26

And it was the beginning of a career.

0:22:260:22:28

It was the beginning of my career, believe it or not,

0:22:280:22:30

because they broadcast the same piece later that day

0:22:300:22:33

from the Eisteddfod.

0:22:330:22:35

Next, Sian Phillips is going to learn

0:22:360:22:38

something about a woman she met as a very young girl.

0:22:380:22:41

Sali Wernwgan's niece was Rosina Davies -

0:22:410:22:45

a famous evangelist who travelled the world preaching

0:22:450:22:48

at a time when women were rarely seen in this type of role.

0:22:480:22:51

Rosina wrote a book about her life,

0:22:520:22:55

and Dr Wyn James can tell Sian more

0:22:550:22:57

about this extraordinary woman's time as an evangelist.

0:22:570:23:01

She came under the influence of the Salvation Army initially,

0:23:010:23:05

and, of course, the Salvation Army were using girls in a way

0:23:050:23:08

-that the traditional nonconformist chapels weren't using.

-Sure.

0:23:080:23:11

And she was converted, apparently, they say,

0:23:110:23:14

hearing the Salvation Army people preaching and singing

0:23:140:23:17

-on the square in Treherbert.

-Really?

-When she was 16 years of age.

0:23:170:23:20

-No!

-Yes. By the time she was about 20,

0:23:200:23:23

she's up in London moving in the London-Welsh circles there.

0:23:230:23:26

-That's right.

-And getting to know people like David Lloyd George.

0:23:260:23:30

Did she really?

0:23:300:23:32

David Lloyd George, actually, was a subscriber, I think.

0:23:320:23:35

-His name is one of the first in the list for the book.

-Oh, really?

0:23:350:23:38

-Really.

-So they obviously...

0:23:380:23:39

-Of course.

-..obviously, had a link together, in that sense.

0:23:390:23:43

-So she was moving in those Welsh high-society circles.

-Yes.

0:23:430:23:47

And she played a very, very prominent role

0:23:470:23:49

in the 1904-1905 revival.

0:23:490:23:52

Over that two-year period of the revival, 1904-1905,

0:23:520:23:55

she preached I think about 500 times altogether.

0:23:550:23:59

-No...

-Mainly in North and West Wales.

-Extraordinary.

0:23:590:24:03

-So there was a remarkable energy, as well.

-That's incredible.

0:24:030:24:06

-People started calling her the Rose of Glamorgan.

-Yes.

0:24:060:24:09

-And then she said that people in North Wales didn't like that...

-Oh!

0:24:090:24:13

..because they wanted to own her, as well.

0:24:130:24:15

-So she changed her name to the Rose of Wales.

-Of Wales - yes!

0:24:150:24:20

And that name followed the very popular Rosina across to America,

0:24:220:24:25

as Dr James can explain.

0:24:250:24:27

-They named a racehorse after her...

-No!

-..in Pennsylvania.

0:24:270:24:32

Well, I don't think she would've liked that, at all!

0:24:320:24:34

And she says in her biography,

0:24:340:24:36

"They named this racehorse after me in Pennsylvania,

0:24:360:24:39

"called it the Rose of Wales, and I'm not sure I really like it."

0:24:390:24:43

THEY CHUCKLE

0:24:430:24:44

Oh, it's wonderful!

0:24:460:24:48

Time is now quickly approaching for Sian's performance.

0:24:500:24:54

She's due to recite a poem inside the main pavilion

0:24:540:24:58

in front of 2,500 people,

0:24:580:25:00

a solo performance she last delivered at the age of just 13.

0:25:000:25:04

Sian has memorised the three-minute piece,

0:25:050:25:08

and is feeling more than a little apprehensive.

0:25:080:25:11

It is marvellous to be here,

0:25:110:25:13

but it is a long time since I did this poem

0:25:130:25:16

at the National Eisteddfod,

0:25:160:25:19

and I do feel nervous.

0:25:190:25:21

Yes, I am very nervous, actually.

0:25:210:25:23

Sian has been given her five-minute warning

0:25:290:25:33

and it's time to head backstage.

0:25:330:25:35

She can see thousands of people waiting to see her perform.

0:25:380:25:42

The production team are behind schedule,

0:25:440:25:47

so the wait goes on.

0:25:470:25:48

Sian finally gets her call,

0:25:520:25:54

and it's time for her to perform her poem

0:25:540:25:57

for the first time since 1946.

0:25:570:26:00

Rhowch groeso gwresog, os gwelwch yn dda,

0:26:000:26:04

i'r actores Sian Phillips.

0:26:040:26:07

APPLAUSE

0:26:070:26:10

Baled y Pedwar Brenin gan Cynan.

0:26:320:26:37

O bedair gwlad yn y dwyrain poeth

0:26:390:26:41

cychwynodd y pedwar brenin doeth am eira'r gorllewin,

0:26:410:26:46

dan ganu hyn,

0:26:460:26:47

O, seren glir ar yr eira gwyn.

0:26:470:26:51

Pa fodd, fy Arglwydd, y cefaist ti,

0:26:510:26:57

y perl dros y gaethferch a rhoddais i.

0:26:570:27:01

Yn gymaint a'i wneithir i un o'r rhai hyn.

0:27:030:27:10

Fe gwnaethost ti, Arglwydd, yr eira gwyn.

0:27:100:27:16

APPLAUSE

0:27:160:27:18

Her performance is wonderfully received by the audience.

0:27:200:27:24

A standing ovation in celebration of an incredible career,

0:27:240:27:28

and a performance not seen for 70 years,

0:27:280:27:31

originally performed by a 13-year-old girl

0:27:310:27:34

from Carmarthenshire.

0:27:340:27:36

So, did Sian enjoy coming home to the very stage she started on?

0:27:390:27:43

Yes. It took me right back!

0:27:430:27:46

It was strange doing something I did as a little girl,

0:27:460:27:49

now that I'm old.

0:27:490:27:51

But, erm...

0:27:510:27:52

Because I learned it then when I was young and...

0:27:520:27:56

It was a little bit odd doing it,

0:27:560:27:58

but the audience... I remember that feeling,

0:27:580:28:01

and that kind of audience in this kind of place.

0:28:010:28:05

Yeah. It was great.

0:28:050:28:07

Sian's journey into her past is nearly over.

0:28:070:28:10

She's heard stories of a hero from the Napoleonic Wars,

0:28:110:28:15

and had a decades-old question finally answered.

0:28:150:28:19

So how does she feel about all she's learned about her ancestors?

0:28:190:28:23

I feel wiped out, actually.

0:28:230:28:25

Not because I'm tired, but I do feel...

0:28:250:28:29

I do feel I've been through the mill.

0:28:290:28:31

It's taken me back

0:28:310:28:33

and made me think about a lot of things.

0:28:330:28:35

I've also been reminded, though, how very tough their lives were.

0:28:350:28:40

And, erm, how hard they all had to work,

0:28:400:28:44

very often at things they didn't want to do.

0:28:440:28:47

And, erm...

0:28:470:28:49

I don't know, I...I felt very close to them,

0:28:490:28:51

and I feel I owe those people a lot.

0:28:510:28:54

A lot.

0:28:540:28:55

Everything, really.

0:28:550:28:57

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