Pennod 3 Darn Bach o Hanes

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-Coming up, Rhys Mwyn reveals

-how clean water came to Caernarfon.

-Manon Steffan looks back

-at Tywyn cinema's golden age...

-..and Rhodri Morgan

-realizes a childhood dream.

-But first,

-I've come to Chepstow Castle...

-..the scene of a 1910 tale

-of conspiracy and deception.

-Deception is a trait

-that seeps into all aspects of life.

-In literature,

-there are two types of deception.

-The first is plagiarism.

-Stealing someone else's work

-and passing it off as your own.

-The motives of the second type

-of deception are more ambiguous.

-Writing something and passing it off

-as the work of someone else.

-The most famous literary example

-of this is probably the claim...

-..that William Shakespeare

-didn't write his plays.

-Oh! Woe!

-There are many theories

-about who wrote the plays.

-Was it Christopher Marlowe,

-William Stanley...

-..or the Earl of Oxford,

-Edward de Vere?

-In 1910, Dr Orville Ward Owen,

-an American physician...

-..excavated in Chepstow Castle

-and on the banks of the Wye...

-..to prove another theory.

-That the real author was scientist

-and philosopher Francis Bacon.

-According to Owen, Bacon

-had mercantile links with the area.

-His father-in-law lived locally.

-Owen believed that manuscripts

-confirming the theory...

-..were buried

-under the castle walls.

-Chepstow Museum houses diagrams

-of Dr Owen's excavation.

-They reveal Owen's effort

-and dedication to prove his theory.

-I don't think Cadw

-would allow this to happen today.

-The venture proved futile and costly

-for Dr Owen.

-He wasted a fortune and sacrificed

-a promising career digging here.

-English literature's major supposed

-deception remains a mystery...

-..but its Welsh counterpart

-has been solved.

-To find out how, why

-and who was involved...

-..I'm leaving Chepstow

-and heading for Aberystwyth.

-We'll continue this story later.

-I'm Manon Steffan Ros.

-Tywyn cinema plays a big part

-in my family's history.

-Even though I come from Rhiwlas,

-near Bethesda...

-..I now live in Pennal,

-not far from Tywyn.

-Moving here felt like coming home.

-It's great to be back.

-I feel at home.

-I've seen all sorts of films here.

-In 1893, one of my ancestors

-was among the cinema's founders.

-Back then, it was known

-as the Assembly Rooms.

-His name was on a plaque outside.

-When Taid queued to come in...

-..he was always thrilled

-to see the Price family name.

-More importantly,

-Nain and Taid met in the cinema.

-Nain always says she remembers

-where she sat, just behind us here.

-Nain and Taid

-were separated by an empty seat.

-She couldn't concentrate on the film

-because Taid was so good-looking!

-The cinema is an integral part

-of Tywyn's history.

-Many army camps opened nearby

-during World War II.

-Taid remembers how the cinema

-screened two films a day.

-There were queues outside.

-It was always full of young men.

-Busloads of girls

-came from Aberystwyth and Dolgellau.

-The cinema was a focal point

-for the community.

-Coming here with Nain

-is a brilliant experience.

-She recalls how things used to be.

-In the old days, the toilets

-were either side of the screen.

-You had to walk on stage

-to go to the toilets.

-No-one ever went!

-I'd come during the school holidays

-when I stayed with Nain and Taid.

-There were cut-outs

-of the Marx Brothers...

-..Charlie Chaplin

-and Laurel and Hardy on the walls.

-Harpo Marx scared me.

-I didn't want to sit

-too close to it!

-The town is fairly quiet now...

-..but the cinema is an echo...

-..of a time when it was lively.

-I've come to the National Library

-of Wales in Aberystwyth...

-..to research Iolo Morganwg,

-an audacious literary forger.

-He forged the works of one of our

-greatest bards, Dafydd ap Gwilym.

-In Iolo's day, Dafydd ap Gwilym was

-Welsh literature's brightest star.

-Iolo himself was one

-of his most ardent admirers.

-He was such an admirer

-that he forged poems...

-..which he gave to the publishers

-of a new anthology of Dafydd's work.

-Harmless fun or something bigger?

-Who knows.

-Professor Mary-Ann Constantine

-is an expert on Iolo's antics.

-Her latest publication

-is a detailed study of the story.

-The fascinating collection

-appeared in 1789.

-For the first time...

-..an attempt was made

-to collect Dafydd's poems...

-..and create a picture of the bard.

-People knew quite a lot about him.

-For the first time, Owen Jones

-and William Owen Pughe...

-..invested time and money

-to collect the poems...

-..that were scattered among

-Welsh libraries and stately homes.

-Iolo wrote to them

-to say he'd found a poem...

-..but that he couldn't be sure

-it was an original.

-They were thrilled to imagine

-reading a new poem about Morfudd.

-He eventually started

-sending the poems to them.

-People enjoyed his poems

-more than the originals!

-Maybe people enjoyed

-the personal snippets.

-That's often true

-with literary forgeries.

-Take the Hitler Diaries.

-People want to know

-Hitler's final thoughts.

-In Wales, everybody wanted to know

-more about Dafydd ap Gwilym.

-Little is known

-about the medieval poet.

-Iolo created a fake biography

-for him...

-..including his premature birth

-outdoors in a storm.

-This is presented in the volume

-and becomes a fact.

-We must recognize

-that he was a skilled forger.

-I don't like using the term forgery,

-because it sounds cold.

-Iolo lived it and he became

-Dafydd ap Gwilym's voice.

-He saw himself in the material.

-His dream was to create history.

-He'd convinced himself that he was

-rescuing the truth from the past.

-He believed his version

-of the past to be true...

-..even if the evidence wasn't there.

-Iolo fooled academics

-for more than a century.

-In a 1926 publication...

-..Professor G J Williams

-exposed Iolo's transgression.

-He spotted lines

-from original Dafydd poems...

-..which Iolo had adapted,

-as well as grammatical errors.

-But fair play, we can't deny

-Iolo's craft or audacity.

-In that respect, he was a winner.

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-Every gravestone tells a story.

-At St Peblig's Church, Caernarfon...

-..one story links 146 gravestones.

-It's a sad story of an outbreak

-of cholera 145 years ago.

-Disease on an epidemic scale

-was nothing new to the Victorians.

-But the most frightening disease

-of them all was cholera.

-In 1832, 1849 and 1866, cholera

-spread mercilessly through Wales.

-It thrived in standing water....

-..that was contaminated

-by human and animal waste.

-Slums in large towns,

-especially Merthyr...

-..were a breeding ground

-for a disease that killed thousands.

-When we think of Victorian slums...

-..Caernarfon doesn't necessarily

-spring to mind.

-London's East End, maybe,

-but there were many slums here.

-In 1801, Caernarfon's population

-was a mere 3,500.

-By the 1861 Census,

-that figure had grown to 10,000.

-Unless more houses were built,

-the situation would pose problems.

-Quite simply, there weren't

-enough houses in Caernarfon.

-Unscrupulous landlords

-saw an opportunity.

-This is a traditional

-terraced house.

-These landlords would cut a path

-between two houses.

-This made

-the existing houses smaller.

-These paths led to the slums

-at the rear...

-..where people lived

-in crowded, filthy conditions.

-These became known in Caernarfon

-as the courts.

-It makes today's landlords

-seem like saints!

-Imagine it.

-Boot Court was behind

-these shops on Bangor Street.

-It was the scene of the first

-outbreak of cholera in 1866.

-We have to picture

-narrow and dark streets...

-..where people lived

-alongside their pigs and cattle.

-No-one cleared the waste.

-It's no surprise

-that cholera took hold.

-In 1867, a man called Dr Seaton

-was sent here to write a report.

-He had already written a report

-on London's East End slums.

-This is what he said

-about Caernarfon's courts.

-"Never in all my experience...

-"..have I witnessed anything so bad

-as the undrained portions of town...

-"..more especially,

-the crowded courts...

-"..which were indescribably

-abominable sinks of disease."

-To understand how the disease

-spread through town...

-..I've come to Gwynedd Archives.

-We know that the courts

-were a breeding ground for diseases.

-But there's another reason

-why cholera spread...

-..and that's to do with water.

-There was a lack of clean water.

-At the time, Caernarfon

-didn't have a piped water supply.

-People had to fetch their water.

-W H Jones wrote about the town's

-two sources of drinking water.

-One was inside the town walls.

-John Speed's map

-dates back to 1610.

-I've enlarged it

-to make it easier to see.

-The letter I appears on the corner

-of Market Street and High Street.

-It refers to The Conduite.

-What exactly was that?

-What exactly was that?

-

-A water trough.

-There was no well

-and therefore no clean water.

-On the outskirts of town,

-near St Peblig's Church...

-..there is a well.

-A well by a graveyard

-wasn't an ideal place to get water!

-Especially not a well

-downhill from the graveyard!

-These were the only two locations.

-People probably collected rainwater.

-That certainly wouldn't have been

-the cleanest water.

-That was definitely one reason

-why the disease spread.

-The story has a happy ending.

-The 1866 epidemic finally spurred

-the town council to act.

-Led by the mayor, Llewelyn Turner...

-..in 1867, work began to pipe

-clean water into Caernarfon.

-This was commemorated by a fountain,

-which was erected on the Maes.

-In summer, this new fountain is full

-of children in bathing costumes.

-In 1866, people would have come here

-with buckets to get water.

-It just proves how much we take

-such a natural resource for granted.

-A number of dubious things

-appeared in the 1980s.

-Stonewashed jeans,

-yuppies, mullets.

-Oh, and another thing.

-The C5, which became the butt

-of several jokes in the press.

-But was this bad press justified?

-The Sinclair C5 is a new power

-in personal transport.

-When the C5 appeared in 1985...

-..it immediately became

-a target for criticism...

-..and an object of derision.

-The Sinclair C5, 399.

-Just dial 100

-and ask for Freefone C5 now.

-Llandrindod's

-National Cycle Exhibition...

-..features all sorts of bikes...

-..from a penny-farthing

-to a boneshaker.

-But surely there's some mistake?

-A C5 is among the exhibits.

-The handbook says, "Congratulations!

-"You're among the first owners

-of the remarkable Sinclair C5...

-"..the world's first

-practical personal transport...

-"..powered by electricity."

-No mention of a bike,

-but that's what it was.

-An electric tricycle.

-Historian David Williams is an

-expert on all types of machines.

-What is under the C5's bonnet,

-or should I say mudguard?

-This is what the C5 looks like

-in all its glory!

-Yes, in all its constituent parts.

-The pedals might reveal

-why it's classed as a bike.

-There's no doubt

-when we see them, no.

-But everything else

-is very new and different.

-How pioneering was the C5,

-technologically?

-Quite pioneering, but Sinclair

-did overcomplicate things.

-There were wires

-to connect everything.

-You can see how many there were.

-There were a lot of things

-to go wrong.

-What about the motor?

-There was speculation at the time...

-..about a link

-with Merthyr's Hoover factory.

-It was said the C5 was powered

-by a washing machine motor.

-That was an urban myth.

-I'm afraid it wasn't true.

-That would be impossible

-because it had a 12 volt DC motor.

-Washing machines

-had 240 volt AC motors.

-It was manufactured

-by an Italian company.

-It's quite powerful

-and a clever design.

-Many companies contributed.

-Possibly the most famous

-was the car company Lotus.

-They were famous

-for their sports cars.

-They designed the backbone

-of the C5.

-It's light and strong,

-which was Lotus's speciality.

-The name Lotus

-is synonymous with style.

-What about the body and design

-of the C5 itself?

-It tries to be aerodynamic.

-But most people

-didn't think it was cool at all.

-They weren't a common sight on roads

-or much of a commercial success.

-Have you been in one?

-Have you been in one?

-

-I've never had the privilege.

-We've taken two for a spin

-around the lake.

-How does it feel?

-Quite comfortable, once I sat in it.

-But I'm six foot plus

-and have long legs.

-I can't adjust the seat.

-The steering is strange.

-The handlebars are under our legs.

-It's unfamiliar.

-But there's a motor

-and I can accelerate!

-Wait!

-The acceleration is impressive!

-Let's turn around.

-I'll go in the opposite direction.

-That was hard work!

-Yes!

-What was his vision?

-He was ahead of his time.

-I'd suggest that the vehicle

-is only half the story.

-If you go to any European city...

-..there are networks for cyclists.

-Something like the C5 could work.

-Is Sinclair's dream still alive?

-Is Sinclair's dream still alive?

-

-Yes, definitely.

-He still hopes

-to answer the world's problems.

-I don't think my backside can take

-much more of this. I'll see you!

-Onwards!

-Last week,

-I asked you to identify this.

-It's an unusual artefact from

-St Fagans National History Museum.

-It's a busk, a piece of carved wood

-placed in a woman's corset...

-..from the 17th century onwards,

-to flatten the wearer's stomach.

-Some women would use it

-as a playful weapon...

-..to defend themselves from a lover

-or husband's amorous advances.

-This one was discovered in 1967...

-..while demolishing Cadwgan Hall

-near Denbigh.

-Here's this week's object.

-Thanks, Ger.

-It's made of wood

-and resembles the back of a chair.

-But why has a strip of metal

-been nailed into it?

-Was it used to dry something?

-What is it?

-Send your suggestions

-via Facebook...

-..and I'll give you

-the answer next week.

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