0:00:02 > 0:00:04- Daffodils, leeks, Welsh hat... - Hiya!
0:00:04 > 0:00:10Dragon hat, Welsh hat, inflatable leek, dragon hat!
0:00:10 > 0:00:15Icons, icons! Get your Welsh icons here.
0:00:15 > 0:00:18I know we think of people as our national icons.
0:00:18 > 0:00:20Tom, Shirl, Catherine Zeta,
0:00:20 > 0:00:22the Welsh rugby team on days such as this,
0:00:22 > 0:00:26but what about the things we wear and wave for Wales...
0:00:26 > 0:00:29the dragon, the flag, the leek, the daff?
0:00:29 > 0:00:32How did they become our national icons? Heard it all before?
0:00:32 > 0:00:33Well, I thought I had, too,
0:00:33 > 0:00:39but sifting through this lot is like travelling through Wales herself, full of twists and turns.
0:00:39 > 0:00:44So please join us in our detective story to find out about these.
0:00:44 > 0:00:47Icons, icons! Get your icons here.
0:00:47 > 0:00:50Daffodils, leeks, Welsh hat!
0:01:00 > 0:01:02FANFARE
0:01:02 > 0:01:05Oh, for heaven sake, shush!
0:01:05 > 0:01:11Shush, shush, shush, with your cannons and trumpets. This is rare footage from a SILENT movie.
0:01:11 > 0:01:13Thank you.
0:01:13 > 0:01:18This is film of an investiture at Caernarfon in 1911.
0:01:18 > 0:01:21But it's also said that on this historic occasion,
0:01:21 > 0:01:25the first punches were thrown in a fierce battle between two of our Welsh icons.
0:01:25 > 0:01:27DING-DING
0:01:27 > 0:01:33The issue, is the leek or is the daffodil the rightful national emblem of Wales?
0:01:34 > 0:01:37Now, it's been endlessly repeated as fact
0:01:37 > 0:01:43that the investiture of young Edward as Prince of Wales in 1911 was the day of the daffodil,
0:01:43 > 0:01:45because David Lloyd George, no less,
0:01:45 > 0:01:51stuck a daffodil in his lapel on that very day, championing its cause as our national emblem.
0:01:51 > 0:01:54So question, had the day of the daff really dawned?
0:01:54 > 0:01:59Was this a body blow to the leek's hope of fame and national glory?
0:02:09 > 0:02:12I don't think so. Look again at the photos.
0:02:12 > 0:02:15There's not a golden daffodil in sight.
0:02:15 > 0:02:20Not even a black and white one, fluttering and dancing in the Caernarfon breeze.
0:02:20 > 0:02:26And why? Well, unless they'd had a particularly cold snap up here in Caernarfon in 1911,
0:02:26 > 0:02:29it's pretty unlikely Lloyd George would have found a daffodil in flower
0:02:29 > 0:02:32anywhere from Twthill to Gei Llechi.
0:02:32 > 0:02:34It was July, for heaven sake.
0:02:35 > 0:02:40But what does seem to be true is that Lloyd George had indeed been championing
0:02:40 > 0:02:44the cause of the daffodil in preference to the leek for some years before the investiture
0:02:44 > 0:02:52and that, in the early 1900s, the vexed question of daffodil versus leek was already, erm, a hot potato.
0:02:52 > 0:02:57Obviously, the entire destiny of the nation's at stake if we don't sort out once and for all
0:02:57 > 0:03:00this business of leeks and daffs, so move over, Sherlock.
0:03:00 > 0:03:03You have my solemn word that no stone shall be left unturned
0:03:03 > 0:03:08in this quest to identify the true national emblem of Wales.
0:03:08 > 0:03:09If that's all right with you.
0:03:09 > 0:03:11CHEERING
0:03:13 > 0:03:16All right, all right. I know this is all going over the top a bit.
0:03:16 > 0:03:19Besides, what have the Welsh to worry about? Let's face it,
0:03:19 > 0:03:23our neighbours have made some pretty odd choices of emblems.
0:03:23 > 0:03:26There's the thistle of the Scots
0:03:26 > 0:03:28and the rose of the English.
0:03:28 > 0:03:33Both a tad prickly for me, but I'll say no more lest I cause offence.
0:03:33 > 0:03:35And then there's the shamrock.
0:03:35 > 0:03:38What in the botanical heavens is a shamrock?
0:03:38 > 0:03:42At least you can chomp on a leek or gaze wistfully at a daff.
0:03:45 > 0:03:49So what is the case in favour of daffodils as our national emblem?
0:03:49 > 0:03:52Well, they flower around St David's Day. Tick.
0:03:52 > 0:03:57They're attractive and they don't smell like leeks. Double tick.
0:03:57 > 0:04:02Welsh researchers discovered that the daffodil has potential as a medication against Alzheimer's.
0:04:02 > 0:04:09Bonus point. And botanists have shown that there are native Welsh varieties of daffodils.
0:04:09 > 0:04:11So let's give it up for the daff.
0:04:11 > 0:04:13Narcissus pseudonarcissus.
0:04:13 > 0:04:16Sub-species...pseudonarcissus. Flower of Wales.
0:04:16 > 0:04:18APPLAUSE AND CHEERING
0:04:24 > 0:04:28Of course, the fact that the daffodil exists in Wales from antiquity doesn't mean
0:04:28 > 0:04:34it's any more legitimate as a national emblem than an oak leaf, a poppy or a blade of grass.
0:04:34 > 0:04:37Part of the reason for the war between the leek and the daffodil
0:04:37 > 0:04:42must lie in that bastion of nationhood, that wall against a sea of Englishness,
0:04:42 > 0:04:44the Welsh language itself.
0:04:44 > 0:04:46Leeks. "Cennin".
0:04:46 > 0:04:49Daffodils. "Cennin Pedr".
0:04:50 > 0:04:54It's the same as if in English we called leeks "leeks", as we do,
0:04:54 > 0:04:57but decided to call daffodils "Peter's leeks".
0:04:57 > 0:05:00Who wouldn't get their icons in a twist?
0:05:00 > 0:05:03So let's see if I can do a bit of untwisting.
0:05:03 > 0:05:05Get to the root of the matter, and if possible
0:05:05 > 0:05:10come up with any references to the leek being a national emblem before the time
0:05:10 > 0:05:16of Lloyd George and his daffs, or at least some old tradition connecting the leek with St David's Day.
0:05:20 > 0:05:25Well, the big surprise is that we have to thank these gentlemen for some key evidence...
0:05:25 > 0:05:32the Yeomen of the Guard, the elite bodyguard of kings and queens of England for over 500 years.
0:05:32 > 0:05:36In his own private accounts, we have Henry VIII, no less,
0:05:36 > 0:05:42outlining what's clearly an annual expense he lavished on his daughter Princess Mary. Lucky girl.
0:05:42 > 0:05:45"Mens' M'cij, 1537-8.
0:05:45 > 0:05:47The month of March, 1537-8.
0:05:47 > 0:05:55"Item. Given among the yeomen of the king's guard, bringing a leek to my lady grace on St David's Day.
0:05:55 > 0:05:5715 shillings. "
0:05:57 > 0:05:59A clincher.
0:05:59 > 0:06:04What's been noted here is a ritual, an established annual ritual on St David's Day,
0:06:04 > 0:06:08with a Tudor king, Henry VIII, aware and proud of his Welsh ancestry,
0:06:08 > 0:06:14paying a princely sum for a leek to be delivered by the yeomen of the guard, his personal guard,
0:06:14 > 0:06:16to his daughter Mary on St David's Day.
0:06:19 > 0:06:22And there's another key piece of historical evidence
0:06:22 > 0:06:26in favour of the leek at the National Museum in Cardiff.
0:06:27 > 0:06:34Now let me introduce you to Philip Proger, originally from Gwerndu in Breconshire.
0:06:34 > 0:06:36Here's a local lad who did very well for himself.
0:06:36 > 0:06:42He was equerry to James I and later groom of his privy chamber. What more could you ask?
0:06:42 > 0:06:45But take a look at what he's holding in his hand.
0:06:45 > 0:06:47It's a bit small and limp.
0:06:47 > 0:06:48Certainly not as big as Max Boyce's
0:06:48 > 0:06:51or anything waved around at international matches.
0:06:51 > 0:06:55But it is definitely a leek and not a daff.
0:06:55 > 0:06:59But why would a Welshman in one of the most important positions
0:06:59 > 0:07:04in the court of the King of England want to have a portrait of himself holding a leek?
0:07:04 > 0:07:07Unless the leek meant something special,
0:07:07 > 0:07:11something that said what he represented, who he was, where he came from.
0:07:11 > 0:07:13I don't want to labour the point,
0:07:13 > 0:07:19but I think Lloyd George was barking up the wrong plant when he championed the daffodil.
0:07:19 > 0:07:23If I've got to rely purely on historical fact to justify our national emblem,
0:07:23 > 0:07:25then it is and can only be...
0:07:26 > 0:07:27the leek.
0:07:27 > 0:07:31# Hallelujah, hallelujah
0:07:31 > 0:07:36# Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah! #
0:07:36 > 0:07:40But it wouldn't be Welsh history if there wasn't a little twist in the tail
0:07:40 > 0:07:43and perhaps the Welsh language is closer to the mark than I thought
0:07:43 > 0:07:47because leeks, "cennin", and daffodils, "cennin Pedr"...
0:07:47 > 0:07:49well, as plants, they are distant relatives.
0:07:49 > 0:07:52They are both classed as Alliaceae.
0:07:52 > 0:07:57Leeks and daffodils belong to one big, happy botanical family.
0:07:57 > 0:08:00So let's bury the hatchet.
0:08:00 > 0:08:04On St David's Day, wear what you want, leeks or daffodils.
0:08:04 > 0:08:07Wear them where you want and when you want.
0:08:07 > 0:08:08We're like them.
0:08:10 > 0:08:13We're all in the same family soup.
0:08:13 > 0:08:15Daffodils, leeks.
0:08:15 > 0:08:19We may all appear to be different, but in fact we're all Welsh.
0:08:19 > 0:08:23And these things, leeks, daffodils, they should unite us, not divide us.
0:08:27 > 0:08:31Mm. I've just thought of something a little bit awkward.
0:08:31 > 0:08:36Historically, I think we can say with some confidence that the leek has been our national emblem
0:08:36 > 0:08:41for 400 years, with its rival, the daffodil, tagging along for the last 100 years.
0:08:41 > 0:08:43But why did we choose the leek?
0:08:43 > 0:08:46How did these become our national emblem?
0:08:49 > 0:08:53It's time to bring the leek to book.
0:08:54 > 0:09:00And what better book or play to do the job than one written by the Bard himself, William Shakespeare.
0:09:01 > 0:09:03What is this castle called that stands hard by?
0:09:05 > 0:09:07They call it Agincourt.
0:09:09 > 0:09:13It's a play that commemorates a great battle against the French.
0:09:13 > 0:09:14Its title - Henry V.
0:09:15 > 0:09:16Then call we this the field of Agincourt...
0:09:16 > 0:09:19Here Henry has just beaten off the French at Agincourt.
0:09:19 > 0:09:23His Welsh captain, Fluellen, reminds him of another event that held
0:09:23 > 0:09:29great significance for both men, and our story of the leek, the Battle of Crecy in 1346.
0:09:29 > 0:09:32Your grandfather
0:09:32 > 0:09:36of famous memory, and please your majesty,
0:09:36 > 0:09:43and your great-uncle Edward the Black Prince of Wales, as I have read in the chronicles,
0:09:43 > 0:09:47- fought a most famous battle here in France.- They did, Fluellen.
0:09:47 > 0:09:49Your majesty says very true.
0:09:49 > 0:09:55If your majesty is remembered of it, the Welshmen did good service in a garden where leeks did grow,
0:09:55 > 0:10:01wearing leeks in their Monmouth caps, which your majesty know to be an honourable badge of the service,
0:10:01 > 0:10:05and I do believe your majesty takes no scorn to wear a leek upon Saint Davy's day.
0:10:05 > 0:10:09I wear it for a memorable honour. For I am Welsh, you know, good countryman.
0:10:09 > 0:10:11And so he was. Born in Monmouth.
0:10:11 > 0:10:16Good man. There's no doubt that the battle Fluellen was referring to was Crecy,
0:10:16 > 0:10:20but it doesn't prove much more than that William Shakespeare was well aware
0:10:20 > 0:10:26of the tradition linking the leeks, the Welsh and Crecy, and the wearing of the leek on St David's Day.
0:10:27 > 0:10:31So is that why Philip Proger decided to get himself painted, leek in hand,
0:10:31 > 0:10:36to commemorate his fellow countrymen who had fought so gallantly at the great Battle of Crecy?
0:10:36 > 0:10:42It would also help explain why the Tudor dynasty sent leeks to each other on St David's Day.
0:10:42 > 0:10:48But it also seems that Philip's boss, the Scottish Stuart King James VI and I,
0:10:48 > 0:10:49had respect for the tradition.
0:10:49 > 0:10:53"The wearing of leeks on St David's Day by the Welshmen, " he said,
0:10:53 > 0:11:00"is a good and commendable fashion in commemoration of the great fight by the Black Prince of Wales."
0:11:00 > 0:11:03Again, by that great fight he definitely means Crecy.
0:11:03 > 0:11:10So a Scottish king applauds a Welsh celebration of an English king's defeat of France.
0:11:10 > 0:11:13This is starting to sound like the Six Nations.
0:11:14 > 0:11:16Now something else is niggling me.
0:11:16 > 0:11:20Both Shakespeare and King James are quite clear about one detail.
0:11:20 > 0:11:24That the leek is linked directly to St David's Day, March 1st.
0:11:24 > 0:11:28And yet the Battle of Crecy was fought on the 26th August.
0:11:28 > 0:11:31So can Crecy really be at the heart of the leek story?
0:11:31 > 0:11:33It doesn't make sense.
0:11:33 > 0:11:35Let's try another tack.
0:11:35 > 0:11:38Are there any older traditions or bits of historical evidence
0:11:38 > 0:11:41that perhaps link St David himself with the leek?
0:11:41 > 0:11:44Of course there are!
0:11:44 > 0:11:46I found a simple version of the story
0:11:46 > 0:11:53that says St David lived a humble life off bread, water and leeks, jazzed up with a sprinkling of salt.
0:11:53 > 0:11:57He died on March 1st, hence St David's Day and the leek.
0:11:59 > 0:12:03But we're Welsh. What's the point of a simple story when we can make it
0:12:03 > 0:12:06much more complicated and have a good old row about it?
0:12:06 > 0:12:09For example, there's the version that St David told his men
0:12:09 > 0:12:11to wear a leek in their caps as military colours
0:12:11 > 0:12:14and that they won a great battle against the invading Saxons.
0:12:14 > 0:12:17No, St David led the men in battle.
0:12:17 > 0:12:21No, I think you'll find St David fought alongside King Arthur in a great battle.
0:12:21 > 0:12:24Rubbish! It was with King Cadwaladr in 640 AD.
0:12:24 > 0:12:29St David fought a glorious battle, having told his men to wear a leek in their hats.
0:12:29 > 0:12:34Of course, the Saxons didn't have a clue who anybody was, so they ended up slaughtering themselves.
0:12:34 > 0:12:37But by 640 AD, St David was long dead.
0:12:37 > 0:12:39This is all myth and legend.
0:12:39 > 0:12:42Even if there is a persistent theme of a great battle,
0:12:42 > 0:12:47be it against the French at Crecy or with St David against the Saxons,
0:12:47 > 0:12:49the truth is there's no proof of any of it.
0:12:49 > 0:12:53What we do know is that the Welsh have always liked their leeks.
0:12:53 > 0:12:57Let's be realistic though. Until fairly recently,
0:12:57 > 0:13:03I'm pretty sure the Welsh didn't really give a figurative fig for St David, St David's Day or Crecy.
0:13:03 > 0:13:07All that stuff and ceremony was for the well-to-do Welsh elite in London,
0:13:07 > 0:13:09the Royals and Welsh regiments.
0:13:09 > 0:13:12No, back home in Wales, leeks have been,
0:13:12 > 0:13:18for at least a 1,000 years to my knowledge, food - good winter food.
0:13:18 > 0:13:22And yet I've heard it said that the leek has one other trick up its sleeve.
0:13:22 > 0:13:25That it was the green and white of leeks that partly inspired one of
0:13:25 > 0:13:29the greatest of all Welsh icons. Mmm.
0:13:32 > 0:13:36Now I may regret even thinking this but I wonder how long this,
0:13:36 > 0:13:41Y Ddraig Goch, the Red Dragon, has been our national flag?
0:13:41 > 0:13:43Why a dragon,
0:13:43 > 0:13:45and why the red, white and green?
0:13:45 > 0:13:49There's no doubt that it's an icon that's recognised the world over.
0:13:49 > 0:13:56Raised, worn and borne with dignity, passion and pride on many great, even historic, occasions.
0:14:04 > 0:14:07Here's one that's been taken into outer space aboard
0:14:07 > 0:14:13Space Shuttle Atlantis in 1994 by Joe Tanner, mission specialist.
0:14:13 > 0:14:18Joe Tanner of Illinois, but whose grandfather was head teacher in the school in Llanddewi Brefi.
0:14:18 > 0:14:21Joe, the only astronaut in the village.
0:14:22 > 0:14:25This one also ventured far from home.
0:14:25 > 0:14:30It flew from the Terra Nova, the ship that set sail from Cardiff on June 15th, 1910,
0:14:30 > 0:14:36bound for the Antarctic, carrying Captain Scott on his ill-fated mission to the South Pole.
0:14:39 > 0:14:41We're all proud of it and quite right, too.
0:14:41 > 0:14:43But you can take things too far.
0:14:43 > 0:14:49I've read claims that the Red Dragon on its green and white field, or background,
0:14:49 > 0:14:54is the oldest national flag in continuous use anywhere in the world.
0:14:54 > 0:14:57Like heck it is!
0:14:58 > 0:15:01It might well have been in space
0:15:01 > 0:15:04and sailed to the Antarctic, but the Red Dragon's first official
0:15:04 > 0:15:07outing as the national flag of Wales was as recently as...
0:15:07 > 0:15:09Wait for it...
0:15:09 > 0:15:12the 23rd February, 1959.
0:15:12 > 0:15:16On that day, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II directed that in future
0:15:16 > 0:15:21only the red dragon on a green and white flag should be flown on government buildings.
0:15:21 > 0:15:27So it was official then. In 1959, our flag became the flag of Wales.
0:15:27 > 0:15:29Er, not quite.
0:15:29 > 0:15:32Her Majesty's College of Arms begged to differ with Her Majesty.
0:15:32 > 0:15:36As the aptly named Austin Strutt put it at the time:
0:15:40 > 0:15:43"Never", "cannot"? Cheek!
0:15:43 > 0:15:45But I'm curious now.
0:15:45 > 0:15:48Clearly, the flag as we know it had been around for some time before 1959,
0:15:48 > 0:15:53if only flapping off the back of the Terra Nova in 1910.
0:15:55 > 0:15:59But does that mean the bits and bobs that make up the flag...
0:15:59 > 0:16:03the dragon, the green and white background, are only a tad over a century old?
0:16:03 > 0:16:06Of course it doesn't.
0:16:06 > 0:16:10Let's start with the star of the show, the red dragon.
0:16:10 > 0:16:16It's clear the dragon has been associated with Wales for a fairly, perhaps a very, long time.
0:16:16 > 0:16:20But how long? Now unless the Countryside Council informs us otherwise,
0:16:20 > 0:16:25I think we can say that the dragon, red or otherwise, is not exactly a native species of Wales.
0:16:25 > 0:16:29So where does the idea of the dragon come from?
0:16:29 > 0:16:31I sense you may be way ahead of me here.
0:16:31 > 0:16:34Of course, I'm now going to say the dragon
0:16:34 > 0:16:39was a Roman legionary standard the Welsh liked so much we nicked it.
0:16:39 > 0:16:42Time for a close encounter of the Roman kind.
0:16:44 > 0:16:52Meet draco, or a draco. It's easy to see how the Roman word gives us dragon in English or draig in Welsh.
0:16:52 > 0:16:55This is a replica but you can see how it would have made an impression.
0:16:55 > 0:16:57The head of a dragon, or a wolf.
0:16:57 > 0:17:00One's even been found in the shape of a crocodile.
0:17:00 > 0:17:05And the tail, well, it was a windsock and when the wind blew,
0:17:05 > 0:17:08out of the head would come a loud hissing sound.
0:17:08 > 0:17:13Scary stuff. Well, it was if it was coming at you at the head of a Roman cavalry charge.
0:17:16 > 0:17:20But it wasn't a Roman legionary standard. That was always an eagle.
0:17:20 > 0:17:26The draco would have been carried at the head of a cohort, a much smaller unit of about 480 men.
0:17:26 > 0:17:31A Roman military expert called Vegetius tells it like it was.
0:17:31 > 0:17:37"Dracones per singulas cohortes a draconariis feruntur ad proelium. " Now what could be clearer than that?
0:17:37 > 0:17:41He says, "The dragons are borne into battle
0:17:41 > 0:17:46"by the Draconarii or dragon-bearers of the individual cohort."
0:17:46 > 0:17:51The surprising thing is that they seem to be quite late arrivals on the Roman military scene.
0:17:51 > 0:17:56So when and where exactly did the Romans get the idea from?
0:17:57 > 0:18:03Part of the answer is kindly provided by the Romans themselves in a rather lavish strip cartoon.
0:18:03 > 0:18:10This is Trajan's Column in Rome, built to glorify the emperor's great military victories in 113 AD
0:18:10 > 0:18:15and, from the carvings, the losing side clearly had themselves a battle standard, the draco.
0:18:17 > 0:18:21To the victor the spoils and the draco, which the Romans
0:18:21 > 0:18:26adopted and used in turn to scare the bejesus out of their enemies, including the Welsh.
0:18:26 > 0:18:31So these things must have made a very big impression in a very short time.
0:18:31 > 0:18:33They did.
0:18:33 > 0:18:36Scarcely had the Romans left, than the words "draig" and "dragon"
0:18:36 > 0:18:39had become, and for centuries afterwards would remain,
0:18:39 > 0:18:45familiar terms of praise in the Welsh language for any great warrior or hero.
0:18:47 > 0:18:51How do we know that centuries later, I hear you ask.
0:18:51 > 0:18:56Well, because someone was kind enough to include it in their poetry and not just any old poetry.
0:18:56 > 0:18:59This was ancient Welsh poetry.
0:19:04 > 0:19:05This is a rare moment.
0:19:07 > 0:19:10Some of our oldest poetry
0:19:10 > 0:19:15in one of the most important books in the Welsh language under maximum security.
0:19:19 > 0:19:22And there's something over there I really want to see.
0:19:26 > 0:19:28Here he is.
0:19:28 > 0:19:31Llyfr Aneirin, the Books of Aneirin.
0:19:31 > 0:19:34And inside, Canu Aneirin. Aneirin's poetry.
0:19:42 > 0:19:47These poems were written down in about 1265 AD,
0:19:47 > 0:19:53but they date all the way back to 600 AD.
0:19:53 > 0:19:57And what we're looking for are just five little words.
0:20:01 > 0:20:07And here they are - "ar rud dhreic fud pharaon".
0:20:07 > 0:20:14"Dhreic" here. D-H-R-E-I-C. "Dhreic".
0:20:15 > 0:20:18"Rud" old Welsh for red. "Dhreic" - dragon.
0:20:18 > 0:20:21"And the red dragon will be victor".
0:20:21 > 0:20:25Out of the depths of history, from 1,400 years ago,
0:20:25 > 0:20:28the first red dragon.
0:20:36 > 0:20:40Having found our first red dragon, I suppose the next question is,
0:20:40 > 0:20:43when did the red dragon come to symbolise
0:20:43 > 0:20:45not just a great heroic individual,
0:20:45 > 0:20:47but the spirit of the nation itself?
0:20:48 > 0:20:50Part of the answer lies here.
0:20:50 > 0:20:55We're just outside Beddgelert in North Wales and that is Dinas Emrys.
0:20:56 > 0:21:01Geologically, Dinas Emrys is a small volcanic outcrop.
0:21:01 > 0:21:06Archaeologically, it has features dating from the Iron Age right through to the Middle Ages.
0:21:06 > 0:21:11But its importance to us lies in its role in the story of the Welsh dragon
0:21:11 > 0:21:18and it takes us back over 1,200 years to a time when the Welsh were really getting hammered by invaders.
0:21:18 > 0:21:24But they knew a well-sharpened Welsh quill could be mightier than any Saxon sword,
0:21:24 > 0:21:29so they wrote a tale and this is how the tale began.
0:21:30 > 0:21:36King Vortigern was having trouble building himself a castle up there on Dinas Emrys.
0:21:36 > 0:21:38Every night the whole thing fell down.
0:21:38 > 0:21:39I think I know the builders.
0:21:39 > 0:21:45Anyway, to cut a long story short, he enlisted the help of a bright young wizard called Ambrosius.
0:21:45 > 0:21:50Ambrosius being Emrys in Latin, hence Dinas Emrys, the stronghold of Emrys.
0:21:50 > 0:21:56On the advice of Ambrosius the king had his men dig into the hill below the summit
0:21:56 > 0:22:02and there they found a lake and, below the lake, two dragons were slugging it out dragon-style.
0:22:02 > 0:22:05One, a white dragon for the Saxons.
0:22:05 > 0:22:08The other, you guessed it, a red dragon for the Welsh.
0:22:08 > 0:22:10That's why the earth was moving.
0:22:10 > 0:22:13That's why the castle kept falling down.
0:22:14 > 0:22:17At first, it seemed the white dragon was gaining the upper hand,
0:22:17 > 0:22:23but then the red dragon rallied and saw the old enemy, the white dragon, off, just before the final whistle.
0:22:23 > 0:22:27Ah, yes! History can, and so often does, repeat itself.
0:22:28 > 0:22:31But the prophesy of the Dinas Emrys saga stuck.
0:22:31 > 0:22:36The victorious red dragon was caught by this tale and held firmly and forever
0:22:36 > 0:22:40in the minds and hearts of poets, princes and the people
0:22:40 > 0:22:43as a powerful symbol of nation and of hope.
0:22:43 > 0:22:47If new sons of this ancient prophesy weren't forthcoming,
0:22:47 > 0:22:50then the old ones, great kings and warriors of yesteryear -
0:22:50 > 0:22:53Cadwaladr, Cynan, Owain, Arthur -
0:22:53 > 0:22:57would rise from their slumber and, under the banner of a red dragon,
0:22:57 > 0:23:01they would lead the Welsh to freedom, to victory and to glory.
0:23:01 > 0:23:04None of which explains this.
0:23:04 > 0:23:06The date, November 2nd.
0:23:06 > 0:23:07The year, 1401.
0:23:07 > 0:23:10The place, Caernarfon Castle.
0:23:10 > 0:23:15Owain Glyndwr has just laid victorious siege to this English castle town.
0:23:15 > 0:23:18He's the charismatic leader of the most successful
0:23:18 > 0:23:22Welsh rebellion against English authority in Wales, a true son of prophesy.
0:23:22 > 0:23:27It's one of his major early successes, a blow struck for freedom and justice,
0:23:27 > 0:23:31and it's all done under a Welsh banner.
0:23:31 > 0:23:34And here it is.
0:23:34 > 0:23:38A golden dragon on a white background?
0:23:38 > 0:23:43So what was he up to? Didn't he know the prophesy of the red dragon of Dinas Emrys?
0:23:48 > 0:23:50Of course he did.
0:23:53 > 0:23:57Owain Glyndwr was highly educated and very well versed in heraldry.
0:23:57 > 0:24:01He knew his dragon would embody the spirit of the nation.
0:24:01 > 0:24:05He knew it would be seen as an emblem, an icon of fierce Welsh independence.
0:24:05 > 0:24:09He knew his golden dragon would conjure up the memory and
0:24:09 > 0:24:14power of one person, the greatest king of the Britons ever known...
0:24:16 > 0:24:18King Arthur himself.
0:24:18 > 0:24:22A hero from another golden age who led vast armies against the oppressor
0:24:22 > 0:24:26under a white banner emblazoned with a golden dragon.
0:24:26 > 0:24:29The funny thing is that by the time of Owain Glyndwr,
0:24:29 > 0:24:33the Arthur whose inspiration he took and shook like a fist
0:24:33 > 0:24:37wasn't some ancient hero from the mists of time when men were men.
0:24:37 > 0:24:42No, at the siege of Caernarfon, Arthur, the character we know and love,
0:24:42 > 0:24:45was a pretty recent literary invention.
0:24:45 > 0:24:49Arthur was a sort of medieval Welsh superhero, made up
0:24:49 > 0:24:53of semi-historical bits and bobs by a man called Geoffrey of Monmouth.
0:24:53 > 0:24:57His history of the kings of Britain, published in 1136,
0:24:57 > 0:25:01was a work of fiction JK Rowling would be pressed to beat.
0:25:01 > 0:25:04And it was full of fantastical detail, like Arthur's golden standard,
0:25:05 > 0:25:08but it was accepted as fact and became a bestseller across Europe.
0:25:08 > 0:25:13Everyone would have known who and what the golden dragon represented.
0:25:13 > 0:25:16OK, it was a pile of fibs, but so what?
0:25:16 > 0:25:20As for forging bits of history where there are inconvenient gaps
0:25:20 > 0:25:26or making up golden ages of this, that or the other way back when, well, don't we do that today?
0:25:26 > 0:25:28But enough of rugby.
0:25:29 > 0:25:32Anyway, at least we now have a dragon.
0:25:32 > 0:25:37Yes, a golden dragon, but we do have a dragon as an emblem of national unity.
0:25:37 > 0:25:40After Glyndwr's victory at Caernarfon, we have to wait over
0:25:40 > 0:25:4580 years before it reappears, but this time the dragon saw red, a lot of it,
0:25:45 > 0:25:51when it was carried into battle by a son of one of the most ancient and noble families of Gwynedd.
0:25:51 > 0:25:55The family seat was here at Plas Penmynydd on Anglesey.
0:25:55 > 0:26:00They were to give their name to one of the greatest royal dynasties in England history, the Tudors,
0:26:00 > 0:26:04and the founder of that Tudor dynasty, the first to warm the throne of England
0:26:04 > 0:26:10and wear its crown was Henry Tudor, destined to become Henry VII.
0:26:10 > 0:26:14In 1485, after years of exile, Henry Tudor landed at Milford Haven
0:26:14 > 0:26:19and at the head of a motley army, marched on Bosworth in Leicestershire.
0:26:19 > 0:26:26There at Bosworth Field on Monday 22nd August, 1485, he engaged in a great battle
0:26:26 > 0:26:28against the Yorkist king Richard III,
0:26:28 > 0:26:32who famously lost his crown and his gee-gee all in one day.
0:26:32 > 0:26:34"A horse, a horse.
0:26:34 > 0:26:36"My kingdom for a horse!" he cried.
0:26:36 > 0:26:39No chance! On your bike.
0:26:39 > 0:26:43Nothing's going to stop this Welshman taking his rightful place on the throne of England.
0:26:43 > 0:26:46Actually, when I say "rightful", Henry's claim to the throne was,
0:26:46 > 0:26:54shall we say, a little thin to a point of being illegitimate, but let's not poop the Tudor's party.
0:26:54 > 0:26:58The key issue for us is that not only had a Welshman, well, a quarter Welshman anyway,
0:26:58 > 0:27:03landed the big one, the crown of England, he'd won it under a banner described then as...
0:27:10 > 0:27:14The banner we know today as the Red Dragon, Y Ddraig Goch.
0:27:14 > 0:27:19We found it. The earliest historical reference, the Old Glory of Wales.
0:27:20 > 0:27:25The first ever red, white and green, and it's over 500 years old.
0:27:27 > 0:27:30The prophesy of Dinas Emrys had come true.
0:27:30 > 0:27:33A Welsh dragon, a dragon red in tongue, tooth and claw,
0:27:33 > 0:27:37had at last seen off the white dragon of oppression.
0:27:37 > 0:27:41Soon enough it spread its iconic little self across Tudor England,
0:27:41 > 0:27:43on the royal coat of arms,
0:27:43 > 0:27:48on the crossbars of the great doors to the Lady Chapel at Westminster.
0:27:50 > 0:27:53And a dragon still glows ruby red
0:27:53 > 0:27:57in the magnificent window gifted by Henry VII to King's College Cambridge.
0:27:57 > 0:27:58But hang on a minute.
0:27:58 > 0:28:03What's happened to the victorious red, green and white flag of Bosworth?
0:28:03 > 0:28:09Some time during the Tudor period, the dragon and flag seem to have parted company.
0:28:09 > 0:28:11I'll show you what I mean.
0:28:11 > 0:28:14No, not the annual Dover regatta.
0:28:14 > 0:28:18What we have in this splendid painting is Henry VIII's fleet
0:28:18 > 0:28:20about to set sail for France in 1520.
0:28:20 > 0:28:24Now if you look carefully at the painting,
0:28:24 > 0:28:28the cross of St George is very much in evidence.
0:28:28 > 0:28:32But look closer at this little boat
0:28:32 > 0:28:38and here all along this poop deck and the aft castle... All right, the back end -
0:28:38 > 0:28:42and there are literally dozens of green and white Welsh flags
0:28:42 > 0:28:45alternating with crosses of St George.
0:28:45 > 0:28:49Well, wash my mouth out. Henry hadn't ditched the red dragon at all.
0:28:49 > 0:28:52Or had he? Let's look at that green and white banner again.
0:28:53 > 0:28:56There you can see the new Tudor rose.
0:28:56 > 0:28:59And there, that's the portcullis.
0:28:59 > 0:29:01That's his gran's family emblem.
0:29:01 > 0:29:04And plenty of these, the fleur de lis. That's for France.
0:29:04 > 0:29:09But not a red dragon anywhere. Mm.
0:29:09 > 0:29:12Might be wrong though. Right here,
0:29:12 > 0:29:16technically the rear window,
0:29:16 > 0:29:18there is a red dragon.
0:29:18 > 0:29:24But the green and white are vertical and duplicated.
0:29:24 > 0:29:27So the issue is that part of our iconic national flag,
0:29:27 > 0:29:30the green and white bit, seems to be being used
0:29:30 > 0:29:34by the Tudors as a sort of heraldic dartboard they'd throw anything at.
0:29:34 > 0:29:38That could mean that green and white are the Tudor family livery colours.
0:29:38 > 0:29:40They're a bit like a horse jockey's silks.
0:29:40 > 0:29:42But there is another possibility.
0:29:42 > 0:29:44It's something I've only just come across.
0:29:44 > 0:29:50And the clue I've found is that it does involve a battle and one we visited before.
0:29:50 > 0:29:52But not the Battle of Bosworth Field.
0:29:52 > 0:29:57It's time to time travel again, back to August 26th, 1346.
0:29:57 > 0:29:59The Battle of Crecy.
0:30:03 > 0:30:09Let me introduce you to a WMD, a proper medieval weapon of mass destruction.
0:30:09 > 0:30:15This is the English, or equally appropriately, the Welsh, longbow.
0:30:19 > 0:30:22Oh, my! The luck of the beginner.
0:30:25 > 0:30:29The longbow was developed largely in the Marches, the Welsh borders,
0:30:29 > 0:30:32as a brutally-effective siege weapon.
0:30:32 > 0:30:38But it was put to devastating use by Welsh and English archers at the Battle of Crecy in 1346.
0:30:38 > 0:30:42As we already know, Crecy was meant to be when the Prince of Wales
0:30:42 > 0:30:44stuck a leek in his helmet to lead the lads.
0:30:44 > 0:30:49Good call, because from what I've just found out, his 5,000 Welsh troops
0:30:49 > 0:30:52must themselves have looked just like a field of leeks.
0:30:52 > 0:30:55No, I haven't lost the plot. Let me explain.
0:30:55 > 0:30:59It's an uncomfortable historical fact that Welsh soldiers in the 1300s were...
0:30:59 > 0:31:02Well, they lacked a certain finesse.
0:31:02 > 0:31:06They liked nothing more than hard drinking followed by a good punch-up
0:31:06 > 0:31:08and they were good at it.
0:31:10 > 0:31:11Must be in the genes.
0:31:11 > 0:31:13WHISTLE BLOWS
0:31:18 > 0:31:23So to keep an eye on them, rather than appeal to their sense of national pride,
0:31:23 > 0:31:28Edward III, that's the Black Prince's dad, the king issued specific instructions
0:31:28 > 0:31:34that the Welsh troops, and only the Welsh troops, mind you, should be issued with, and I quote...
0:31:34 > 0:31:36HE READS IN FRENCH
0:31:39 > 0:31:44In other words, a uniform of green and white cloth consisting of
0:31:44 > 0:31:49"a short coat and hat of these two colours, green and white, with the green on the right".
0:31:49 > 0:31:54So for whatever reasons, at the Battle of Crecy in 1346,
0:31:54 > 0:31:58the Welsh were the first troops ever to appear on a continental battlefield
0:31:58 > 0:32:05in what can only be called a national military uniform, a uniform of green and white.
0:32:05 > 0:32:08Crecy was a great victory for the longbow, the king, his boy...
0:32:08 > 0:32:13the Black Prince of Wales and the fearsome reputation of Welsh troops.
0:32:13 > 0:32:15But what a day for Welsh icons, eh?
0:32:15 > 0:32:19If we're to believe some versions of events, we ended up with the leek as a national emblem,
0:32:19 > 0:32:25the green and white uniform and the Prince of Wales' feathers, which the Prince of Wales nicked
0:32:25 > 0:32:30after the battle from the blind, very brave, but very dead Prince of Bohemia.
0:32:30 > 0:32:34And he nicked his motto, "Ich dien", I serve.
0:32:34 > 0:32:39It's ironic that in the late 1800s when they were choosing
0:32:39 > 0:32:43a symbol for our national rugby team, the Welsh Rugby Union
0:32:43 > 0:32:46opted for the three feathers of the Prince of Wales on a scarlet shirt,
0:32:46 > 0:32:52rather than the leek, to demonstrate the principality's loyalty to the British Empire.
0:32:52 > 0:32:56On the other hand, when it came to this,
0:32:56 > 0:33:00back in the late 1800s, the governing body of Welsh football
0:33:00 > 0:33:02decided that this should be the national strip.
0:33:02 > 0:33:07Nobody knows how or why, but this is a mirror image of the uniform
0:33:07 > 0:33:11worn by the Welsh soldiers, all 5,000 of them, at Crecy.
0:33:11 > 0:33:12Coincidence?
0:33:12 > 0:33:18So the question is, did the Tudors of noble Welsh decent favour green and white as their
0:33:18 > 0:33:23heraldic colours because of the valour shown by the Welsh soldiers in their national uniform at Crecy?
0:33:23 > 0:33:28And is that, ultimately, why we have green and white on the flag today?
0:33:28 > 0:33:29Maybe so.
0:33:29 > 0:33:31Then again, maybe not.
0:33:31 > 0:33:34Because an absolutely crucial and totally unexpected
0:33:34 > 0:33:39piece of evidence has come to light to suggest another real possibility.
0:33:41 > 0:33:44And that new evidence about the green and white on the flag
0:33:44 > 0:33:49switches the story from Crecy in northern France back to Anglesey in North Wales.
0:33:49 > 0:33:55And it involves a fascinating archaeological site discovered as recently as 1992.
0:33:58 > 0:34:01And here it is, or what's left of it.
0:34:01 > 0:34:06This is Llys Rhosyr, the princely court of one of the greatest names in Welsh history, Llywelyn Fawr...
0:34:06 > 0:34:08Llywelyn the Great.
0:34:15 > 0:34:20Back in the early 1200s, Llywelyn earned the moniker Llywelyn the Great
0:34:20 > 0:34:24by making himself ruler of a hefty slice of what we know now as Wales.
0:34:24 > 0:34:28His once-magnificent court at Rhosyr, one of several he owned,
0:34:28 > 0:34:31was abandoned after Edward I's conquest of Wales.
0:34:33 > 0:34:37Shortly afterwards, it was covered in a deep duvet of sand following
0:34:37 > 0:34:42a terrible storm and it lay lost to sight for the next 700 years.
0:34:42 > 0:34:48But it's not just Llywelyn's court that's been woken from its slumber.
0:34:48 > 0:34:54What we've uncovered is completely new evidence that breathes fire into the story of this ancient site.
0:34:54 > 0:34:58It's evidence that links this very royal court to the Battle of Crecy,
0:34:58 > 0:35:03right through to the green and white banner of the Tudors, to the national flag of today.
0:35:03 > 0:35:07It's nothing painted or carved or etched, but written.
0:35:07 > 0:35:12800-year-old Welsh poetry written in celebration of this royal court,
0:35:12 > 0:35:17praising Llywelyn himself and referring to the battle dress of his men.
0:35:18 > 0:35:21"Mae llu yn Rhosyr, mae llyn,
0:35:21 > 0:35:26"mae i'r glych, mae fy arglwydd Llywelyn a gwyr tal yn ei ganlyn.
0:35:26 > 0:35:29"Mil a murdd mewn gwyrdd a gwyn.
0:35:29 > 0:35:33"Gwr yn werthrhydd, gwr yn wrthyn yn Lloegr,
0:35:33 > 0:35:37"Llywelyn ar gychwyn, ymlaen cain cawad unbyn
0:35:37 > 0:35:40"ym mhluant gwyrdd ac un gwyn."
0:35:41 > 0:35:44I think with my basic Welsh, I managed to pick out "Llywelyn".
0:35:44 > 0:35:48"Gwyrdd" - green. And "gwyn" - white. Let's find out.
0:35:48 > 0:35:50"There is a force of men in Rhosyr.
0:35:50 > 0:35:55"There is drinking, golden bells clinking. There is my Lord Llywelyn.
0:35:55 > 0:36:00"His warriors follow him, 1,000 of them, a host in green and white."
0:36:00 > 0:36:03There they are... Llywelyn's men in green and white.
0:36:03 > 0:36:04And here's the second poem.
0:36:04 > 0:36:09"A man who stands firm against humiliation, who fiercely opposes the men of England,
0:36:09 > 0:36:12"such a man is Llywelyn as he sets out to war,
0:36:12 > 0:36:16"leading a defence force of lords in green and white garments."
0:36:16 > 0:36:18It's my little eureka moment.
0:36:18 > 0:36:24Poetry as a key in our investigation into the origins of the Welsh flag.
0:36:27 > 0:36:31800 years ago, that's almost 150 before Crecy,
0:36:31 > 0:36:34300 years before the Battle of Bosworth,
0:36:34 > 0:36:37one of the great leaders of Welsh history is described
0:36:37 > 0:36:42as having an army of men dressing uniformly, dare it be said, in a uniform of green and white.
0:36:42 > 0:36:47Might it be too much to suggest that these very same colours were deliberately copied and used to
0:36:47 > 0:36:53inspire every "Dai Bach y Soldiwr" and his colonel for generations to come?
0:36:53 > 0:36:59If I'm right, the national flag is an icon of unity, a coming together
0:36:59 > 0:37:04of the red dragon and all it stood for, with the battle colours of a great Welsh prince.
0:37:04 > 0:37:08Sometimes the elements have drifted apart, been separated,
0:37:08 > 0:37:12perhaps they even meant different things to different people at different times, but I do
0:37:12 > 0:37:18sense a sort of jerky continuity that leads to the flagpole of today.
0:37:18 > 0:37:19I love all this stuff.
0:37:19 > 0:37:22Because whether I'm right or wrong about the details,
0:37:22 > 0:37:28there's no denying that this old national icon of ours has depth, it has meaning, it has mystery.
0:37:28 > 0:37:32So whether you want to wear it, wave it at a match,
0:37:32 > 0:37:35wrap yourself up in it for a lap of honour,
0:37:35 > 0:37:41or see it as history on a stick, it's worth a respectful nod, a salute,
0:37:41 > 0:37:43for old times' sake.
0:37:46 > 0:37:51For an icon of national pride and spirit to a humbler icon of national taste.
0:37:51 > 0:37:54Delia adds sage and onion to hers.
0:37:54 > 0:37:59Heston sprinkles garlic wine vinegar on his. I wonder how you make yours?
0:37:59 > 0:38:03Welcome to Ed's kitchen and an icon you can make at home.
0:38:03 > 0:38:07In here I've melted a teaspoon of butter in two ounces of ale.
0:38:07 > 0:38:11Did you know ale was beer without any hops in it? I didn't.
0:38:11 > 0:38:13And two ounces of cheddar...
0:38:13 > 0:38:16Any good, Welsh, farmhouse cheddar will do.
0:38:16 > 0:38:19And I'm just going to stir it all until it's melted.
0:38:21 > 0:38:26It's odd how foods become associated with individual nations and people,
0:38:26 > 0:38:29how certain dishes become iconic.
0:38:29 > 0:38:32Ask the French what they call the English, for example,
0:38:32 > 0:38:35and they immediately say "les rosbifs", the roast beefs.
0:38:35 > 0:38:39Ask the English what they call the French and no doubt they'll refer to the habit
0:38:39 > 0:38:43of eating the hindquarters of a certain amphibian.
0:38:43 > 0:38:46And the Welsh haven't escaped this culinary leg pull either.
0:38:46 > 0:38:52For over 400 years, we've been associated not just with leeks but this.
0:38:52 > 0:38:55Now I'm just going to add
0:38:55 > 0:38:59about a teaspoon of mustard.
0:39:02 > 0:39:06A pinch of salt,
0:39:06 > 0:39:11and pepper and give it a good stir.
0:39:12 > 0:39:16Top French chefs love it and call it "le lapin gallois".
0:39:16 > 0:39:18And the English name for it?
0:39:18 > 0:39:20Welsh rarebit or rabbit.
0:39:21 > 0:39:23Now then, want to start a war?
0:39:23 > 0:39:26Is it rarebit or is it rabbit?
0:39:26 > 0:39:28Let me help you.
0:39:28 > 0:39:30It's neither, although "rabbit"
0:39:30 > 0:39:34is the older form, going back as far as 1699.
0:39:34 > 0:39:40No, the real name of this iconic Welsh dish should be "caws pobi",
0:39:40 > 0:39:43which means in Welsh, quite simply,
0:39:43 > 0:39:46"toasted cheese".
0:39:51 > 0:39:54I've always wanted to say this. Here's one I made earlier.
0:39:54 > 0:39:55HE SNIFFS
0:39:55 > 0:39:57Proper Welsh caws pobi.
0:39:57 > 0:40:01Now, we know the Welsh were all over the Tudor court like a rash,
0:40:01 > 0:40:03all our habits keenly observed...
0:40:03 > 0:40:10our speaking in a strange language, Welsh, our fondness for hard drink, our eating caws pobi.
0:40:10 > 0:40:15Oh, how they laughed at our little ways. Want to hear a joke from 1542?
0:40:15 > 0:40:16They say the old ones are the best.
0:40:16 > 0:40:21Heaven's heaving with Welshmen and they're generally upsetting the neighbours.
0:40:21 > 0:40:24So God says to St Peter, "Any chance of shifting these Welsh?"
0:40:24 > 0:40:27So St Peter goes outside the Pearly Gates and shouts,
0:40:27 > 0:40:31"Caws pobi! Caws pobi! Toasted cheese! Toasted cheese!"
0:40:31 > 0:40:34There's a stampede and the Welsh are gone.
0:40:34 > 0:40:39Hilarious. The joke was written down in 1542 by a monk, Andrew Board,
0:40:39 > 0:40:42who was defrocked for being "conversant"
0:40:42 > 0:40:45with women. So the last laugh was on him.
0:40:45 > 0:40:48Anyway, my icon is getting cold.
0:40:48 > 0:40:51Excuse me.
0:40:51 > 0:40:53Eat your heart out, Delia.
0:40:57 > 0:40:59It's funny, but with the exception of caws pobi,
0:40:59 > 0:41:03most of our icons so far have turned out to a bit posh, royal even.
0:41:03 > 0:41:08Then at the beginning of the last century, huge numbers of ordinary Welsh people
0:41:08 > 0:41:11opted for an icon that was very much of their own choosing.
0:41:14 > 0:41:21The year was 1908, and in 1908 an Englishman painted an image of Wales that became,
0:41:21 > 0:41:25almost by accident, not only hugely popular right across the UK, but was
0:41:25 > 0:41:33adopted in Wales as a portrayal of who we were, who we wanted to be, how we wanted to be seen.
0:41:33 > 0:41:39The original painting hangs here at the Lady Lever Art Gallery in Port Sunlight on the Wirral.
0:41:43 > 0:41:45And here it is.
0:41:45 > 0:41:48This is Salem.
0:41:50 > 0:41:55Perhaps it's a little too nostalgic and sentimental for today's
0:41:55 > 0:41:58Cool Cymru and a more global, digital age.
0:41:58 > 0:42:04But copies of it used to be everywhere, certainly within my living memory. Not that long!
0:42:04 > 0:42:09But what's fascinating about this picture is how it went from being a fine watercolour
0:42:09 > 0:42:12destined for a private collection into a national icon.
0:42:12 > 0:42:19It was painted by English artist Sydney Curnow Vosper, who then sold it at an exhibition
0:42:19 > 0:42:23at the Royal Watercolour Society in London in 1909.
0:42:23 > 0:42:29The person who bought it for the hefty sum of £105 was the wealthy William Hesketh Lever,
0:42:29 > 0:42:33Lord Leverhulme, who not only established this magnificent art gallery
0:42:33 > 0:42:35to house his collection of artworks,
0:42:35 > 0:42:40he was also the owner of Sunlight soap, the biggest manufacturer of soap in the UK at the time.
0:42:40 > 0:42:46Besides having good artistic taste, Lord Leverhulme was also a very shrewd man.
0:42:46 > 0:42:51Rather than having this congregation hanging round gathering dust, he put them to work.
0:42:51 > 0:42:55For every seven pounds in weight of Sunlight soap you bought, you too,
0:42:55 > 0:43:00could become the proud owner of a print of Salem.
0:43:00 > 0:43:06And they went like hot Welsh cakes all over the UK, but particularly in Wales.
0:43:06 > 0:43:09For the first time ever, ordinary folk bought into a work of art
0:43:09 > 0:43:13and an idea of Welshness that stuck like superglue.
0:43:13 > 0:43:15But there's something not quite right here.
0:43:15 > 0:43:18This wasn't the Wales of 1908.
0:43:18 > 0:43:21It was a romanticised Wales of decades earlier.
0:43:21 > 0:43:23It's the costumes.
0:43:23 > 0:43:27They're a throwback to some ancient good old days.
0:43:27 > 0:43:29Take Sian Owen's shawl, for example.
0:43:29 > 0:43:34In 1908, it was already an antique and had to be borrowed by the artist
0:43:34 > 0:43:37from the vicar's wife, Mrs Williams, down the road in Harlech.
0:43:37 > 0:43:39And as for the hat, well, it really was old hat.
0:43:39 > 0:43:43And I do mean "the hat", not "those hats".
0:43:43 > 0:43:46And why? Because Curnow Vosper could only find the one hat
0:43:46 > 0:43:52and he painted it on one, two, three, four heads.
0:43:52 > 0:43:56The actual hat belonged to this elderly woman's mother, so although
0:43:56 > 0:44:02Curnow Vosper was painting something entirely sympathetic to the Welsh, it was well and truly time-warped.
0:44:02 > 0:44:06But what I love about this painting, here we have the iconic picture of
0:44:06 > 0:44:12Welshness and within it we have something even more uniquely Welsh,
0:44:12 > 0:44:13the Welsh hat.
0:44:13 > 0:44:16# Where did you get that hat? Where did you get that tile?
0:44:16 > 0:44:19# Isn't it a nobby one and just the proper style
0:44:19 > 0:44:22# I should like to have one, just the same as that
0:44:22 > 0:44:25# Wherever I go they shout, hello, where did you get that hat? #
0:44:25 > 0:44:30The Welsh hat must surely be high in the current top ten of Welsh icons.
0:44:30 > 0:44:34Tens of thousands of them are sold by shops and supermarkets every year to parents under
0:44:34 > 0:44:41strict instructions from their little daughters to get them a Welsh hat for school on St David's Day.
0:44:41 > 0:44:46The idea of a costume being worn on St David's Day goes back quite a long way.
0:44:46 > 0:44:49This photograph from the collection at St Fagans shows kiddies wearing
0:44:49 > 0:44:57it in Blaenporth School in 1913, barely five years after the paint had dried on Curnow Vosper's Salem.
0:44:57 > 0:45:03So it's clear that by the beginning of the last century, we in Wales had some sort of idea that a tall hat
0:45:03 > 0:45:07represented us in a quaint but respectable sort of way and it
0:45:07 > 0:45:11was something national enough to be worn to celebrate our patron saint.
0:45:11 > 0:45:15On the other hand, it's also evident that the hat was something that
0:45:15 > 0:45:20people from outside Wales associated with us as being especially Welsh.
0:45:20 > 0:45:23Bull fighting - Spain. Kilt - Scotland.
0:45:23 > 0:45:24Lederhosen - Germany.
0:45:24 > 0:45:26The Welsh hat - Wales.
0:45:26 > 0:45:33So I set myself two simple questions, what exactly is a Welsh hat and how old are they?
0:45:33 > 0:45:36Simple, but I'll eat my hat if the answers are.
0:45:36 > 0:45:39These are, after all, Welsh icons.
0:45:39 > 0:45:40# Where did you get that hat, hey! #
0:45:42 > 0:45:45Now, it seems there were two types of Welsh hat.
0:45:45 > 0:45:48All of them had a broad, stiff brim
0:45:48 > 0:45:52and a tall crown rising to a flat top.
0:45:52 > 0:45:55Flat top, never a pointed top.
0:45:55 > 0:45:58That would have made Wales a permanent Halloween party.
0:45:58 > 0:46:00In South Wales, the sides were more tapered.
0:46:00 > 0:46:02In North Wales, they were straighter.
0:46:02 > 0:46:04That's straightforward enough.
0:46:04 > 0:46:07The odd thing is... I don't think I'm talking through my hat here.
0:46:07 > 0:46:14Of the 250 of these hats that remain, some were made in Wales, but...
0:46:16 > 0:46:18Carver's, Christys'.
0:46:20 > 0:46:22London, Bristol.
0:46:22 > 0:46:27The ultimate Welsh icon was made in England.
0:46:27 > 0:46:32So a Welsh icon largely made in England.
0:46:32 > 0:46:34"Rhyfedd o fyd". A strange old world.
0:46:34 > 0:46:38It's like finding out that the Welsh rugby kit is made in the Far East.
0:46:38 > 0:46:43OK, OK. But what about that second question, how old is the Welsh hat?
0:46:43 > 0:46:45Well, it seems that Welsh women have been
0:46:45 > 0:46:49wearing men's hats, as well as the trousers, for rather a long time.
0:46:49 > 0:46:55Here's the Reverend Joseph Romilly describing a sea voyage from Liverpool to Beaumaris.
0:46:55 > 0:46:58"Wednesday 12th September, 1827.
0:46:58 > 0:47:02"Disgusting day. Wind in our teeth, tide against us, heavy rain.
0:47:04 > 0:47:06"Went into steerage which was half price.
0:47:06 > 0:47:14"There found four gentlemen-like, young Irishmen and three Welsh women with their nasty black hats."
0:47:14 > 0:47:15Not a fan then!
0:47:17 > 0:47:21Then in 1839, the poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson visited Wales.
0:47:21 > 0:47:26He's a bit more complimentary, if not about Wales, then at least about our girls.
0:47:26 > 0:47:30"I cannot say that I have seen much worth the trouble of the journey,
0:47:30 > 0:47:34"always excepting the Welsh women's hats, which look very comical to the English eye, being,
0:47:34 > 0:47:40"in truth, men's hats, beavers, with the brim a little broad and tied under the chin with a black ribbon.
0:47:40 > 0:47:44"Some faces look very pretty in them."
0:47:44 > 0:47:49Oh, dear! Here's someone else who really doesn't like the Welsh hat.
0:47:49 > 0:47:52This one's by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the American author.
0:47:52 > 0:47:54He wrote The Scarlet Letter.
0:47:54 > 0:47:56He visited Wales in 1854 when he was made
0:47:56 > 0:48:02American consul general in Liverpool and this is his valued observation.
0:48:02 > 0:48:04"Many of the Welsh women, particularly the elder ones,
0:48:04 > 0:48:08"wear black beaver hats, high crowned and almost precisely like men's.
0:48:08 > 0:48:11"It makes them look ugly and witch-like."
0:48:11 > 0:48:15In defence of Welsh womanhood, I should point out that this very same
0:48:15 > 0:48:19Nathaniel Hawthorne's family were in general a bit down on witches.
0:48:19 > 0:48:24His great-grandfather presided at the infamous Salem witch trials.
0:48:24 > 0:48:32He does however bring us conveniently in a full circle from Salem, US, to Salem back in Wales.
0:48:32 > 0:48:35Because when Nathaniel and the others visited Wales,
0:48:35 > 0:48:41a quite specific period from the 1820s to the 1860s, it was exactly when the ladies of Salem would have
0:48:41 > 0:48:46been wearing their fashionable but distinctly Welsh hats to chapel, or on an outing.
0:48:46 > 0:48:50But what, or perhaps the question is who, started the fashion?
0:48:50 > 0:48:52We might have found a credible answer.
0:48:54 > 0:48:56Tall hats, tall column.
0:48:56 > 0:49:01It takes as long to climb as to say the Anglesey village it overlooks -
0:49:01 > 0:49:06Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrn - drobwllllantysiliogogogoch.
0:49:06 > 0:49:07Owf!
0:49:07 > 0:49:14This rather magnificent monument was built to the memory of Henry William Paget, First Marquess of Anglesey,
0:49:14 > 0:49:21First Earl of Uxbridge, of the second creation, and Colonel of the 7th the Queen's Own Light Dragoons.
0:49:21 > 0:49:24Quite a title. Quite a lot of titles. Quite a man.
0:49:31 > 0:49:34He was quite a ladies' man as well, by all accounts.
0:49:36 > 0:49:39But in battle, as courageous and dashing a cavalry commander
0:49:39 > 0:49:42as any novelist could wish for, particularly
0:49:42 > 0:49:48at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, when he had at least eight horses shot from under him
0:49:48 > 0:49:51and he famously lost one leg and gained another.
0:49:51 > 0:49:52Towards the end,
0:49:52 > 0:49:57he and Wellington were riding together when grapeshot flew over the neck of Wellington's horse
0:49:57 > 0:50:00and smashed the Marquess right in the knee.
0:50:00 > 0:50:03"My God, sir, I've lost my leg."
0:50:03 > 0:50:05Wellington lowered his telescope.
0:50:05 > 0:50:07"By God, sir, so you have."
0:50:07 > 0:50:10And immediately resumed surveying the battlefield.
0:50:10 > 0:50:13So, the Anglesey leg was made for the wounded hero.
0:50:13 > 0:50:19It's the first articulated artificial limb ever made, but as I've suggested, the
0:50:19 > 0:50:26Marquess' gallantry also extended to the ladies and, by God, sir, to Welsh ladies as well.
0:50:26 > 0:50:30At the 1821 Eisteddfod in Caernarfon, the war hero
0:50:30 > 0:50:34and idol of his people, the Marquess of Anglesey, was President for the day.
0:50:34 > 0:50:39According to the Cambrian newspaper report, he made a speech to the assembled people.
0:50:39 > 0:50:46In his Presidential address, he says he preferred and admired a beautiful face under a neat black hat, such
0:50:46 > 0:50:52as the lassies of Snowdonia wear, to the large French bonnets that he saw hiding several charming faces.
0:50:52 > 0:50:55He commends the ladies present the virtues of the Welsh hat,
0:50:55 > 0:51:00and the newspaper goes on, "The advice of the noble president has had the desired effect.
0:51:00 > 0:51:05"For nearly all the ladies at the last Pwllheli and Caernarfon hunts appeared in black hats."
0:51:05 > 0:51:08HORSE NEIGHS
0:51:08 > 0:51:11Precisely what sort of Welsh hat we're talking about, we simply don't know.
0:51:11 > 0:51:18There's not enough evidence to say whether it was this, that or the other kind of Welsh hat.
0:51:18 > 0:51:23What we do know is that when Princess, soon to be Queen, Victoria visited Bangor, here,
0:51:23 > 0:51:28just 11 years later, both she and her mum wore what they called Welsh hats
0:51:28 > 0:51:30and they did so, "In compliment,"
0:51:30 > 0:51:33as they said, "to the fair maids of Cambria."
0:51:33 > 0:51:37So by the early 1830s, everybody, including top bods in Britain,
0:51:37 > 0:51:40knew about the Welsh hat, although, frustratingly,
0:51:40 > 0:51:46no description has been found anywhere of what Her Majesty meant precisely by her Welsh hat.
0:51:48 > 0:51:53So royalty and gentry seemed to have decided that, although it wasn't
0:51:53 > 0:51:55the done thing to wear a Welsh hat in England,
0:51:55 > 0:51:58it was only right and proper and fashionable for the memsahibs
0:51:58 > 0:52:02to wear it on a visit to this near-flung post of empire.
0:52:02 > 0:52:05A bit like wearing a kimono in Japan,
0:52:05 > 0:52:10a sari in India or dressing up in tartan for a visit to Scotland.
0:52:10 > 0:52:14BELLS CHIME
0:52:14 > 0:52:18Big Ben. Is there a more stirring bong on the planet?
0:52:18 > 0:52:21There's a Welsh connection here, too, and a Welsh hat connection.
0:52:21 > 0:52:26The clock was named Big Ben after Sir Benjamin Hall, whose parents were wealthy Welsh.
0:52:26 > 0:52:30Anyway, it's not Benjamin Hall I'm really interested in, but his wife, Augusta Hall,
0:52:30 > 0:52:34Lady Llanover, who's been credited by almost every historian
0:52:34 > 0:52:39since the 1960s with inventing the Welsh hat and costume. She didn't.
0:52:39 > 0:52:43Lady Llanover deserves more credit for the things she did do,
0:52:43 > 0:52:49like promoting Welsh education, the Eisteddfod, literature, even Welsh cookery.
0:52:49 > 0:52:53Her frog and eel pie is to die for.
0:52:53 > 0:52:58There's no doubt that on her own estate and amongst her wealthy, elite circle of acquaintances
0:52:58 > 0:53:04she did champion the idea of adapting and poshing up all sorts of Welsh regional costumes,
0:53:04 > 0:53:09but this was for upper-class parties, soirees, the local Abergavenny Eisteddfod and so on.
0:53:09 > 0:53:14Mind you, not all her guests enjoyed the frisson of wearing Welsh costume.
0:53:14 > 0:53:20At the Abergavenny Eisteddfod of 1853, a Miss Mary Lucy of Charlecote
0:53:20 > 0:53:26was instructed by her ladyship's maid to take off her fashionable gown and wear Welsh costume instead.
0:53:26 > 0:53:32"The hat was much too large for me and was so heavy it did nothing but come down half over my nose,"
0:53:32 > 0:53:37she said. As for the Welsh costume, Miss Lucy complained it was ugly.
0:53:37 > 0:53:41"I never was more uncomfortable and vowed I would never again
0:53:41 > 0:53:43"wear such horrible things to please Lady Llanover.
0:53:43 > 0:53:47"Nor did I. And all the other ladies agreed with me. "
0:53:47 > 0:53:49I bet she screamed and screamed and screamed.
0:53:51 > 0:53:57Then again, by the 1860s, so did the younger generation of less wealthy lassies from rural Wales.
0:53:57 > 0:54:02Granny's cap no longer fitted them either and they refused to wear it.
0:54:02 > 0:54:06So the Welsh hat went to town, specifically to seaside towns,
0:54:06 > 0:54:09where it did hilariously funny tricks for the visitors
0:54:09 > 0:54:12on the local postcard stands.
0:54:12 > 0:54:17It also migrated to the new confident industrial communities, where it reaffirmed
0:54:17 > 0:54:20the feminine side of our identity, but only on special occasions,
0:54:20 > 0:54:24like the opening of the new East Dock in Swansea in 1881,
0:54:24 > 0:54:30or at the Liverpool National Eisteddfod promoting Welsh industry in 1884.
0:54:30 > 0:54:33But there's something not quite right here either.
0:54:33 > 0:54:38By the end of the 1800s and early 1900s, we have hundreds and hundreds
0:54:38 > 0:54:42of photos of young women from all over Wales once again wearing Welsh hats.
0:54:42 > 0:54:45What was going on?
0:54:45 > 0:54:48- OK, say cheese!- Cheese!
0:54:48 > 0:54:50There's nothing new under the sun.
0:54:50 > 0:54:55What those young ladies were doing was getting dressed up with family and friends for a photograph
0:54:55 > 0:55:01wearing fancy dress, just like Granny's, with a good old-fashioned Welsh hat to top it all off.
0:55:01 > 0:55:04- OK, and again please.- Cheese!
0:55:04 > 0:55:07In the same way that I can come here to St Fagans
0:55:07 > 0:55:13and have a cheesy photograph of me wearing the Edwardian clothes that were all the rage 100 years ago.
0:55:13 > 0:55:16- OK, just one more time. Say cheese. - Cheese!
0:55:16 > 0:55:19It's a bit of nostalgia, maybe a bit of fun.
0:55:19 > 0:55:23It certainly doesn't mean that those Welsh girls went around wearing a Welsh hat every day
0:55:23 > 0:55:28any more than me wearing a top hat in the first decades of the 21st century
0:55:28 > 0:55:31mean that all Welshmen now go round in top hats.
0:55:31 > 0:55:34Might have started something here.
0:55:36 > 0:55:40For richer, for poorer, for better and for worse, it seems we're destined to be married
0:55:40 > 0:55:43to the image of the Welsh hat for all eternity.
0:55:43 > 0:55:49Like it or not, it's part of who we are, how we see ourselves and how others see us.
0:55:49 > 0:55:50A national icon.
0:55:50 > 0:55:55And in this case, it's one we've bought into, quite literally,
0:55:55 > 0:55:57to the tune of over half a million pounds.
0:55:57 > 0:56:01That's what it cost to buy this for the nation, the Welsh nation.
0:56:01 > 0:56:05It's called A Welsh Landscape With Two Women Knitting.
0:56:07 > 0:56:11Like Salem, it was never painted for home consumption.
0:56:11 > 0:56:15It's by a Scottish, not an English artist, for a change, name of William Dyce.
0:56:15 > 0:56:21And the landscape he so skilfully painted was the Conwy Valley, an area he visited in 1860.
0:56:21 > 0:56:23These women,
0:56:23 > 0:56:26there's something a bit stuck on about them.
0:56:26 > 0:56:29This one's almost certainly taken from an early photograph, perhaps
0:56:29 > 0:56:35this one by Francis Bedford in the 1850s.
0:56:35 > 0:56:37Let's just say,
0:56:37 > 0:56:39she's had a hard life.
0:56:39 > 0:56:44But she is for real, just as her workaday hat and clogs are.
0:56:44 > 0:56:49And then, here's the hard sell, one of Queen Victoria's fair maids of Cambria,
0:56:49 > 0:56:52the pretty youngster in her red cape,
0:56:52 > 0:56:55which would have been a blue cape in this area of
0:56:55 > 0:56:58North Wales at that particular time, and her impressive Welsh hat,
0:56:58 > 0:57:01which would only have been worn for Sunday best
0:57:01 > 0:57:03or for strutting her stuff on market day,
0:57:03 > 0:57:07but definitely not for knitting socks on a mountain top.
0:57:08 > 0:57:14It's hard to say but this Miss is a myth. Reality, the ideal.
0:57:14 > 0:57:20But I'm certain it's this Miss in her Welsh hat and all her glory that we've bought into.
0:57:20 > 0:57:26It's an expensive postcard of ourselves, for ourselves, wishing we were still there.
0:57:26 > 0:57:32It's a hymn and an aria to an us that maybe never was.
0:57:32 > 0:57:34And does it matter?
0:57:34 > 0:57:40We're a nation that's always run on high-octane nostalgia and a lot of hwyl thrown in for luck.
0:57:40 > 0:57:43Besides, it's a great image.
0:57:43 > 0:57:45Nice hat, cariad.
0:57:46 > 0:57:47Welsh hat!
0:57:47 > 0:57:51Welsh hat, madam! Dragon hat, sir! Inflatable leek.
0:57:51 > 0:57:57Welsh icons, the most visible representation of us as a nation, a real cawl,
0:57:57 > 0:58:01a lobscouse of myth and reality, history and creative storytelling.
0:58:01 > 0:58:08This has been great fun, but trying to pinpoint their exact origin has been incredibly difficult.
0:58:08 > 0:58:10Maybe that's the point, that really is the point, that
0:58:10 > 0:58:17these things have become national icons and belong to us because their history is so fuzzy and complex.
0:58:17 > 0:58:21So I reckon, wear 'em with pride, wave 'em with dignity,
0:58:21 > 0:58:23but let's do it with our tongue placed
0:58:23 > 0:58:27ever so gently in our national cheek. Welsh hat, madam?
0:58:27 > 0:58:28No!
0:58:34 > 0:58:36Wales!
0:58:50 > 0:58:53Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:58:53 > 0:58:56E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk