Pennod 7 Eisteddfod Genedlaethol Cymru

-These things happened

-in the Grwyne Fawr valley.

-TJ Morgan was over the mountain

-in the Grwyne Fechan valley

-on Friday, 3rd February 1939,

-in the snow storms.

-This was just before something quite

-important happened on the continent.

-This is what he said.

-"I stopped at the first small

-holding I could find

-"where there remained one of the

-last who could still speak Welsh.

-"He was busy chopping wood

-at the back of his holding.

-"I appeared to me at the time like

-a task that predated the earliest

-"achievements of humankind.

-"This was the first person I met

-after I'd left Crickhowell

-"and he looked like the first

-man to walk the earth."

-"I greeted him in Welsh

-"and his surprise was greater

-than any I have ever seen.

-"Despite my greeting him in Welsh,

-he enquired whether

-"I was a Welshman.

-"He was puzzled and amazed to find

-a young man who could

-"speak the language."

-a recording of these last speakers

-of the language in the area.

-He goes on to say,

-"When I explained my intention,

-"the man looked at me

-"as if I was daft as I expounded

-on the importance of retaining

-"a record of his dialect

-for the generations to come.

-"His eyes were lowered

-and he was stroking

-"the fur on his sheepdog."

-Here is that recording.

-"You haven't got anyone

-left in the house."

-"Yes, I have a wife."

-"She's still alive?"

-"Yes, I'm on my second

-wife, you know."

-"Oh, really?"

-"I've had two sets of children."

-"Where do you get your

-water, I forgot to ask?"

-"We get slopwater from the river,

-but we have a well for clean water."

-"Is it far from the house?"

-"About a hundred yards.

-We must stop now."

-to hearing the tape for me.

-The final sentence is unclear.

-It could be, "Can we stop now?"

-Or more like, "We must stop now."

-It meant nothing at the time,

-just a way of stopping

-the recording,

-but for us listening to it

-in the next century,

-the next valley of time

-along, it's eerie.

-This is how TJ Morgan wraps

-up his visit to the Grwyne Fechan.

-"I felt a huge pang of sadness that,

-like looking into a mirror,

-"I had spoken to some of the final

-speakers of the language.

-"When the language will finally

-cease to exist I cannot predict,

-"nor where it will be,

-Ceredigion perhaps, or Anglesey,

-"in the 21st century perhaps,

-"but I have already witnessed

-it at Grwyne Fechan.

-"The next time I visit, the language

-may have died

-"as the five speakers that remain

-are all in their eighties."

-That was twelve miles

-away from here, in 1939.

-# I remember when everyone was Welsh

-# But now the flour bag is empty

-# Ffal di ral, di rol. #

-# But now the flour bag is empty

-to lose ground.

-When for years, you've been around.

-It's sad when there's no

-more work to be done.

-Saddest of all is the death

-of your mother tongue.

-# The old mill is broken down

-# We must make an end right now

-# Ffal di ral, di rol. #

-# We must make an end right now

-has come to a stop

-But now, there's a new

-mill filled to the top

-My name is Catrin.

-My name is Jenny.

-Welsh is our language

-at school in Abergavenny.

-in everything.

-He was happy to share

-his knowledge, too.

-He wasn't one of those people

-who hoarded his wisdom

-for his own personal

-gain, or for a college.

-Generosity was the first word that

-came into my mind when someone

-asked me to sum up his character.

-He was generous with his genius.

-asked me to sum up his character.

-He was generous with his genius.

-

-I think he subscribed

-to the old idea that if you had

-the honour of being a scholar at one

-of the Welsh universities

-you had an obligation

-to share your knowledge

-with the nation.

-Gruffudd Aled Williams,

-you were the only one amongst us

-to experience Gwyn Thomas

-as a cricketer.

-They do say that cricket is a sport

-for the upper classes.

-I wouldn't associate this

-particular team with

-the upper classes.

-Gwyn, in particular,

-was the type of fast

-bowler who aimed more

-at the batsman that at the wicket.

-I can still conjure up

-the images of Gwyn hitting

-a player at the university,

-a very good batsman at that.

-He hit him on the head.

-That particular student went

-on to become a famous broadcast

-journalist, but Gwyn

-almost killed him.

-We tend to think of Gwyn

-as a free-verse poet,

-but I think his influence

-extended well beyond that particular

-field in the Welsh language.

-He had a big influence on strict

-metre and Cynghanedd as well.

-If you look in particular

-at Ceri Wyn Jones' Chair-winning ode

-a couple of years ago, you can see

-strains of Gwyn's influence in terms

-of its adventurous approach

-to structure and use of dialect.

-And the use of unpoetic language.

-That was the kind of thing

-Gwyn had championed.

-We have to remember just how much

-influence he had on all kinds

-of poetry in the Welsh language.

-Anyone who thinks of Gwyn

-as a simplistic poet, is way

-off the mark.

-You can read his work at that level

-if you choose, but he can also be

-as abstruse and difficult

-as you want to make him.

-He was a scholarly poet,

-and it is in the scholarly strain

-of the poetry that his

-greatness resides.

-I'd go so far as to say

-that our modern 21st-century poets

-in free verse and strict metre

-could not do what they do

-without the contributions made

-by Gwyn Thomas in the second half

-of the 20th venture.

-The language would not be

-in its current literary shape

-and substance without the example

-set by Gwyn Thomas.

-Raymond Williams was a literary

-critic and novelist from Pandy,

-just north of here.

-He is positioned on the left

-politically,

-and as a Marxist

-in his literary criticism.

-He was born in 1921 and he went

-to college in Cambridge

-at the end of the '30s.

-He fought on the beaches of Normandy

-during World War II.

-He worked in the field of adult

-education in south-east England

-before spending 30 years as a drama

-professor at Cambridge.

-Culture and Society was his

-breakthrough publication.

-It was a hugely influential book,

-attempting to map out the history

-of culture in Britain.

-Williams' core belief that

-all culture was ordinary was very

-challenging at that time.

-It rebuked the beliefs of Victorian

-liberals like Matthew Arnold that

-culture was something intrinsically

-superior that needed to be foisted

-upon an uncouth,

-uneducated population.

-It also challenged the beliefs

-of contemporary conservatives

-like TS Eliot and Saunders Lewis

-that culture was something to be

-protected and treasured by a small

-elite

-from the upper echelons of society.

-Williams argued that culture

-permeated throughout every layer

-of society and that the values

-of the communal cultural experiences

-of the lower classes were, in fact,

-a better foundation for the nation

-than the competitive,

-elitist model of culture championed

-by the upper classes.

-The book's publication coincided

-with the National Eisteddfod

-at Ebbw Vale in 1958.

-A very rare visit for the event

-in his Monmouthshire.

-Fittingly perhaps, his work

-was criticised as

-"radical Eisteddfod-ism".

-Whatever you make of that,

-Williams championed culture

-as an all-consuming experience.

-A whole way of life.

-He was fairly blinkered

-to the challenge these early

-theories presented in

-terms of nationalism.

-He actually admitted that, "My

-distance from Wales was at its most

-complete", when he was writing

-Culture and Society.

-The unconscious subtext

-was inevitably a championing

-of Britishness.

-However, by the time he published

-The Country and the City in 1973,

-his Welsh identity

-had come to the fore.

-The complexities of living

-on the border and experiencing

-the clash of two languages

-and cultures had weakened his

-commitment to one

-all-encompassing culture.

-Diversity and the right to sustain

-differences of cultural identity

-were now emphasised by Raymond

-Williams.

-His experience of life

-on the border was now a basis

-for the understanding,

-comparing and contrasting

-with the troubles of other

-endangered societies.

-Next, a piece on the topic,

-the burger van owner.

-From the Aberhafren team,

-Aron Pritchard.

-Between two dry buns,

-he was soldered.

-Through the hearse's

-hatch was he ejected.

-In a square of cheese with a squirt

-of sauce, he was interred.

-Gwennan Evans.

-His hygiene scores

-were incredibly low.

-Bethel's graves,

-he filled, toe to toe.

-But to the crem he went,

-to roast below.

-.

-the Chair was Inheritance.

-Jams Nicholas, Ieuan Wyn

-and Idris Reynolds were the judges.

-What do you remember

-of that day, Ceri?

-It was a big day

-in a big week for me.

-Four or five us had hired

-a cottage in Llanfachreth.

-I remember it being

-a week of late nights.

-We were playing about and having

-ad-hoc poetry competitions.

-On the day itself, there were other

-things on my mind apart

-from the Chairing ceremony.

-at lunchtime.

-Cor Cantorion Teifi.

-We had to rehearse and perform.

-Then I literally had to run over

-to the Literature Tent because my

-team, the Carmarthenshire team,

-had reached the final

-of the ymryson.

-We actually managed to win

-and I had to be there to lift

-the trophy for the team.

-I have no idea who I

-gave that trophy to.

-I sprinted out of the Literature

-Tent and headed for the Pavilion.

-I was late and there

-was a queue waiting to get in.

-I joined the queue and no-one, apart

-from me, knew I'd won the Chair.

-Somehow, you still felt

-that everyone knew.

-No-one knew me that time

-and they didn't know.

-The queue got shorter and shorter

-and shorter until they closed

-the doors with a bang.

-They said the ceremony

-was about to begin.

-No-one else was allowed in.

-I foresaw that this arrangement

-would cause the Eisteddfod

-officials a few difficulties.

-Emyr Y Graig had

-joined me by this time.

-We looked for alternative entry

-points.

-This was before the time

-of the pink Pavilion, even.

-We knew of a place where we could

-sneak in and we tried our luck

-before coming up against the most

-terrifying sight in any Eisteddfod,

-the green jacket of a steward.

-He also told us that

-we couldn't get in.

-I had to reveal

-the big secret to him.

-I won't tell you

-exactly what he said.

-This place isn't really used

-to that type of language.

-he said "Yes, yes, now **** off".

-what he said and get out.

-However, some miracle meant

-that the electricity had failed

-the organ wasn't working.

-The ceremony had to be

-delayed for ten minutes.

-That meant I could queue, get in,

-take my seat and be ready

-without breaking any of the rules.

-Just for those who aren't familiar

-with the topic of "Y Dydd Olaf",

-is there a way of

-summing up its message?

-It's a warning to us

-about what would remain

-after a nuclear war where everything

-is reduced to one mass of grey

-totalitarian matter.

-However, there is a ray of hope

-for evolution thanks to the one

-Welsh book surviving the Holocaust

-because it didn't go

-through the English system,

-where all literature would be

-censored like they are in 1984, say.

-Seeds of hope for civilisation that

-could bloom after this disaster.

-you and you've seen ways of turning

-them to your individual

-style of music.

-How do you go about interpreting

-Owain Owain's work musically?

-That's a good question.

-Emotion is very important.

-But we wanted the words

-to inspire discussion.

-We were trying to steer away

-from making the story too personal.

-I was trying to represent

-the world around me.

-Personally, my process involves

-writing down a lot of words over

-a long period.

-The music then arrives and it's

-a cut-and-paste process from there.

-It's difficult to explain

-how the words and music

-are joined together.

-It just happens, really,

-but the style was important.

-Gwenno has followed the hypnotic

-pattern of the same people

-in the same place,

-doing the same things.

-The book is about the end of nations

-and the end of humanity.

-She's done that

-amazingly successfully.

-Two years before writing,

-Doctor Who came out.

-It had this synth doing

-fantastic electronic music.

-You have that, but you add elements

-of Joan Baez or Dafydd Iwan.

-You also change the order of things.

-In 1902, he publishes, Y Wenhwyseg,

-A Key to the Phonology

-of the Gwentian Dialect.

-That title might suggest

-that the author was aiming his work

-at the academic community.

-Actually, this was a booklet

-aimed at school teachers.

-Teachers who taught Welsh

-in Gwent and Glamorgan.

-It is only 30 pages in length

-and it's both significant

-and ground-breaking.

-Griffith in his foreword says

-the context for it was that 500,000

-people in Wales spoke

-the Wenhwyseg dialect.

-He also claimed that it had

-an influence on a further

-500,00 Welsh speakers.

-Griffith maintains

-a straight-forward

-relationship between dialect

-and more formal spoken language.

-He says that teachers hoping

-to teach the formal spoken language

-must have a knowledge of the spoken

-dialect of their pupils.

-Over a century has passed

-since Griffith published his booklet

-about the Wenhwyseg.

-Since he predicted the future,

-let's take a look at

-what actually happened.

-Griffith was completely

-mistaken in his faith

-in the strength of the Wenhwyseg.

-Despite the hundreds of thousands

-who spoke it at the start

-of the 20th century,

-it was very nearly extinct by the

-end of the century.

-That didn't mean that Welsh

-was extinct in the South-East.

-However, Wenhwyseg isn't the mother

-tongue of the people

-of this area today.

-However, the most abiding belief

-in the importance of understanding

-the local dialect before teaching

-formal spoken language has endured.

-Especially the acceptance

-of pretty low-grade

-language without criticism.

-Speakers of the modern dialects

-of the South-East are often berated.

-Some are criticized for not speaking

-the traditional Wenhwyseg

-without ever getting an explanation

-of how exactly they could have

-picked it up.

-A few months ago even,

-one cultural commentator described

-the speech pattern of the pupils

-in welsh-language schools

-of South-East Wales as a mishmash

-of the dialects they'd heard

-from all their teachers

-from different parts of Wales.

-To me, that would seem

-blatantly obvious.

-The disappearance of Wenhwyseg

-from its areas of strength is sad,

-but that isn't the fault

-of modern-day schoolchildren.

-They aren't the ones who failed

-to pass the language on to the next

-generation for whatever reason.

-Since their teachers come

-from different areas of Wales,

-it is inevitable that

-their language will reflect that.

-We should rather celebrate

-the emergence of a new dialect.

-Let's turn our attention

-to Nia Ben Aur.

-It first appeared at

-the Carmarthen Eisteddfod in 1974.

-It was a rock opera and it gave

-you rockers your first opportunity

-to appear on the national stage.

-That was ground-breaking

-for its time.

-You were Nia Ben Aur.

-The rock thing

-hadn't really taken off

-then in the early '70s.

-We were trying to do stuff,

-but they weren't really

-going down that well.

-People like Dewi liked

-to hear me singing folk songs.

-I was quite lucky that my songs

-in Nia Ben Aur weren't

-that rock-based, really.

-Your song was the big one,

-Ri ri ri, Brenin Tir Na Nog.

-Some songs have emerged from that

-show that are beautiful

-and live on today.

-I don't sing many of my songs any

-more, but I love Cwsg Osian

-and I sing that all the time.

-was a shambles.

-You know the radio mics

-you wear these days?

-Well, you and Cleif and me had them,

-but neither of yours

-actually worked.

-I was lucky, or at least I thought

-so, people could actually hear me

-singing, Ri ri ri,

-Brenin Tir Na Nog.

-I couldn't possibly sing that now.

-My story was about that time

-and it was a world of being cool

-and hippies and all that.

-Now, you'll remember this,

-there was a guy backstage

-called Arthur Brown.

-He was a complete nutter.

-He was on Top of the

-Pops and everything.

-His act involved him coming on stage

-into a circle of fire.

-He'd sing, "Fire!

-I beg you to burn".

-He was there backstage.

-You're late, have you got a note?

-We had Arthur Brown with

-us backstage.

-Wow!

-I just said, "Arthur Brown!"

-And he said, "Yeah, that's right".

-"What are you doing here?"

-"I'm just picking up

-the Celtic vibes, man."

-And I thought, "What an idiot!"

-That was Arthur Brown for you.

-I remember I was given

-a police escort one evening

-because I was double-booked.

-That didn't go down that well

-with Dewi and a few others.

-I was doing something

-on the fringes of the college,

-Beca and her Children.

-Wynford Ellis Owen was worried

-I wouldn't get to the

-Eisteddfod in time.

-I was given a police escort

-from the college to

-the Eisteddfod site.

-There was no other traffic

-on the road at all.

-I was embarrassed, but having

-the police was good fun.

-.

-the invitation came,

-I was a little hesitant in accepting

-the invitation, having disappointed

-so many bards last year.

-Life just hasn't been the same.

-There are some chaired bards

-who are cutting me dead,

-and of course, I did something

-very foolish last year,

-I ignored the works entirely of one

-very famous family of bards.

-the Welsh bardic equivalent

-of the Mafia.

-to mock the literature and certainly

-some of the poetry

-of the 19th Century.

-There has been plenty said

-about the questionable judging

-standards and poetic output

-of that century.

-We must remember, however,

-the contributions of

-Hywel Teifi Edwards and E G Milward

-in teaching us how to read

-the literary works of that time

-in the context of the Victorian

-world it was born out of.

-It was also, of course,

-the most revolutionary

-and distorting age in

-the history of Wales.

-We have read this literature

-in that particular context.

-However, having said that,

-I have to admit that reading

-through the Crown-winning poems

-of that time was a huge slog.

-By the 1890s, trying to read these

-Crown-winning masterpieces

-is akin to trying to

-swim through treacle.

-In making an attempt

-to pinpoint the worst

-to say

-that the 1890s is the decade that

-offers the most promise.

-to one reading these poems

-is their unrelenting vastness.

-lines and most were much closer

-to 2,000 lines in length.

-To steal an English expression

-in terms of Victorian Crown-winning

-poetry length, size and proportion

-certainly mattered.

-certainly mattered.

-

-I have a brainwave.

-I believe that in some brave

-new Wales of the future, these times

-can be put to use in terms of

-criminal punishment.

-I think I can think of a much more

-painful punishment than sending

-criminals to prison.

-I would force them to memorise huge

-tracts of these poems by heart.

-One Crown-winning poem

-for a first offence,

-two for a second offence

-and those repeat offenders

-who would not learn their lesson,

-all the works of Iolo Caernarfon,

-Wylfa and Ben Davies combined.

-What about that,

-Judge Nicholas Parry?

-doubt and disparagement

-about her character?

-There is a gamut of reasons.

-They are all listed in the book.

-She came from a very proletarian

-family.

-There's no father's name listed

-on her birth certificate.

-A great number of her family,

-in fact, seem to have grown up

-without a father on the scene.

-She said that she came

-from a family of women.

-They were a very poor family.

-She went away to London and attended

-a private boarding school.

-There are a lot of

-mysteries about her.

-She wanted to write poetry,

-but we are talking about a period

-in the '60s where people weren't

-ready to accept that

-women could write poetry.

-It makes you laugh now.

-When she won, it was a real shock

-to the establishment.

-A woman had won and a woman

-who hadn't even been to college.

-There was a certain type of woman

-who did win crowns here and there.

-She was also unmarried,

-which some people found suspicious.

-She didn't fit any

-particular pattern in 1967.

-She beat Mathonwy Hughes into third

-place, who was an established poet

-with a Chair under his belt.

-People seemed to think

-she'd got in his way.

-There were a few reports

-that worded it that way.

-That's despite the fact that she had

-also come second with

-a poem about Edith Piaf.

-The poem was in one of the bundles

-that came into our possession.

-The thing that has

-struck me and a few

-others this week is that you,

-as a poet, and Eurig Salisbury,

-who is also a poet, are winning

-prizes with fictional prose.

-Last year, Manon Rhys,

-who is most known for prose,

-won the Crown.

-The chaired bard, Ifor ap Glyn,

-published a novel earlier this year.

-Is there something unusual happening

-here?

-Is bursting through these imagined

-barriers a good thing?

-I was delighted to see

-Manon winning last year,

-moving from prose to poetry.

-Although one is happy to see

-Eurig winning the prose

-medal, there was a feeling

-that the movement was away

-from poetry, towards prose.

-There are other examples

-beyond the ones you mentioned.

-Twm Morys, Ifor ap Glyn,

-all much better poets

-than me, moving into prose.

-Why?

-Is poetry somehow incapable

-of hitting the right notes

-that prose offers?

-and poetry is very different.

-Prose sells much more

-strongly than poetry.

-There's the idea that

-prose sets the Zeitgeist

-rather than poetry.

-Publishing a novel affords

-different opportunities.

-By publishing a novel,

-you are asking the reader to spend

-a fortnight in your company.

-It has a great effect on people.

-Then again, I'm sure winning

-the Crown will have a greater

-influence on my life because poetry

-still carries a greater

-intellectual weight somehow.

-Winning the Crown was like being

-carried on a wave of appreciation,

-especially in my particular

-area, if not nationally.

-The respect afforded to poets

-is a huge responsibility,

-as well as a pleasure.

-I'll be interested to see

-what reaction I get

-to publishing a novel.

-I hope I've been true

-to the experience of going

-through radiotherapy and I hope it

-helps other people experiencing

-the same kinds of treatment.

-The way in which poetry and prose

-connect with their audiences

-are very different.

-I feel that the true home

-of poetry is on the stage,

-in front of a microphone.

-A novel belongs at home on the sofa.

-That's why they are such

-different experiences.

-business of reciting.

-I want to talk about

-the business of recitation.

-It's a pretty profitable business

-for you three, going from

-Eisteddfod to Eisteddfod.

-How did it work, did you share out

-the prizes between you?

-No, we never shared at all.

-When we started, the prizes

-were in little bags

-hanging from the pulpits.

-We never shared because we lost more

-often than not.

-One of these might win instead.

-It didn't really matter who won.

-I managed to buy my first car

-on the back of going around

-all the little Eisteddfodau

-in my father's car for free

-for helping on the haymaking.

-I bought my first car

-with no-one less than

-between our ages to ensure

-that we were never really

-competing against each other.

-We were losing to other people.

-The first time I recited,

-I lost out to John.

-I didn't know he was going

-to compete against me.

-It was a poem about Teddy and I'd

-been on a milking stool

-rehearsing and he'd been

-on the couch listening.

-We went to the Eisteddfod

-and when I walked up to compete,

-the first thing I saw was John

-following me onto the stage.

-Mum told me to let him try it.

-We both recited Teddy and he did it

-without ever rehearsing it out loud.

-The result was announced and some

-girl called Matilda won and then

-it was John Gwilym in

-second and me third.

-I was much taller than him.

-The embarrassing thing

-was that we had to give our names

-and addresses and people

-were laughing at me.

-.

-"I don't know what he..."

-Let's start with Ceredigion.

-I have to congratulate

-Gwenallt on winning

-Englyn of the Day on Tuesday.

-Gareth Bale.

-I don't know what he can create

-But I know he's a man to celebrate

-Golden seconds for

-the memory to store

-His torpedoes are sure to score.

-Meirionnydd. Nia Powell.

-I was struck tonight by a cold

-By diarrhoea that I couldn't hold

-Rheumatic and lumbago

-I don't know what made him sore.

-Next is Emyr.

-That bus that happened to go past

-Featured Farage fighting to the last

-I don't know what he might have said

-From the ditch where

-we planted his head.

-the words, "I don't have..."

-Let's start with Meirionnydd.

-A world on the edge

-of disaster and woes

-A bloody world,

-divided by religious foes

-The answer, I have not, I am sure

-But to persevere forever more.

-Ceredigion.

-I know for sure that

-I have not the right

-To retreat from this Fenni,

-oh, so bright

-I cannot turn my back this year

-And run away from her.

-Finally, Eurig Salisbury.

-I crossed the bottomless Usk

-and feared her

-But on the Fenni's

-banks, harps did stir

-And I learned that I have no right

-Any more to baulk at their sight.

-I'm not sure how many

-people know just how much

-research went into Veritas.

-The novel required a huge

-amount of research.

-There are large tracts that are true

-and major parts that aren't.

-In the very first short chapter,

-we witness the birth of Henry Tudor

-in Pembroke Castle in 1457.

-His mother was Margaret Beaufort

-and she was only 13 years

-old at the time, believe it or not.

-She was a widow at 13 years of age.

-It was a very painful birth.

-When I visited Pembroke Castle,

-they show you to a tower

-where they think he

-might have been born.

-It's a very confined space

-and I questioned if there

-was room for a bed there.

-The guide's answer was that no-one

-was sure that births took place

-in beds during that period.

-There was a tradition

-for the birth to happen

-on a special chair.

-It was like a high commode.

-Ouch!

-There was a hole in it

-and the so-called midwife could go

-underneath the clothes of the mother

-to help the baby be born.

-There were no painkillers at that

-time to help with the birth.

-But there was something called

-a "codl", a mixture of spices

-and spirits and beer.

-the woman during the birth.

-They forced the woman to drink it

-so that they would

-have been half-drunk.

-Only women attended the birth.

-Men were entirely excluded

-from the process.

-Except when something exceptionally

-dangerous looked like happening,

-only when it was thought

-that the mother or the baby

-was in danger of dying.

-They would call in the man,

-who passed as a doctor at that time.

-In 1849, the measurements

-for what we now call Everest

-were first being taken.

-It took them three years to work out

-that it was the highest

-mountain in the world.

-At that time, they just

-numbered them, and it was

-allocated as Peak 15.

-The discussions then got underway

-as to what to call the mountain.

-It took 12 years to

-settle that debate.

-Amazingly, almost all the other

-mountains have retained

-their indigenous names.

-Either the Chinese, Tibetan,

-Nepalese or Afghani names, that is.

-This was different,

-this was the highest

-mountain in the world.

-Naming it carried a lot prestige.

-The clash of empires came into play

-between Britain and Russia.

-Naming the mountain was seen

-as a way of maintaining influence.

-George, in all his letters,

-was insistent that the native names

-should be used on every occasion.

-He had retired by the time

-they came to this discussion.

-The dates are very interesting.

-His birthday would

-have been yesterday.

-They put the request

-in to name it Everest two days

-after that, in 1956.

-They admit in the initial request

-that George was opposed

-to his name being used

-and that he was championing

-the local name unless there

-was no evidence that there

-wasn't a local name.

-They go on to make the case

-that they had failed to find any

-such evidence for this mountain.

-There was evidence that

-went back 100 years.

-Some quite broad evidence at that.

-Further even than that.

-Back in 1711, Jesuit missionaries

-from France had been given the task

-whilst in Peking to visit Tibet

-and survey the landscape.

-who noted down all the local names.

-They were the first to record

-the name Chomolungma.

-The spelling has altered

-over the year, but it

-is a very regal name.

-They drew a map in 1717

-and published it and it was widely

-distributed in Paris in 1733.

-This was the map used

-by the early travelers.

-There was also evidence

-from the British representative

-working in Nepal for 20 years.

-He included other names used

-for the mountain.

-The papers in the Everest request

-ignored or disputed those claims.

-You never really

-liked this song, Twm.

-I can do a different

-one, if you like.

-I know them all.

-# By the back of my white hands

-# The whitest hands

-you'll ever see

-# Lift me from here

-# To my father's house

-# By the back of my white hands

-# Over the fields and trees

-# Over every glade and lake

-# Over every city and nation

-# Let me see the world

-# Each and every corner

-# Every street corner of every town

-# Let me see the world anew

-# All the images there to see

-# And the people in their place

-# See the walls a-shaking

-# See the children falling

-# See the woman praying

-# Try to catch them all

-# Until someone emerges like me

-# Oh, oh, oh

-# Give your hand to me

-# We'll climb the highest mountain

-# There is a way to be

-# Only children know the way

-# Give your hand to me

-# And we'll look upon the nations

-# And the peace that'll

-spread from north to south

-# The peace that'll spread from

-north to south. #

-.