:1978 in Wales

{{For|United Kingdom incumbents|1978 in the United Kingdom#Incumbents}}

• Secretary of State for Wales – John Morris{{cite book|author1=Pryde, E. B.|author2=Greenway, D. E.|author3=Porter, S.|author4=Roy, I.|title=Handbook of British Chronology|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zcgxEvGAK_kC&pg=PA157|date=1996-02-23|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-56350-5|pages=157}}
• Archbishop of Wales – Gwilym Williams, Bishop of Bangor{{cite book|author=NA NA|title=The Macmillan Guide to the United Kingdom 1978-79|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ot-vCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA875|date=25 December 2015|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-1-349-81511-1|pages=875}}
• Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales
• Bryn (outgoing){{cite book|author=Meic Stephens|title=The Oxford companion to the literature of Wales|url=https://archive.org/details/oxfordcompaniont00meic|url-access=registration|date=April 1986|publisher=Oxford University Press|page=[https://archive.org/details/oxfordcompaniont00meic/page/220 220]}}
• Geraint (Bowen) (incoming)

• March - Moss Evans is elected leader of the Transport and General Workers Union.{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1381353/Moss-Evans.html|title=Moss Evans|date=14 January 2002|website=The Telegraph|access-date=2 October 2024}}
• March/April - Closure of the steelworks in Ebbw Vale and East Moors.{{cite book|author=Sander Meredeen|title=Managing industrial conflict: seven major disputes|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OQFYAAAAYAAJ|date=1 August 1988|publisher=Hutchinson|isbn=978-0-09-173226-4}}
• unknown dates
• The Welsh Office is given responsibility for further and higher education in Wales.
• The National Language Centre is established at Nant Gwrtheyrn in the Lleyn peninsula.{{cite book|author=Mari C. Jones|title=Language Obsolescence and Revitalization: Linguistic Change in Two Sociolinguistically Contrasting Welsh Communities|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w9u_GG41b_8C&pg=PA19|year=1998|publisher=Clarendon Press|isbn=978-0-19-823711-2|pages=19}}

• Richard Burton records the narrative for the concept album Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds.
• Operatic contralto Helen Watts is appointed a CBE.
• Gregynog Press is reincarnated as "Gwasg Gregynog".{{cite book|title=Printing History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EGAgAQAAMAAJ|year=1987|publisher=American Printing History Association}}

• National Eisteddfod of Wales (held in Cardiff)
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Chair - withheld{{cite web|url=https://eisteddfod.wales/about-us/eisteddfod-winners/winners-chair?_ga=2.196744876.1631880097.1570104027-963760572.1570104027|title=Winners of the Chair|website=National Eisteddfod of Wales|date=3 October 2019}}{{Dead link|date=February 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Crown - Siôn Eirian{{cite book|author=David Ben Rees|title=Wales: The Cultural Heritage|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_2FnAAAAMAAJ|year=1981|publisher=G.W. & A. Hesketh|isbn=978-0-905777-16-0|page=54}}
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Prose Medal - Harri Williams

• Ruth Bidgood - The Print of Miracle{{cite book|author=Matthew Jarvis|title=Welsh Environments in Contemporary Poetry: Writing Wales in English|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lo0fAQAAIAAJ|year=2008|publisher=University of Wales Press|isbn=978-0-7083-2152-2|page=60}}
• Ken Follett - Eye of the Needle
• James Hanley - A Kingdom
• Robert Minhinnick - A Thread in the Maze
• John Tripp - Collected Poems
• Gwyn A. Williams - The Merthyr Rising{{cite book|author=David Howell|title=British Workers and the Independent Labour Party, 1888-1906|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VDC8AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA446|year=1984|publisher=Manchester University Press|isbn=978-0-7190-1791-9|pages=446}}

• Marion Eames - I Hela Cnau{{cite book|author=Katie Gramich|title=Twentieth-century Women's Writing in Wales: Land, Gender, Belonging|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Qo0fAQAAIAAJ|year=2007|publisher=University of Wales Press|isbn=978-0-7083-2086-0|page=163}}
• Gwyn Thomas - Croesi Traeth
• T. Arfon Williams - Englynion Arfon

• Dave Edmunds - Tracks on Wax 4
• Geraint Jarman - Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau

• Kenneth Griffith appears with Richard Burton in The Wild Geese.

• Shane becomes the first film to be dubbed into the Welsh language for television.{{cite book|title=The Economist|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L-7HAAAAIAAJ|year=1978|publisher=Economist Newspaper Limited|page=30}}

• 17 March - BBC Wales comedy film Grand Slam stars Hugh Griffith and Windsor Davies.{{cite book|author=Steven Blandford|title=Wales on Screen|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OLuRAAAAIAAJ|year=2000|publisher=Seren|isbn=978-1-85411-248-4}}
• BBC Wales drama serial Hawkmoor, based on the life of Twm Siôn Cati, stars John Ogwen and Jane Asher.
• Elaine Morgan's adaptation of Off to Philadelphia in the Morning, the novel by Jack Jones, stars David Lyn as Joseph Parry and Connie Booth as his wife, Jane. Meredith Edwards, Rachel Thomas and William Squire also appear.

• 13 November - BBC Radio Wales is launched,{{cite book|author=Aldridge, Meryl|title=Understanding The Local Media|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Sd7sAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA135|date=1 April 2007|publisher=McGraw-Hill Education (UK)|isbn=978-0-335-22172-1|pages=135}} following the demise of the 'Radio 4 Wales' service (previously the Welsh Home Service). The first show is AM, presented by Anita Morgan.

• BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year – Johnny Owen{{cite web |title=BBC Wales Sport Personality winners |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/wales/20670643 |website=BBC Sport |access-date=2 August 2021}}
• Boxing – Johnny Owen wins the Commonwealth bantamweight title.
• Darts – Leighton Rees wins the World Professional Darts Championship.
• Rugby union – Wales win their eighth Grand Slam.
• Snooker
• 29 April – Ray Reardon wins the World Championship for the sixth time.{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/snooker/37495257 |title=Welsh Open Snooker trophy named after legend Ray Reardon |date=28 September 2016 |publisher=BBC Sport |access-date=16 May 2019}}
• 1 December – Doug Mountjoy wins the UK Snooker Championship in Preston.{{cite web|url=https://www.eurosport.com/snooker/profile-doug-mountjoy_sto2140935/story.shtml |title=Profile: Doug Mountjoy |date=3 December 2009 |publisher=Eurosport |access-date=16 May 2019}}

• 21 January - Rachael Bland, née Hodges, broadcast journalist (died 2018){{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/sep/07/rachael-bland-obituary|title=Rachael Bland obituary|website=The Guardian|date=7 September 2018|access-date=31 December 2018}}
• 1 February - David Hughes, footballer
• 12 February - Gethin Jones, television presenter
• 26 July - Eve Myles, actress
• 2 September - Matthew Watkins, rugby union player (died 2020)
• 17 November - Tom Ellis, actor
• 25 December - Simon Jones, cricketer
• date unknown
• David Llewellyn, fiction writer
• Rachel Trezise, fiction writer

• 6 January - Ted Jones, trade union leader, 81Keith Gildart, "Jones, Edward ('Ted')", Dictionary of Labour Biography, vol.XIV, pp.188–199
• 11 January - William John Edwards, Cerdd Dant singer, 79
• 17 February - Joseph Owen, cricketer, 69[https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/31/31830/31830.html Joseph Owen at CricketArchive]
• 20 February - Tom Jones, footballer, 88{{cite web |url=http://www.mufcinfo.com/manupag/a-z_player_archive/a-z_player_archive_pages/jones_thomas.html |title=Thomas Jones |website=mufcinfo.com |access-date=1 March 2020}}
• 23 February - Arwyn Davies, Baron Arwyn, politician, 80{{cite book|title=Who was who|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HT4OAQAAMAAJ|year=1971|publisher=A. & C. Black|page=28|isbn = 9780312877460}}
• 24 February - David Williams, historian, 78{{Cite ODNB|id=63676|title=Williams, David}}
• 2 March - Frances Williams, composer,{{cite book|author=Charles Eugene Claghorn|title=Women Composers and Songwriters: A Concise Biographical Dictionary|url=https://archive.org/details/womencomposersso0000clag|url-access=registration|date=1 January 1996|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=978-0-8108-3130-8|pages=[https://archive.org/details/womencomposersso0000clag/page/236 236]-7}}
• 6 March - David Price-White, lawyer and politician, 71{{cite web|url=https://biography.wales/article/s8-PRIC-PRI-1906|title=Price-White, David Archibald Price (1906-1978), Conservative politician|author=John Graham Jones|website=Dictionary of Welsh Biography|publisher=National Library of Wales|access-date=3 March 2020}}
• 4 April - Sir Morien Morgan, aeronautics engineer, 65{{cite book|title=Canadian Aeronautics and Space Journal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RZ3GAAAAIAAJ|year=1978|publisher=Canadian Aeronautics and Space Institute.}}
• 9 April - Sir Clough Williams-Ellis, architect, 94{{cite book|author1=Richard Haslam|author2=Clough Williams-Ellis|title=Clough Williams-Ellis|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FCRQAAAAMAAJ|year=1996|publisher=Academy Editions|isbn=978-1-85490-430-0}}
• 13 April - William Rees-Thomas, psychiatrist, 90REES-THOMAS, William’, Who Was Who, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 1920–2008; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2007 [http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whowaswho/U158859, accessed 28 Dec 2012]
• 14 April - Thomas Hollingdale, Wales rugby union international, 77
• 16 April - Eddie Morgan, Wales international rugby player, 64
• 25 April - Harry Griffiths, footballer and manager, 47
• 18 May - Selwyn Lloyd, politician, 73{{cite book|author=Bassil A. Mardelli|title=Middle East Perspectives: Personal Recollections (1947 - 1967)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=INl8jGsewjUC&pg=PA197|date=April 2010|publisher=iUniverse|isbn=978-1-4502-1116-1|pages=197}}
• 2 July - Philip Scott Yorke, last Squire of Erddig, 73
• 21 August - Rhys Davies, 76, novelist and short story writer{{cite book|author=Huw Osborne|title=Rhys Davies|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qHuvBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA131|date=1 July 2009|publisher=University of Wales Press|isbn=978-0-7083-2242-0|pages=131}}
• 25 August - Tyssul Griffiths, rugby player, 59
• 4 September – Leonora Cohen, suffragette, trade unionist and feminist, 105
• 12 September - Bobby Delahay, Wales rugby union captain, 78
• 13 November - W. S. Gwynn Williams, composer, 82{{cite web|url=https://biography.wales/article/s10-WILL-GWY-1896|title=Williams, William Sidney Gwynn (1896-1978), musician and administrator|author=Rhidian Griffiths|website=Dictionary of Welsh Biography|publisher=National Library of Wales|access-date=13 October 2019}}
• 23 November - Edward Jones, 82, cricketer{{cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Articles/1/1132.html|title=Brief profile of Edward Jones|last=Hignell|first=Dr. A.K.|date=December 2003|access-date=23 September 2011}}
• 16 December - Harry Phillips, Wales international rugby player, 75

• 1978 in Northern Ireland

{{reflist}}

Wales

Wales