1940 in Wales#Arts and literature

• Archbishop of Wales – Charles Green, Bishop of Bangor{{cite book|author1=C. J. Litzenberger|author2=Eileen Groth Lyon|title=The Human Tradition in Modern Britain|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S8YbICxXWDQC&pg=PA92|year=2006|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=978-0-7425-3735-4|pages=92}}
• Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales – Crwys

• 21 January - Lowest ever temperature recorded in Wales, -23.3 °C (-9.9 °F) at Rhayader.{{cite book|first=Paul|last=Simons|title=Since Records Began|location=London|publisher=Collins|year=2008|isbn=978-0-00-728463-4|pages=205–7}}
• 27 January - A freak ice storm across the UK brings down telephone and electricity lines in many parts of Wales.{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jan/26/weatherwatch-1940-ice-storm-added-to-misery-of-war|title=Weatherwatch: 1940 Ice Storm added to misery of war|date=26 January 2018|author=Stephen Moss|website=The Guardian|access-date=8 April 2019}}
• 3 March - The steamer Cato is damaged by a mine off Nash Point and 13 of the crew are killed.{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-east-wales-34298417|title=Porthcawl's Guinness shipwreck remembered|date=19 September 2015|website=BBC News Wales|access-date=8 April 2019}}
• March - The scenic railway opens at Barry Island Pleasure Park.
• May
• The newly created Coalition Government includes Hugh Dalton as Minister of Economic Warfare.{{cite book|author=Sheila Lawlor|title=Churchill and the Politics of War, 1940-1941|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TU085SfQNUQC&pg=PA36|date=12 May 1994|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-46685-1|pages=36}}
• Alun Lewis enlists.
• 8 May - Three Nazi German Luftwaffe Heinkel He 111s crash in separate incidents over Wales: one near Wrexham, one at Malpas in Denbighshire, and one at Bagillt, Flint. In all nine crew are killed and four captured.
• 3 July - Cardiff is bombed for the first time.
• 9 July - Cardiff suffers its first bombing fatalities.{{cite book|author1=Edwin Webb|author2=John B. Duncan|title=Blitz Over Britain|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7dAWAQAAIAAJ|year=1990|publisher=Spellmount|isbn=978-0-946771-89-9|page=95}}
• 10 July - Ten people are killed in an air raid on Swansea Docks, as shipping convoys become a target.{{cite book|author1=Julitta Rydlewska|author2=Barbara Braid|title=Unity in Diversity, Volume 1: Cultural Paradigm and Personal Identity|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WBVQBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA69|date=18 September 2014|publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing|isbn=978-1-4438-6729-0|pages=69}}
• 11 July - Communist minister and poet Thomas Evan Nicholas ("Niclas y Glais") and his son are arrested and interned for "endeavouring to impede recruitment to HM Forces". Nicholas is eventually released on 20 October.{{cite web|url=https://www.llyfrgell.cymru/fileadmin/fileadmin/docs_gwefan/amdanom_ni/cylchgrawn_llgc/cgr_erth_XXXVrh1_2010_01.pdf|title=Thomas Evan Nicholas 1879-1971|publisher=National Library of Wales|access-date=6 September 2019}}
• 11 August - Seventeen people are killed in an air raid on Manselton, Swansea.
• 14 August - Three German Heinkel 111s are shot down during an air-raid on Cardiff, and another over North Wales after a raid on RAF Hawarden.
• 22 August - A steamer, the Thorold, is sunk by German aircraft off the Skerries. Ten crew are killed.
• 2 September - 33 people are killed in an air raid on Swansea.
• 3 September - Eleven people are killed in an air raid on Cardiff.
• 4 September - A German Junkers Ju 88 crashes near Machynlleth. Four crew and a Gestapo officer are captured.
• 13 September - A German Heinkel 111 crashes into a house in Newport, Monmouthshire.
• 22 November - The steamer Pikepool is damaged by a mine off Linney Head, Pembrokeshire, with the loss of 17 crew.
• The Urdd changes its policy to include 16- to 25-year-olds.
• Gwilym Williams becomes chaplain of St David's College, Lampeter.
• Percy Cudlipp becomes editor of the Daily Herald.
• Alun Talfan Davies and his brother Aneirin found the publishing house Llyfrau'r Dryw.

• Lewis Casson directs John Gielgud in King Lear.

• National Eisteddfod of Wales (held in Bangor (radio))
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Chair - withheld
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Crown - T. Rowland Hughes
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Prose Medal - withheld

• Richard Bennett - Cyfrol Goffa Richard Bennett
• Clara Novello Davies - The Life I Have Loved
• David Delta Edwards - Rhedeg ar ôl y Cysgodion
• John Cowper Powys - Owen Glendower (U.S. publication)
• Howard Spring - Fame is the Spur
• Ransom Riggs - Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (published 2011; partially set in Wales, 1940)

• Mai Jones & Lyn Joshua - "We'll Keep a Welcome" (performed for the first time in the forces' variety show, Welsh Rarebit on 29 February)
• Grace Williams - Fantasia on Welsh Nursery Tunes (score dated 9 February)

• March 25 - Plaza Cinema opens in Port Talbot.{{cite web|title=Plaza Cinema, Talbot Road, Port Talbot|url=http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/18212|work=Cinema Treasures|accessdate=2017-06-14}}
• April 6 - Paul Robeson and Rachel Thomas star in The Proud Valley (cinematic release)

• 25 February - The Proud Valley is the first film to have its première on radio, when the BBC broadcasts a 60-minute version.{{cite book|author=Stephen Bourne|title=Black in the British Frame: The Black Experience in British Film and Television Second Edition|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0N1Ou7V5IJUC&pg=PA28|date=30 November 2001|publisher=A&C Black|isbn=978-0-8264-5539-0|pages=28}}
• May - The BBC Radio Variety Department relocates to Bangor because of wartime disruption; it will broadcast from here until August 1943.{{cite book|author=British Broadcasting Corporation|title=BBC Handbook|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pIYiAQAAIAAJ|year=1944|page=50}}
• August - The National Eisteddfod of Wales is broadcast on the British Home Service, including 15 minutes each for the crown and chair ceremonies.{{cite web|url=http://www.literaturewales.org/encyclopaedia/i/130659/|title=Literature Wales: Encyclopedia - Broadcasting|access-date=2013-01-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304031019/http://www.literaturewales.org/encyclopaedia/i/130659/|archive-date=2016-03-04|url-status=dead}}

• Football
• 13 April - Wales defeat England 1 - 0.
• Quoits - Jack Price wins the Welsh championship for the third time.

• 4 January - Brian Josephson, theoretical physicist{{cite web|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1973/josephson/biographical/|title=Brian D. Josephson Biographical|website=The Nobel Prize|access-date=9 April 2019}}
• 17 January - Leighton Rees, darts champion (died 2003){{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1432468/Leighton-Rees.html|title=Leighton Rees|date=10 June 2003|website=The Telegraph|access-date=9 April 2019}}
• 23 January - Ted Rowlands, politician
• 1 March - David Broome, show jumping champion{{cite book|author=Julia Longland|title=Clear round!: Interviews|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rPZT7KXY29wC|date=1 October 1978|publisher=Mayflower Books|isbn=978-0-8317-0012-6|page=112}}
• 16 May - Sir Gareth Roberts, physicist (died 2007)
• 7 June - Tom Jones, singer{{cite book| first= Robin| last= Eggar| title= Tom Jones – The Biography| page= 14}}
• 29 June - John Dawes, rugby player (died 2021)[http://www.espnscrum.com/wales/rugby/player/6889.html John Dawes rugby profile] ESPN Scrum.com
• 17 July - C. W. Nicol, Japanese writer and environmentalist (died 2020 in Japan)
• 3 September - Eduardo Hughes Galeano, Uruguayan writer of Welsh descent
• 20 September - Anna Pavord, gardening writer
• 1 October - Atarah Ben-Tovim, flautist and children's concert promoter (died 2022){{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/nov/07/atarah-ben-tovim-obituary|title=Atarah Ben-Tovim obituary|date=7 November 2022|website=The Guardian|author=June Emerson|access-date=8 August 2023}}
• 14 October - Christopher Timothy, actorIn Bala, Gwynedd. {{cite book|title=Screen International Film and TV Year Book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6uBkAAAAMAAJ|year=1990|publisher=Screen International, King Publications Limited|isbn=978-0-900925-21-4|page=220}}
• 31 October - Eric Griffiths, skiffle guitarist with The Quarrymen (died 2005)
• 4 November - Daniel Sperber, Talmudic scholar{{cite web|url=https://cris.biu.ac.il/en/persons/daniel-sperber|title=Daniel Sperber|website=Bar-Ilan University|access-date=8 August 2023}}
• 30 November - Peter Shreeves, footballer, coach and manager
• 5 December
• Michael Jones, medieval historian
• "Exotic" Adrian Street, professional wrestler (died 2023)
• 24 December - John Marek, politician
• date unknown
• Donald Evans, Welsh-language poet{{cite book|author=Donald Evans|title=Rhydwen Williams|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G0AcAQAAIAAJ|date=16 December 1991|publisher=University of Wales Press|page=83}}
• Keith Miles, detective novelist and screenwriter

• 12 February - William Edwards, educationist, 89{{cite web|url=https://biography.wales/article/s-EDWA-WIL-1851|title=Edwards, William (1851-1940), H.M. inspector of schools|author=Edgar William Jones|website=Dictionary of Welsh Biography|publisher=National Library of Wales|access-date=9 November 2019}}
• 21 February - Sir Alfred Edward Lewis, banker, 71{{cite web|url=https://biography.wales/article/s-LEWI-EDW-1868|title=Lewis, Sir Alfred (Edward) (1868-1940), banker|author=Edward Morgan Humphreys|website=Dictionary of Welsh Biography|publisher=National Library of Wales|access-date=9 November 2019}}
• 15 March - John Davies, author, 71
• 20 March - William Thomas Edwards (Gwilym Deudraeth), poet
• 7 April - Ernest Rowland, priest and Wales international rugby player, 75
• 27 April - Fred Cornish, Wales international rugby player
• 23 May - Hugh Hesketh Hughes, polo player, 37 (killed in action){{cite web|title=Hugh Hesketh Hughes|url=http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2280639|publisher=Commonwealth War Graves Commission|quote=Regiment/Service: Welsh Guards Date of Death: 23/05/1940 Service No: 103800 Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead | accessdate=11 April 2011}}
• 4 June - Owen Picton Davies, businessman and politician, 68
• 25 June - Stanley Winmill, Wales international rugby union player, 51
• 3 July - George Bevan Bowen, landowner, 82‘BOWEN, Sir George Bevan’, Who Was Who, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 1920–2007; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2007 [http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whowaswho/U206439 accessed 30 Nov 2013]Obituaries (Obituaries) The Times Friday, Jul 05, 1940; pg. 7; Issue 48660; col E
• 8 August - Daniel Lleufer Thomas, lawyer and biographer, 76{{cite web|url=https://biography.wales/article/s-THOM-LLE-1863|title=Thomas, Sir Daniel Lleufer (1863-1940), stipendiary magistrate|author=David Williams|website=Dictionary of Welsh Biography|publisher=National Library of Wales|access-date=9 November 2019}}
• 20 August - Henry Maldwyn Hughes, Wesleyan minister
• 26 September - W. H. Davies, poet and author, 69{{cite book|author=Lawrence Normand|title=W.H. Davies|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n9IfAQAAIAAJ|date=1 September 2003|publisher=Seren|isbn=978-1-85411-261-3|page=152}}
• 9 October - Sir Wilfred Grenfell, medical missionary to Newfoundland and Labrador
• 9 November - Gwilym Owen, physicist
• 15 December
• Robert Thomas Jones, quarrymen's leader, 66{{cite web|url=https://biography.wales/article/s-JONE-THO-1874|title=Jones, Robert Thomas (1874-1940), Labour leader|author=David Thomas|website=Dictionary of Welsh Biography|publisher=National Library of Wales|access-date=9 November 2019}}
• Sir David Richard Llewellyn, 1st Baronet, industrialist

• 1940 in Northern Ireland

{{reflist}}

Wales

Category:1940 in Europe

Category:1940s in Wales