← 1981 1980 1979 1978 1977 1982 in Wales → 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987
Centuries:	18th 19th 20th 21st
Decades:	1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s
See also:	List of years in Wales Timeline of Welsh history 1982 in The United Kingdom Scotland Elsewhere

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1982 to Wales and its people.

Incumbents

• Secretary of State for Wales – Nicholas Edwards^[1]
• Archbishop of Wales – Gwilym Williams, Bishop of Bangor (retired)^[2]
• Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales – Jâms Nicholas^[3]

Events

• 2 January – The Welsh Army of Workers claims responsibility for a bomb explosion at the Birmingham headquarters of Severn Trent Water.^[4]
• May – Swansea City complete their first season in the English Football League First Division with a sixth-place finish.^[5]
• 2 June – 100,000 people gather in Pontcanna Fields, Cardiff, to welcome Pope John Paul II on the first-ever papal visit to Wales.
• 8 June – 32 men from the Welsh Guards are killed when the Sir Galahad burns during the Falklands War.^[6] The most famous of the survivors is Simon Weston, who is severely burned.
• 16 June – Welsh miners go on strike to support health workers demanding a 12% pay rise.^[7]
• 30 August – St David's Hall opens in Cardiff.
• 11 September – 14 skydivers from Wales die when a Chinook helicopter crashes at an airshow in Mannheim in Germany.^[8]
• 16 September – At the Gower by-election brought about by the death of Ifor Davies, Gareth Wardell holds the seat for Labour.
• 17 October – First issue of Sulyn, the first Sunday newspaper in the Welsh language.^[9]
• 26 November – A plaque is unveiled by the Prince of Wales at the monument erected in memory of those who died in the Gresford Disaster of 1934.^[10]
• date unknown
  • The Inmos microprocessor factory in Newport, Wales, designed by the Richard Rogers Partnership, is completed.
  • Swansea is given the right to have a Lord Mayor. Councillor Paul Valerio becomes the first incumbent.^[11]
  • First students begin courses at the Welsh language study centre at Nant Gwrtheyrn.

Arts and literature

• Roger Rees wins a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his performance in The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby.
• Alice Thomas Ellis is shortlisted for the Booker Prize for The 27th Kingdom.

Film

• Political Annie’s Off Again, film of a local industrial dispute made by Chapter Video Workshop.

Broadcasting

Sport

• BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year – Steve Barry^[12]
• Boxing
  • 14 September – Kelvin Smart becomes British flyweight champion after beating fellow Welsh fighter Dave George.
• Darts – Ann-Marie Davies wins the Women's World Masters Championship.
• Snooker
  • 13 January – Terry Griffiths wins the Lada Classic.
  • 4 December – Terry Griffiths wins the UK Snooker Championship,^[13] to complete his career Triple Crown (snooker).
  • Terry Parsons wins the World Amateur Championship.

Births

• 9 January – Catherine Middleton, future Princess of Wales (in England)
• 14 January – Joe Dunthorne, novelist and poet
• 1 February – Gavin Henson, rugby player
• 4 February – Kevin Gall, footballer
• 2 May – Timothy Benjamin, athlete
• 12 May – David Thaxton, actor and singer
• 21 June – Prince William, first child of the Prince and Princess of Wales (in London)
• 29 August – Mike Phillips, rugby player
• 2 September – Matthew Rees, footballer
• 29 November – Imogen Thomas, model
• 25 December – Rob Edwards, footballer
• 2 October – Amanda Hale, actress

Deaths

• 5 January – Jeanetta Thomas, UK's oldest person and oldest Welsh-born woman of all time, 112^[14]
• 11 January – Ronald Lewis, actor, 53
• 5 February – Ronald Welch, historical novelist, 72^[15]
• 8 February – Cedric Morris, artist, 92
• 6 May – Jennie Eirian Davies, politician and magazine editor^[16]
• 19 May – Elwyn Jones, television writer, 58
• 31 May – Eryl Davies, educationist, 59
• 6 June – Ifor Davies, politician, 71^[17]
• 10 July
  • Gwilym Jenkins (in Lancaster), statistician and systems engineer, 49
  • Gwilym Ellis Lane Owen, philosopher, 60
• 17 July – Bob John, footballer, 83
• 16 August – Sydney Hinam, Wales international rugby player, 83
• 18 October – Idwal Jones, politician, 82^[18]
• 19 October – Iorwerth Peate, social anthropologist and poet, founder of St Fagans National Museum of History, 81^[19]
• 4 November – Talfryn Thomas, character actor, 60
• 16 November – Ivor Jones, rugby union international, 80
• 19 November – Herbie Evans, footballer, 88
• 4 December – Ivor Williams, portrait painter, 74

See also

• 1982 in Northern Ireland

References