Y Swn

Slightly out of sequence but on Monday my wife and I went over to the Picture House in Finsbury Park to see a special showing of a new Welsh language film (complete with subtitles for people like me) called Y Swn. A sort of docudrama it is a fictional account of the events surrounding the inauguration of S4C in 1982. The period is full of interest because it was the time of Margaret Thatcher and Gwynfor Evans who held her and her government to their promise to introduce a channel devoted entirely to the Welsh language. The significance for Plaid Cymru and for Wales as a whole can hardly be overstated. By now even us monoglots have accepted the argument that historically Welsh is the language of Wales and it deserves to be given the status it has now achieved. To think that someone could see that so clearly back in the 1980s is significant and ought to be acknowledged. Not sure where else the film can be seen but it is worth seeking out. Our evening was enhanced by a Q&A in the presence of the producer Roger Williams and actress Sian Reese-Williams, who played Mrs Thatcher. The film included archive footage of nationalist Ned Thomas who I had the privilege of having as a lecturer in the English department in Aberystwyth. I remember him telling us how he was keen to join in the campaign of not paying the TV licence fee as a protest but did not have a TV. He managed to get hold of one but when the police came to prosecute him he coldn't get the set to work. "I'm sorry Mr Thomas" the policeman told him "but if the set is not actually working, I can't prosecute you"!