Marsden, Richard

English

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Time to consign this view of the past to the history books

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Open Research OnlineThe Open University’s repository of research publicationsand other research outputsTime to consign this view of the past to the historybooksOtherHow to cite:Marsden, Richard (2010). Time to consign this view of the past to the history books. Trinity Mirror.For guidance on citations see FAQs.c© 2010 MGN Ltd.; 2010 Gale, Cengage LearningVersion: Version of RecordLink(s) to article on publisher’s website:https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Time+to+consign+this+view+of+the+past+to+the+history+books%3B+Wales+has+...-a0242145379Copyright and Moral Rights for the articles on this site are retained by the individual authors and/or other copyrightowners. For more information on Open Research Online’s data policy on reuse of materials please consult the policiespage.oro.open.ac.ukCOLUMNIST18FEATURE19Western MailTuesday, 16 November 2010Western MailTuesday, 16 November 2010WELSHCOLUMNCLICK ONwalesonline.co.uk/cymraeg*HOOLU GDUOOHQ \ FRORIQDX &\PUDHJ DU HLQ JZHIDQCyfle i gofio amanwyliaid ac nidam fy mod o blaidyr holl giamocsBu tipyn oddadlau arradio ac arbapur ynddiweddar ynglyn â’rpriodoldeb o wisgopabi ar yr adegarbennig hon o’rflwyddyn.Cyn mynd ati igeisio trafod y materrhaid i mi ddweud unpeth. Yr wyf yncasau’r arferiadcyfoes o wneudpethau ar yr adeganghywir o’rflwyddyn.Goleduadau Nadoligyn y siopau ddechrauTachwedd; byns y Pasg arwerth fis Chwefror; tân gwyllt yn ffrwydroddiwedd Hydref ac yn y blaen. Arferiad arall ywhwnnw sydd wedi egino ymhlith ein darlledwyr sefgwisgo’r pabi coch o leiaf bythefnos cyn Dydd yCadoediad.Yr unig ddiwrnod i mi wisgo’r pabi oedd ddyddSul pan ddaeth torf fawr at y gofgolofn ryfel yma ynRhuthun. Yno yr oedd seindorf Ysgol Brynhyfryd,côr yr eglwys, cadetiaid o bob lliw a llun,cynghorwyr, ein Haelod Seneddol, criw o hen filwyrllesg a nifer fawr o’r cyhoedd a phawb yn gwisgo’rpabi coch.Y mae yna rai sydd yn gwrthod ei wisgo neu yngwisgo pabi gwyn. Rhydd i bawb ei farn ac niddylid bwlio neb i wisgo neu beidio gwisgorhywbeth yn erbyn eu hewyllys.Heddychwraig wyf i o ran natur. Credaf mairhyfel yw’r peth mwyaf annynad ar wyneb daear.Mae’n taflu ei gysgod ymhell. Ond yr wyf yn barod iwisgo’r pabi coch. Y pabi a ddaeth yn symbol o’rgwaed a gollwyd yn Fflandrys lle’r oedd y pabi yntyfu’n wyllt ac arbennig o hardd.Ac wrth sefyll mewn dau funud o ddistawrwyddfore Sul nid meddwl am y rhyfelwyr cigog yroeddwn i eithr am fy hen ewythr a gafodd ei ladd ofewn wythnos i gyrraedd Ffrainc yn 1917. Llancdeallus a llengar na ddaeth yn ôl. Stori bron bobteulu yng Nghymru.Yr oeddwn hefyd yn meddwl am fy niweddar wˆra’i frawd (a fu farw wythnos yn ôl yn 92 oed) – yddau yn gorfod mynd i’r rhyfel yn syth wedi gorffeneu cwrs hyfforddi athrawon yn y Coleg Normal yn1942. Mynd heb erioed roi troed mewn ystafellddosbarth a cholli talp o’u hieuenctid. Heb sôn amgolli pedair blynedd o gyflog. Ac ar ddiwedd y rhyfelyn gorfod talu eu grant yn ôl!A dyna pam yr wyf y gwisgo’r pabi coch a dynapam yr wyf fel aelod o Gyngor y Dref yn barod i fodyn rhan o’r cofio wrth y gofeb bob blwyddyn. Nidam fy mod o blaid yr holl giamocs sydd ynglyn â’rfyddin ond am fy mod eisiau cofio am anwyliaid. Abeth wyf yn ei olygu wrth ddweud giamocs, meddechi.Yr un peth sydd yn atgas gen i yw gweld plantifanc a chadetiaid glasoed yn martsio ac yn chwifioeu breichiau a stampio eu traed wrth fynd â’u torchat y gofeb. Mae’n edrych yn gwbl wirion. Bron naddywedwn ei fod yn afiach. Rhyw gêm gyffrous ywbod yn filwr i fechgyn bach... Ond medr y chwaraedroi’n chwerw dros ben.Wedi inni golli peth wmbredd o egin y wladmewn dau ryfel mawr, gan lawn obeithio na welemryfel arall, beth gafwyd ond Korea. Fietnam, yMalfinas, Irac ac yn awr Affganistân. A rhaid gofyn iba beth y bu’r golled hon?Ond y mae rhyfela bron mor hen â’r cread. Efallaimai’r caswir yw ei fod yn rhan annorfod o’r naturddynol. Mai peth gwbl naturiol yw’r ysfa am ladd.Ac na fydd byth fyd o heddwch.Hafina ClwydMORNINGSERIALLight from her flicker-ing candle camethrough the crack inthe bedroom door.She was coming to bed.When she was at the top ofthe stairs, I distinctly heardher mutter to herself, as shewept softly: “Jäbez; ty’dadre.”[Jäbez;comehome.]Herbedroomdoor shutquietly.Thewindrattled thewindowagain.Tired, Iturnedover andwent tosleep.*****Feedingthe cat; water from the well;feeding the hens; coal on thefire; fetching and feeding thecow; milking time; mealtimes, with an empty chair atthe table...Mam wept about thehouse continuously; she tookoff her spectacles and triedto wipe them with herfar-too-moist handkerchief.In the evening, she turnedinto a statue for whatseemed like ages: stunned;absent-minded; staring ablank stare into the distance.I lit a candle and walkeddown the passage, stoppingbriefly to prevent thedraught blowing it out.Through the back kitcheninto the wash-house, where Iplaced the candle on thewindowsill, so that its lightshone across the backyard tothe coal house. I filled thecoal scuttle and brought it in.Another night ofweeping.People came. Onemorning Mr and MrsWilliams Beehive came withJack. While Mrs Williamswas in the house with Mam,the men stood outside nearthe front door. They weretalking, careful to be out ofMam’s hearing. It was aboutdiphtheria – the symptoms:swelling of the neck andthroat; throaty voice.Up and down the country,local outbreaks of thedisease occurred from timeto time. It was infectious;one of those boys playingfootball could well havebeen a carrier. (The two menwere talking quietly,unaware I was standing justinside the door, listening.)It was a disease thatspread rapidly through thebody, taking a hold withoutyou being aware: itparalysed the throat,making swallowing difficult;it damaged the heart; sightbecame blurred; muscles ofarms and legs becameparalysed... breathingbecame very difficult: if thedisease hasn’t taken toogreat a hold and the child istaken to hospital in time,they can put a breathingtube into the front of thewindpipe...> CONTINUES TOMORROW■ The Songbird is Singingby Alun Trevor ispublished by Parthian,priced at £9.99.For more information visitwww.parthianbooks.co.ukTheSongbirdis Singingby Alun TrevorWales has been written out of the story ofBritain and English historians are stillfailing to appreciate the nation, writesRichard Marsden of Cardiff Universityand the Open University in WalesFOR a longtime, theWelsh pasthas beentreated aslittle morethan asideshow inthe history of Britain. SimonSchama’s television series TheHistory of Britain (2000) wasactually a history of England.When it did touch on Wales,the focus was on how Welshnationhood was forgedthrough English rule.David Starkey’s Monarchy(2004-06), although broadcastacross Britain, was equallyAnglo-centric. The much-admired radio series ThisSceptred Isle (1995-2006) alsoclaimed to be a history ofBritain but focusedpredominantly on England.Indeed, its title derived froma line in Shakespeare’s RichardII which refers specifically toEngland, rather than Britain. Itseems that, even afterdevolution, the assumptionthat British history is really justEnglish history lives on.But where does this assump-tion come from? The answer,as you might expect, lies in thepast. In part it derives fromcenturies of Englishdomination since theEdwardian Conquest (1282),and from a sense of Englishsuperiority dating back evenfurther. As the twelfth-centuryBishop John of Salisbury put it,the Welsh were “rude anduntamed; they live like beasts”.However, more recentfactors have also contributedto the marginalisation of Welshhistory and, by extension,Welsh life and culture.A key development was theidea that societies advancedfrom barbarism to civilisation.Although this notion ofhistorical progress had beenaround since ancient times, itbecame increasingly complexand influential in the 1700s.The contemporary Scottishhistorian William Robertson,for instance, stated that“nations, as well as men, arriveat maturity by degrees, and theevents which happened duringtheir infancy or early youthcannot be recollected, anddeserve not to be remembered”.Such views made it possibleto class your own society as“mature” and civilised, whilstjudging others as “infant” andbarbarous. This was, of course,rather subjective.By the 19th century nation-alism was rearing its ugly headacross Europe, and the idea ofhistorical progress meant thatnations could claim to be moreadvanced than their neighbours.English nationalism was nodifferent, and was also fuelledby a nasty edge of racialism.The English claimed to bedescended from theAnglo-Saxons, and to haveinherited from them traits ofindependence, industriousness,and the love of liberty.England’s supposedlyunrivalled legal system,commercial spirit, culturalachievement and imperialdominance were seen as thefruits of this descent.The 19th century historianJohn Richard Greenencapsulated this view whenhe wrote of Anglo-Saxonsociety that “the whole after-life of English society wasthere. In its village-moots layour parliament; in the gleemanof its village feasts ourChaucer and our Shakespeare;in the pirate-bark stealing fromcreek to creek our Drakes andour Nelsons”.But what did this all meanfor Wales? Well the upshot wasa view that can be summarisedas “Saxon good, Celt bad”. Ifthe Saxon heritage wasunequivocally positive, thenthe Celtic legacy was seen bythe English as largely negative.The most infamous exampleof this was the so-calledTreachery of the Blue Books(1847). This government reportdepicted the Welsh as lazy,lawless and immoral; theantithesis of all the qualitiesthat the English believedthemselves to possess.Moreover, it made a linkbetween these characteristicsand the Welsh language, whichit claimed was “a vastdrawback to Wales and amanifold barrier to the moralprogress and commercialprosperity of the people”.This connection wassignificant because, in the1800s, language was seen as abadge of ethnicity and nation.If you spoke Welsh then youwere Welsh, with all thenegative connotations which,from an English perspective,that implied.The perception of Walesfrom across the border wasconsequently of a society thatwas less advanced thanEngland. Welsh history hadfailed to deliver the benefits ofprogress. Welsh ethnicitylacked the inherent qualitiesthat made such progresspossible. The English missionin Wales, as in the Empire, wastherefore to civilise thebarbarians by giving them thebenefit of English law,commerce, education, andlanguage.However, more positiveinterpretations of Welshculture did exist. As theEnglish tourist George Borrowwrote in 1862, Wales was“abounding with noble scenery,rich in eventful histories, and ...dotted with the birthplaces ofheroes and poets”.Nevertheless, such views didnot dispute the assumptionthat Wales was less developedthan England. They merelysaw that lack of advancementas attractively picturesquerather than distastefullybarbarous.Welsh history couldtherefore be enjoyed on aromantic level, but theexplanations for Britishgreatness were foundexclusively in the English past.In this way British historybecame English history, just asthe United Kingdom itself wasan Anglo-centred project. Thehistory of Wales, and ofScotland and Ireland, was atbest a romantic backwater andat worst had been a drag onEnglish progress.Thus we arrive at theoutlooks of Scharma andStarkey etc. Yet those outlooksare based on a narrow andsubjective assessment of howsocieties ought to develop overtime. Welsh history does not fitthat mould but, with a decadeof devolution behind us, doesit really need to anymore?Time to consign this view ofthe past to the history books■ An Anglo-centric view of British history has misrepresented Wales and the other Celtic nations for far too longIn the past they were worn by Britain’s urbanworking class – arguably most famously bycoal miners of the South Wales Valleys. Now,the Dai cap is making a reappearance as themust-have fashion accessory for men thiswinter, reports Aled BlakeTHEY wereonce thepreserveof Wales’workingclass, aniconic andvital partof a uniform worn by coalminers, labourers in our docksand iron workers.Now, the flat cap is making acome back – but not becauseour heavy industries areundergoing a phoenix-likecomeback.This time, head-wear thatwould once only be seenadorned by the poorest andhardest working, is now beingworn by some of the world’smost famous people.Brad Pitt, David Beckham,Rhys Ifans, Justin Timberlakehave joined the likes of theTetley Tea men in favouringthe flat cap over baseball capsand beanies.They are just some of thecelebrities who have been seenwearing flat caps – known asDai caps in many parts ofWales.And such has been thesuccess of the traditional hats,that high street Marks &Spencer has reported astaggering rise in demand forflat caps –with sales 11 timeshigher than a year ago.The high street retailer hasreported a massive 989%increase in sales of flat caps.Tony O’Connor, head ofdesign at M&S menswear,explains: “We’ve seen anincrease in sales of flat capsfor men this season.“With iconic characters suchas the Tetley Tea folk back onour screens, and stars such asDavid Beckham and JustinTimberlake supporting thetrend, the flat cap is having itsmoment.“Not only is the flat cap asuccess with traditional looks,but it is also attracting a newcustomer base with Britishheritage style being a key trendfor men this winter.”It is not just the workingclasses who wore the flat cap,they have also been the hats ofchoice for Britain’s posh folkfor generations.Along with other classicBritish styles – such asBarbour and Burberry – theflat cap is returning as thehead-wear of choice for thefashion-conscious.Wenda James-Rowe, styleadviser for Cardiff-basedthestyleteam.com, says thateach year a key fashion piecemakes a comeback – thisyear’s being the flat cap.And she advises men tothink about their outfitsproperly before simply pullingon any old Dai cap from thehat stand.“The flat cap seems to besomething that’s being worn byan awful lot of celebrities,” shesays.“To carry them off well, youneed to look relatively young,trendy and fashionable andyou have to think about whatyou are wearing them with.“For a guy, that meansknitwear, a funky scarf and aman-bag. You have to thinkabout how you are puttingyour look together.“You have to be a bit morecareful if you are a middleaged man and you are justputting it on without anythought, you are not going tolook as on-trend as youngermen.”And colour is also important– with an emphasis on subtletyrather than anything toogarish.“The big colours this yearare black, as always, and grey.Stay away from white or abold colour.”Why is the flat cap makingsuch a strong appearance thiswinter? Wenda puts it down tocelebrity trends and theconsequent attention of themedia.“Quite often, these things aremedia driven.“Or maybe one of the majordesigners has used it on theircatwalk range.“You can never be quite surewhere these trends come from– we’ve also seen the trapperhat this year making a massiveappearance as well. But theflat cap is a lot more refinedand sophisticated.”The move towardsaccessorising by men is onethat has been a long timecoming, says Wenda.“Accessorising has gone tonew levels in the last fiveyears. I always talk aboutaccessories and how you canmake a statement, it’ssomething the French do verywell.“Hats are big in Europe andwe have seen them making abig return to the UK high streetin the last few years.”‘Dai’ hats, thetraditional flatcaps of Welshworkers,are inhigh fashion■ Rhys Ifans on stage with hisband The Peth■ Singer Justin Timberlake■ Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt■ Working men wearing their flat caps during The Tonypandy Riots 1910-11

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Time to consign this view of the past to the history books

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