Farmer John

From the collection of

Archif Sgrin a Sain Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru / National Library of Wales Screen and Sound Archive
Established in 2001, the National Library of Wales Screen and Sound Archive holds an unrivalled collection of films, TV and radio broadcasts, video tapes and sound recordings relating to Wales and the Welsh, from 1898 to the present day. The collection spans multiples formats and genres, both professional and amateur.

Farmer John


O, sighs the office-bound man, how wonderful to be a farmer! And, with breeches and boots, he tries the good life as ‘Farmer John'.

Breeches and wellies do not a farmer make, as an urban draughtsman yearning for the good life discovers, eventually. This is the second in a short series of comic dramas shot by John W Meredith and enacted by fellow workers from the Thompson Brothers' Bradley Engineering Works in Bilston, Staffordshire, when on their annual camping trip to Penygeulan farm, Llanymawddwy. Richard Ellis Jones, of Penygeulan, and his family also take part in this town-meets-country drama.

Jack Whale, as here, plays the main character in all the Meredith films held by the Archive: ‘Early Film-making at Welsh Camp' (1929), ‘Jack Reforms' (1931) and ‘We Regret' (1932). In 1935, Meredith filmed a drama directed by the local Reverend H E Hughes which, as entitled, retold the legend of ‘Gwylliaid Cochion Mawddwy/The Bandits of Mawddwy' and involved the whole community.


Tags