Cymdeithas yr Iaith - Dewi Pws yn Ffonio

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.

Cymdeithas yr Iaith - Dewi Pws yn Ffonio

Poor BT is left baffled and befuddled by Welsh placenames.

A short comedy sketch in which actor and comedian Dewi Pws calls BT Directory Enquiries to request a phone number. No Welsh speaker is available - and nor does the town for which he wants the number exist, apparently. This is because he has not given the English name for the town and, being Dewi Pws, he extrapolates (still on phone to the operator) and muses that this probably means a whole load of other towns with Welsh names don't exist either - including Llanfairpwllgwyngyllchwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch....

Tags

From the collection

Our Language - Ein Hiaith

The Welsh language - Cymraeg - is an endangered tongue that survives against all odds, thanks to multiple campaigns and its daily speakers.

Welsh is one of the oldest languages in Europe, spoken today by over 800,000 people. It has survived attempts to snuff it out, for example with the use in Victorian schools of the infamous 'Welsh not', and is still the butt of many a tired cliché and ignorant jokes. But it has many less well-known claims to fame - such as the fact that Wales was one of the first countries to create laws using its own language - and in 2020 singer and language campaigner Dafydd Iwan's rousing hit 'Yma o Hyd' (Still Here) reached number one in the UK iTunes chart, and has since been adopted by the Welsh national football team and its 'red wall' of fans as its anthem. This collection includes works both in and about the Welsh language, the tone varying from serious and sobering to witty and light-hearted. Topics range from speakers' feelings about the state of their mother tongue (we hear from children and young people, writers and artists), to the challenges and frustrations of keeping a fragile language alive in the shadow of a dominant, global one.

14 videos in this collection

Watch in libraries only

Ray Gravell talks to David Parry-Jones

  • Mynyddygarreg
  • 2000
Watch in libraries only

Meredydd Evans talks to David Parry-Jones

  • Blaenau Ffestiniog
  • 2003
Watch in libraries only

John Roberts Williams talks to Gwyn Llewelyn

  • 2002
Watch in libraries only

Lwmp o Jaman!

  • Caernarfon
  • 2000
Watch in libraries only

Fosia's Story

  • Cardiff/Caerdydd
  • 2000
Watch in libraries only

Deg Milltir o'r Ffin

  • Mold/Yr Wyddgrug
  • 2001
Watch in libraries only

Y Wyddor Animeiddiedig

  • 2002
Watch in libraries only

Cymdeithas yr Iaith - Part 1

  • 1990
Watch in libraries only

Cymdeithas yr Iaith - Part 2

  • 1990
Watch in libraries only

Cymdeithas yr Iaith - Dewi Pws yn Ffonio

  • 1990
Watch in libraries only

Cymdeithas yr Iaith - Conference and Welsh Office Demo

  • Cardiff/Caerdydd
  • 1990
Watch in libraries only

Tape 1 - Cymdeithas yr Iaith

  • 1988
Watch in libraries only

UB40

  • Fishguard/Abergwaun
  • 1986
Watch in libraries only

Croeso i'n Cylchoedd Meithrin

  • Cardiff/Caerdydd
  • 1978
View full collection