Ffeil A8/3 - 'The Sleeping Bard'

Aneirin Talfan Davies, OBE, MA (1909-80), was a writer and broadcaster. He was born in 1909 in Felindre, Henllan, Carmarthenshire, the son of the Rev. William Talfan Davies (1873-1938); his younger brother was Alun Talfan Davies, QC (1913-2000). He attended Gowerton Grammar School, but left aged 14 to become a pharmacist's apprentice. While working in London he became interested in literature and theology. He ran a pharmacy in Swansea from 1938 until 1941, when it was destroyed during an air raid. He began a new career with the BBC, reading and editing the Welsh-language news on radio. After the War he joined BBC Wales in Cardiff, becoming Head of Programmes,1966-1970, until his retirement. He was active in the Church in Wales as a writer and lay preacher and was involved with a number of cultural and literary bodies within Wales. His literary output included radio scripts, free metre poetry, literary criticism, mainly on English literature and theology, and lyrics and libretti with Arwel Hughes (1909-1988). He edited the magazines Heddiw and Barn, and contributed columns to Barn and the Western Mail. With his brother Alun, he co-founded Llyfrau'r Dryw, Llandybie (now Christopher Davies (Publishers) Ltd.). He wrote and edited many books including Eliot, Pwshcin, Poe (Llandybie, 1942), Yr Alltud (London, 1944), Gwyr Llên (London, 1948), Munudau Gyda'r Beirdd (Llandybie, 1954), Crwydro Sir Gâr (Llandybie, 1955), Dylan: Druid of a Broken Body (Denbigh, 1964), Gyda Gwawr a Bore (Llandybie, 1970) and two anthologies of his poetry, Y Ddau Lais (London, 1937) and Diannerch Erchwyn (Swansea: C. Davies, 1975). He married in 1936 and had two sons, Owen and Geraint. He died in 1980.