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I Never Knew That About Wales
A wonderful miscellany of hundreds of interesting facts about Wales.
The inspiration for the primetime ITV series on Great Britain, this is a spellbinding journey around Wales by bestselling author Christopher Winn. Packed full of legends, firsts, birthplaces, inventions and adventures, I Never Knew That About Wales visits the thirteen traditional Welsh counties and unearths the hidden gems that they each hold. Discover where history and legends happened; where people, ideas and inventions began; where dreams took flight; where famous figures were born and now rest. A glittering pantheon of writers and artists, thinkers and inventors, heroes and villains have lived and toiled in this small country. Remarkable events, noble (and dastardly) deeds and exciting adventures have all taken place with Wales as their backdrop. This book seeks out their heritage, their monuments, their memories and their secrets.
You'll be able to visit Britain's smallest city, St David's with its glorious 12th-century cathedral slumbering in a sleepy hollow near the sea. Explore Britain's greatest collection of castles from the first stone fortress at Chepstow to Britain's finest concentric castle at Beaumaris and the magnificent Caernarvon, birthplace of the first Prince of Wales. Browse through the second hand book capital of the world, Hay-on-Wye, wander the glorious Gower peninsula, Britain's first Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Take a trip to Fishguard, where the last invasion of Britain took place in 1797. Marvel at Thomas Telford's Menai Bridge, the world's first iron suspension bridge or Pontcysyllte, the longest bridged aqueduct in Britain.
This irresistible compendium of interesting facts and good stories will give you a captivating insight into the people, ideas and events that have shaped the individual identity of every place you visit, and will have you exclaiming again and 'Well, I never knew that!'
The inspiration for the primetime ITV series on Great Britain, this is a spellbinding journey around Wales by bestselling author Christopher Winn. Packed full of legends, firsts, birthplaces, inventions and adventures, I Never Knew That About Wales visits the thirteen traditional Welsh counties and unearths the hidden gems that they each hold. Discover where history and legends happened; where people, ideas and inventions began; where dreams took flight; where famous figures were born and now rest. A glittering pantheon of writers and artists, thinkers and inventors, heroes and villains have lived and toiled in this small country. Remarkable events, noble (and dastardly) deeds and exciting adventures have all taken place with Wales as their backdrop. This book seeks out their heritage, their monuments, their memories and their secrets.
You'll be able to visit Britain's smallest city, St David's with its glorious 12th-century cathedral slumbering in a sleepy hollow near the sea. Explore Britain's greatest collection of castles from the first stone fortress at Chepstow to Britain's finest concentric castle at Beaumaris and the magnificent Caernarvon, birthplace of the first Prince of Wales. Browse through the second hand book capital of the world, Hay-on-Wye, wander the glorious Gower peninsula, Britain's first Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Take a trip to Fishguard, where the last invasion of Britain took place in 1797. Marvel at Thomas Telford's Menai Bridge, the world's first iron suspension bridge or Pontcysyllte, the longest bridged aqueduct in Britain.
This irresistible compendium of interesting facts and good stories will give you a captivating insight into the people, ideas and events that have shaped the individual identity of every place you visit, and will have you exclaiming again and 'Well, I never knew that!'
208 pages, Paperback
First published October 4, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
January 7, 2014
I first spotted this book in the gift shop when I visited Castle Coch, in South Wales, and after flicking through it I thought it'd be interesting to read.
I'm not entirely certain how much of the information is true, as other people have said none of the information is sourced, but it's fun to read all the same! I liked reading odd facts about places near to where I live, and places I have visited in the past.
I'm not entirely certain how much of the information is true, as other people have said none of the information is sourced, but it's fun to read all the same! I liked reading odd facts about places near to where I live, and places I have visited in the past.
June 16, 2009
A fascinating and informative book with lots and lots of little titbits that'll surprise even the more informed reader. A variety of tales of intrigue, romance, horror and tragedy with a bit of humour thrown in for good measure. This book gives a wonderful insight into the history and people of Wales and shows how far above our 'weight' we really do punch.
July 2, 2020
Birthday gift | Lots of trivia, some of which is blatantly untrue, presented in the most mind-numbingly dull way | Too much focus on random "records" which are noted in small caps and so disturb the flow of the sentence. Instead of getting detail or background on interesting points, that page space is given to the name of THE FIRST BRITISH MAN TO DIE IN AN AEROPLANE CRASH. Really?! The bits that intrigued me I had to go find more information about myself, and much of the time I would discover they'd been disproven in the 1800s. Or the people in question were on the record repeatedly during their lifetime that it wasn't true. Since there's no citations or bibliography, it's easy for the book to present falsehoods as historical record. I did read the whole thing (index starts at 86% for kindle users), and there were plenty of tidbits I'd like to know more about. But there's more that I'd be surprised if anyone cared about, and there's no telling how much is false.
July 17, 2019
i’m honestly not in the mood to pick this back up, it’s okay but not worth finishing
Read
July 20, 2020Amazing facts for the Wales lover that leads to many Wikipedia rabbit-holes. Great read!
May 10, 2022
Full of fascinating facts about Wales, organised by county. Loved it !
June 10, 2016
As someone who has spent several years researching the Morgans of Tredegar House, Newport South Wales and as the author of several books on them I have to say the reference in this book to Katharine Carnegie, Lady Tredegar is entirely fiction. It is also offensive to the memory of the person in question, and to her surviving family. Katharine suffered a series of traumas in her life and was the victim of several disabling conditions. Whilst eccentric she was maligned by her son Evan ( a man who had a mother fixation) with his irrational references to her foibles that were only ever intended as being a joke. The joke got out of hand, and the stories grew up and out of all proportion to the facts.
The distasteful passage in this book is as follows:-
“Lady Katharine Carnegie, thought she was a bird, and would go about the house making nests where she could roost. Apparently, when hungry, she would emit a noise something like a jackdaw and a footman would appear with her favourite tiffin, a dish of corn seed, steeped in medium sherry.”
Like many tales of the Morgans from the time of this publication’s creation a great deal of the detail and anecdotes about them were purely invented – or uplifted from similar books with an earlier publication date, but with the same source. The originators were the Tredegar House staff who were charged with selling the attractions of visiting the House - which is a gem anyway without its past characters being lied.about and abused. All the nonsense – including this story of Katharine was based on a need to market the House and jazz up some of the tales told to visitors. So many stories, myths and legends have been created on flimsy or contradictory evidence, or no evidence at all. As a result there are many bad taste and bad history tales that need to be outed and expunged. The current management of Tredegar House is in the hands of the National Trust who say they intend to burst these myths – top of the list of worst myths – lies in fact - being the several nasty references such as the one here to Lady Katharine Carnegie.
Katharine hardly set foot in Tredegar House, she left her unsuited husband, Courtenay, the 3rd Lord Tredegar in the early years of their marriage and maintained a London home and a home in Surrey. Although of a nervous disposition and someone who had a strong headiness and someone who was often stubborn, she was brought up to do the right thing by others less fortunate than she was and less privileged.
Katharine never hesitated to support good charitable causes, including the Welsh regiments in the Great War and campaigns for greater appreciation of art, music and particularly the opera. She opened up her London home as a war hospital for the Royal Flying Corps and gave funding to support it. She was also a talented painter and designer of stain glassed windows. Painted twice by the Welsh artist Augustus John and also by Ambrose McEvoy – these are amongst the more praiseworthy references that should be declared in a book of this kind.
The distasteful passage in this book is as follows:-
“Lady Katharine Carnegie, thought she was a bird, and would go about the house making nests where she could roost. Apparently, when hungry, she would emit a noise something like a jackdaw and a footman would appear with her favourite tiffin, a dish of corn seed, steeped in medium sherry.”
Like many tales of the Morgans from the time of this publication’s creation a great deal of the detail and anecdotes about them were purely invented – or uplifted from similar books with an earlier publication date, but with the same source. The originators were the Tredegar House staff who were charged with selling the attractions of visiting the House - which is a gem anyway without its past characters being lied.about and abused. All the nonsense – including this story of Katharine was based on a need to market the House and jazz up some of the tales told to visitors. So many stories, myths and legends have been created on flimsy or contradictory evidence, or no evidence at all. As a result there are many bad taste and bad history tales that need to be outed and expunged. The current management of Tredegar House is in the hands of the National Trust who say they intend to burst these myths – top of the list of worst myths – lies in fact - being the several nasty references such as the one here to Lady Katharine Carnegie.
Katharine hardly set foot in Tredegar House, she left her unsuited husband, Courtenay, the 3rd Lord Tredegar in the early years of their marriage and maintained a London home and a home in Surrey. Although of a nervous disposition and someone who had a strong headiness and someone who was often stubborn, she was brought up to do the right thing by others less fortunate than she was and less privileged.
Katharine never hesitated to support good charitable causes, including the Welsh regiments in the Great War and campaigns for greater appreciation of art, music and particularly the opera. She opened up her London home as a war hospital for the Royal Flying Corps and gave funding to support it. She was also a talented painter and designer of stain glassed windows. Painted twice by the Welsh artist Augustus John and also by Ambrose McEvoy – these are amongst the more praiseworthy references that should be declared in a book of this kind.
March 24, 2022
this was a satisfying read but overall, it wasn’t anything special.
August 4, 2011
Very enlightening & educational book, which also gave references on where to find the places described. There was a couple of factual points that I found questionable but on the whole it is a good book.
December 14, 2012
Lots of interesting titbits in here, though it's not a book to sit down with and just try to read through it. It's a bit too dry and bitty for that -- it's more fun to pick just a few places to look up.
June 16, 2013
Although I have a natural distaste for unsourced books of trivia, this one was a fairly interesting, though dry, read. It was useful in planning my upcoming trip to Wales though, so that's all I really wanted.
October 15, 2012
This is most interesting.. You can either just read about the places you've been/going for reference or you can read it straight through like I did. It's well written and informative.
September 17, 2014
Zeer informatief boek.
Ik heb het tijdens mijn vakantie in Wales gekocht, maar had graag vóór vertrek van het bestaan ervan geweten.
Aanrader voor Walesgangers!
Ik heb het tijdens mijn vakantie in Wales gekocht, maar had graag vóór vertrek van het bestaan ervan geweten.
Aanrader voor Walesgangers!
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews