17/6/2009

Richard Llewellyn, author of the internationally-acclaimed novel How Green Was My Valley, has been celebrated as part of the Rhondda Cynon Taf blue plaque heritage trail.

The famous story, which was turned into a classic Hollywood movie, immortalised life in the South Wales mining valleys.

It is believed to be based on the author’s experiences of staying with his grandfather in Gilfach Goch when he was a child.

Richard Llewellyn Lloyd was born in London in 1906 to Welsh parents and wrote several novels, although 1939’s How Green Was My Valley is the most famous.

He travelled widely during his life and, before World War II, spent time working in hotels, as well as writing a play, working as a miner and producing novels! During the war, he rose to the rank of Captain in the Welsh Guards.

Following the war, he worked as a journalist and covered the Nuremburg Trials and then, later, became a screenwriter for MGM. He spent the latter part of his life in Eilat, Israel. He died in 1983.

The blue plaque to mark Gilfach Goch as the inspiration of the book was unveiled by Cllr Robert Smith, Rhondda Cynon Taf Mayor, and Huw Irranca Davies MP.