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[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wicmaplowres002_1816.jpg]]
-->Mae hen wlad fy nhadau yn annwyl i mi,\\
Gwlad beirdd a chantorion, enwogion o fri;\\
Ei gwrol ryfelwyr, gwladgarwyr tra mad,\\
Dros ryddid collasant eu gwaed. [[hottip:* :''The land of my fathers is dear to me, / Old land where the minstrels are honoured and free; / Its warring defenders so gallant and brave, / For freedom their life's blood they gave.'']]
-->Gwlad, gwlad, pleidiol wyf i'm gwlad.\\
Tra mor yn fur i'r bur hoff bau,\\
O bydded i'r hen iaith barhau. [[hottip:* :''Home, home, true am I to my home, / While seas secure the land so pure, / O may the old language endure.'']]
-->-- '''The first verse and chorus of "Land of My Fathers", the Welsh National Anthem.'''
http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/125px-Flag_of_Wales_2.svg.png Wales, the land of the Welsh Dragon, Tom Jones, ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'' and the rest of the BBC Sci-fi/fantasy TV programmes.
In [[AncientRome Roman times]], the parts of Great Britain now called England (the words "England" and "English" refer specifically to the Germanic invaders you're about to meet), Wales, and Scotland were inhabited by a Celtic population. During the [[DarkAgeEurope Dark Ages]], the Germanic [[AngloSaxons Anglo-Saxons]] invaded and pushed them into the little corner of the island we now call Wales. Wales was conquered by the English in The Middle Ages, and became legally a part of the Kingdom of England -- which is why there's no "Welsh Bit" of the Union Jack, which was formed from the flags of the Kingdoms of England, Scotland and, later, Ireland. Being conquered and repressed has given Wales both a strong sense of identity and the mother of all chips on shoulders. [[BerserkButton Do not call a Welshman English]]. It will cause immediate and lasting discomfort (The Scottish are often portrayed as having similar tendencies).
It now has a devolved assembly, albeit one with less power than the [[BonnieScotland Scottish]] Parliament, based in the capital, [[AliensInCardiff Cardiff]] (Caerdydd in Welsh).
The Welsh language is a Celtic tongue that pre-dates the Roman conquest. It is related to Scottish, the native language of Scotland, to Irish, the native language of Ireland, and Manx, spoken on the Isle of Man, though not so closely that speakers of Welsh and those languages can understand each other. Welsh is more closely related to Breton and Cornish (spoken in northwestern France and UsefulNotes/{{Cornwall}}, respectively).
Welsh is generally regarded by English-speakers as a formidably difficult language, and a glance at the map shows such jaw-crackers as Machynlleth, Pwllheli, and the truly majestic [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch]]. That said, the pronunciation rules are consistent (unlike English) and once you know that a "u" is pronounced "ee"; "dd" is a hard "th" (as in 'there' rather than 'think') ; and a "ll" is a sort-of cross between 'l' and 'th', then it will always be so, although the actual spelling (and hence pronunciation) of a word may change depending on the word preceding it. "Cwm", that perennial favourite of crossword-puzzle enthusiasts, is pronounced "coom" (and means "a hollow in the side of a mountain"). Welsh vowels ('a', 'e', 'i', 'o', 'u', 'w', and 'y') have two distinct pronounciations: one long, one short. For example, the two variations of "y" can be heard in "yn" (u-n) and "byd" (b-ea-d) (short and long, respectively). Welsh English often [[LikeIsLikeAComma uses "like"]] as an interjection.
The Welsh language was suppressed with varying degrees of viciousness by the English from the middle ages right up until the 1960s, but since then it has become one of the best-subsidised minority languages in the world, and nowadays around 20% of Welsh people can speak some Welsh, with 14% claiming to use it on a daily basis. Northern and Southern versions differ in details, and 'gogs' ( as North Welsh are referred to in the South ) are sometimes said to sound like Russian porn stars. Welsh is accorded equal status with English within Wales, so all roadsigns and official notices have to be in both. The language is the butt of many jokes in England, usually along the lines of "Welsh is very difficult to speak unless you have either a lifetime's study, or a serious throat infection". Welsh spellings are also the subject of English humour, sometimes being attributed either to anagrams of breakfast cereal names or escapees from Creator/HPLovecraft's less well-known works.
There is also a community of Welsh-speakers in Argentina, dating back to the 19th century, and Welsh is spoken in Patagonia, albeit with a Spanish accent.
Wales is notable for its sheep population -- c. 10.9 million of them against a human population of about three million. So, the [[BestialityIsDepraved usual jokes]] apply. Wales is also notable for its level of rainfall -- even more so than [[BritishWeather the UK as a whole]]. Second city Swansea (Abertawe) officially holds the distinction of "wettest city in Britain".
South Wales was more industrialised than the rest, due to immense coal deposits, though Wrexham in the North East was as industrialised also due to coal. A lot of Welsh cultural identity stems from the 19th-century mining industry, when "the Valleys" as the area was known, saw religious revivals, the enthusiastic adoption of the game of Rugby, and a great tradition of choral singing. The industry largely (and in the main needlessly) came to an end in the late eighties, thanks in chief to Margaret Thatcher, leaving the population and economy a little shell-shocked. This is why it's not cool to be a Tory between Llanelli and Newport. Very few Tories survived the 1997 cull in any part of Wales. After ten years of New "Labour", the Welsh are also beginning to perceive Labour as just another English political party. After Blair and Brown signally failed to repair the damage done to Wales by Thatcher's Tories, the hitherto unthinkable started to happen - the super-safe constituencies of Rhondda and Islwyn fell to the Welsh Nationalists, although Labour won them back a few years later.
A lot of people in Wales are called Jones, Williams or Davies due to the way the Welsh {{Patronymic}} naming system was Anglicised -- people in small villages will have to get nicknames to distinguish each other. Traditionally these were often in the form of "Surname The Occupation", such as Jones The Steam [engine driver] from ''Ivor the Engine''. This results in SAT exams (see BritishEducationSystem) having to have candidate numbers in Wales. This is also the case with soldiers in Welsh army regiments, who even in the late 20th century were still identified by their unique Army number and not by one of a limited number of family names. In this troper's regimental family, 106 men and women soldiers in a 600+ strong unit were called Wiliams. Owen, Jones and Powell then tied for the next most populous name with Davies and Hughes coming up not far behind.
There are two regiments of the British Army that require their officer candidates to be fluent, and ideally bilingual, in a language other than English. One is the Gurkha Rifles and the other is the Royal Welch Fusiliers. (founded in 1690, who use an archaic spelling of the word currently grammaticised as "Welsh".)
----
!!There are a lot of famous Welsh people such as:
* Music/TomJones - world famous singer, with a reputation for women throwing their knickers at him.
* Aimee Ann '''Duffy''' - a UK famous singer, who hasn't had any pants or knickers thrown at her yet.
* [[ShirleyBassey Dame Shirley Bassey]]!
* Catherine Zeta-Jones - world famous actress. Oh, and singer (sort of) in ''Film/{{Chicago}}''
* Katherine Jenkins, who like Charlotte Church really CAN sing, and unlike Charlotte Church has wisely decided to stay with what she knows best
* AledJones -- another Welsh singer, most famous (as a boy) for his cover version of "Walking In The Air" from ''TheSnowman''. He now regularly presents the God-Slot religious show on BBC Radio Two every Sunday morning and is an occassional religious presenter on BBC television.
* RussellTDavies.
* Ray Milland.
* AnthonyHopkins. You know, ''AGlassOfChianti''...
* John Rhys-Davies.
* RichardBurton.
* Timothy Dalton.
* Creator/DylanThomas, poet, DoNotGoGentleIntoThatGoodNight. See Discworld/SoulMusic for Creator/TerryPratchett's take on this.
* John Cale, musician and former member of TheVelvetUnderground.
* MiltonJones, comic.
* ChristianBale, born in Pembrokeshire but raised in Southern England from early childhood. (Incidentally, he voiced [[Anime/HowlsMovingCastle Howl]] in the film's English dub.)
* Author JasperFforde was not born in Wales, but lived there for a while, and "[[BalkanizeMe The Socialist Republic of Wales]]" features prominently in several ''Literature/ThursdayNext'' books. Its background and AlternateHistory are [[http://www.jasperfforde.com/sovietreppage2.html All Here]] [[AllThereInTheManual On The Internet]].
* AlastairReynolds.
* Comedians Rob Brydon, Ruth Jones and Rhod Gilbert.
* Wrestler Mason Ryan, former Florida Heavyweight champion and now heel for TheNexus on WWE.
** TNA wrestling also has their own wrestling Welshman, Rob Terry.
* Actor MichaelSheen, from Newport and Port Talbot. Cinema's very own TonyBlair.
* Rhys Ifans, a first language Welsh-speaker and main example of a 'Gog' accent (from North Wales)
* ''Hornblower'' actor Ioan Gruffudd, also Cymraeg - but Welsh-Speaker from South Wales (Glamorgan).
* Music/CharlotteChurch, from Cardiff.
* Gavin Henson, rugby player and noted sun-bed user, sometimes referred to as 'Tango Man' for this reason.
* TerryJones of Creator/MontyPython.
* Arthur Machen, an author whose ''Literature/TheGreatGodPan'' and other stories were a major influence on Creator/HPLovecraft.
* Ruth Madoc, comic actress.
* Iwan Rheon, singer and actor (Best known as Simon in {{Misfits}}), from Cardiff.
* Julia Gillard, Prime Minister of Australia, was born in Wales, except she was naturalised in Australia as a youngster - first-generation Australians are recognised by the law as Australians but some Australian citizens whose ancestry goes back further tend to disagree
* HarrySecombe, ''GoonShow'' straight man as Harry Seagoon, comedian, singer and presenter of religious shows.
* MyfanwyTalog, Welsh-language actress, wife of English comic actor Creator/DavidJason. Now deceased but a mainstay of soap opera ''Pobol Y Cym'' for many years. Also voiced Welsh characters in English-language animations such as ''WesternAnimation/CountDuckula'' and ''Supermouse''.
* Bonnie Tyler
* Singer-songwriter Marina Diamandis of Marina & the Diamonds.
* {{Welshy}}, Channel Awesome video producer
!!Famous Welsh Bands:
* Badfinger
* Budgie
* Bullet For My Valentine
* Catatonia
* Feeder
* FuneralForAFriend
* Goldie Lookin Chain
* Music/LostProphets
* ManicStreetPreachers
* Stereophonics
* Super Furry Animals
** This band, which usually records most of their music in English, often includes at least a few Welsh language songs on their albums, culminating in 2000's ''Mwng'', the best selling Welsh-language album in rock history.
* Gorky's Zygotic Mynci
* The Automatic
* The Oppressed
* Music/LosCampesinos!
** All the members of this band are actually English, but they all met at university in Cardiff and have adopted the city as their home
* mclusky
** and its SpiritualSuccessor, Future of the Left
* People In Planes
* The Alarm
!!Famous Fictional Welsh People:
* Pixie from the ''Comicbook/{{X-Men}}'' comics
* Gwen Cooper, Ianto Jones and Rhys Williams, ''Series/{{Torchwood}}''
* Fluellen, ''[[Creator/WilliamShakespeare Henry V]]''
* Wizard Howl, of ''[[Literature/HowlsMovingCastle Moving Castle]]'' fame.
* Cadfael
* [[MahouSenseiNegima Negi Springfield]]. Well, he spent a good deal of his childhood there.
* The West clan of ''GavinAndStacey'', plus their friends and neighbours.
** Also from Ruth Jones, ''A Child's Christmases in Wales.''
* ''Ivor the Engine''.
* Several characters from Channel 4's classic sketch show ''Absolutely'', particularly DIY 'expert' Denzil and his equally repulsive wife, Gwyneth (played by Welsh comedy actor John Sparks and Morwenna Banks).
* [[WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}} Welshy]], a RedShirt replacement for ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries''' Scotty
* Able Seaman Goldstein from ''TheNavyLark'', apparently he joined the Navy to work his passage to Swansea.
* Madoc and all of his descendants in ''A Swiftly Tilting Planet.''
* Jeff (the [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} crazy one]]) from ''{{Coupling}}''.
* The setting of the ChroniclesOfPrydain is based on Welsh mythology.
* The country of Llamedos on the Literature/{{Discworld}} is an extreme parody of Welsh stereotypes, best known as the original home of [[Discworld/SoulMusic Imp y Celyn]] and noted for its ''rain mines''.
* The KingArthur of Welsh legend was a Celtic Briton and not necessarily considered to haul from (what is today) Wales, but as the descendants of the Britons, the Welsh always considered him as one of their heroes.
* {{Merlin}}. The original Merlin was a bard called Myrddin, the founder of Carmarthen (from Caer Myrddin, "Merlin's City").
----
-->"The land where history sleeps, and so does everybody else."
-->-- '''Griff Rhys Jones'''
----
-->Mae hen wlad fy nhadau yn annwyl i mi,\\
Gwlad beirdd a chantorion, enwogion o fri;\\
Ei gwrol ryfelwyr, gwladgarwyr tra mad,\\
Dros ryddid collasant eu gwaed. [[hottip:* :''The land of my fathers is dear to me, / Old land where the minstrels are honoured and free; / Its warring defenders so gallant and brave, / For freedom their life's blood they gave.'']]
-->Gwlad, gwlad, pleidiol wyf i'm gwlad.\\
Tra mor yn fur i'r bur hoff bau,\\
O bydded i'r hen iaith barhau. [[hottip:* :''Home, home, true am I to my home, / While seas secure the land so pure, / O may the old language endure.'']]
-->-- '''The first verse and chorus of "Land of My Fathers", the Welsh National Anthem.'''
http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/125px-Flag_of_Wales_2.svg.png Wales, the land of the Welsh Dragon, Tom Jones, ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'' and the rest of the BBC Sci-fi/fantasy TV programmes.
In [[AncientRome Roman times]], the parts of Great Britain now called England (the words "England" and "English" refer specifically to the Germanic invaders you're about to meet), Wales, and Scotland were inhabited by a Celtic population. During the [[DarkAgeEurope Dark Ages]], the Germanic [[AngloSaxons Anglo-Saxons]] invaded and pushed them into the little corner of the island we now call Wales. Wales was conquered by the English in The Middle Ages, and became legally a part of the Kingdom of England -- which is why there's no "Welsh Bit" of the Union Jack, which was formed from the flags of the Kingdoms of England, Scotland and, later, Ireland. Being conquered and repressed has given Wales both a strong sense of identity and the mother of all chips on shoulders. [[BerserkButton Do not call a Welshman English]]. It will cause immediate and lasting discomfort (The Scottish are often portrayed as having similar tendencies).
It now has a devolved assembly, albeit one with less power than the [[BonnieScotland Scottish]] Parliament, based in the capital, [[AliensInCardiff Cardiff]] (Caerdydd in Welsh).
The Welsh language is a Celtic tongue that pre-dates the Roman conquest. It is related to Scottish, the native language of Scotland, to Irish, the native language of Ireland, and Manx, spoken on the Isle of Man, though not so closely that speakers of Welsh and those languages can understand each other. Welsh is more closely related to Breton and Cornish (spoken in northwestern France and UsefulNotes/{{Cornwall}}, respectively).
Welsh is generally regarded by English-speakers as a formidably difficult language, and a glance at the map shows such jaw-crackers as Machynlleth, Pwllheli, and the truly majestic [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch]]. That said, the pronunciation rules are consistent (unlike English) and once you know that a "u" is pronounced "ee"; "dd" is a hard "th" (as in 'there' rather than 'think') ; and a "ll" is a sort-of cross between 'l' and 'th', then it will always be so, although the actual spelling (and hence pronunciation) of a word may change depending on the word preceding it. "Cwm", that perennial favourite of crossword-puzzle enthusiasts, is pronounced "coom" (and means "a hollow in the side of a mountain"). Welsh vowels ('a', 'e', 'i', 'o', 'u', 'w', and 'y') have two distinct pronounciations: one long, one short. For example, the two variations of "y" can be heard in "yn" (u-n) and "byd" (b-ea-d) (short and long, respectively). Welsh English often [[LikeIsLikeAComma uses "like"]] as an interjection.
The Welsh language was suppressed with varying degrees of viciousness by the English from the middle ages right up until the 1960s, but since then it has become one of the best-subsidised minority languages in the world, and nowadays around 20% of Welsh people can speak some Welsh, with 14% claiming to use it on a daily basis. Northern and Southern versions differ in details, and 'gogs' ( as North Welsh are referred to in the South ) are sometimes said to sound like Russian porn stars. Welsh is accorded equal status with English within Wales, so all roadsigns and official notices have to be in both. The language is the butt of many jokes in England, usually along the lines of "Welsh is very difficult to speak unless you have either a lifetime's study, or a serious throat infection". Welsh spellings are also the subject of English humour, sometimes being attributed either to anagrams of breakfast cereal names or escapees from Creator/HPLovecraft's less well-known works.
There is also a community of Welsh-speakers in Argentina, dating back to the 19th century, and Welsh is spoken in Patagonia, albeit with a Spanish accent.
Wales is notable for its sheep population -- c. 10.9 million of them against a human population of about three million. So, the [[BestialityIsDepraved usual jokes]] apply. Wales is also notable for its level of rainfall -- even more so than [[BritishWeather the UK as a whole]]. Second city Swansea (Abertawe) officially holds the distinction of "wettest city in Britain".
South Wales was more industrialised than the rest, due to immense coal deposits, though Wrexham in the North East was as industrialised also due to coal. A lot of Welsh cultural identity stems from the 19th-century mining industry, when "the Valleys" as the area was known, saw religious revivals, the enthusiastic adoption of the game of Rugby, and a great tradition of choral singing. The industry largely (and in the main needlessly) came to an end in the late eighties, thanks in chief to Margaret Thatcher, leaving the population and economy a little shell-shocked. This is why it's not cool to be a Tory between Llanelli and Newport. Very few Tories survived the 1997 cull in any part of Wales. After ten years of New "Labour", the Welsh are also beginning to perceive Labour as just another English political party. After Blair and Brown signally failed to repair the damage done to Wales by Thatcher's Tories, the hitherto unthinkable started to happen - the super-safe constituencies of Rhondda and Islwyn fell to the Welsh Nationalists, although Labour won them back a few years later.
A lot of people in Wales are called Jones, Williams or Davies due to the way the Welsh {{Patronymic}} naming system was Anglicised -- people in small villages will have to get nicknames to distinguish each other. Traditionally these were often in the form of "Surname The Occupation", such as Jones The Steam [engine driver] from ''Ivor the Engine''. This results in SAT exams (see BritishEducationSystem) having to have candidate numbers in Wales. This is also the case with soldiers in Welsh army regiments, who even in the late 20th century were still identified by their unique Army number and not by one of a limited number of family names. In this troper's regimental family, 106 men and women soldiers in a 600+ strong unit were called Wiliams. Owen, Jones and Powell then tied for the next most populous name with Davies and Hughes coming up not far behind.
There are two regiments of the British Army that require their officer candidates to be fluent, and ideally bilingual, in a language other than English. One is the Gurkha Rifles and the other is the Royal Welch Fusiliers. (founded in 1690, who use an archaic spelling of the word currently grammaticised as "Welsh".)
----
!!There are a lot of famous Welsh people such as:
* Music/TomJones - world famous singer, with a reputation for women throwing their knickers at him.
* Aimee Ann '''Duffy''' - a UK famous singer, who hasn't had any pants or knickers thrown at her yet.
* [[ShirleyBassey Dame Shirley Bassey]]!
* Catherine Zeta-Jones - world famous actress. Oh, and singer (sort of) in ''Film/{{Chicago}}''
* Katherine Jenkins, who like Charlotte Church really CAN sing, and unlike Charlotte Church has wisely decided to stay with what she knows best
* AledJones -- another Welsh singer, most famous (as a boy) for his cover version of "Walking In The Air" from ''TheSnowman''. He now regularly presents the God-Slot religious show on BBC Radio Two every Sunday morning and is an occassional religious presenter on BBC television.
* RussellTDavies.
* Ray Milland.
* AnthonyHopkins. You know, ''AGlassOfChianti''...
* John Rhys-Davies.
* RichardBurton.
* Timothy Dalton.
* Creator/DylanThomas, poet, DoNotGoGentleIntoThatGoodNight. See Discworld/SoulMusic for Creator/TerryPratchett's take on this.
* John Cale, musician and former member of TheVelvetUnderground.
* MiltonJones, comic.
* ChristianBale, born in Pembrokeshire but raised in Southern England from early childhood. (Incidentally, he voiced [[Anime/HowlsMovingCastle Howl]] in the film's English dub.)
* Author JasperFforde was not born in Wales, but lived there for a while, and "[[BalkanizeMe The Socialist Republic of Wales]]" features prominently in several ''Literature/ThursdayNext'' books. Its background and AlternateHistory are [[http://www.jasperfforde.com/sovietreppage2.html All Here]] [[AllThereInTheManual On The Internet]].
* AlastairReynolds.
* Comedians Rob Brydon, Ruth Jones and Rhod Gilbert.
* Wrestler Mason Ryan, former Florida Heavyweight champion and now heel for TheNexus on WWE.
** TNA wrestling also has their own wrestling Welshman, Rob Terry.
* Actor MichaelSheen, from Newport and Port Talbot. Cinema's very own TonyBlair.
* Rhys Ifans, a first language Welsh-speaker and main example of a 'Gog' accent (from North Wales)
* ''Hornblower'' actor Ioan Gruffudd, also Cymraeg - but Welsh-Speaker from South Wales (Glamorgan).
* Music/CharlotteChurch, from Cardiff.
* Gavin Henson, rugby player and noted sun-bed user, sometimes referred to as 'Tango Man' for this reason.
* TerryJones of Creator/MontyPython.
* Arthur Machen, an author whose ''Literature/TheGreatGodPan'' and other stories were a major influence on Creator/HPLovecraft.
* Ruth Madoc, comic actress.
* Iwan Rheon, singer and actor (Best known as Simon in {{Misfits}}), from Cardiff.
* Julia Gillard, Prime Minister of Australia, was born in Wales, except she was naturalised in Australia as a youngster - first-generation Australians are recognised by the law as Australians but some Australian citizens whose ancestry goes back further tend to disagree
* HarrySecombe, ''GoonShow'' straight man as Harry Seagoon, comedian, singer and presenter of religious shows.
* MyfanwyTalog, Welsh-language actress, wife of English comic actor Creator/DavidJason. Now deceased but a mainstay of soap opera ''Pobol Y Cym'' for many years. Also voiced Welsh characters in English-language animations such as ''WesternAnimation/CountDuckula'' and ''Supermouse''.
* Bonnie Tyler
* Singer-songwriter Marina Diamandis of Marina & the Diamonds.
* {{Welshy}}, Channel Awesome video producer
!!Famous Welsh Bands:
* Badfinger
* Budgie
* Bullet For My Valentine
* Catatonia
* Feeder
* FuneralForAFriend
* Goldie Lookin Chain
* Music/LostProphets
* ManicStreetPreachers
* Stereophonics
* Super Furry Animals
** This band, which usually records most of their music in English, often includes at least a few Welsh language songs on their albums, culminating in 2000's ''Mwng'', the best selling Welsh-language album in rock history.
* Gorky's Zygotic Mynci
* The Automatic
* The Oppressed
* Music/LosCampesinos!
** All the members of this band are actually English, but they all met at university in Cardiff and have adopted the city as their home
* mclusky
** and its SpiritualSuccessor, Future of the Left
* People In Planes
* The Alarm
!!Famous Fictional Welsh People:
* Pixie from the ''Comicbook/{{X-Men}}'' comics
* Gwen Cooper, Ianto Jones and Rhys Williams, ''Series/{{Torchwood}}''
* Fluellen, ''[[Creator/WilliamShakespeare Henry V]]''
* Wizard Howl, of ''[[Literature/HowlsMovingCastle Moving Castle]]'' fame.
* Cadfael
* [[MahouSenseiNegima Negi Springfield]]. Well, he spent a good deal of his childhood there.
* The West clan of ''GavinAndStacey'', plus their friends and neighbours.
** Also from Ruth Jones, ''A Child's Christmases in Wales.''
* ''Ivor the Engine''.
* Several characters from Channel 4's classic sketch show ''Absolutely'', particularly DIY 'expert' Denzil and his equally repulsive wife, Gwyneth (played by Welsh comedy actor John Sparks and Morwenna Banks).
* [[WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}} Welshy]], a RedShirt replacement for ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries''' Scotty
* Able Seaman Goldstein from ''TheNavyLark'', apparently he joined the Navy to work his passage to Swansea.
* Madoc and all of his descendants in ''A Swiftly Tilting Planet.''
* Jeff (the [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} crazy one]]) from ''{{Coupling}}''.
* The setting of the ChroniclesOfPrydain is based on Welsh mythology.
* The country of Llamedos on the Literature/{{Discworld}} is an extreme parody of Welsh stereotypes, best known as the original home of [[Discworld/SoulMusic Imp y Celyn]] and noted for its ''rain mines''.
* The KingArthur of Welsh legend was a Celtic Briton and not necessarily considered to haul from (what is today) Wales, but as the descendants of the Britons, the Welsh always considered him as one of their heroes.
* {{Merlin}}. The original Merlin was a bard called Myrddin, the founder of Carmarthen (from Caer Myrddin, "Merlin's City").
----
-->"The land where history sleeps, and so does everybody else."
-->-- '''Griff Rhys Jones'''
----
to:
-->Mae hen wlad fy nhadau yn annwyl i mi,\\
Gwlad beirdd a chantorion, enwogion o fri;\\
Ei gwrol ryfelwyr, gwladgarwyr tra mad,\\
Dros ryddid collasant eu gwaed. [[hottip:* :''The land of my fathers is dear to me, / Old land where the minstrels are honoured and free; / Its warring defenders so gallant and brave, / For freedom their life's blood they gave.'']]
-->Gwlad, gwlad, pleidiol wyf i'm gwlad.\\
Tra mor yn fur i'r bur hoff bau,\\
O bydded i'r hen iaith barhau. [[hottip:* :''Home, home, true am I to my home, / While seas secure the land so pure, / O may the old language endure.'']]
-->-- '''The first verse and chorus of "Land of My Fathers", the Welsh National Anthem.'''
http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/125px-Flag_of_Wales_2.svg.png Wales, the land of the Welsh Dragon, Tom Jones, ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'' and the rest of the BBC Sci-fi/fantasy TV programmes.
In [[AncientRome Roman times]], the parts of Great Britain now called England (the words "England" and "English" refer specifically to the Germanic invaders you're about to meet), Wales, and Scotland were inhabited by a Celtic population. During the [[DarkAgeEurope Dark Ages]], the Germanic [[AngloSaxons Anglo-Saxons]] invaded and pushed them into the little corner of the island we now call Wales. Wales was conquered by the English in The Middle Ages, and became legally a part of the Kingdom of England -- which is why there's no "Welsh Bit" of the Union Jack, which was formed from the flags of the Kingdoms of England, Scotland and, later, Ireland. Being conquered and repressed has given Wales both a strong sense of identity and the mother of all chips on shoulders. [[BerserkButton Do not call a Welshman English]]. It will cause immediate and lasting discomfort (The Scottish are often portrayed as having similar tendencies).
It now has a devolved assembly, albeit one with less power than the [[BonnieScotland Scottish]] Parliament, based in the capital, [[AliensInCardiff Cardiff]] (Caerdydd in Welsh).
The Welsh language is a Celtic tongue that pre-dates the Roman conquest. It is related to Scottish, the native language of Scotland, to Irish, the native language of Ireland, and Manx, spoken on the Isle of Man, though not so closely that speakers of Welsh and those languages can understand each other. Welsh is more closely related to Breton and Cornish (spoken in northwestern France and UsefulNotes/{{Cornwall}}, respectively).
Welsh is generally regarded by English-speakers as a formidably difficult language, and a glance at the map shows such jaw-crackers as Machynlleth, Pwllheli, and the truly majestic [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch]]. That said, the pronunciation rules are consistent (unlike English) and once you know that a "u" is pronounced "ee"; "dd" is a hard "th" (as in 'there' rather than 'think') ; and a "ll" is a sort-of cross between 'l' and 'th', then it will always be so, although the actual spelling (and hence pronunciation) of a word may change depending on the word preceding it. "Cwm", that perennial favourite of crossword-puzzle enthusiasts, is pronounced "coom" (and means "a hollow in the side of a mountain"). Welsh vowels ('a', 'e', 'i', 'o', 'u', 'w', and 'y') have two distinct pronounciations: one long, one short. For example, the two variations of "y" can be heard in "yn" (u-n) and "byd" (b-ea-d) (short and long, respectively). Welsh English often [[LikeIsLikeAComma uses "like"]] as an interjection.
The Welsh language was suppressed with varying degrees of viciousness by the English from the middle ages right up until the 1960s, but since then it has become one of the best-subsidised minority languages in the world, and nowadays around 20% of Welsh people can speak some Welsh, with 14% claiming to use it on a daily basis. Northern and Southern versions differ in details, and 'gogs' ( as North Welsh are referred to in the South ) are sometimes said to sound like Russian porn stars. Welsh is accorded equal status with English within Wales, so all roadsigns and official notices have to be in both. The language is the butt of many jokes in England, usually along the lines of "Welsh is very difficult to speak unless you have either a lifetime's study, or a serious throat infection". Welsh spellings are also the subject of English humour, sometimes being attributed either to anagrams of breakfast cereal names or escapees from Creator/HPLovecraft's less well-known works.
There is also a community of Welsh-speakers in Argentina, dating back to the 19th century, and Welsh is spoken in Patagonia, albeit with a Spanish accent.
Wales is notable for its sheep population -- c. 10.9 million of them against a human population of about three million. So, the [[BestialityIsDepraved usual jokes]] apply. Wales is also notable for its level of rainfall -- even more so than [[BritishWeather the UK as a whole]]. Second city Swansea (Abertawe) officially holds the distinction of "wettest city in Britain".
South Wales was more industrialised than the rest, due to immense coal deposits, though Wrexham in the North East was as industrialised also due to coal. A lot of Welsh cultural identity stems from the 19th-century mining industry, when "the Valleys" as the area was known, saw religious revivals, the enthusiastic adoption of the game of Rugby, and a great tradition of choral singing. The industry largely (and in the main needlessly) came to an end in the late eighties, thanks in chief to Margaret Thatcher, leaving the population and economy a little shell-shocked. This is why it's not cool to be a Tory between Llanelli and Newport. Very few Tories survived the 1997 cull in any part of Wales. After ten years of New "Labour", the Welsh are also beginning to perceive Labour as just another English political party. After Blair and Brown signally failed to repair the damage done to Wales by Thatcher's Tories, the hitherto unthinkable started to happen - the super-safe constituencies of Rhondda and Islwyn fell to the Welsh Nationalists, although Labour won them back a few years later.
A lot of people in Wales are called Jones, Williams or Davies due to the way the Welsh {{Patronymic}} naming system was Anglicised -- people in small villages will have to get nicknames to distinguish each other. Traditionally these were often in the form of "Surname The Occupation", such as Jones The Steam [engine driver] from ''Ivor the Engine''. This results in SAT exams (see BritishEducationSystem) having to have candidate numbers in Wales. This is also the case with soldiers in Welsh army regiments, who even in the late 20th century were still identified by their unique Army number and not by one of a limited number of family names. In this troper's regimental family, 106 men and women soldiers in a 600+ strong unit were called Wiliams. Owen, Jones and Powell then tied for the next most populous name with Davies and Hughes coming up not far behind.
There are two regiments of the British Army that require their officer candidates to be fluent, and ideally bilingual, in a language other than English. One is the Gurkha Rifles and the other is the Royal Welch Fusiliers. (founded in 1690, who use an archaic spelling of the word currently grammaticised as "Welsh".)
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!!There are a lot of famous Welsh people such as:
* Music/TomJones - world famous singer, with a reputation for women throwing their knickers at him.
* Aimee Ann '''Duffy''' - a UK famous singer, who hasn't had any pants or knickers thrown at her yet.
* [[ShirleyBassey Dame Shirley Bassey]]!
* Catherine Zeta-Jones - world famous actress. Oh, and singer (sort of) in ''Film/{{Chicago}}''
* Katherine Jenkins, who like Charlotte Church really CAN sing, and unlike Charlotte Church has wisely decided to stay with what she knows best
* AledJones -- another Welsh singer, most famous (as a boy) for his cover version of "Walking In The Air" from ''TheSnowman''. He now regularly presents the God-Slot religious show on BBC Radio Two every Sunday morning and is an occassional religious presenter on BBC television.
* RussellTDavies.
* Ray Milland.
* AnthonyHopkins. You know, ''AGlassOfChianti''...
* John Rhys-Davies.
* RichardBurton.
* Timothy Dalton.
* Creator/DylanThomas, poet, DoNotGoGentleIntoThatGoodNight. See Discworld/SoulMusic for Creator/TerryPratchett's take on this.
* John Cale, musician and former member of TheVelvetUnderground.
* MiltonJones, comic.
* ChristianBale, born in Pembrokeshire but raised in Southern England from early childhood. (Incidentally, he voiced [[Anime/HowlsMovingCastle Howl]] in the film's English dub.)
* Author JasperFforde was not born in Wales, but lived there for a while, and "[[BalkanizeMe The Socialist Republic of Wales]]" features prominently in several ''Literature/ThursdayNext'' books. Its background and AlternateHistory are [[http://www.jasperfforde.com/sovietreppage2.html All Here]] [[AllThereInTheManual On The Internet]].
* AlastairReynolds.
* Comedians Rob Brydon, Ruth Jones and Rhod Gilbert.
* Wrestler Mason Ryan, former Florida Heavyweight champion and now heel for TheNexus on WWE.
** TNA wrestling also has their own wrestling Welshman, Rob Terry.
* Actor MichaelSheen, from Newport and Port Talbot. Cinema's very own TonyBlair.
* Rhys Ifans, a first language Welsh-speaker and main example of a 'Gog' accent (from North Wales)
* ''Hornblower'' actor Ioan Gruffudd, also Cymraeg - but Welsh-Speaker from South Wales (Glamorgan).
* Music/CharlotteChurch, from Cardiff.
* Gavin Henson, rugby player and noted sun-bed user, sometimes referred to as 'Tango Man' for this reason.
* TerryJones of Creator/MontyPython.
* Arthur Machen, an author whose ''Literature/TheGreatGodPan'' and other stories were a major influence on Creator/HPLovecraft.
* Ruth Madoc, comic actress.
* Iwan Rheon, singer and actor (Best known as Simon in {{Misfits}}), from Cardiff.
* Julia Gillard, Prime Minister of Australia, was born in Wales, except she was naturalised in Australia as a youngster - first-generation Australians are recognised by the law as Australians but some Australian citizens whose ancestry goes back further tend to disagree
* HarrySecombe, ''GoonShow'' straight man as Harry Seagoon, comedian, singer and presenter of religious shows.
* MyfanwyTalog, Welsh-language actress, wife of English comic actor Creator/DavidJason. Now deceased but a mainstay of soap opera ''Pobol Y Cym'' for many years. Also voiced Welsh characters in English-language animations such as ''WesternAnimation/CountDuckula'' and ''Supermouse''.
* Bonnie Tyler
* Singer-songwriter Marina Diamandis of Marina & the Diamonds.
* {{Welshy}}, Channel Awesome video producer
!!Famous Welsh Bands:
* Badfinger
* Budgie
* Bullet For My Valentine
* Catatonia
* Feeder
* FuneralForAFriend
* Goldie Lookin Chain
* Music/LostProphets
* ManicStreetPreachers
* Stereophonics
* Super Furry Animals
** This band, which usually records most of their music in English, often includes at least a few Welsh language songs on their albums, culminating in 2000's ''Mwng'', the best selling Welsh-language album in rock history.
* Gorky's Zygotic Mynci
* The Automatic
* The Oppressed
* Music/LosCampesinos!
** All the members of this band are actually English, but they all met at university in Cardiff and have adopted the city as their home
* mclusky
** and its SpiritualSuccessor, Future of the Left
* People In Planes
* The Alarm
!!Famous Fictional Welsh People:
* Pixie from the ''Comicbook/{{X-Men}}'' comics
* Gwen Cooper, Ianto Jones and Rhys Williams, ''Series/{{Torchwood}}''
* Fluellen, ''[[Creator/WilliamShakespeare Henry V]]''
* Wizard Howl, of ''[[Literature/HowlsMovingCastle Moving Castle]]'' fame.
* Cadfael
* [[MahouSenseiNegima Negi Springfield]]. Well, he spent a good deal of his childhood there.
* The West clan of ''GavinAndStacey'', plus their friends and neighbours.
** Also from Ruth Jones, ''A Child's Christmases in Wales.''
* ''Ivor the Engine''.
* Several characters from Channel 4's classic sketch show ''Absolutely'', particularly DIY 'expert' Denzil and his equally repulsive wife, Gwyneth (played by Welsh comedy actor John Sparks and Morwenna Banks).
* [[WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}} Welshy]], a RedShirt replacement for ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries''' Scotty
* Able Seaman Goldstein from ''TheNavyLark'', apparently he joined the Navy to work his passage to Swansea.
* Madoc and all of his descendants in ''A Swiftly Tilting Planet.''
* Jeff (the [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} crazy one]]) from ''{{Coupling}}''.
* The setting of the ChroniclesOfPrydain is based on Welsh mythology.
* The country of Llamedos on the Literature/{{Discworld}} is an extreme parody of Welsh stereotypes, best known as the original home of [[Discworld/SoulMusic Imp y Celyn]] and noted for its ''rain mines''.
* The KingArthur of Welsh legend was a Celtic Briton and not necessarily considered to haul from (what is today) Wales, but as the descendants of the Britons, the Welsh always considered him as one of their heroes.
* {{Merlin}}. The original Merlin was a bard called Myrddin, the founder of Carmarthen (from Caer Myrddin, "Merlin's City").
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-->"The land where history sleeps, and so does everybody else."
-->-- '''Griff Rhys Jones'''
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