2001 in Wales

← 2000 1999 1998 2001 in Wales → 2002 2003 2004
Centuries:	19th 20th 21st
Decades:	1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s
See also:	List of years in Wales 2001 in The United Kingdom England Ireland Scotland

This article is about the particular significance of the year 2001 to Wales and its people.

Incumbents

• Prince of Wales – Charles
• Princess of Wales – vacant
• First Minister – Rhodri Morgan
• Secretary of State for Wales – Paul Murphy
• Archbishop of Wales – Rowan Williams
• Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales – Meirion Evans

Events

• 1 March - Peter Clarke is appointed Children's Commissioner for Wales.
• 1 June - Official opening of Cardiff Bay Barrage.
• 7 June - In the UK general election:
  • Plaid Cymru retain a total of 4 seats. They lose Ynys Môn to Labour but Adam Price gains Carmarthen East and Dinefwr from Labour's Alan Wynne Williams.
  • Newly elected Labour MPs include Hywel Francis (Aberavon), Mark Tami (Alyn and Deeside), Wayne David (Caerphilly), Ian Lucas (Wrexham) and Chris Bryant (Rhondda)
  • Kevin Brennan replaces Rhodri Morgan as MP for Cardiff West.
• 16 June - Entrepreneur Terry Matthews is knighted in the Queen's Birthday Honours list.
• 1 August - Coleg Harlech Workers' Educational Association (North Wales) is created through the merger of The Workers’ Educational Association (North Wales) and Coleg Harlech.
• 16 September - To commemorate "Glyndwr Day", actress Siân Phillips unveils a memorial statue to Catrin Glyndŵr in London.
• 11 July - Welsh language pressure group Cymuned is launched at a meeting in Mynytho.
• 26 October - A memorial service to celebrate the life of Harry Secombe is held at Westminster Abbey and attended by Charles, Prince of Wales.

Arts and literature

• 15 March - Julien Macdonald is chosen as fashion house Givenchy's new designer.
• 24 March - Opening of the exhibition Let Paul Robeson Sing! in Cardiff.
• 15 December - Rob Brydon wins Best TV Comedy Actor award in the British Comedy Awards.
• 25 December - Matthew Rhys and Tom Ward star in a TV adaptation of The Lost World.
• John Bourne establishes the Wrexham Stuckists group of artists.
• Jessica Garlick makes the last ten in the first series of Pop Idol.
• Andrew Vicari sells a collection of 125 paintings of the First Gulf War to Prince Khaled of Saudi Arabia for £17 million.
• Irish photographer Paul Seawright is awarded a personal chair by the University of Wales, Newport.

Film

• John Rhys-Davies makes his first appearance as Gimli in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.
• Sara Sugarman writes and directs Very Annie Mary, featuring Welsh stars such as Jonathan Pryce, Kenneth Griffith, Matthew Rhys, Ioan Gruffudd, Mary Hopkin and Ruth Madoc.
• Rhys Ifans co-stars in The Shipping News.
• A Bollywood film, Mein Dil Tujhko Diya (I Gave You my Heart), is shot in Aberystwyth and the Elan Valley.
• In Gosford Park, Jeremy Northam plays a fictionalised version of Ivor Novello. Several of Novello's songs feature in the film's soundtrack.
• Nia Roberts stars in A Day Out.

Broadcasting

Sport

• Football - Liverpool F.C. win the FA Cup the first time it is played in Cardiff's Millennium Stadium.
• Snooker - Mark Williams wins the China Open.

Births

• 23 March - Dream Alliance, racehorse

Deaths

• 11 January - Lorna Sage, critic, 57 (emphysema)
• 20 January - Crispin Nash-Williams, mathematician, 68
• 18 February - Claude Davey, Wales international rugby union captain, 92
• 22 February - Cledwyn Hughes, Lord Cledwyn of Penrhos, former Secretary of State for Wales, 84
• 11 April - Sir Harry Secombe, singer and comedian, 79
• 16 April - Henry Morgan Lloyd, clergyman, 89
• 26 April - Dafydd Rowlands, minister and writer, 69
• 30 April - Brian Morris, Baron Morris of Castle Morris, poet, critic and politician, 71
• 25 May - Delme Bryn-Jones, operatic baritone, 67
• 10 June - Samuel Ifor Enoch, theologian, 86
• 17 July - Val Feld, the first member of the Welsh Assembly to die, 53 (cancer)
• 19 July - Roderic Bowen, MP, 87
• August - Valerie Davies, Olympic swimmer, 89
• 19 September - Rhys Jones, archaeologist, 60
• October - John Owen, television writer (suicide)
• 6 December - Eryl Stephen Thomas, former Bishop of Monmouth and of Llandaff, 91
• 7 December - Ray Powell, MP, 73

See also

• 2001 in Northern Ireland