1971 in Wales

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1971 to Wales and its people.

Incumbents

February - Harold Charles becomes Bishop of St Asaph.
6 May - Singer Dickie Valentine is killed in a car accident on the Glangrwyney bridge near Crickhowell.
28 May - Opening of the Llanberis Lake Railway.
1 August - It becomes legal to register marriages in the Welsh language.
date unknown
*The Welsh Nursery Schools Movement is founded in Aberystwyth.
*Anglesey Aluminium opens its smelting plant on the outskirts of Holyhead.
*Wylfa Nuclear Power Station becomes operational.

Merthyr Tydfil is one of the locations used for the filming of 10 Rillington Place.
Ruth Madoc appears in the film version of Fiddler on the Roof.

Comedy duo Ryan Davies and Ronnie Williams transfer their successful Welsh language show to BBC1.
22 March - Sesame Streets UK debut is on HTV.
14 April - Nerys Hughes gets her big break in The Liver Birds, first aired on this date.

BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year - John Dawes, Wales national rugby union teen and Welsh Lions
Cricket - May: In a Glamorgan home match at Sophia Gardens, Roger Davis is struck on the temple while fielding at short leg and survives largely thanks to the intervention of Dr Colin Lewis.
Gymnastics - Pam Hopkins wins the British Women's Championship.
Rugby union - Wales win their sixth Grand Slam.
Sailing - Nicolette Milnes-Walker becomes the first woman to sail non-stop single-handed across the Atlantic.

2 January – Harold Jones, convicted murderer, 64
12 January – Gwenan Jones, historian and politician, 81
4 March – Ifan Gruffydd, author, 75
8 March – Harold Lloyd, American comedy actor of Welsh descent, 77
18 March – Jack Gore, Wales international rugby player, 71
9 April – Dewi Morgan, poet, scholar and journalist, 93
19 April – Thomas Evan Nicholas (Niclas y Glais), writer and political activist, 91
18 May – William Mainwaring MP, miners' leader
20 May – Waldo Williams, poet, 66
29 May – Howell Lewis, Wales international rugby player, 83
5 June – Clifford Dyment, poet, 57
5 July – Idris Jones, chemist and rugby player, 71
11 July – Brenda Chamberlain, poet and artist, 59
4 September – C. E. Vulliamy, author, 85
1 October – Bill Davies, cricketer, 65
9 November - Ceri Richards, artist, 68
27 November - Leslie Thomas, politician, 65
1 December - Jack Jenkins, Wales international rugby player, 91
date unknown
*James Conway Davies, historian and palaeographer, 79
*Jack Evans, footballer