1972 in Wales

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1972 to Wales and its people.

Incumbents

1 January – Welsh rugby captain John Dawes is made an OBE in the New Year Honours List.
30 January – Opening to rail traffic of the new Britannia Bridge linking Anglesey with mainland Wales.
March/April – The "Miners' Tramway" underground at Llechwedd Slate Caverns, Blaenau Ffestiniog, opens to the public.
3 May – Leslie Harvey, guitarist of Stone the Crows, is fatally electrocuted while performing at Swansea's Top Rank Suite.
13 September – Hypermarkets make their debut in the United Kingdom some twenty years after debuting in France, when French retail giant Carrefour opens a hypermarket in Caerphilly.
26 October – Passage of the Local Government Act 1972, which will reorganise and simplify local government in Wales and Monmouthshire from 1974.
11 December – Rhoose Airport is opened by The Duke of Edinburgh.
date unknown
*Sir Morien Morgan becomes Master of Downing College, Cambridge.
*The island of Flat Holm is designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest.
*The communities of Machynys and Bwlch y Gwynt cease to exist, following the closedown of local industry; the residents are moved into Llanelli.
*Llyn Brianne regulating reservoir on the River Towy is completed; its dam is the UK's tallest, standing at a height of 300 ft.

National Eisteddfod of Wales
National Eisteddfod of Wales: Chair – Dafydd Owen, "Preselau"
National Eisteddfod of Wales: Crown – Dafydd Rowlands, "Dadeni"
National Eisteddfod of Wales: Prose Medal – Dafydd Rowlands, "Ysgrifau yr Hanner Bardd"
National Eisteddfod of Wales: Drama Medal – Urien Wiliam

The film of Dylan Thomas's Under Milk Wood appears, with Richard Burton, Glynis Johns, Ryan Davies and many other Welsh stars.
Hywel Bennett stars with Hayley Mills in Endless Night.

Kenneth Griffith's reputation is underlined with a four-part documentary series about the Boer War, Sons of the Blood.
Anthony Hopkins wins acclaim for his first starring role on television in BBC2's adaptation of War and Peace.
Glyn Houston appears as Bunter opposite Ian Carmichael as Lord Peter Wimsey, in the first of several TV serials based on the stories of Dorothy L. Sayers.

Chess – Wales competes in the World Chess Olympiad at Skopje, Yugoslavia.
Cricket – Tony Lewis captains England on his Test debut in Delhi, India.
Rugby union
*25 March – Derek Quinnell makes his debut for Wales against France.
*31 October – Llanelli RFC defeat the New Zealand All Blacks 9–3 at Stradey Park in front of 26,000 supporters.
The Welsh Sports Association is established.
BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year – Richard Meade