2002 in Wales

Incumbents

• First Minister – Rhodri Morgan
• Secretary of State for Wales
• *Paul Murphy
• *Peter Hain
• Archbishop of Wales – Rowan Williams, Bishop of Monmouth
• Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales
• *Meirion Evans
• *Robyn Llŷn

  Events

• In the BBC's 100 Greatest Britons poll, those with a Welsh connection who finished in the top 100 were:
• *Diana, Princess of Wales – 3
• *Elizabeth I of England – 7
• *Owain Glyndŵr – 23
• *Henry VIII of England – 40
• *Aneurin Bevan – 45
• *Henry V of England – 72
• *Richard Burton – 96
• 14 February – at the Ogmore by-election, the Labour Party candidate Huw Irranca-Davies holds the seat held by Sir Ray Powell until his death
• 13 March – The ferry is introduced on the Fishguard-Rosslare route.
• April – Welsh Assembly Government concessionary travel scheme entitles over-60s and registered disabled people to uniform free off-peak travel on all stage carriage bus services.
• May – H & Claire release their debut single.
• May 25 – Jessica Garlick represents the UK in the Eurovision Song Contest held in Estonia.
• June
• *Archaeologists discover the Newport ship.
• *DNA from the exhumed body of Joe Kappen proves beyond reasonable doubt that he was responsible for the murders of three teenage girls in 1973.
• June 18 – Cowbridge businessman Peter Shaw is kidnapped while working in Tbilisi, Georgia. He is held in brutal conditions until he escapes in November.
• June 28 – David Morris receives four life sentences for the Clydach murders of June 1999. Despite his having been a suspect days after the murder was committed, it had taken police 21 months to arrest and charge him.
• July
• *Research reveals that Wales has the highest figures for company failures of any region of the UK.
• *Ebbw Vale Steelworks shut down.
• August – "Barney" saves his owners' lives by warning them of a fire at their home in Wrexham.
• August 5 – Rowan Williams is admitted to the Gorsedd of bards.
• October – Archaeological excavations on a Bronze Age site recover the Banc Ty'nddôl sun-disc, one of the earliest gold objects found in Wales.
• October 24 – Paul Murphy is appointed Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.

  Arts and literature

• Connie Fisher wins the Wilbert Lloyd Roberts Scholarship in the National Eisteddfod "Songs from the Shows" competition.
• Menna Elfyn is named Poet Laureate for the Children of Wales.

  Awards

• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Chair – Myrddin ap Dafydd
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Crown – Aled Jones Lewis
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Prose Medal – O! Tyn y Gorchudd – Hunangofiant Rebecca Jones by Angharad Price
• Wales Book of the Year:
• *English language: Stevie Davies, The Element of Water
• *Welsh language:
• Gwobr Goffa Daniel Owen – Eirug Wyn
• John Tripp Prize for Spoken Poetry – Cliff Forshaw

  New books

English language

• Richard J. Evans – Telling Lies About Hitler
• Ken Follett – Hornet Flight
• Steve Jones – Y: The Descent of Men
• Jo Mazelis – Diving Girls
• Jan Morris – A Writer's House in Wales
• Steve Strange – Blitzed! The Autobiography of Steve Strange
• Rachel Trezise – In and Out of the Goldfish Bowl
• Rowan Williams – ''Arius – Heresy and Tradition''

  Welsh language

• Grahame Davies – Cadwyni Rhyddid
• Angharad Price – O! Tyn y Gorchudd
• Eirug Wyn – ''Bitsh''

  Drama

• Dic Edwards – ''Franco's Bastard''

  Film

• Christian Bale stars in Laurel Canyon.
• Anthony Hopkins plays Hannibal Lecter for the third time, in Red Dragon.

  Welsh-language films

• Gwyfyn.
• ''Oedd yr Addewid''

  Music

• 3SL – "Take it Easy"
• Carreg Lafar – Profiad
• Feeder – Comfort In Sound
• Mclusky – Mclusky Do Dallas
• Bonnie Tyler – ''Heart & Soul/Heart Strings''

  Broadcasting

English-language television

• ''Cable TV''

  Welsh-language television

• ''Gwyfyn''

  Sport

BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year

• Mark Hughes

  2002 Commonwealth Games

• 25 July to 4 August – At the Commonwealth Games in Manchester, the Wales team wins a total of 33 medals: 6 gold, 15 silver and 12 bronze.

  Cycling

• Andrew Windsor wins the Welsh National Road Race Championships.

  Football

• John Fashanu becomes Chairman of Barry Town.
• Barry Town are Welsh Cup winners after beating Bangor City 4–1, and win a sixth League of Wales title.
• Winners of the three divisions in the Welsh Football League are: Ton Pentre, Garden Village & Newport YMCA.
• Welshpool Town are champions of the Cymru Alliance.

  Horse racing

• 27 December – The Welsh National is won by Mini Sensation, ridden by Tony Dobbin.

  Rugby union

• December – Brynmawr RFC and Abertillery RFC withdraw from the Principality Cup, after the Welsh Rugby Union makes an error during the live radio draw for the fifth round.

  Snooker

• 27 January – Paul Hunter wins the Welsh Open tournament in Cardiff.
• 3 March – Mark Williams wins the China Open tournament in Shanghai.
• 15 December – Mark Williams wins his second UK Championship title.

  Births

• 23 February – Emilia Jones, actress, daughter of Aled Jones
• 15 September – Medi Harris, swimmer
• 17 December – Matt Richards, Olympic swimmer
• 22 December – Emma Finucane, cyclist

  Deaths

• 2 January
• *Ian Grist, politician, 63
• *Arthur Joseph, cricketer, 82
• 7 January – Jon Lee, rock musician, 33
• 12 January – Moss Evans, trade union leader, 76
• 3 February – Edward Thomas Chapman, Victoria Cross recipient, 82
• 22 February – David James, cricketer, 80
• 7 March – Geoff Charles, photojournalist, 93
• 2 March – Mary Grant Price, costume designer, 85
• 3 March – Bill Hopkin, rugby player, 87
• 6 March – David Jenkins, Librarian of the National Library of Wales 1969–79, 89
• 7 May – Sir Ewart Jones, organic chemist and academic administrator, 91
• 26 September – Willie Davies, Wales international rugby union and league player, 86
• 6 October – Nick Whitehead, athlete, 69
• November – Ernie Jones, footballer, 81/82
• 3 November – Sir John Habakkuk, economic historian, 87
• 20 November – George Guest, organist and choirmaster of St John's College, Cambridge, 78
• December – Brian Morgan Edwards, businessman, 68
• 10 December – Steve Llewellyn, rugby league player, 78
• 24 December – Jake Thackray, singer-songwriter, 64
• 31 December – Billy Morris, footballer, 84