In the Frame – Memory 1910-2010

Tuesday 22 November 2011 6.30 pm

"In the Frame – Memory 1910-2010"

About the lecture

From Rhondda heroes chasing the American dream to rioters staking a claim in their society In the Frame is a powerful alternative history of twentieth-century South Wales, offered from the personal viewpoint of cultural historian Dai Smith. It takes the reader into a territory formed by the influence of writers and painters, boxers and historians, friends and relatives, rioters and correspondents, critics and photographers.

As well as the autobiographical overtones of a Tondypandy childhood and distinguished career, In the Frame contains the far wider undertones of a collective biography. Its mosaic pieces together the consciousness of a society which led its inhabitants in search of fame and fortune as well as the daily struggle for rights and recognition without sympathy or sentimentality.

Professor Smith is a renowned historian and prolific writer on the arts and cultural issues. He is well known as a broadcaster on radio and television and is currently the head of the Arts Council of Wales and Research Chair in the Cultural History of Wales at Swansea University.

About the speaker - Professor Dai Smith

Professor Dai Smith is the Raymond Williams Chair in Cultural History within CREW which he joined in March 2005. He is also Chair of the Arts Council of Wales.

Dai Smith was Professor in the History of Wales at Cardiff University 1985 to 1992 and Editor BBC Radio Wales and Head of Programmes (English language) at BBC Wales from 1992 to 2001 when he was appointed Pro-Vice-Chancellor at he University of Glamorgan. He has also been a Simon Senior Fellow at the University of Manchester and a visiting lecturer at Universities in Germany, Holland, France, Spain, Denmark, Ireland and England. He is now Series Editor of the Welsh Assembly Government’s Library of Wales for classic works written in English from or about Wales.Amongst his numerous publications are path breaking histories of the South Wales miners, The Fed (1980), with Dr Hywel Francis MP, and of the social significance of rugby in Wales, Fields of Praise (1986), with Professor Gareth Williams. He has written widely on literature and society – Aneurin Bevan and The World of South Wales (1993) and Wales: A Question for History (1988) – books in which artificial discipline boundaries are deliberately broken down. For television he has presented and scripted a number of award-winning documentaries and, as a broadcaster, sought to deepen popular appreciation of Welsh culture and history.

At the conclusion of the evening Professor Smith, in his capacity as Series editor of the Library of Wales, will introduce Dr Danny Abse who will speak on his autobiography shortly to be published by Parthian.